Of Storms and Mushrooms

Of storms and mushrooms:

it’s the time of storms and mushrooms, a cloud burst of heavy rain, lightening, and strong wind, often a daily occurrence through these hot and humid summer months. These storms appear due to moisture in the air, rising rapidly to meet colder conditions above and it’s this mixture that causes the intensity of summer storms. From safety it’s an amazing thing to witness, frightening if caught within the violence, tornado’s, flash flooding and falling trees are always a possibility.

yet there’s intense beauty too.

as a kid I loved emerging from my house immediately after such a storm, following the swollen creeks to see how high they rose, strong currents becoming rapids, almost a river in certain spots. There were fallen tree limbs to climb across, larger rocks washed from the stream banks to now reach the path, all residue from the storms violent sweep through my local woods.

later in life, long distance runs and hikes kept me ever watchful for the conditions of these storms, on the lookout for the safest spot available should run arise while I was still some distance from my home. Even with being careful there were times when I was caught directly in a storms path and the only real options it seemed was to continue right through, surrendering to wind and sudden downpour, mindful of whatever debris…