What the What?

We've spent an inordinate amount of time this summer talking about lightening and thunder. Or maybe disproportionate is the word, since we've had relatively few storms but Rosemary brings them up often. They are clearly linked, in her mind, with fireworks, which interest her in theory but scare her in reality. Thunder and lightening seem to scare her in theory but just interest her in reality. She never seems too freaked out when we actually have one.

This is a good thing, since yesterday we had a doozy. Lucky us, we were safe at home. Just barely, since we had walked in the door a minute before. The sky turned green -- really green and really dark -- and the rain came down in a terrific whoosh. Then the rain started going up - FAST - and leaves were swirling, and then everything just went to white. There was just so much rain and wind that we couldn't see a thing out the window except a few leaves swirling by. And we have two huge windows in our living room with quite a wide view. This

was when it occurred to me it might be wise to back away from our huge windows. I half expected to see a cow fly by.

At the time, I turned to my friend Lauren, who was over, and said, "Is this a tornado?" thinking, yes, that must be what it was. Bijs, Lauren's daughter, and Rosemary, were running around talking about thunder and lightening and rain, but they seemed jazzed more than freaked out. According to WNYC the National Weather Service is sending a meteorologist today to determine whether it was a tornado or not. It's probably more than just one guy -- most likely a crack team -- but I love the idea that there is just this one dude who turns up and divines what exactly it was.

Update: It was a tornado. Actually, two tornadoes and something called a macroburst. And looking back at my pictures I just remembered what kept Rosemary and Bijs busy during the storm: wobbling around on super-sized, wrong-foot galoshes.