Hot, Humid Summer Nights

We're in the middle of a heat wave -not that I'm complaining! It rained most all of June and the first half of July. Around here heat comes with humidity, and the air has been pretty thick. But now that I work in an air-conditioned office, and drive an air conditioned car, and have a.c. at home, it's not as brutal for me. (Hot Flash Mama that I am.)

EXCEPT. Last night - wicked hot and humid - and then a huge thunder and lightning storm. Power flickered a few times, then resumed. I thought we were going to make it. But our relief was short lived. Lightning either hit a transformer or knocked over a tree somewhere in the region, because power went out completely at 9:30pm. No air conditioner. No fans. No breeze through the hot, sticky air outside. And may I just say - "dark" in the country is REALLY DARK.

We keep oil lamps handy for these occasions. We lose power just often enough - lightning storms in summer, and winter storms, when the snow load is so heavy some big old tree or branch falls on lines somewhere. And, having lived in earthquake country for a number of years, I'm usually well prepared as far as batteries for radios and flashlights, etc.

But with all the construction going on, somebody moved my box of batteries. And we have stuff piled everywhere, that came out of the spaces under construction. Did we stumble around and stub toes and do a lot of cussing? Yes we did! (I protected my poor broken-on-the-cat toe).

Eventually we found the oil lamps and lit them, and stationed them strategically around the house. Then, because I couldn't find my "emergency boom box", we just sat around and sweat and complained about how miserably humid it was.

Eventually we stepped outside - risking West Nile disease from the hordes of mosquitoes. We have so many maple trees surrounding the house, when they're fully leafed out it's more of a challenge to find the night sky, but we did. And it was beautiful. With absolutely no man-made lights of any kind to interfere, it was breathtaking.

Here's something else we enjoyed... (photos found on internet because I couldn't find my ding dang camera in the dark)

(daytime photo)

You might recognize them better at night...