Waiting for the Storm

Waiting for the Storm, not to pass, but to arrive. I love storms, and I am lucky enough to be at the Oregon coast  for a few days. Hubby is attending a work/play weekend, and I am writing.

So far, after only a few hours, I have composed two poems, and tightened up a short story for submission. So far so good.
So far, I'm having a great time.

So far, no storm. The weather men said we would be getting the tail end of a monsoon - heavy rain, and up to 50 mile an hour winds. My kind of day.

I love storms, there is something soothing in the wildness, the reminder that not everything is under my control, that there are still things that can impress me. The thrashing and violence of a good storm gives me a pleasure of unleashed energy, awakens the latent feral me.

Growing up in the Phoenix area of Arizona, I experienced nature at her wildest. Haboobs, mile high walls of dust rolling  toward town like an errant ocean wave, lightening so bright we almost needed sunglasses. The monsoon season began right around the Fourth of July and brought rain. Rain so dense you were blinded. Rain so fast and furious you would be standing in a four inch deep puddle in just one minute. Rain, pelting  bare arms, stinging bare thighs as we played in the street during these brief but awesome downpours.

As kids, we never ran for cover, never ran inside to get out of the rain. We reveled in nature at its finest, reveled in the unleashed madness of Mother Nature.

I now live in the State of Washington, a very wet place, it rains a lot where we are. However, most of the time it is a gentle rain, lasting all day and still not reaching the four inch mark. I miss the startling flashes of lightning, the heart felt, window shaking claps of thunder.

Rain is not just rain, a storm in the Pacific Northwest is so different from the Arizona storms that can invoke thoughts of an anguished Mother Nature, of someone toying with us; mere humans, thinking we have control.

Money, Money Everywhere

Ok, so you have a bunch of money - $20,000, $42,000. What do you do with it? Put it in a brown paper bag? Stow it in your backpack?

It seems so. Lately there have been many findings of  miss-managed money. Thankfully, the finders have been honest, and turned the money over to authorities, who, hopefully find the owners. My question to the owners -             

                        WHAT WERE YOU THINKING????????????????????

Not only are you dumb enough to put your money in a backpack, or paper bag, but you forget it! Please explain to me just how that happens.

Enough of dumb people doing stupid things, maybe life is much easier if you don't have too much money.