Elemental Magic

Yesterday the weather went sort of berserk. As the afternoon wore on, it got hotter and more humid, to the point I worried the dogs were going to expire. They were panting like they'd both just raced nonstop in the Iditarod...without the cooling influence of ice and snow. I wasn't faring any better. Just sitting perfectly still--the only movement a languid stretch of my hand for my drink and the flick of a finger to turn the page on my Kindle--had sweat running down my temples.

By early evening however, the intensity of the sun disappeared under an ominous, and very sinister looking darkness that began to creep over the blue skies. Seriously, it was like some kind of B-movie zombies-coming-over-the-hill scenario. It wasn't fluffy storm clouds either. No, this was a black wave that relentlessly covered the sky, blotting out the light, and considering these weren't really actual storm clouds, when the thunder and lightning started it was strange, and creepy.

Course, the dogs came unglued, even Max who has never been bothered by thunder before, and though the heat just kept rising--the last time I checked it had reached 94*--it was the humidity that was truly unbearable. And then came the violent winds.  This chaotic End of Days excitement went on for a couple hours and I swear I could feel the barometric pressure rising with each roll of thunder, every strike of lightning. It was like this terrible fever that burned hotter and hotter until something had to give.

And finally, with a crack of thunder that rattled the windows, it began to rain in a flash flood deluge that was epic. I couldn't hear over the drumming on the roof, the wind lashing around the corners of the house, the pounding of my heart.

It was totally magnificent. Earthy and elemental and ferociously wild. Rain poured down the windows in sheets, thunder boomed, lightning strobed across the valley. A truly breathtaking display of Nature at her most tumultuous.

Then, about half an hour later, the winds died, the rain dropped to random sprinkles, and the entire sky turned into a brilliant yellow-orange mist...

At last, the fever had broken.

I opened all the windows and doors, and let the cool air waft into the house, then I took the boys outside and while they lifted their heads and sniffed into the breeze, I closed my eyes and took in great, deep breaths of clean, fresh air...and magic at its most primeval...