Saturday, July 28, 2012

The Beauty and Fright in the Night

Isn't lightning stunning?  I love it.  I love a good storm.  I Love seeing the lightning, watching it cascade across the sky and then hearing, or even feeling the thunder. 

We've been having a series of storms the last week or so that have been just beautiful to watch.  Riding home from the mountains last week, I was looking down and my husband kept exclaiming, "wow, you missed some amazing lightning."

I was out last night on the swing again (I am rather fond of the new swing set,) and there was lots of lightning going on.  It seemed far enough away as it wasn't raining on me, but from time to time it would seem a little too close.

It's interesting with lightning, isn't it?  You can marvel at it, the power and beauty.  But at some point it's too close and suddenly it turns into a menace to be feared and treated with excessive caution.

Also... butterflies.  Lots of them.  This is the third summer we've been here (one in construction form) but we haven't seen butterflies.  Or we haven't seen so many.  They're everywhere.   Some are beautiful black and iridescent blue.  There are the monarch-type yellow and brown and then some that look like little buttercups in flight.  I don't know what's caused them to visit, but they're a delight.

The Big Boy Update:  Hot Hat Help.  Three of his favorite words and they all sound the same.  We've been doing a lot of context-based listening to determine if he's saying something is hot, or he needs help, or it's related to the top of his head.   If it's food related, and he likes it, he's liable to do his, "happy food dance" in his seat, bouncing from side to side and looking pleased while shoving food in his mouth.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Dance Central.  She loves music.  When music comes on she dances.  If she's standing she does the little bounce up and down that's so classic with happy babies.  If she's sitting she bounces in place and smiles.  Today, she added a new dance and swayed back and forth while holding on to the ottoman.

Fitness Update:  10+3 (or half in two).  New record, ten miles.  Ten slow miles, but hell, ten miles.  When I came back into the neighborhood I ran into my neighbor who had gotten a late start, but was running with her daughter in a stroller.  I told her I was going for a new record and when I told her I had a half mile to go to make ten miles, she said she was going to run it with me.  How cool is that?  So we finished out my ten miles and got to chatting about our plans for the half marathon.  I was walking to cool down, but walking quickly.  She was running slowly beside me.  And here's the interesting thing, I started running more than once without realizing it.  I suppose it's like driving on a highway, then getting on a slower road and having your speed creep back up on you because you're just used to the higher speed.    Then, this afternoon, Uncle Jonathan came over and we're training for a 5K together so I went back out and ran another three miles with him.  Wait a minute, 10.1 + 3.0 miles = 13.1 miles.  Hey, half marathon in two runs.  What an unexpected and unplanned surprise.

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