Tuesday ushered in a prolonged, noisy thunderstorm that appeared to stall above the house with flashes of lightening that I began to think were seeking me out.
“Oi! Come outside so we can get you!”
Nothing doing. I do not challenge electrical storms. For once the birds would have to wait.
Electricity is something I learned about at a very young age. When I was about 4, I was sitting on the kitchen floor eating an orange and left with a bit of peel, somehow decided to stick it into the electric fire, – one of those things that had a number of bars encased with filaments.
It is not a good idea. Don’t do it.
Luckily, the shock I received was only slight, but it was enough to teach me respect.
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Even deaf Lily became aware of the noise, as it shook the house and sent the others fleeing for cover in various parts of the house.
It’s been ages since we had thunder and it caused me to remember the many tropical storms I experienced so many years ago. Though I cautiously stayed indoors, I found them exciting.
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What’s not to love about the sight of towering thunderheads?
Aviators and sailors may be less keen and admittedly, although I enjoyed being caught in a warm tropical downpour, I preferred to view them from a safe distance, if I was aboard a ‘plane or boat.
But I love the drama and the passion of a big storm.
The pounding of waves on a beach, or thrown against a cliff, the raw fury of Nature!
And the serene calm that follows.
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Nature is indeed wonderful.
And at times quite terrifying. She needs to be respected.
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We can study Her and we can harness some of her manifestations, but we should remember that we are ourselves a product of Nature and a microscopic part, at that.
The change I have seen in myself since coming to live in the country has proved to me how damaging it is for human beings to isolate themselves in concrete jungles. To live that way is unnatural. It deprives us of vital nourishment – of the mind and soul.
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That is my belief anyway.
Respect, I’ve always said, must be earned.
Electricity is a manifestation of Nature and it earned my respect long ago.
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I also received an electric shock as a child, (around 8 years old) when I was trying to plug something in to a socket that was already overloaded with extra attachments. I remember the sensation running through my body, and my arm being flung upward into the air. It also blew one or more fuses, which my dad fixed with fuse wire. Walking Ollie in bad thunderstorms made me wary of lightning whan I was older. I had seen trees split vertically by strikes, and could only imagine what one would do to me.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thank you, Carolyn, for the wonderful thoughts about the beneficence of living with nature and the respect we should learn for her power. As always, I loved the memories of your childhood. Although I like walking in the rain, I am safely at home during the storm.
Joanna
Here in the Western Cape where we live now, thunderstorms are not a common sight. But during the three years in the Eastern Cape, we regularly had summer thunderstorms – at first, I also wanted to, like your cats, find shelter, but later it was wonderful to experience (from a safe distance of course). I agree, to have respect for nature is to live in harmony with it.