In the Air

Song - In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins cover by Sierra Eagleson

After a few days of rain we have been seeing some amazing cloud colors and formations.

The Sky is Falling

Song - The Sky is Falling by Chicken Little

 Last week I woke up early and went out on the deck to watch the sun come up.  

I love this time of year when it's comfortably warm in the day time but at night and in the early morning it's crisp. 

Later in the week we had a sky full of clouds with only a few drops of rain.  It was fun to watch the clouds sweep across the dark sky. It defiantly felt like fall.

Most nights Mr. B and I like to sit on our back deck in the evening.  We have a glass of wine and talk about our day or make a plan for the future and enjoy the various birds in the yard.


One little chickadee has lived in the light fixture shown above for the past two years. We are not real sure why he or she has chosen this as her permanent home but it has been fun to greet her each evening right before sunset as she first lands in a nearby tree and makes a little call.  She checks to make sure that it is safe and in the blink of an eye she flies from the tree, under the deck umbrella and up into the light fixture!


Last night I thought I would finally catch a photo of her.

I set up my tripod about an hour before sunset and put the camera on "Machine gun fire" so I would hopefully capture her approach and quick entrance.


But nope....with no warning call...........she was in there lickety-split......dang......

 
It was a wonderful evening and we lit a candle as the sky darkened and then I saw this......

Aliens?



Helicopters?


It lasted for several minutes and then "poof" it just disappeared.

Later we found out that Vandenberg Air Force Base had launched a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the west coast.  We didn't know about it before hand but were glad that our little bird helped us to experience the sight!

"It's not the falling down that counts.  

It's the getting up."

--Mary Pickford

Tahoe Blues

Tahoe Lightening Storm from YouTube


On Wednesday my girlfriend Jill and I drove up to Tahoe for a day at the beach.  Felt kinda like playing hooky.  I made a big pasta salad & brought fruit.  She brought fruit and wine!  We were set.

By 10:30 am we had spread our towels on the beach.

At the time, there was only this one itty-bitty dark cloud.

We slathered on the sunscreen, popped open the umbrella and prepared to be dazzled!

 The beach filled up like Coney Island.

 

We had kids jumping over us, footballs flying past, Frisbee's overhead, BBQ's being lit, kayak's being launched, kids crying, mom's yelling & music blaring! 

Within an hour or so, we could hear thunder from behind the mountains.  

According to our calculations (you know the scientific one....onethousandone, onethousandtwo....etc.) we had at least 3 hours before the storm hit.

It only took 30 minutes.

 We were staying dry and enjoying the approaching storm while watching

 lightening to the left of us and lightening to the right. 

And listening to thunder all around.

Somehow Mt. Tallac divided the storm overhead so it stayed clear above us for quite some time.

It was still hot and felt like a tropical storm.

Finally the skies opened up and everyone ran to their cars.  

We did too with a glass of wine and waited out the summer storm in the beach parking lot.

Within 20 minutes it was just dribbling....and we did have our swim suits on....

so who cares if we get wet?

....and best of all most everyone else had left!

We stayed and read, swam, visited, ate and laughed.

It was a good day!

Also, it made for an amazing sunset on our drive home.

"Raise your words, not your voice.  

It is the rain that grows flowers not thunder."  -  Rumi