It rained last night amidst near constant thunder and
lightning and wind that shook the trailer. Exciting! Fortunately we knew it was
coming—the ominous clouds of its approach prompted me to check the weather
advisory that warned of 50 mph gusts—so we were prepared, with a few loose
objects stowed, the van windows closed, and our raingear at hand. It didn’t
last long and by 11 when the advisory ended,
all was calm again. The storm left a little lake between our campsite
and the next, which the birds and bugs have been enjoying well.
My reaction to yesterday’s cloudy morning, and my reaction
to today’s sunny one, were kind of interesting. I didn’t mind the gray skies at
all, after three months with sunshine and knowing that sun would be back
shortly. And yet that single day of gray has me basking in the sunshine today
like I would on a sunny day after weeks of gray at home. Perspective.
Frank and I have been enjoying a very quiet few days here at
Brantley. First off, the campground itself has been quiet, despite good
attendance, and we always enjoy having neighbors who value silence as much as
we do. We also at the same time have hit a spell where neither of us much wants
to do anything. We don’t want to sightsee here or head back to Carlsbad Caverns
or explore Carlsbad town. Instead, we’ve been reading and writing and surfing
the ‘net (in my case) and watching Firefly (in Frank’s). It’s been very nice.
I feel guilty about my low step counts the past couple of
days, and I’m starting to be just a teensy bit restless, so I or we will
probably take on a little something more strenuous soon.
