A quick visit and a BAD storm

So Tuesday night my cousin Ryan and his adorable and always charming girlfriend Michelle stopped by on their way to Boston, where they are both relocating for new jobs now that they have received their Master’s degrees. I had school but was looking forward to spending some time with them afterward. So I am sitting in class and it started to get really dark. Then the wind started to kick in and we heard something crack and heard a lot of noise and the lights started to flicker. So our teacher let us all jet out of class when the winds kicked up and lights started to flicker. On the way out we saw downed trees around campus and all started to run for our cars before the rains started. The sky looked very menacing and the winds were strong. The sky was completely lit up from the continuous lighting flashes. I even had my camera with me and thought about stopping to take some pictures of the damage on campus or even trying to capture some lightening. But I decided I didn’t want to risk hurting my camera if the sky decided to open up and start to pour which it did the minutes I shut the car door. Phew that was close!! (Yes I was more concerned about the camera getting rained on then I was about being struck by lightening or having a tree land on me)

(I did go back the next day and got a few shots of a large tree that was snapped.)








So as driving home listening to tree branches hit the roof of my mom’s convertible and praying that the stuff I was running over was just tree branches and nothing else I was thinking “mom is going to kill me if I hurt her car”. While driving and dodging trees I saw a huge bright flash right in front of me and thought, “this is it, I am about t see my life flash before my eyes.” No worries, it was just a bright flash from several downed power lines and some flames on the tree that caused the power lines to go down. Nothing like the smell of electrical based tree fires to get the heart racing while trying to drive in Hail and pounding rain. It took some time to get home finally because so many roads were closed or blocked by downed trees and power lines and no traffic lights were working.



So I finally make it home to find my mom is NOT home, which means she is out in my car so I no longer felt bad about any damage I might have inflicted on her car since mine was out there having its own damaged inflicted upon it. Hmm I realized a slight problem as I pulled into the driveway, well actually several slight problems. No power meant no working garage door opener, which meant no way to get into the LOCKED house, since I didn’t have a key with me. The next issues had to do with a missing gutter, which was located across the street. Next was a giant piece of siding missing from the front of the house, yep found that in a different neighbor’s yard.



So now I am sitting on the front porch with various pieces of the house around me watching the storm and giving my mom directions via the cell phone since she could not get home any of the normal routes either. She finally got home safely with Ryan and Michelle and as far as I can tell both cars managed to make it unscathed from their outing.



The bummer was the power being out since it meant no getting to show Michelle the Video tape she has been anxiously awaiting to see of a little lip-synch routine Ryan, myself and Jamie’s friend Cathy made over 20 years ago. The words humiliatingly funny come to mind. Next time Michelle, I promise next time you will see it!!!



Also this meant no pictures were taken since we were without power till sometime in the middle of the night. We had a lot of battery operated candle light though.



But hey despite it all they came bearing gifts from their recent trip to Ecuador. Wasn’t that sweet of them? I was totally surprised and LOVED mine, even though I had to pick out the color scarf I wanted in the dark... Here are some pictures of my treasures. I am already using my little change purses and the scarf will get put to good use in the winter. The thing that impresses me the most is Ryan actually did some shopping/bartering and enjoyed it. The Boy HATES shopping!!!




Thanks again for the treasures and I can’t wait to come see you in Boston.