That's Gneiss! #97 ~ La la la la... lightning!
My goodness the last few days have been a whirlwind of excitement!
After toiling for two long days after the long Labor Day weekend, I started a five day respite from work.
First, we drove our hotrod to Yakivegas.
What’s that? You’ve never heard of Yakivegas? Neither had I, until a friend mentioned it when I told her we were headed to Yakima to visit my parents for a couple of days.
Apparently there are some who have tried to market Yakima as some northern version of Vegas. I’m not sure why, but the 62 people who have liked the Yakivegas Facebook page that hasn’t posted since 2018 can’t be wrong.
It was a quiet, mostly uneventful trip. We’re usually not here this time of year, so it was a bit hotter than we’re used to, around 90 degrees. We relaxed and had a nice visit, and ate out a couple of times (see below). I took my parents out for a drive in the Challenger, and we hit one of the local produce stands.
Corn season!!! They had so much corn it required two signs.
I nearly broke the bank, spending $1.50 for twelve ears. Michael is going to make some very scrumptious corn chowder this week. That’s some fine looking corn!
Rowland was a bit skeptical of the hotel we stayed in, until he got a taste of the sausage from the complimentary breakfast. He’s eager to return for more.
We did have one tragedy on the way to Yakima…
And we averted a tragedy on the way home by not spending any time watching for rattlesnakes beyond this sign.
We arrived home nice and early on Saturday, thanks to moving nearly two hours closer to Yakima - yet another reason to be happy in our new home! I had an expected package waiting for me - my latest batch of Nuu-Muu dresses. I won’t tell you how many I have now but let’s just say I could wear a different one every day to work for three weeks and my coworkers would not see the same dress twice. I’m especially excited about this one.
WOW! I love it.
It’s hard to believe, but Saturday got even more exciting.
LIGHTNING STORM!!!!
Those of you who live or have lived in areas where major lighting storms occur regularly can skip to the next section if you’d like. The rest of us (native western Washingtonians I’m looking at you) can stay and be giddy about just how cool that storm was. It was the biggest storm I’ve seen here by a long shot. We missed a major storm in 2013 (almost to the day) while camping on the east side of the mountains, so I’m not sure if it was comparable.
Heck, I get excited if I see one flash of lightning let alone a continuous show like this.
It arrived while we were just sitting down to dinner at Scuttlebutt. Michael kindly switched seats with me so I could have the better view out the window to the south. It was a big “meh” for his because in Yorkshire where he’s from lightning storms of this magnitude are no big deal. Everyone has a lightning rod on their house, and he shared stories of running around outside during the storms.
By the time we drove home from dinner there was an almost continuous flashing in all directions. Some of the bolts came straight to ground and others flashed across the sky. I watched the storm wind down from our front porch, snuggled under my sleeping bag. It was delightful.
I did not attempt to take any photos, but many are collected in this gallery from KOMO news (full story). Here’s one teaser photo from Skunk Bay Weather:
You can see a video of the storm below, or on the Skunk Bay Weather blog (also a good source for the Northern Lights when they make a showing).
Things have calmed down here again today, but we did get quite a downpour of rain this afternoon. We’ve already had more rain in two days than we got the entire month of August!
Goodbye, summer…
Tidbits
Announcing the winners of MonoCarto 2019!
Those Hurricane Maps Don’t Mean What You Think They Mean (more here at The Functional Art, a blog by Alberto Cairo)
John Margolies Roadside America Photograph Archive - 11,710 color slides! Searchable!
Since I use scrunchies, does that make me a VSCO girl?
Spending too much time on your phone? Try these tips.
Making: it seems that lately I’ve been doing a lot of mending of dog toys…
Recently eaten: while in Yakima we ate at the recently remodeled Yakima Sports Center. Despite not giving one whit about sports, I like the food there so it’s worth the sportsball theme. It appeared to be a brewer night, and there was a dunk tank set up out front and folks from Single Hill Brewing hosting the excitement. Fun times on a Thursday night in Yakima! On Friday we tried a new (to us) spot for a quick taco lunch - Antojitos Mexicanos. It was decent, and their hottest salsa was very hot indeed!
Reading: I picked up gods with a little g by Tupelo Hassman for our trip to Yakima and I am enjoying it very much.
Videos of the Week
Check out this amazing compilation video of last night’s storm from the Skunk Bay Weather Cams!
And an extra for a couple of laughs…
Question of the Week
If you feel like answering the question (or to just say hello), hit reply to this email. Answers will be shared next week - always anonymous.
If you could instantly become an expert in something, what would it be?
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Last week I asked which guitar players you find inspiring.
Wes Montgomery!
Favorite guitar player, Johnny Marr 😍😍😍 his jingly guitars are my absolute favorite thing. I’m real sad Morrissey is a fascist (le sigh) but I feel like Johnny Marr is just as responsible for The Smiths so I don’t beat myself up too much for still loving them. There Is A Light And It Never Goes Out is one of my favorites!
I’m geeking out on Adam Jones the guitarist for TOOL right now. It’s been like 14 years since their last album and this guy has not lost a chop. Absolutely soul churning guitars. Most people that don’t know TOOL may see them as metal thugs but they really are the RUSH of my lifetime.
Lee Tesche of Algiers.
Followed closely by Will Sergeant of Echo and the Bunnymen. He is also an accomplished painter.
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