It’s the time of year in South Florida when we get mostly afternoon thunderstorms although one came a little earlier today. Not much in the way of thunder and lightning compared to the last few days. I’m talking about rattle your windows kind of thunder preceded by distinct streaks of lightning. Now, interestingly, my hubby, who has gotten very deeply involved with the camera club, attended a session (I think it was) about taking photos of lightning and the photographer who teaches a class on it has some spectacular images that he’s captured. I, however, view this in somewhat the same why that I do my husband’s desire to do the white shark cage dive. It just isn’t my thing.

Anyway, I don’t recall when it was that I stopped being afraid of thunderstorms – maybe around my teen years – and began to enjoy them under a fairly narrow set of circumstances. I’ve been caught in them too many times when on the road or when I wanted to do something outside to say that I like them in general. After all, if I’m tucked safely in the house with a soothing cup of tea or an adult beverage, I know there are other people who might be stuck in traffic or otherwise coping with the mess. But yesterday was one of those “enjoyable” moments because it was a hard rain without a driving wind. That meant sitting on the covered terrace with a glass of wine, watching the streaks light up the dark clouds, and with it being South Florida, as soon as it began to clear, bright sun came out to cause the raindrops on the palm fronds to glisten as a rainbow formed in another part of the sky. It was also late enough in the afternoon so that the storm dropped the temperature to a pleasant 70 degrees or so rather than subjected us to a steam bath when it cleared up. Now about those mosquitos…., but that’s for another time.