Yesterday was quite a day in our little valley.
It started off a picture-postcard kid of day. Breezes sent white cloud galleons skudding across the sky. Sun broke from behind them to illuminate the fall foliage below, warming my shoulders as I went for my morning walk.
Then the wind came. It howled between the buildings, making even the largest of trees sway and dance. It ripped leaves from the branches and swirled them in rust and gold tornadoes down the streets. Its prying fingers lifted shingles from roofs and snapped branches from fir trees and, all the while, sun shone through the rain clouds, and a succession of rainbows arched in vivid arches over the top of Mt. Prevost.
It was spectacular, and beautiful, and rare.
We're in a sheltered place here, and - in the four years since I moved back here - I've not seen a storm like this. I found myself drawn to the windows again and again, fascinated.
Trees broke and fell, and the lights went out. Almost the entire valley was without electricity for most of the day. Still, I watched the theatre outside until, just as suddenly as it appeared, the wind went away leaving quiet in its wake.
Rain clouds opened, polishing the pavement, and gluing leaves to sidewalks in an autumn collage. When the lights did come back on, streetlights formed pools of gold in inky black darkness, and car lights drew red and white streamers along the roadway.
This morning, Mother Nature's sweet temper is restored. The sun is shining again, and mild temperatures have returned. Vees of geese wing high overhead on their morning commute to the fields by the bay. Starlings have flocked to the red-berried tree beside my balcony, their hundreds of voices clearly audible from where I sit in the living room.
Changeable, our fall weather, and life as a whole. It's what makes the adventure: You never know what new wonder waits around the corner.
I hope that today brings you many wonderful, small surprises; little gifts of season, scenery, conversation, and love that you can unwrap one at a time as they're given to you.
Have a joyful Friday.
