Miss Ivy's Garden

Severe thunder storm warning - shear winds - tornado watch - tornado warning - giant hail - front line winds - funnel cloud - rotating wall cloud - tornado spin up - wind at 84 mph - temperature rising from 70 to 85 degrees in 15 minutes - not a good sign - your tornado safe place...my tornado safe place...what the hell is that...my house is built like a shack underneath the okay exterior...do I feel safe in any possible area of this questionable structure...hell no!!!  The Nashville is a great place to live brochures conveniently mention nothing of the possibilities of tornadoes in this town; we were caught completely off guard in our first year with tornado warnings blasting away on our television screen.

Sunday evening was totally occupied by severe thunder storms passing over the house one after another, after another, after another; blasting, rumbling thunder rattling the walls quite effectively.  Surprisingly, Dustin and Zoe, my severe storm freaking out pets, remained mostly calm...perhaps something to do with the new insulated windows...who knows, but it was a pleasant surprise not to have Dustin plastered to my legs when I tried to moved about.  Only one tornado to the north of us, and two to the south of us in what I call Tennessee's Tornado Alley.  Thank goodness, our guardian angel, prevented us from setting up housekeeping there.

Yesterday afternoon, boss told me to stay home today; and boy, am I now glad I heeded his advice.  It was so totally awesome this morning watching those thick black clouds covering the sky so fast, and creating that effect of darkness as if it was that time of day for the sun to set.  News says a tornado passed over an area not far from my park work place.  Another tornado to the south of us, and now at this very moment there is a tornado traveling on the ground far south of us and another one moving to the east of us.  Now it is 60 degrees outside...temperature is fluctuating all over the place with this series of storms.     

Once upon a time, whenever that year was the tornado passed right over the top of Nashville, I was so unlucky to be working downtown at a small state park right in the middle of the city.  Stood at the window watching a huge wall of rotating wind approaching, all of us running down the stairwell as the skylight glass above us shattered and rained pieces of glass down upon us.  Depression was instant when I realized my car was parked in front of the building in the tornado's path.  Imagine my amazement when I discovered my car untouched, but all the cars in the parking garage had shattered and blown out windows.  Thank you, guardian angel. 

The city next to my new work place after I transferred from Nashville, was the victim of a tornado touchdown, which found me driving an extra 40 miles on top of what I usually commuted, trying to find a way home that night that wasn't totally blocked by severe damage.  The year after, a tornado passed over the park and caused damage that took weeks to clear, thankfully that one occurred after hours.  The next tornado passed through the park, but had weakened a little, leaving mostly numerous kinds of debris from peoples houses - checks, letters, photos, insulation, siding, roofing; the park was plastered with all this debris, and hundreds of volunteers combed the park to collect all this stuff.

Raining at present, will most likely rain for rest of day and evening, as a cold front is moving in behind.  Trees and shrubs are mostly naked of leaves after all this wind and pounding rain.  I am always so pleasantly surprised by my autumn crocus goulimyi, when its blossoms peek up through the layers of colorful leaves in late fall.  I always forget that I will be blessed by the sight of its beautiful blooms as the edge of winter peaks over the ridge.  Fortunately, I photographed their beauty before they were a little messed up by all this lovely weather.  I even still have purple coneflowers that are blooming and that is astonishing.

I'm tucked in for the day, snacking on a new find, Greek yogurt with pineapple, love it.  I'm discovering daytime television which is okay as long as I don't have to deal with those awful soap operas, which just aren't my cup of tea.  Have settled for the Ellen DeGeneres show, which is turning out to be simply or complicatedly hilarious.  Headache free today, and I am happy today, any day without a headache is fantabulous.  Love you.