A dark day

‘Twas a dark and stormy night—truly it was. The gods were holding a bowling tournament in the heavens—that was my mother’s explanation for thunder when I was a child. Maybe because of her approach, she raised two children who like nothing better than a good storm. I love to cuddle down in the covers at night and listen to the thunder rumble.

Sophie, no so much. In the wee hours this morning, she jumped up on the bed and made herself a nest, forcing my legs to curl around her. And she has looked pretty miserable all day today. Just now, with the thunder long gone and the rain stopped hours ago, she declined my offer to go aside. Her look said, “Really? You’d make me go out there?” I’m going out to dinner in a few minutes, and I’m afraid she’ll have to go before I get back. I just bribed her with the promise of a treat, and she went outside.

No doubt it was a fearsome storm. This morning when I sat down at my desk, I saw that Christian’s prize bougainvillea, always perched in a big, heavy pot on the corner of the deck railing, had blown down. He came out shortly and put it back in place, but when the skies grew night-dark again, he came out and put it down on the deck. It was so dark and raining so hard about nine this morning that it was truly spooky. Rain continued most of the morning but was gone by tonight.

As we went to dinner tonight, we could see that traffic was really backed up on University Drive, so we went the back way. Jean said a major sewer line had popped its top and was gushing water onto University. Apparently, a problem common through the area, where runoff in several locations created major problems.

We have had a problem with dirt from the front yard washing onto the sidewalk in storms. There’s a slight slope, and the lantana I planted in one spot is not flourishing enough to hold the dirt. So yesterday the yard guys put mulch on it and edging around it—you guessed it? There’s slippery mud on the sidewalk again. Jordan took pictures and sent them to the owner of the yard company, who responded with “Yikes!” Not sure where we go from here on that one.

Looks like we have a bit of sunshine and then more rain. Always grateful.

Nice dinner tonight with Betty and Jean. Perfectly cooked scallops with Caesar salad at Pacific Table. I had read an article about drying scallops before cooking—probably what made me want them—but there were great. More salt and pepper than I would have used, but it made them just right.

End of a long day. Sophie is glad to see it gone, and so am I.