It’s been super stormy these last few days, pummeling the dry earth with more rain than needed, covering the road and forming lakes in our front yard. But I do love a strong rain, the sound and smell, sheets of water coming down, fog rising up; the whole world looks like it’s melting while thunder booms and lightning strobes the sky. So I was out on the front porch swing basking in the wet when suddenly a bolt of lightning appeared 20 feet in front of me, right in the clearing between the trees, and simultaneously a blast of thunder seemed to shake the earth and made me jump a foot off the swing. I felt a tingle and was somewhat disoriented. I questioned what I had just seen, as the lightning hadn’t appeared (to me) to touch the ground and it didn’t look like any lightning I’d seen before. It looked more like a burst of yellow brightness, like this…

only it was going in the opposite direction and the animated effect made it seem more hallucinatory. Casey was sitting just inside in the diner, and I checked with him: Did you see that? He said yeah, he’d noticed a flash of brightness, and felt the thunderboom.

I am in Awe…I feel so honored to have witnessed such a spectacular phenomena. It was amazing.

My son had a birthday yesterday; he’s older than me now. He’s not big on parties, but his in-laws are so he had a proper fete this week-end when they celebrated all of their family September birthdays. I’ll get with him for a while tomorrow, maybe bake some cupcakes.

I signed Samantha up to start piano lessons and the particular school/teacher didn’t feel quite right. None of my children or grandchildren have been taught to play piano in the same way that I was and their method always has frustrated me, as I couldn’t make heads or tails of those Bastien courses. I was taught primarily with John Thompson’s course “Teaching Little Fingers to Play”. This is my last chance to pass this on, so I bought the book and note speller and formed JoJo’s Academy of Music (JAM) and we will begin lessons this Friday.

You see, I “read” music like a Champ, but without music in front of me, I’m pretty weak. I’ve always known that what I see on the page transmits directly to my fingers and if my hands are placed properly I can play pretty well; I found out that’s called muscle memory, taught by rote, and it was imbedded by years of playing. Whatever you call it, it has brought me such Joy, Comfort, and Peace; I would be happy if I could teach Samantha.

The JAM is inspired, isn’t it? I think I’ll have tee shirts made…maybe a tote bag…

Have a great week! Don’t miss a chance to make someone smile!

Peace

P.S. You know this song has been stuck in my mind since the Incident of the Thunderbolt…