Extremes

    I've had this picture saved for some time now. I was going to write a little something to go with it. Probably something that I didn't have any business writing. When I started writing a different rant earlier the words wouldn't come. When they did they were jumbled. So I'll try that one at another time. 

    This is a picture of the pier at Tybee Island. Tybee is about 12 miles from where I live. The sky is so dramatic. The lightning just intensifies it, doesn't it? I thought this was a somewhat rare occurrence, but now that I am here I realize it really isn't. 

    Sometimes the bright red sun rising just over the horizon seems so big I think it cannot be real. It truly is a sight to behold, brightening the beginning of my ten hour work day. It makes me feel peaceful. 

    That is the pretty. Let's get back to the pic above. The more ugly. The days that the sun isn't so huge. The days that the pretty, bright red, warm blob is nowhere to be found. Yes. Living so close to the coast brings a whole lot of weather that I'm not familiar with. We get storms that come from the Gulf of Mexico and scoot across Florida and up to us. We get storms from the west, north, and even the east. 
  
    The first real storm I took notice of came from the west. We knew it was coming, but we didn't know we'd end up in a tornado watch. I was at work and made it inside before the deluge of rain came. And boy did it come. The wind picked up to speeds I hadn't seen in years. Plants toppled over. Signs bent, giving up their fight, hoping their anchors would hold them in place. Stray bags or wrappers fluttered through the air. Then the rain came. It was a sideways rain. Sideways. 

    I've seen plenty of seasons in different parts of the country now. I'm taking this one in, and learning. Meanwhile, back where the rest of my family is they are experiencing a blizzard. A few weeks ago they had recorded 205 inches of snow for the season. And it keeps falling. 

    I'll take the freaky winds and sideways rain, and the sun that seems to take up half the sky. 

    Are you coastal, mountainous, prairie, or other? What types of extreme weather do you deal with? What brings you a certain sense of peace?

W.P.I.-  Buttercup is one of the more deadly garden plants. Buttercup commonly grows in grassy patches with poor drainage, and may frequently be found by children who use it in games that involve touching it to the skin. The goal is to experience a momentary red mark on the skin, as the brilliant yellow flowers release a toxin induces temporary rash symptoms. Buttercup is far more dangerous, however. The plant is capable of poisoning grazing animals that eat it, causing serious gastrointestinal toxicity. Ingestion by humans may result in a painful death resulting from organ and nervous system intoxication. Beauty is clearly in the eye of the beholder, not the handler of this killer flower.