From the Age of Innocence.........Holiday in the Heavens

From the Age of Innocence...............A Holiday in the Heavens

Summertime on this tropical peninsula, blistering heat, relentless sun, and afternoon thunderstorms create some of the most amazing rainbows and fresh scents, sending one's senses into a whirlwind of pleasure...........for some.  

It's just past three in the afternoon, days's must do list is completed, or close enough; it's been more than a typical July in central Florida. Hot, hazy and God-awful humid!  Sitting out on the porch, I am thoroughly enjoying the cooling of the earth, a raging thunderstorm, wind gusts of who knows what speed, just elated there is movement in the atmosphere; soon all creatures will appear for their afternoon shower, the breeze will return to it's summertime softness, just enough to dampen and cool all creatures beneath the canopy.

My mind drifts back to childhood, sitting on the big front porch, promising not to leave it,"don't want to get electrocuted!"  At that early age, not sure what it actually meant, but when the message was relayed, "don't leave the porch, you'll get electrocuted," it put the fear of God in my soul, so on the porch I stayed!

My Grandmother hated thunderstorms, says she was "nearly electrocuted!"  In later years, I learned she'd been indirectly struck by lightening, giving her a lasting jolt and rightly so.  Wanting to understand her fears, we asked questions, slowly she realized, her hatred of these storms was instilling an ominous and needless fear in her granddaughters. "Must be a holiday in the heavens, or a bowling tournament!"she nervously smiles.

Her story line for these chest-thumping cracks rolling across the heavens, not believable, but it lightened her mood, eventually looking forward to sitting on the porch with us, enjoying the stories, the smell of rain and the cleansing of the earth. As the rains stopped, we'd hunt for spider webs, in awe of their intricate designs and ability to survive a raging storm.  Bikes out of the barn, we'd pedal as fast as we could through the refreshing streams moving swiftly downhill to the river.  Emerald green grasses rejuvenated, and nothing quite as exciting as sliding down a slippery cool grassy slope once the "holiday in the heavens, bowling tournament finished!"