Bursts crackling o'er the sun-parched roof; Against the windows the storm comes dashing, Through tattered foliage the hail tears crashing, ~ James Russell Lowell

Look! look! that livid flash! 

And instantly follows the rattling thunder,
As if some cloud-crag, split asunder,
Fell, splintering with a ruinous crash,
On the Earth, which crouches in silence under;
And now a solid gray of rain
Shuts off the landscape, mile by mile; 

Summer Storm by James Russell Lowell

I remember in my last post wishing for some windy days to dry things out and clear the mosquitoes away for a while.  Be careful what you wish for.  Woke up  to 68-mph wind gusts, vivid flashes outside the window and a constant rumbling.  The electrical power was fading out and coming back which is somehow more alarming than total blackout.

No real damage done here but a lot of tall plants are leaning at ugly angles.  The bird feeder post is down and the peanut feeder seems to have blown away.  I was happy to see none of the bird houses fell since many are occupied with babies still in the nests.  There are sticks and little limbs all over the yard which won't be much fun to pick up.  Even the roof is littered with twigs and torn leaves.  I'm very grateful that we didn't receive more damage.

I am using of some of the downed sticks as makeshift plant supports for my leaning blooms.  

Happy to report the tomato plants received little wind damage even though some were in pots.  

What would life be like without homegrown tomatoes
         Only two things that money can't buy         
That's true love and home grown tomatoes.

   ~  John Denver, Home Grown Tomatoes

The only food crop I grow.  Even the tomatoes bought at the farmer's market are never as good as home grown.  A few more weeks...

MacDuff sees himself as the CEO around here.  He is forever barking out orders and warnings to the other dogs and cats.  

In the photos below you can see the air is so humid the camera lens fogged up.  Had to go inside to find a lens cloth before any more photos could be taken.  

The hot, sunny colors of summer.

Hoping everyone has a wonderful week with no storms and only warm, gentle rains.