Post Tornado. Skeleton Trees.
Lots of noise. A strange, continuous roaring sound to the north of our location. Sirens everywhere. No actual sighting in my town. Confirmed visuals in Coal City to the South and Frankfort to the west. And as everyone knows by now, Washington, IL, out in the middle there. It is VERY windy now. If you turn on the TV to the Bears game in Chicago, you can see that our wind is extra windy. In case we forgot that our weather patterns here in the Midwest don’t just stroll in all leisurely-like, changing over the course of a few days or even hours; but prefer to burst out of the atmosphere like fireworks in the sky. Boom, flash, done. It’s dark. It’s light. It’s dark again. One minute you are outside just milling around and taking pictures, marveling at nature in all its raw beauty, and the next minute a powerful gust of wind crackles through the high branches of your fragile, breaking trees, pushing you, the garbage cans, and one of the plastic chairs you are standing next to, across the patio, almost giving you a heart attack. I literally covered my head because I thought a limb was coming down. I know the sound. So you decide you should probably go inside and close all the windows because it was 65 degrees mere minutes ago and now its 50 with all your blinds blowing inside the windows trying to come off the hinges. I have work to start and finish because I wasted my day on all this weather and I may slip in a drink or two to count my blessings tonight with my family. Say a quick prayer, send a thought, or help if you can, for our neighbors to the south. It’s getting dark now and the weather looks like it’s staying. Good luck. Stay safe. Winter is pretty much here. Only four or five more months until it’s spring. Cold hands, warm hearts. I think we say something like that. Later.
just shy of pretty 
markbialczak said,
November 17, 2013 at 6:01 pm
Be safe ’til spring, all of you, masnstevy.
masnstevy said,
November 18, 2013 at 4:14 am
Thank you so much, for sending that thought! You also be safe.
Lorraine said,
November 18, 2013 at 6:30 am
Pretty pictures Cousin!
masnstevy said,
November 19, 2013 at 1:16 am
Thanks! You know I got TONS more! AND it was a full moon tonight!
Sue (Mac's Girl) said,
November 18, 2013 at 11:07 am
Hope you didn’t sustain too much damage from the storms. Here in the NW suburbs of Chicago we had very heavy rain and strong winds but haven’t seen any damage in the immediate area.
masnstevy said,
November 19, 2013 at 1:15 am
Nothing by me. Manhattan to the west, was on the news today. Otherwise I think we were pretty lucky around here!
Mom said,
November 18, 2013 at 9:07 pm
You didn’t finish it……….Grandma used to say, “cold hands, warm heart, dirty feet…no sweetheart”.
masnstevy said,
November 19, 2013 at 1:14 am
Thanks Mom! That’s why I need you to keep reading!
Mary Mageau said,
November 26, 2013 at 5:48 am
A strong photo/prose essay. Thank you for your visit and follow.