I feel a song coming on

As we wandered through the Chambord castle, we walked out onto a balcony and noticed this temporary theater set up in the western courtyard. I thought it was amazing, so I took a picture. I guess they do concerts and such in there.

A piano just waiting. Mozart? Rachmaninoff? Bizet? Or maybe something more modern?

Summer is just churning along. I'm very happy, even though it can get a little uncomfortable at night. It's not so bad for a few nights, given that we have nice hot days and the vegetable garden is loving it. Our winter squash looks like a bumper crop is on its way.

Ken's in Paris this weekend, coming home on Sunday. I'm on animal patrol. And I'm working in the garden. I enjoy watching it all grow.

This morning around 3:30 we had thunderstorms. I got up at two and went downstairs (not an unusual thing for me to do). I noticed the moon and the stars, but also some flickering light. I thought it was something electronic in the house but it turned out to be lightning in the north. I went back upstairs for a better view.

What I saw was like something out of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." While my house was under starry skies, to the north was a huge billowing cloud, lit almost constantly from within by bright flashes of lightning. I couldn't hear any thunder, but I was mesmerized by the sight. After a few minutes I went back downstairs and turned on the computer to have a look at the internet weather site. Sure enough, a big storm was moving by to our north, headed up toward Paris.

I then noticed the radar showing two more large systems following it, coming directly toward us from the southwest. Uh-oh. I battened down the hatches, which means I turned off the computer and the modem/router, closed windows and shutters, and spread plastic in the kitchen in case the roof leaked again. I settled back into bed around three o'clock.

I could hear the thunder approaching this time and the lightning got brighter. I was up and down looking out the roof window. The lightning was both beautiful and scary. One nearby strike was so bright that I couldn't see for few seconds after. The rain started about four o'clock, but it was a much gentler rain than I expected. I realized the storm was not hitting us full-on. We were on its southeastern edge as it moved northward toward Paris.

I drifted in and out of sleep for a while. Callie barked at a particularly loud thunder clap (the house shook) before heading downstairs to hide. As the storm got farther away, I opened up the windows again to let the cooler air in. Around six I got up, after a bit more fitful sleep, to restart the electronics and check the radar again. It's all over for us for the moment, but Paris is getting it as I write this.

Luckily there had been no leak in the kitchen. So I made a pot of coffee, fed the cat, and logged on to blogger to add this to my post.