Month: July 2020

Another Shoe – Day 607

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Another Shoe

I was going to title this “There’s the Other Shoe!” or something like that, and then I realized all the crazy destruction of the Rule of Law in our country that’s flagrantly taking place in plain view of us and the rest of the world isn’t ‘THE’ other shoe. It’s just ‘another’ shoe.

Welcome to the apocalyptic Final Five Months. They’re either going to be the final five months of DT’s presidency or the final five months of the United States of America as we know it. And as I mentioned the other night, no matter what happens on election night (just like it didn’t matter how the Supreme Court ruled), if he wins: we lose; if he loses: we lose because he acts out, throws a bomb into the toilet (or worse), refuses to respect the election results, and dares anyone and everyone to remove him from office.

Whoa, Lisa. That’s dire. Aren’t you being just a tad hyperbolic?

No, actually. I don’t think I am.

Not the Half Of It

I sensed this week would be a challenge. The eclipse took place over the weekend, and it just felt to me as though it was going to kick off a month of unprecedented revelations and discoveries of corruption and rot throughout this Administration beyond our worst fears – including its malignant enablers in both Houses, but especially the Senate.

Sadly, I don’t think we’ve seen the half of it yet. (Then again, to be fair, it’s not even been a full week since the eclipse.)

But believe it or not, I’m trying to rein myself in. I’m trying to refrain from gaming out the repercussions of DT’s commutation of Roger Stone’s sentence and the effects it will have to the bigger picture.

I’m trying to wrap my head around the fact that DT did this, tonight, when we also received confirmation that the number of positive Coronavirus cases in one single day in our country topped 70,000 tonight, too. In case you’re keeping track, only one week ago we were horrified that there were more than 50,000 positive cases diagnosed in one day.

These are daily cases. Over 70,000 people tested positive today. And our president just commuted the sentence of a man who said out loud just today (when requesting a commutation) that he deserved it because he resisted providing evidence of the president’s complicity in a crime.

Step Back – Re-think

I chose cards a few days ago requesting guidance on how we might want to view and respond to whatever unfolded this week. As you might recall, I chose Stingray – Flow the first night, and then followed up in the next post with Jellyfish – Hidden Gifts and Sea Glass -Transformation.

Choosing the Flow card was in itself a comfort. In some ways, every moment I deliberately chose to go with the flow and not worry over “What ifs” provided my nervous system with opportunities to remain peaceful, which in turn kept me centered and even hopeful every now and then.

The Hidden Gifts and Transformation cards were the ones I chose specifically for guidance on dealing with DT’s reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling on his tax return cases, so it feels incumbent upon me to actively resurrect them in our consciousness.

There are hidden gifts in the blatant erosion of the Rule of Law. Our country is being threatened from within in a way that rivals anything in our just-shy-of 250 years, with the possible exception of the Civil War – and it may even, pardon the irony, eclipse that.

Hope

But my eyes keep going back to a couple sentences in the accompanying text to The Ocean Oracle, in ‘The Story’ of the Sea Glass:

“(…) She thought of the journey the glass before her had taken, how these pieces were all parts of something else at one time. A bowl, a jar, a bottle – some sort of vessel. And how these vessels had been abandoned. Or lost, or broken; left to the rhythms of nature, broken down over time. And she thought of the forces which had shaped the sea glass in front of her – forces which broke down the original structure by pummeling, pulverizing, caressing into a shape which was softer, translucent, and more adept at change. (…)” (emphasis added)

I want to hold on to hope that our country and everything we stand for will, in the coming days, grow more translucent and adept at change as we face, head-on, the gifts that are hidden in the egregious behavior and neglect that’s being perpetrated on us and our system of government every day. Every day there seems to be another shoe dropping. Please let us discover the hidden gifts they reveal that lead to a transformation that benefits us all.

(T-504)

Blown Away – Day 606

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Visible Breath of the Wind – Photo: L. Weikel

Blown Away

Karl and I took a walk early this evening and noticed that the clouds seemed particularly expressive. Not in the massive, billowy, rather threatening way the thunderheads have been of late. The clouds today were of a much more playful nature, some even bordering on the whimsical. And then…I was blown away.

I didn’t realize I was going to have such a reaction when I took the photo. In fact, there’s a reason I speak in the first-person singular, above, and that’s because Karl will only be seeing the photo that just blew me away when he reads this post tomorrow morning.

Fodder For the Blog

Karl’s gotten used to the fact that our walks are the saving grace of my 1111 devotion. (Yeah…remember that? Can you believe I’m at 606 with only 505 left to write?) Actually, it’s not so much our walks per se that are the inspiration for a lot of my posts. It’s the photos I take along the way. The photos capture the inspiration that Mother Earth and, to be fair, equally or even more often Father Sky, provide. They are the Creative Team that actually make my posts possible. But you knew that.

As a result, I’m always passing Spartacus’s leash to Karl to hold while I capture moments in my iPhone like fireflies in a jar. Only the photos are better since I don’t have to poke holes in the top of my iPhone and, better yet, the photos don’t end up belly up the next morning.

But they do sometimes yield surprises. There have been many photos that revealed faces or figures that I only saw long after I got home, that ended up inspiring posts.

Spiral – Photo: L. Weikel

Well, as I mentioned, tonight’s clouds seemed especially playful and light. Like this spiral: long and drawn out, stretching across the sky in a straight line – but most definitely a spiral. It’s fascinating to contemplate the winds aloft that created such a cloud.

The photo at the top of this post reminded me of breath made visible as it’s blown across the sky.

Chills

And then there’s this photo, below. Wow. I took it simply because the shapes looked weird to me. I walked into a field to capture the full effect because I didn’t want telephone wires in the foreground. Karl half grumbled that he’d have to do a ‘tick check’ on me because of my venture into the tall grass just to take a shot of more clouds.

But what’s particularly fascinating to me is that I did not actually ‘See’ what this photo now seems to broadcast so obviously. Maybe I’m tired and seeing what I want to see. It’s possible, I suppose. But the magic of this photo popped out at me tonight when I went to send it from my phone to my computer. It gave me chills when I saw it. And the magic turned into the subject of this post.

I was blown away – not unlike when the Easter egg ‘happened.’

See for yourself and make your own decision:

Karl Cloud – Photo: L. Weikel

 

 

Best Easter Egg Ever – Photo: L. Weikel

Thanks, Karl, my son. Love you. Miss you.

(T-505)

Fallout – Day 605

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Sunset 8 July 2020 – Photo: L. Weikel

Fallout

OK, let’s get real. There will be repercussions one way or another tomorrow; repercussions that we’re all going to have to respond to and deal with. And either way things go, the fallout is almost certain to be of epic proportions.

You know what I’m talking about: DT’s tax returns.

Those who closely follow the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) are indicating that tomorrow will be the day that we receive the decision on the ‘tax return’ cases. We’ll either discover that DT is, in fact, “above the law” while he’s president and therefore does not have to comply with the law as all other citizens would in providing his tax returns (to Congress for them to fulfill their oversight duties or to New York in furtherance of a criminal investigation) or he does have to disclose those tax returns.

Either way, there will be fallout and we will be the recipients.

Happy Dance

If he perceives himself to have won, we can be assured of a couple of things: First, he will gleefully do a happy dance on all of our heads. He will crow and cluck and lord it over all of us (but especially his political rivals) that he is king, that he is untouchable. He will praise the Supreme Court and deem it to be the wisest, most amazing judicial body in the land (comprised of “the best people”).

That would be bad enough. But we all know it won’t end with a little gloating. Not only will he rub it in our collective faces (and he will, as he has every other time he has enjoyed what could be construed as a win), he will also consider it a green light to do whatever he damn well wants. For instance, and at a minimum, whatever behavior he’s trying to hide in those returns will be continued. You can bank on that (pun intended). But DT being DT, he will immediately engage in even worse illegal behavior. Why? Because the SCOTUS will have said, “Be our guest.”

But as bad as that sounds? There will be even worse repercussions:

If he wins this case based upon the fact that he is the president of the United States, does anyone in their right mind think he will ever willingly walk away from the presidency? Of course not. You can be sure he won’t. He’s already been broadcasting this intention for months, if not years. But if he escapes responsibility for adhering to the laws of the United States simply because he holds the office of the president, I guarantee he will engage in extreme measures to hang on to that advantage.

And we can no longer plausibly react to anything he does with the trope, “But no one would ever do that.” Of course he would. He will.

Angry Stomp

And if he loses and is told he must comply with providing the returns either to the oversight committee of Congress or to the State of New York? Or both?

We will see gyrations and a flailing about that will make anything we’ve witnessed so far in the past three and a half years of egregious presidential behavior pale in comparison. The stakes are that high for him and his family.

He will create a distraction in the world so monumental that it will boggle our minds. And don’t think for one moment he isn’t ready to sacrifice however many people it will take to make us look away and perhaps even ‘forget’ about his tax returns.

No. I have a feeling that either way the decision goes tomorrow (unless they punt on rendering a decision until the next term), we are in for some major fallout. And even a punt by SCOTUS, at this point, might have unexpected and heretofore unbelievable repercussions.

Still Flow?

I’m curious if we’re supposed to deal with all of this fallout with the continued Ocean Oracle counsel of “Flow” that we received yesterday.

Perhaps we are. Just in case, I’m going to choose another card now. Let’s see:

Wow. Well, I never would’ve guessed these two cards would be the message we’d receive, but here they are. If these are any indication of the fallout we can expect, perhaps ultimately, the truth really will set us free.

We can only hope. And go with the flow.

The Ocean Oracle: Jellyfish (11 Hidden Gifts) and Sea Glass (35 Transformation)

(T-506)

Ocean Oracle – Day 604

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Atlantic Ocean – Photo: L. Weikel

Ocean Oracle

It’s summertime (in the Northern Hemisphere, that is), a time of the year when many of us make a pilgrimage to the ocean if we’re not lucky enough to live near one. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, or the Arctic* (since in fact there is only one ocean on Earth). The simple truth is that humans flock to the ocean for inspiration, rejuvenation, and relaxation. Thus I’m drawn to consult The Ocean Oracle created by Susan Marte, for some insight.

I mentioned quite a while ago that I thought I might consult various oracles now and again to give us some guidance through these confusing, turbulent, and increasingly unbelievable times we’re experiencing. It’s been weird: while I thought it was a great idea at the time, I’ve repeatedly felt a resistance to choosing from the myriad decks and other tools that are a part of my library. So I just go with the flow. And tonight, for whatever reason, I was nudged to pull some cards for us from The Ocean Oracle.

Point of Focus

I keep wanting to choose three cards for a wide-ranging discussion on what we need to contemplate over the next several days in order to get the most out of what will be unfolding in the world. But I feel a push back.

My own thoughts aside, I feel like I’m only supposed to choose one card for us to use as a Point of Focus. So I’m going to choose one card while holding the following question in my mind:

What do we all need to hold as our Point of Focus in order to gain the most benefit out of the next several days:

Ocean Oracle 39 – Stingray (Flow) – Susan Marte

 

Stingray – Flow

I think we can all relate to how this may be sound advice for us all to heed. We’re going to need to flow with whatever is thrown at us over the next few days (or weeks and months, for all we know). It’s easy enough for all of us to ‘intuit’ what this card is telling us. My sense is that we will want to keep repeating the mantra to ourselves, “Just go with the flow. Keep flowing. Don’t get caught up in the drama of others, because now – right now – our point of focus must be to go with the flow.”

As Susan Marte, the creator of the deck and a dear friend of mine, so beautifully states in the booklet that accompanies this unique and beautiful deck, “(…) You are the grace and ease and flow of the stingray as you navigate life’s waters.” 

Note: I just want to point out that I wrote that second paragraph, above, before I chose the card on our behalf. So I had to laugh – when faced with the sense that I wasn’t supposed to do things the way I first ‘thought’ I was going to, instead of balking and forcing things, I chose to ‘go with the flow.’

I’m guessing I’ll need to keep that up. We all will.

*There may be less actual flocking when it comes to the Arctic Ocean, but I’m sure it happens.

(T-507)

Enormous Thunderstorms – Day 603

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Photo: L. Weikel

Enormous Thunderstorms

We were bombarded this afternoon. The oppressive heat that’s been building over the past several days yielded to a 20 degree drop in temperature this afternoon when waves of enormous thunderstorms arrived from the south.

Massive, angry-looking banks of deep slate-gray thunderheads slid into our area. As the front arrived, it almost felt like the onslaught of alien invaders. The sky darkened and wind suddenly started whipping around, swinging the birdfeeders and sending the wind chimes into a clamoring frenzy.

We could hear the rain approaching before it arrived. Sheets and sheets of it cascaded from the heavens immediately overflowing not only our home’s gutters but also the creek across the road. What might qualify as a small pond appeared near our barn within 20 minutes.

Soothing Noise

As these storms arrived, our home became so dark in the middle of the afternoon that it could easily have passed for an hour past sunset. The steady pelting of the massive raindrops created such a uniform clatter that, along with the darkness, I felt compelled to listen. I lay down on our bed and simply allowed Mother Nature to soothe my soul.

Laying on the bed in the darkness, I stopped thinking. I felt held by the storm; comforted by the wild saturation and ultimate letting loose of all that moisture.

Temporary Respite

Sadly, the respite from the blanketing heat was short-lived. We never did get a walk in today, although we did manage to mow the lawn before the rain arrived. I just went outside again before settling in to write this post and was shocked to feel how thick and warm the air is again. Warmer than I expected at this late hour.

This month is going to be intense. I feel it in my bones.

Photo: L. Weikel

(T-508)

Evening Stroll – Day 602

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Fawns and Moms – Photo: L. Weikel

Evening Stroll

It sure was hot today. While I spent the majority of the day sitting outside on our porch writing on my laptop, I nevertheless found the heat oppressive. And I have to admit, as the day wore on and the heat seemed only to bake itself in, I despaired of managing even an evening stroll.

At one point, Karl came outside, either awed or disgusted by the fact that I was (in his opinion) torturing myself by working on the porch, to give me an update on the projected hourly temperatures for the rest of the day and evening. Upon the completion of his recitation, I just looked at him. “Your point?” I asked when he didn’t seem to get the intent behind my baleful stare.

“Guess we’re not going to walk again today,” he stated. “I don’t know how you can even stand sitting out here. It’s barely going to cool down at all – unless we wait to walk around midnight.”

I snorted at that. While I might be game for a midnight walk, we both knew he’d be fast asleep long before that witching hour.

It’s All Relative

A few hours later, I was putting two containers of freshly made potato salad and a big bowl of watermelon salad into the refrigerator, the vast majority of my meal preparation for the week completed. While it was admittedly hot work, Karl’s earlier provision of a weather advisory had tipped me off that the next several days look pretty uniformly oppressive.

I wanted both salads to chill in the refrigerator a while, so I lobbied for at least a quick stop sign for Sheila’s constitutional. (Karl will do almost anything for his little girl.) The sun was setting and even though the temperature hadn’t dropped dramatically, it did feel like a walk might be bearable now that the sun was no longer boring down on us.

A quick trip to the stop sign with Sheila not only yielded results for her, but also confirmed for us that it’s all relative: the setting of the sun actually made an evening stroll enticing, despite the fact that the actual air temperature was only about ten degrees lower than it was all afternoon.

So we managed to get a two mile walk-around under our belts (after taking Sheila back to the house). Wow, did we need it; the weather the prior two days had been either too oppressive or too wet to walk. A third day of no walking would’ve been ugly.

A Lovely Calm

Not only did we see two does and two fawns romping in a field, we were also treated to an evening without crackles and booms. Instead, we heard crickets and a catbird chattering its song, a breeze (albeit a warm one) shushing leaves high in the treetops.

I can’t say I’m not still waiting for that other shoe to drop. But for an hour or so this evening, peace and calm were the order of the day. May it extend into the week for all of us.

(T-509)

New Normal – Day 601

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Photo: L. Weikel

New Normal

Check out the amazing fireworks display we reveled in this evening. Surprisingly, this extravaganza was provided not by a local municipality or community organization. No, these spectacular pyrotechnics were courtesy of our son and daughter-in-law’s neighbors. Yep. Neighbors. Welcome to what just might be our new normal.

Perhaps you’re thinking, “What’s your beef?” Certainly a fair question looking at these photos.

Photo: L. Weikel

I’ll readily admit – these were the best fireworks I’ve attended in many years – and possibly, given the totality of the circumstances (proximity, vantage point, beverages and dinner at our fingertips – not to mention the ‘company’ we kept) the best ever.

But there’s something unsettling in the fact that at least three or four sets of neighbors were setting off fireworks of this caliber all around us, while hundreds of families in our area are literally finding it hard to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Goddess help them if they ‘catch the Covid’ and need hospitalization.

Old Imbalances

Let me be clear: I do not begrudge the neighbors their ability to purchase and set off professional-grade fireworks. I wish them the best of luck with it and hope they both know what they’re doing and do it safely.

Indeed, I am grateful we were able to benefit from their largesse.

But I think that’s the hitch. Call me sentimental, but it just doesn’t feel quite the same when our Independence Day celebrations are not being sponsored for the benefit of the community by our municipalities or large civic groups but by individuals wealthy enough to purchase veritable arsenals of firepower.

Photo: L. Weikel

There used to be a sense of shared appreciation for fireworks that wowed us and sent chills down our spines at the beauty and sense of awe they inspired. Usually they were sponsored by our local municipalities or large civic groups. And that was part of the magic: the sense that we were coming together and sharing our resources (tax dollars) to put on a show we could all enjoy, celebrating our Declaration of Independence.

To me, it’s starting to feel like we’re living more and more in a country of haves and have-nots, with a stark and unequivocal divide between the two. And the number of people comprising these groups is not nearly evenly divided, not even close. I realize I’m almost certainly a bit late to this party – the divide has always existed, of course – and lately it’s been growing exponentially.

Seeing Inequality and Seeking Freedom

More and more, I see and feel our shared sense of community is being lost. (Perhaps that’s the great hope and excitement so many of us feel as we come together in support of Black Lives Matter and similar social justice movements.) There’s a growing appreciation for the vast inequality – and therefore lack of freedom – experienced by so many, and a concomitant commitment to seek that freedom for all.

I fear losing our commonality, our shared sense of being in this ‘thing’ together. Maybe this is our new normal. And maybe this loss is weakening the very foundation of what we’re supposed to be celebrating today.

Given the changes we’ve experienced in the past six months, how different will next 4th of July be? And giving voice to the unthinkable, I have to wonder: will we celebrate it at all?

Photo: L. Weikel

(T-510)

Mesa Rode Shotgun – Day 600

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Photo: L. Weikel

Mesa Rode Shotgun

I took a ride late this afternoon to enjoy a little bit of alone time with my beloved Tohickon Creek. But I’ll be honest: it wasn’t enough. I’m going to have to go back – and soon. My mesa rode shotgun, though. And I’m pleased to report, as can be seen, she was considerate of others.

Even though it’s easy for me to maintain complete isolation when I go to the creek (primarily because I won’t stop or sit along her banks if there are any human beings in sight), I find I’ve not been to the Tohickon anywhere near as often as usual. I realize it’s not because I’m wary of visiting the creek. It’s because I so rarely get in my car and drive anywhere anymore.

Yes, I can walk there from our house, and I do – occasionally. But my more routine visits were always spontaneous stops on my way to, but more often than not on my way home from, client appointments, errands, and various other excursions.

As a result of the pandemic, I barely drive anywhere anymore.

Refreshment

This was the temperature display at a bank along Route 611 this evening. While I grant that this outdoor thermometer tends to routinely lean toward the high side, I can vouch that my car’s thermometer indicated 90 degrees at that same moment. And as you can see, it was nearly 6:00 p.m. when I took this photo. Earlier in the day, it had been even hotter.

Imagine, then, my gratitude when a mere mile and a half away, I pulled off the road and alongside my favorite place in the world. How could I feel anything other than magically refreshed, allowing myself to drink in the serenity of this place?

Tohickon – Cool Respite – Photo: L. Weikel

Reflection

I’m finding myself contemplative on this eve of our country’s birth. I am marveling at how different this 4th of July weekend feels, for so many reasons, obviously.

Because of the pandemic, we’re not going to be traveling to Connecticut, where we’ve celebrated for decades. That’s a big break from tradition, and I feel wistful recalling the homemade blueberry muffins and Motherpeace readings, to name a few of my favorite memories. (Not to mention Jarts, croquet, lobsters, Wimbledon, and a myriad other treasured experiences.)

On a larger scale – from the personal to the national – it feels like this Independence Day is being viewed through a completely new pair of glasses. Suddenly, we’re seeing who we are as a country with an incredible new clarity that’s both deeply uncomfortable and also truly liberating.

The fact that we’re even discussing our historic oppression and mistreatment of our fellow Americans (including those who called this land home for thousands of years before white people ever stepped onto these shores) is heartening and exciting.

This is our history. It is important to tell the truth, even if it’s ugly and painful. Because that’s where our true freedom rests. In honesty. In gratitude. In forgiveness.

Tohickon – magical reflection; Photo: L. Weikel

(T-511)

Chill Out – Day 599

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Old Man In Repose Among the Clouds – Photo: L. Weikel

Chill Out

Ha ha – I’m undoubtedly dating myself with the title to this post. Meh – that’s ok. There could be a lot worse phrases from my youth that I could proffer at this moment. “Chill out,” seems to be one of the most benign.

All the signs are here. We’re receiving a message. Are we listening?

Even the dramatic change we’re experiencing in the weather appears to be making a statement. (Of course, I’m speaking for eastern Pennsylvania, but I’m pretty sure many other places are getting a similar message.) It was oppressively hot today. And if the Weather Channel is worth its salt, we apparently have many more days ahead of us, all in a row, to practice our ability to remain calm, cool, and collected in the midst of one shit storm after another.

Even Walking Was Rough

We put off walking until the last possible moment this evening. And even then the heat took a toll on all of us. Spartacus panted the whole way and we only did our two mile jaunt.

Meanwhile, Sheila’s been sitting out on our walks for several days now, only managing to stroll up the road a piece and back again. Just enough to get her system moving enough to qualify as a ‘constitutional.’

Taking Cues From The Man

When I saw this guy so obviously in repose in the sky yesterday, I had to take his photo. I knew he was bringing all of us a message.

It’s time to stay home. Kick back. Stay cool. Read a book. Wear a mask.

Yup.

I’m taking my cues from the Man In the Sky: “Chill out.” I suggest we all heed his advice while we can.

Old Man in Repose Close Up – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-512)

The Other Shoe – Day 598

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Innocent Clouds – Photo: L. Weikel

The Other Shoe

We’re all waiting for it. You know it; I know it. We can pretend we’re going about our normal daily lives (such as they are in the Pandemic Times), but we’re all just actually treading water, biding our time. We’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.

That’s sort of how Karl and I felt as we took our walk this evening. The sky was actually relatively clear when we set out. There were some scattered, darker clouds to our north, but I checked the Weather Channel app on my phone and – sure enough – it was still declaring there was only a 20% chance of precipitation, hour by hour, for the rest of the evening.

We walked another quarter mile or so and very nearly turned back.

But then we just said the heck with it. We continued along our longer, four mile, walk-about.

Thunderhead Gathering

As we got further and further away from our home (and shelter), the clouds that had appeared to be traveling east seemed to descending upon us moment by moment. We climbed the largest hill on our trek and saw thunderheads amassing in the distance, while the sun broke through in those magical, celestial rays that, to me, always remind me of the presence of the God I first imagined as a child.

Meanwhile, as we walked and kept our vision mostly affixed to the skies above, we kept debating between ourselves whether the clouds were coming toward us or skirting us. Would we get walloped or would we managed to witness the impending storms merely from afar?

As we reached the apex of our journey, the place where we are furthest away from anywhere we can take shelter, we were rather shocked to notice thunderheads approaching us from the southeast now. It was as if they’d circled around and were herding us, prodding us on, while we could see equally threatening thunderheads gathering in the northwest.

Thunderheads amassing – Photo: L. Weikel

Discretion Was the Better Part

We arrived at a final decision point in our longer walkabout. We reached the intersection where we can proceed along the dirt road, which takes us another 1.5 miles, or turn right and get ourselves home in only about half a mile. Thunder rumbled in the distance, but perhaps it would never arrive.

We started along the dirt road, but only managed about ten steps when – again – something caused us to look at each other and decide otherwise. We turned around and took the shorter way home.

Along the way, ground to cloud lightning, ‘chain’ lightning, sizzled to the northeast. We were indeed surrounded. Rain splattered intermittently, but we made it home without getting soaked.

Once safely inside, I started making dinner and noticed how orangey-dark the whole house was. The color infusing our kitchen was definitely weird. I tried to capture it. This doesn’t do it justice. Then all of a sudden, the skies opened. The other shoe dropped.

It was as if hell was raining down upon us.

Before the shoe dropped – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-513)