A gift from the storm

Last Thursday evening brought another round of severe storms, though this time the tornados stayed to the north, a relief for me but not for the folks in the towns that were hit. Even without a tornado, the storms that night were severe, bringing lots of hail, wind and plenty of thunder and lightning. I had the dogs on leashes and was ready to head to the basement, but at the final radar pass before I decided what to do, the situation eased a bit for me

The next morning I surveyed the damage and found lots of twigs and leaves and other small pieces of greenery littering my decks and driveway. The plastic chairs were off the deck but undamaged. The fig tree had tipped over but was soon put to rights again. It was when I got into the car to head to work that I discovered a “gift” from the storm against my windshield.

The gift is the bloom of the tulip poplar tree, usually seen only from a distance when they are high on the tree. Sometimes I find them after they’ve wilted and fallen from the tree. I don’t usually get to see one in a perfect bloom as this one is. And I’ve certainly never had one appear on my car before. True, it’s a little thing, but it’s the little things that really count, isn’t it?

This kind of thing gets me to thinking about nature’s whims and just how capricious she is—one time you get the storm, the next time you get the bloom. And sometimes you get both on the same day.