Whither we wander...weird weather waits.
Yup, we moved to Raleigh in 1999 leaving memories of Hurricane Andrew behind. What a relief to not have to worry about a tree falling through your guest bedroom window and your satellite dish that was "secured" in 3 feet of concrete falling over on the neighbor's house. You don't hear people talk about Floyd much anymore. That's because Floyd's wrath in the Triangle was limited to our cul-de-sac. I woke up and looked out the window to find a 15 foot root system staring me in the face and the attached tree blocking access to and egress from our house. We met neighbors over chainsaws and coffee. Want to meet people after a storm? Get a generator. Walk out into the street where your shell-shocked neighbors are milling in their pajamas and mention, "I just made coffee!"
When we moved here from Florida, we warned the children that they shouldn't start planning sledding parties since we should only expect an inch or two of snow per year. The following January, I awoke to find that 18 inches of snow had been dumped on us overnight. As per usual, my husband was traveling on "business"...in Florida...calling me from "business" meetings on the golf course. For almost two weeks, I was snowed in with two small children, a dog and a dwindling supply of wine. (During that time, my husband got wrongly arrested and jailed in Panama...wrong place, wrong time; subject of a different post...but still, I think I took the worst of it!)
This past weekend was perfect. Every minute of the golf tournament was exquisite. The sun shone, but not enough to make you sweat. The breeze blew, but not enough to take the ball out of bounds. And my partner and I won! OK, we won the eighth flight...the last flight, I should add. But we played out of our minds and won! But the last two holes on the second day were played in a downpour that would have sent Noah searching for the last errant animal husband and getting ready to shove off. But did I mention that we won? Just in case I didn't:
And then it was Tuesday. My son's game was cancelled because of the incipient weather. We were all sitting around doing what you do when you find yourself with two hours you didn't expect to have. We were all on our laptops. I heard a sound. My immediate thought was, "Oops, must have left several golf tees in my pocket that are now pinging off the inside of the dryer." Then I remembered I wasn't doing laundry. I looked outside and:
See those little things on the ground? Hail. As big as two-carat diamonds. I was going to say golf balls, but that would have been an exaggeration. Then I decided to use the diamond analogy which would leave my readers with one of two responses:
1. Wow! She must be dripping with jewels if she knows how big a two-carat diamond is!
2. What the hail is she talking about? The last gem she sported was a plastic toy ruby ring she won in a silly golf tournament.
It was an amazing show of Mother Nature's wicked sense of humor!
Di
I...don't even know where to start? Wrongfully arrested? You haven't already posted that story?
Also, how hilarious is it that we will basically assume that we ARE doing laundry, until something reminds us that we're not? It's like laundry-doing is our natural state of being. That, and dishwasher-unloading. *grumble grumble grumble*
Posted by: raych | May 22, 2008 at 11:55 AM