We had one of those "summer storms" blow through Tuesday night.  Pk and I were at the deli getting sandwiches but they ran out of rolls so we got some lunch meat.  The skies broke open and the rain and hail and wind (70mph) roared through.

When it was over, the sky looked like this.  I went outside because everything was yellow.  It was so eerie.  I took many cloud photos and then this one because the air color seemed to be pink.

It was cool and weird at the same time.  Over all we were lucky.  No power outage.  Other folks around us were not so lucky.

This is a house in Stratford (just 1/2 mile away).  A small tornado touched down and broke this tree off at the ground line and knocked it onto Kate's mother in law's house.  Everyone is fine, just a bit shook up.  These kind of storms are not unusual this time of year.  Our street had some large llimbs down and leaves everywhere but no major damage.  It comes with the season.  

The most intrusive part of this storm was the loss of power to our commuter train to Philadelphia.  For the first time in over 20 years, PATCO was not running.  It's an electrical train and one of its power stations went down in the storm.  They kept saying "power will be back by mid morning" so we waited but it wasn't restored until 1 PM.  This means that 30,000+ folks were driving and looking for parking spots.  It's hard enough to park in the city on a good day.  We opted to stay home because going to work after 1 wasn't worth it.  One of my coworkers had to park a mile away and pay 25 dollars.  It's crazy.

And now we are getting ready to have some time off for July 4th.  No big plans for us.   Pk and I will try to go to the lake one day.  And we will eat some of these

tomato slices with fresh mozzarella and basil with olive oil.  Mmmmmm.  Pk's tomato plants are doing well.  He should be harvesting tomatos in a few weeks.  They are the best.  Sweet and juicy.  I can't wait.

But now it's time for lunch.  Yogurt today and an apple.  I have clinic all afternoon so I need to make sure I have enough energy.  I have been dragging all morning (and it seems that lots of other folks are as well).

Have a great weekend everyone.  (I know it's only Thursday but I am looking aheae!)

Good morning and welcome to the Occasional Blog Post.  I am sorry for the long stretches of time between posts.  No excuse here, just LIFE happenning all oveer the place.

Since I talked to you last, I have made some of these.  The clear ones are garlic dill pickles and the brownish ones are bread and butter pickles.  They are both crispy and very flavorful.  

I finished Pete's Architect of Rivendell socks.  I tried to get a good shot but he is not the most patient of foot models.  These are made of Kroy Sock so they should wear like iron.  The gusset is on top of the foot and made for some interesting knitting.  I have heard people swear by this

(ignore the basket of clean clothes in the background) but I am not sure I like the design.  The socks are gorgeous with their ribs and arches and were sometimes a bit challenging.  It's good to step out of our comfort zone once in a while.

I went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned and then to have a tooth prepped to be crowned.  It's not a root canalled tooth so I got three shots of novocaine.  And best of all, I got to bite down on the molding tray filled with goo not once but three times.  Have I ever mentioned that I am a legendary gagger?  But all went well and I will have my crown in on July 2.

I also finished a pair of Madtosh Sock in a color that they are only selling in NY City.  Kylie got it for me when she and Kate went to Vogue Knitting in NY.  It made the best stripes!  I have an inordinate fondness for stripey yarn.  I put them in the pile for Christmas but I may sneak them into my drawer.

Otherwise, things here are well.  I am looking forward to a visit from my ex-brother-in-law in July.  He and Pete were Navy buddies so he is looking forward to this visit.  It's been 10 years since we saw him.  

Oops they just announced the All Staff Meeting.  I completely forgot.  Catch you on the flip side.