An intimate engagement with a stormy future
Needless to say the current weather seems rather hot and oppressive to me, but I can already see dark business-type clouds edging their way in.
As with many other places, growing up on the prairies means that dramatic storms always make their way into your life in one form or another. It can also conjure up memories that you'd long forgotten. Of course, considering the amount of information I forgot, you'd think me an inverted funnel!
For some reason I was brought to recall a early summer evening when I was young, most likely clad in my usual sneakered attire; complete with shorts and horizontally striped shirt. Man, I was so dapper! My brother, sister and I were out on the front street playing ball hockey. I remember it always being somewhat discouraging as Lindsay and I would be on the same time and my brother Greg would just run circles around us... but at least we got the fancy hockey net! Though more likely this was just as it gave Greg a better target... hmmm!
This was probably some time after the street in front of our house had been paved; it had always been oiled gravel up until that time... and the tar was still black instead of grey, and just the best street hockey venue a kid could've wished for. It was one of those summer storms that arrives so quickly after a really hot day, the purple-blue clouds looming up over the tree tops. I remember the colours being so vivid, the darkness of the clouds, how green the grass seemed and the black smoothness of the street. The amazing thing was how absolutely still the air as the clouds moved in. Just standing in place you felt the temperature dropping. There was the absolutely magic feeling of tension in the air as the stillness began, even the birds stopped singing.
It's all still very vivid to me... there wasn't that haze that I so often associate with summer now, but vibrant colours and the pre-storm smell of all the plants and flowers.
Of course, as was most proper when a storm came up, it was imperative that I got my butt in the house and seal up all the windows. As we all know, if you don't seal the house as a kid, it'll end up filling with water! Once my mission was successful I would watch the storm by the big picture window in the front of the house and count the time between the lightning and thunder.
All my memories of storms haven't been that pleasant, but this one just suddenly came rushing back. I miss the greens and blues that can probably only ever exist in memory.
As with many other places, growing up on the prairies means that dramatic storms always make their way into your life in one form or another. It can also conjure up memories that you'd long forgotten. Of course, considering the amount of information I forgot, you'd think me an inverted funnel!
For some reason I was brought to recall a early summer evening when I was young, most likely clad in my usual sneakered attire; complete with shorts and horizontally striped shirt. Man, I was so dapper! My brother, sister and I were out on the front street playing ball hockey. I remember it always being somewhat discouraging as Lindsay and I would be on the same time and my brother Greg would just run circles around us... but at least we got the fancy hockey net! Though more likely this was just as it gave Greg a better target... hmmm!
This was probably some time after the street in front of our house had been paved; it had always been oiled gravel up until that time... and the tar was still black instead of grey, and just the best street hockey venue a kid could've wished for. It was one of those summer storms that arrives so quickly after a really hot day, the purple-blue clouds looming up over the tree tops. I remember the colours being so vivid, the darkness of the clouds, how green the grass seemed and the black smoothness of the street. The amazing thing was how absolutely still the air as the clouds moved in. Just standing in place you felt the temperature dropping. There was the absolutely magic feeling of tension in the air as the stillness began, even the birds stopped singing.
It's all still very vivid to me... there wasn't that haze that I so often associate with summer now, but vibrant colours and the pre-storm smell of all the plants and flowers.
Of course, as was most proper when a storm came up, it was imperative that I got my butt in the house and seal up all the windows. As we all know, if you don't seal the house as a kid, it'll end up filling with water! Once my mission was successful I would watch the storm by the big picture window in the front of the house and count the time between the lightning and thunder.
All my memories of storms haven't been that pleasant, but this one just suddenly came rushing back. I miss the greens and blues that can probably only ever exist in memory.