We sit in the after rumbles of a thunderstorm. The storm is mostly past us save for some distancing thunder and the occasional flash of light. The rain has moved on. But it knocked out the power half an hour ago, so we still sit here in the storms echoing darkness.

My little girl in a dark blue denim jumper, pink crocs and pig tails has sprawled herself across the carpet in one of the less dark areas. She fidgets and wiggles as she tries to get comfortable. Though the patch is lighter, it gives no warmth.

The dog is curled up at my feet, content as long as I am.

The last time we had storm, lighting struck in our back yard, twenty feet from the house, and severed the electric fence. Today instead of working that hard it merely dropped a tree on my mother's car.

And still in the midst of this darkness, my daughter gets up from the less dark patch on the carpet, and brings me a book.

* * * *
we later learned that the storm may have spawned a tornado. our nieghbors ((down the road a bit) saw a tornado touchdown at shadowbrook (the big golf range and resort.) not far from their house.

we lost quite a few limbs off one of our trees. power came back early this morning. We ran the generator for about forty minutes to ensure the freezer didn't thaw. in the process somehow, we filled our house with exhaust fumes because we didn't know there was a chink somewhere...

people are still without power today.

sara and tom went to our friends (the ones who saw the tornado) and on the way back saw a GIANT tree lying ontop of just handfuls and handfuls of power lines.

we ate dinner after the baby had gone to bed. cold cut sandwhiches and soda out of the single serve bottles. we sat under the buttnernut tree that had shed its branches around us, very narrowly missing the house.

we sat, ate, and watched the sunset. the fog rose up inthe valleys. it was a dark purple and blue. and in the midst of the turmoil and oncming darkness, there was beauty.

my love went to help my sister care for the sheep. before two long, they were nothing more than two bobbing lights on the horizon and faint voices, among the sheep baas, and the low moos of the cows.