two cups of thunderstorm and a dash of beer

currently, i am sitting at home, looking out the window at the thunderstorms that managed to sneak in overnight.

this morning was the most impressive. i was up at 5:30, just as it was getting light... except it wasn't very light. the sky was rather dark actually, and strobing with a most impressive array of lightning.

if there is one thing that i will miss when i leave here, it is the incredibly capricious weather.

i am more accustomed to thunderstorms that take their time building up through the morning and afternoon until about two or three when they vent all that pent up emotion and bang their fists across the countryside... it is indeed a most volitile storm that decides to begin before the sun has even risen.

so where did you spend the day patrick?

in a tower of course... the highest point for miles and miles around... with ten foot windows that look in every direction. i was so lucky to have such a dramatic vantage point for such an emotional sky.

but now i am back home, and the last of the storms are withering away and leaving a wake of blue skies behind. it's a wonderful view to enjoy with a fine belgian beer... and so i am enjoying it with said beer. Nelly McKay is joining me on my speakers.

a veritible splenditude of sorts.

the picture is from this past weekend... completely unrelated, as with most things in my life. i succesfully braved the italian intrastate structure to find myself in Lucca, outside of Pisa. my mother (hi mom) is hanging out with a couple of friends at a villa in Tuscany about 20 south of Firenze. they were in Lucca for the day and so i drove down to join them, it being a saturday and all.

i drove five hours (traffic) and found a parking spot. i had talked to her about an hour before and they were sitting down to get a bite to eat "in a square by a big church." so i walked into the town looking for the biggest church i could find. what do you know? i found a square with a bunch of people eating outside. surely they had to be somewhere around. my suspicions were verified when i noticed an open air bazaar in the square... they were definitely there somewhere.

luckily i am naturally endowed with a rather high vantage point. after only a few scans of the crowd, there she was... mom... perusing the expensive and throroughly unnecessary section. i walked up to her as she perused a particularly interesting piece. she must have sensed someone behind her because she said, "well that's cute, isn't it?"

"it sure is." i said

you can imagine she was quite surprised.

little did she know that is one of my little talents... driving somewhere without directions and finding exactly who i'm looking for with no particular plan. silly mom.

anyway, the picture is of the lake where we went to watch 'Tosca' at the Puccini festival... it was sold out, but we ate dinner at a restaurant by the lake and listened to as much of the opera as we could.

mainly it was just cool to hang with the ma

anyways. that's it for now.

much love and beautiful skies to you.