wind

Wild Weather – Day 1083

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Simply Stunning (Day Before Wild Weather) – Photo: L. Weikel

Wild Weather

Today’s wild weather reminds me a bit of the storm we had ten years ago right around now that dumped a whole lot of snow on us. Because it came so early in the season, the trees still retained an abundance of leaves, which made the heavy, wet snow especially damaging. Not only did we lose the stunning fall foliage too early that year, but massive branches and sometimes entire trees also succumbed to the weight of the snow and the sheer power of the wind.

I’m not even sure why I’m thinking about that vulnerability at the moment. Maybe it’s just sitting here listening to the wind rattle our shutters and cause the maples, ash, black walnut, and shagbark hickory trees surrounding us to groan and creak.

It makes me wonder whether the trees ever remember those other times – when as bad as this weather is, it was worse.

Ascension Sunset – Photo: L. Weikel

Slogging Through Rain and Memories

Karl and I went to a high school production tonight, the first one we’ve been to in probably ten years, maybe eleven. Not only did it bring back a cascade of memories from the nearly twenty years of school productions that included our sons, it was also one of our first forays out into a crowded public place in nearly two years.

It was a mixed bag, to be honest. A lot of people weren’t wearing masks. But even before we encountered people in an enclosed space, to get into the high school itself we had to race across a huge parking lot in wind-driven rain that instantly soaked us, in spite of our rain gear. The school’s parking lots were wall-to-wall cars. We were startled to see police on hand to direct traffic, but it all made much more sense when we asked someone which building to go into and heard there was a football game taking place as well.

Just the thought of attending a football game in that weather made me feel old. No thanks.

The production itself was fun and well done, and the cast clearly took great delight in finally getting back up on stage after the pandemic hiatus. There’s a palpable exhilaration that exudes from a cast that enjoys playing together. It’s been a long time since I basked in that feeling as a member of an audience.

So much going on in this… Photo: L. Weikel

Life is Different

I know it’s trite for me to say, “life is different.” I mean, seriously. Duh. But even just driving to and from the production, things felt shifted, somehow. Moved to one side. Perhaps it was the weather. Maybe it was the prospect of the impending reversion back to standard time lingering in the back of my mind. Just the thought of it getting ‘this dark’ an hour earlier had a chilling effect on my mood.

But then, once again, the whipping wind, pouring rain, and tree limbs littering the roadway somehow reconnected me with the primal reality that we so often forget when tucked inside our cocoons.

I have no photos of the wildness of tonight. But I’m happy to share some of the photos I took yesterday of a ravishingly captivating sunset.

Honestly, I don’t even know where to begin with these photos. I probably could’ve just as easily skipped all my words tonight and simply shared these images. They evoke something within me that verges on…I don’t even know what. Something else. A reality decidedly a few clicks away from ‘this’ one.

(T-28)

Thunderstorms – Day 892

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Thunderstorms Approach – Photo: L. Weikel

Thunderstorms

What a powerful line of thunderstorms came through our area early this afternoon. To be honest, I thought I was ahead of the game. I persuaded Karl to take our usual walk earlier today, knowing that we were supposed to get some wild weather and that storms would be ushering in some substantially chillier temperatures. I don’t know about you, but once the warmer weather sets in, I’m no longer as hardy a wanderer. If I can walk without freezing my behind off, I’m all for it.

It’s for this reason Karl and I jauntily ventured out on a walkabout just after noon. I thought we had a window of about 90 minutes or so to get our longer walk in before the cold front hit.

I was mistaken.

We were just past the Hounds of the Baskervilles when my phone issued its satellite-sound that tells me a weather alert has been sent. A line of thunderstorms was approaching our area, it said, and the front was traveling at a speed of 40 m.p.h. Scanning the horizon to our west, I could see perhaps some slightly grayer clouds, but nothing remarkable. I checked the ‘fine print’ of the warning: all of the towns mentioned as being in the storm’s path were substantially west and north of us.

“Let’s keep going,” I said. “I think we’ll be ok.”

I swear, as soon as those words came out of my mouth, the wind shifted. Not only was it palpable, it was audible as well. The trees alongside the road started whispering. There was a swirling sensation above us, a stirring-things-up sort of vibe.

Just as we got home – Photo: L. Weikel

 

 

About Face

Standing in the middle of the road, we were conflicted. We knew we didn’t want to risk getting drenched. And even more, we didn’t want to get caught in lightning.

“Ya think a two is do-able?” Karl asked. We again peered at the western horizon. It still didn’t look particularly threatening, and I pointed out that the warning didn’t include any towns near us.

“Better to be safe than sorry,” I sighed. “Let’s do a two now; and if the storms pass soon enough, maybe we can get another walk in later.”

And so we did an about face and walked back up the road about half a mile to our other route. Spartacus particularly enjoyed our decision to retrace our steps because it gave him a second chance in one day to exchange smack talk with The Hounds.

But in the short time it took us to walk the half mile back and then a half mile along the other road, dark, almost bluish-gray clouds were billowing toward us. Our decision to turn back was definitely affirmed, and it was only a few minutes later that we wondered whether we’d even make it around the shorter route. The photo above is what we saw on the horizon. This storm was barreling toward us. The brunt of it might be threatening north and west of us, but yikes – it sure looked like we were going to get smacked by the edge of it.

Profiles from the porch – Photo: L. Weikel

 

Discretion

As my mother used to say, “discretion being the better part of valor,” we decided that this rapidly moving front was nothing to mess with. We turned around yet again. By the time we got back to the house, thunder was rumbling in the distance and the wind was starting to descend from the tops of the tallest trees and starting to rustle the middle range.

Being the storm junkie that I am, I sat on the porch and watched it come in. The wind chimes were losing their minds. Looking northwest from our porch, the clouds appeared to form profiles as they rode their breath across the sky, not unlike classic images of the North Wind, only these two didn’t puff their cheeks.

Worse, though, were the petals. Oooh, so many petals, mostly from the cherry trees, filled the air like a blizzard. But then, in the midst of all the petals, pellets of hail started clattering on the bird feeders and grill top, and bouncing all over the road. It was wild.

Lucky for us, we listened to the wind and heeded the threat of those slate gray and black clouds that appeared so quickly on our horizon. Within moments, the temperature plummeted and the day felt totally different.

The old – and maybe even some of the new – was swept up and away.

Petals & Hail – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-219)

A Promise – Day 852

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Bluebird – Photo: L. Weikel

A Promise

Today’s walk-about was, in a word, exquisite. Not only was the weather that perfect combination of warm sunshine and refreshingly brisk breezes, it was also a promise. Even if the wild winds that are whooshing outside right now usher in another spate of cold weather, we know the end of winter is close enough to taste.

Sitting with Karl out on our porch once again, shuffling and choosing our Medicine Cards* on the day, and enjoying a mug of coffee together is pretty close to my idea of heaven. But when we came upon this spectacular bluebird on our walk this afternoon, and it allowed me to get close enough for this amazing photo, we knew it was heralding a shift in the energies of the day, but also the season.

Looking at that photograph I feel a sense of awe. I also recognize a sense of un-self-conscious audacity in the attitude of this little bluebird.

A Snack

Recently we’ve barely had to fill the feeders. Of course, that’s due to the vigilant presence of our new Red-shouldered friends, who continue to whoop it up at all times of the day, sky-dancing and crying their sweet nothings to each other in raucous love-calls. The feeder birds must be getting hungry – it’s obvious their meals have been disrupted by raptor threats.

There’s no doubt tomorrow will be much cooler. I can hear the wind ushering in a cold front. At least there’s no rain in the forecast for the moment. If these March winds keep it up, though, I’m definitely going to have to go hunting for our porch pillows. They’ve probably ended up across a couple fields by now.

I’m sorry; I’m being lulled into the dreamtime by the whipping of the wind this evening. That, and the luscious feeling of having taken the long way today.

I hope more walks are on the horizon for this weekend. And maybe even some more bluebird encounters.

Don’t forget to plant some dream seeds! Spring is almost here. And a new cycle is starting.

*affiliate link

(T-259)

No Lamb Today – Day 841

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Wild Afternoon Sky – Photo: L. Weikel

No Lamb Today

Without even going outside this morning, I could hear the runoff of melted snow coursing along the side of our road. Water rushed through a tunnel of compacted snow, amplifying the sound of its frenzied quest to join either the Tohickon or the Delaware, whichever was quickest and easiest to access. The sky was gray but the air was mild, content to simply do the job of melting winter’s whites. I truly thought I had this ‘first day’ pegged; but alas, March was no lamb today.

Oh sure, every once in a while the sun tried to push through and shake things up, but it was a heavy lift. The day just felt sort of blah.

Only when I had to run out to the post office in the late afternoon did I start rethinking my assessment. Snarling clouds were building in the west and I sensed a growing energy that felt distinctly leonine. I stopped by the creek to pay my respects and everything just felt dismal and swollen.

Swollen Tohickon – Photo: L. Weikel

 

Overflowing her banks – Photo: L. Weikel

Transformation

An hour later, Karl and I were heading out with Spartacus. The weather transformed before our very eyes. There was the barest hint that change was coming as we rounded the first corner. Those dark billowing layers of slate gray clouds had almost magically given way to a speckled sky of marshmallow puffs.

The longer we walked, the more dramatically everything shifted. Another mile under our belts and overhead the puffs poofed and their background of blue became the main event.

As we crested the final hill, the power behind the shift made itself known. We kept looking behind ourselves, thinking the whooshing sound we heard was an approaching car. But no, it was the wind, and that wind started buffeting us, moving us along, and most definitely ‘blowing the dust off’ our attitudes.

Speckled Sky of Puffs – Photo: L. Weikel

This Evening

As I sit here writing the title of this post, ‘No Lamb Today,’ the catalyzing wind has only become wilder and is making our normally melodious wind chimes clang vociferously. (I should probably bring them in.)  The lights have dimmed at least four times this evening, but we’ve mercifully been spared a complete loss of electricity. So far, anyway. It’s a wonder.

At the moment, it feels like the wind is angry and determined to root out and whisk away anything that isn’t grounded and in it for the long haul. Its roar is unmistakably declaring that March 2021 is coming in like a lion.

May it clear away the Covid! Help us all start fresh. It’s a new month – a month of new growth, of hope, of life returning to the surface of our consciousness. The month that brings us spring.

All in the span of two hours – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-270)

Love It – Day 766

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Mid-storm – Photo: L. Weikel

Love It

I’m sitting here in the silence that is actually anything but silent. The snow and sleet that’s been coming down steadily in very fine flakes (and crystals) all day since 2:00 p.m. continues to swirl and tink-tink-tink against our windows. I love it. And the wind!

Clearly this is no light and fluffy affair. Nope. And it would appear both the state and township are deciding there’s no point in trying to get ahead of this storm. I don’t think I’ve seen one plow go by yet, and we’re approaching 11 hours of virtually non-stop precipitation.

There’s a seriously icy edge to this storm, too. Although perhaps because of that and the weight of the somewhat sleet-like particles raining from the sky, it doesn’t look like the accumulation is as high as one might expect. It’s hard to tell from inside, and truth be told (I must be getting old), Karl and I decided to forego a walk today.

Part of me is disappointed in us. But oh well. Maybe we’ll take two tomorrow. (Doubt it.)

A Strange Sight

I took the accompanying photos just a few minutes ago, to provide a comparison to the ones I used in my blog post the other day.

If you take a close look at the one below, there are some very odd markings on the front porch pillar facing the camera.

I quite distinctly see a face looking at me at the top of that column. And the whole ‘design’ is lovely. I can’t tell if it’s a pattern created by the precipitation (which would be weird) or if it’s just a trick of the light or the camera. But I can vouch for the fact that there’s no design on that column ordinarily, nor is there, especially, a face glancing in my direction. Usually, anyway.

Strange.

I hope all of you who are in the midst of it are enjoying this storm and don’t have to venture out in it (other than to play).

Bizarre designs on post – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-345)

Dreary Overload – Day 701

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Cloud Beast – Photo: L. Weikel

Dreary Overload

Wow, today’s weather was a dreary overload of dark skies, chilling rain, and wind intent on whipping the just-turning leaves into sopping wet blankets of yellow and brown.

I’ve been riding such a high over the past several days that even when the skies occasionally clouded over or actually let loose with a downpour or two, I never once felt a sense of gloom. So today’s experience of the remnants of Hurricane Delta (so named because they ran through the entire alphabet of names for the season and were forced to start anew) was a bit of a shock to my system.

Over the Weekend

It feels like there’s almost been an inexplicable shift in everything since late last week. The outside world just isn’t feeling quite the same. It seems to have shifted into another level of absurd, beginning with the Vice-Presidential debate last Wednesday night.

Listening to the answers given by each of the candidates was like listening to two people from different galaxies. For instance, it felt surreal to watch Pence spew lie after lie about the supposedly outstanding response to the pandemic martialed by the current Administration. And the repeated interruptions, rudely interjecting under a guise of folksy passive aggression that made me want to scream in disgust.

After watching that debate, however, I became immersed in the last minute tasks and festivities leading up to the wedding, which in turn mercifully distracted me from paying any further attention to the non-stop anxiety train.

Yes, I tangentially checked in every once in a while to make sure I wasn’t missing some imminent threat to our well-being, but the truth is that I only started tuning in again today. And I have to admit, there’s a part of me that yearns to go back to the person I was years ago who generally paid only half a mind to political sparring and policy discussions.

But can you put that toothpaste back in the tube? I doubt it.

Conflicted

I’ll admit it: I’m conflicted. As someone said tonight, we only have 22 days left until this election. If we want to peer into the mirror and look ourselves in the eye, posing the question of whether we did everything we could to make the world a better place on November 3rd, then we need to put our thoughts and actions into service today.

There’s so much at stake; it’s hard to feel I’m doing enough. But perhaps I can chalk up at least a portion of my malaise to a bliss hangover made worse by hurricane detritus.

(T-410)

Sheila Speaks For Me – Day 431

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Sheila Reacting to the State of the World – Photo: L. Weikel

Sheila Speaks For Me

The wind is howling outside, banging and clattering our wind chimes, making our window panes rattle back and forth and our front door occasionally burst open, not unlike Kramer making an entrance on Seinfeld.

Both the melodic clanging and the <<kloop kloop>> of our bamboo chimes outside sound so wild and undisciplined, I wish I could just stand on the edge of my porch and allow all the garbage of the world to whisk itself into the ethers.

If only it were so easy to clear away the old away.

Cleaning Out

Beginning during the days between Christmas and New Year’s, I’ve been sporadically binge-cleaning. I’ve donated a lot to charity, given away a fair share to family, sent some off to recycling, and thrown a bunch of stuff away entirely because it’s old, out of date, practically in tatters, or just astonishingly dumb to allow it to keep circulating in my inventory.

When I listen to that roaring wind blowing down the 611 corridor and into my living room, I’m hoping it will serve to further clean me up, clear me out, and coalesce The Tower’s presence and utterly necessary process in my life.

Everything is Changing

Beyond my personal needs and experience, today, with the official opening of the Senate Trial and the concurrent revelation and exposure of new evidence of – and rulings on – the impropriety (if not outright illegality) of certain behaviors of DT, it feels like these whipping winds are arriving just in time.

They’re stirring up, clearing out, sweeping away the lies upon lies we’ve been told for years now – the denials and demands that we not believe our own eyes and ears – by a myriad of actors, a tragic number of whom have taken oaths to act on behalf of the good of our country. And I wonder, if you look around in your own life: are there people or situations about which you’ve been told lies or, perhaps worse, have been lying about to yourself?

Have the north winds arrived with sudden, sweeping gusts, blowing away the unnaturally warm air of obfuscations to bring the cold clarity of truth?

It can be chilling on many levels to realize trust has been broken. That our faith in what we believed was true was, in fact, misplaced.

If any of these thoughts or feelings, worries or suspicions ring true for you during these tumultuous times, then perhaps you, too, feel like Sheila speaks for us all.

(T-680)

Raising the Roof on My Comfort Zone – Day 213

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Clouds parting and bringing clarity – Photo: L. Weikel

Raising the Roof on My Comfort Zone

As I mentioned last night, my decision to raise my rates has been a long time coming. It wasn’t a decision I made lightly, by any means.

Many factors played into my decision, as you might expect.

But yesterday, as I contemplated making my announcement public by writing about it here, I felt all my worries and doubts lining up for one last swipe at my decision.

The wind yesterday was brisk and it was chilly on our porch. I picked up the deck of Medicine Cards and walked, barefoot, onto our lawn, shuffling all the while. I looked up into the sky and watched the clouds, which had blanketed the sky only moments earlier, open up to reveal brilliant azure clarity above my head. I felt myself connecting with the cool green grass beneath my feet as I opened my heart to receiving one last oomph of GUIDANCE.

As I meandered, I said out loud to anyone who would hear (but really, I was addressing Spirit), that increasing my rates was really pushing me out of my comfort zone, that I was really feeling anxious and conflicted over it.

The Wind Steps In

At that, the wind whipped in, picked a card off the deck as I shuffled the cards in my hands and swept that card face down into the birdbath, which was full of fresh, clear rain water from the storms of the night before.

Miraculously, the card landed on the surface of the water gently and without a sound. I snatched the card up, refusing to allow the card to get ruined by plunging into a birdbath, gently wiping it to ensure no permanent damage was done.

The card that Spirit had chosen ‘for’ me was Ant. The keyword for Ant is Patience. Glancing at the rest of the deck, which I continued to clutch in my left hand, I saw that Black Panther was stalking my pick, informing me on how I should interpret that “Spirit-assisted” pick. Black Panther’s keyword are ‘Embracing the Unknown.”

Wow. OK. I felt totally OK with having PATIENCE, which was interesting, because years and years ago, that was the single-word response I received when I took one of my first journeys and asked for guidance. I simply saw the word PATIENCE – in all caps – right in front of my closed eyelids. That frustrated me to no end.

Patience/Embracing the Unknown

But this time? It felt good. It felt OK. I felt that Spirit was telling me to FOLLOW THROUGH with this shift (of which raising my rates is a part) and to have patience. Yes, it may cause me to ‘lose’ potential clients that would have come to me had I left my rates where they’ve been for 15 years. But if I have patience (and accept that this IS a leap from my comfort zone – “into the VOID OF THE UNKNOWN”) things may work out in ways I cannot even fathom right now.

Yes, I must leap (Black Panther), but first and foremost, I MUST EXERCISE PATIENCE. Which means yeah, I’m probably going to encounter some backlash and some scary times. Yeah, it’s not necessarily going to be easy or a walk in the park. But it is the right thing to do.

I’ll admit that this was my first true ‘hit’ on what the Ant/Black Panther combo was telling me.

Doubt Rears Its Head

But then, of course, my freaking nemesis, doubt – that Spirit could actually, truly, be encouraging me to think bigger, dream bigger, to believe that I am here to help deliver a message, in service, that people will benefit from hearing and incorporating into their lives – kicked in.

I chastised myself: Maybe the Ant card landing in the birdbath meant, “Yeah, you need to just settle down. Don’t act in haste by raising your rates so dramatically. Settle the $#%@ down. Be patient.”

And that thought just felt awful. I felt every cell in my body droop. It deflated me and made me feel sad – as if I were letting myself down in the worst way.

Realizing how profoundly my old habits of indulging my doubt and second-guessing the message I’d intuited with such crystal clarity in those first moments made me feel utterly defeated, I chose, then and there, to honor my knowing.

I’m revealing these thoughts and the process through which I butted heads with my doubts to show that I understand how tough it can be to honor our knowing. When I ask clients to do hard things, it’s not as if I’m asking you to do anything I wouldn’t demand of my own self.

The Road Ahead – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-898)