If I close my eyes, I can recall Mom reciting this verse to me when I was a child. A grade school chum had scribbled it in Mom’s autograph book:
The thunder roared
The lightening crashed
The whole world was shaken
The little pig curled up his tail
And ran to save his bacon.
I wasn’t scared of storms as a child. I don’t remember cowering in a corner when thunder boomers shook the entire house. That’s probably because Mom always said “God is moving his furniture.” I accepted that idea and moved on.
But flash forward many decades later, in an age of climate change, when simple rain showers turn torrential, often accompanied by storms with lime-sized hail. Last week lime-sized hail was part of severe weather in Southeast Michigan and a news story said hail will become more frequent and larger going forward. We’ve had it all in Michigan in 2024 including 76 mph winds in a recent storm, but thankfully this house remains unscathed by Mother Nature’s wily ways.
So I am a weather worrier. And, even though severe weather doesn’t always happen, just the threat of it, puts me on pins and needles in anticipation of how far will it encroach into my area, or will it fizzle out? In August 2023, we had seven tornadoes in Southeast Michigan in a three-hour period and their proximity was way too close for comfort.
Today is Grandparents Day in the U.S.
Yes, it is a Hallmark holiday and not observed worldwide but, since I was close to my maternal grandmother, Minnie Godard, I like to dedicate one blog post a year to her. I called her “Nanny” from the time I was young until her passing on January 29, 1986. This is a photo of Nanny and me around 1956.
I think about Nanny, not just on Grandparents Day, or her birthday, or death date, but when something triggers a fond memory of our time together.
This Summer, there have been many memory triggers of Nanny, sadly all caused by bouts of severe weather. You see my grandmother was terrified of severe weather and she had a valid reason for that mindset, having witnessed a neighbor being struck by lightning when she was a young girl.
Here’s the backstory of that fateful day.
My great-grandparents lived on a farm in rural Ariss, Ontario, Canada. Andrew Klein was a farmer who worked the fields and his wife Katherine, besides having a bounty of farmhouse chores, bore ten children; one died shortly after birth and they adopted a boy a few years after their last child was born. I guess you could say she was pretty busy.
Sunday was a day of rest from toiling in the fields, but there were still cows to be milked, pigs to be slopped and egg gathering to be done. There was no rest in the kitchen for Katherine either, because later in the day, after finishing his chores, Andrew went outside to get the Sunday roast chicken meal and then Katherine cooked it.
While Andrew did his Sunday morning farm chores, Katherine went to town alone for church services. While it would have been nice, (not to mention gentlemanly), for Andrew to get her “ride” ready, i.e. the horse and buggy, Katherine always did this task herself.
One Sunday, while getting the horse and buggy ready, Katherine spooked Mabel, their faithful buggy horse. Mabel reared up suddenly and one heavy hoof stomped down on the top of Katherine’s foot, crushing most of it. This blurry photo is of my great-grandmother in the foreground and a horse and harness – was this Mabel standing behind her?
She was laid up for a while, but luckily it was Summertime and no school, so her three daughters, Loretta, Mildred and Minnie were old enough to tackle the various household chores while their mother recuperated. Katherine filled her day with sit-down activities like churning butter, tatting doilies and sewing quilts and feather ticks.
Years later my grandmother would recount how furious Andrew was with Katherine’s misfortune, giving her no sympathy and telling her she was useless to him now. The couple would bicker constantly. Eventually Katherine’s mobility improved with a walking stick, but soon after arising, that foot would swell up twice its size, so the rest of her life she wore a slipper or a loose-fitting unlaced sneaker. You can see Katherine’s swollen foot in this undated photo taken on the porch at the farmhouse, along with my mom and her best friend.
This photo of best friends Pauline and Irene was taken out in the fields at the farm.
Since Andrew’s work days were from dawn to dusk, to make the most of the daylight hours, Katherine used to take his mid-day meal out to him in the fields. Since she could no longer traipse that far to meet him, she tasked her youngest daughter Minnie with packing up and delivering her father’s lunch to him. One day as young Minnie neared where her father was working, he saw her and shut the tractor off in anticipation of his meal. Minnie handed him his meal, but didn’t linger, as she was mindful of the ominous-looking sky. She headed for home and picked up the pace, lest she get soaked by rain.
Meanwhile, across the field from where she walked, a neighboring farmer was working in his field and, as Minnie raised her arm to wave to him, there was a loud crack of thunder, then a bolt of lightning sliced through the darkened sky. To Minnie’s horror, she watched the lightning strike her neighbor, then watched his lifeless body crumple to the ground. Shocked, Minnie ran home, not even glancing back to see if her father was okay. She blurted out what she had seen and Katherine told her to take her sisters with her and go to the neighbors to alert his family. The girls did so and later learned the neighbor had been killed instantly.
Nanny would tell us that while the farms and farmhouses were not that close in proximity to one another, farmers and their families were quick to help each other at harvest time to get the crops in timely. The families would go from farm to farm, round-robin style and stay each day until each farmer’s crops were harvested. The farmers’ wives cooked in each farmhouse kitchen, helping to “put up” preserves, can produce and prepare the meals for the workers before moving on to the next farm.
Since their farmhouse dinner table was not large enough to accommodate everyone, the meals were eaten on the large wraparound porch at the farmhouse. The work done and dinner meal eaten, the farmers and families left for their respective farms and their own chores. You can see a portion of the wraparound porch here where my mom is sitting.
Witnessing a neighbor she’d known since she was a young girl get killed by lightning traumatized my grandmother for the rest of her life. She was paralyzed by fear whenever thunder rumbled and lightning lit up the sky. She immediately sprinkled holy water (water blessed by a priest) around her house. No one in the family ever poked fun at Minnie’s fear of storms because everyone knew the origin of those fears.
These are my great-grandparents, my mom and her cousin Ted. Before preparing this post, I looked at the original photos for dates and/or information and learned it was a celebration of Katherine and Andrew’s 55th wedding anniversary. They were married in 1895.
My mom was close to her grandmother. Since she didn’t get to visit as much once she began working, knowing Katherine’s love for chocolates, she sent her a one-pound box of Laura Secord chocolates every payday. Katherine Klein passed away the same year my mother was married – 1953. When Katherine’s trunk in her bedroom was opened following her death, all the boxes of chocolates were stacked inside. Mom and Nanny were very puzzled about why Katherine never ate them.
This photo was taken at the farm – it is of my mother and her grandparents. The farmhouse is in the background.
Storms are not something to be trifled with.
I mentioned I was never traumatized personally by such a horrific storm event as a youngster, but I did witness the horrors of “The Green Storm” a catastrophic weather event that blew through Michigan and nearby Midwestern states on July 16, 1980.
I was working in Downtown Detroit in a high-rise building when the weather event, classified as a derecho, (a storm with straight-line winds), occurred. I sat down the hall from the senior partner at the law firm. Lucky for him, he was on his annual, month-long sailboat trip to Georgian Bay, Canada. The office manager had taken advantage of his absence to get new ivory-colored carpeting installed in his large corner office. An avid traveler, he had multiple brass shelving units with decades of trip mementoes that lined the glass shelves. His office had just been put back together a few days before.
Suddenly I heard the sound of shattering glass and jumped out of my seat to investigate. Mere seconds later, I watched those mementoes being sucked out the jagged windows along with weeks of mail that had been stacked and anchored down with various paperweights on the top of his desk. Rain going sideways soaked the desk and the new carpet.
That mid-morning derecho, with winds that were clocked at 150 mph, passed in mere minutes and that was the only damage sustained to the office building. The storm’s winds had intensified as they blew against the windows of that corner office. Visibly shaken by the damage I saw, I called my mom to see if the storm had similarly wreaked havoc 13 miles away at our house. My mom described a strange–looking green sky, trees swaying wildly and wind like she had never seen or heard before. We had also lost power, as had most of the Downriver area.
When I got off the bus that evening I saw the row of saplings recently planted by the City in the median were bent over – not unearthed, simply bent over from the force of the wind. The trees did not recover and were removed shortly thereafter and never replaced. I recall walking down our street and noticing the lawns that needed mowing had grass blades blown down horizontally as if a huge comb had been applied to “tame” them. It was eerie. We were without power for about a week.
If I say I am a weather worrier, often people counter with “you have home insurance, right?” “Yes, I do, but I don’t feel like starting over in my ‘Golden Years’” is my standard reply.
So yes, Nanny and I had more in common than munching on those delightful Humbug hard candies she would sneak to me from her apron pocket when I was a little nipper, or our gardens … more about our green thumbs and gardens next year. I had that post written, but stormy weather was on my mind, so I put it on hold for now.
Terri does not have Challenge this week. Next week I’ll give you an updated tour of Council Point Park.
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Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
What an interesting story! I can’t imagine the horror your grandmother must have felt seeing her neighbor struck down like that.
The Green Storm weather event sounds pretty terrifying. How did the senior partner react when he returned… mostly relief that he wasn’t there, or saddened at the loss of his items? I imagine a lot of both. Interesting that the weather event has a Spanish name (Derecho means straight) just like the El Ninos and La Ninas we get.
We don’t have crazy weather here (thank goodness), but who knows what could happen as the climate changes. Because it’s quite mild by comparison to other areas of the country/world, I actually like heavy rain and thunderstorms.
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Thank you Janis. My grandmother was traumatized by her neighbor’s death the rest of her life.
Since The Green Storm, every time the weather forecast calls for straight-line winds I worry. I was going to include a link to some photos of The Green Storm’s aftermath, but decided since it was more about my grandmother I left it out. But the winds ripped off the roof of several buildings, including a local movie theatre and a bowling alley and many large trees were uprooted. Interestingly, the senior partner did not count himself lucky that he was not sitting there when the wind blew all the glass out of his corner office, but instead was sad for the loss of his mementos. He was in his 70s at the time and had a lot of treasures on those shelves. I probably should have mentioned that due to the new carpeting, his secretary had packed all the items on the shelves, and the top of the desk until the furniture was back in place. So, his items would have been safe, had the storm arrived a few days earlier.
I had never heard of a derecho before that day – I did not know it had Spanish origins. Interestingly, this past Friday morning, we had a good soaking rain and we had a run-of-the-mill thunderstorm. Not torrential rain, nor hail, nor violent electrical storms, just a thunderstorm like we always used to have and it was refreshing to just listen to it and not worry what was in store.
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I’m glad to have read the whole story now.
For me, things changed a bit when I became the sole owner of the house when John died. Before, we had each other for discussing things. If something happens now, I will talk to neighbors and family members, but the ultimate responsibility is mine.
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Glad to give you the rest of the story. It was quite traumatizing for my grandmother and I can see why. She was not that old, then going to the neighbor’s farm with her sisters to tell his wife what happened. I always wondered why she didn’t just run back to her father to get help?
I know what you mean Anne. Any type of problem, weather-related or not, was something to worry over with my mom; now it’s on my shoulders. I cannot have the mindset that insurance will take care of it – you have memories, possessions and who wants to start over in your “golden years” – I know I don’t. Or they do repairs and you live in a motel for months until the repairs are done. This house is surrounded by large, old trees. I am grateful the neighbor behind cut down that dead tree that caused the downed wire fire in December 2022 – I cannot forget seeing that huge fire 25 feet from where I slept, but then the treecutters left a large branch on the wires, which caused it to fall down on Easter weekend this year. I recognized the sound of the downed wire arcing on the fence and bolted out the door.
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Those are some traumatic stories in your family! I can understand your weather fears. I’ve never seen anything like any of that, though I know people who have survived tornados. I guess I’ve just been lucky. My grandmother lived on a farm too, lots of farm accidents unless you’re really careful.
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Yes, there were some traumatic stories … the farm accidents were common. My mom saw my grandmother preparing for any big storm, yet my mom was never afraid – neither was I until that Green Storm and I saw the damage firsthand. I see tornado damage and wonder how people pick up the pieces of their lives and start over, especially when you are older.
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We’ve never celebrated Grandparents Day. We always included grandmas and grandpas in Mothers or Fathers Day. I understand your weather worries and your grandmothers fear is certainly justified. I don’t worry too much about storms nowadays. I did more so when the kids were little and I had them to protect. Now I just touch base with them if I know it is going to be bad and tell them to keep and eye on the weather and be safe. I don’t remember the Green Storm but apparently it did not reach this far north.
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I am not sure Grandparents Day is celebrated nationwide Ruth. It is a “Hallmark Holiday” like Sweetest Day or Bosses Day. I know they didn’t have it in Canada – the holiday started while my grandmother was still living.
My mom grew up seeing my grandmother terrified of storms, especially electrical storms and witnessed her sprinkling holy water around the house. My mom was not afraid of storms – neither was I until I saw The Green Storm. It affected several Midwestern states and I once mentioned it to a fellow blogger who lives and grew up in Wisconsin and she clearly remembered it.
My worries these days are not only for the volatile weather, but that they predict severe weather many times and it doesn’t happen – that is great, but I am worried when it will hit, what will happen, etc. I am so glad the dead tree that caused the downed wire fire at 11:30 p.m. while I was sleeping is now gone, but it caused another downed wire fire when the treecutters dropped a huge branch on the wires and they fell down over Easter weekend.
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Child learn fear from the adults around them. (spiders, snakes etc) That’s why when “something” happens they always look to the adult they trust as to how they should react.
I suggest that your Grandmother instilled onto you the fear of lightning? It doesn’t take much to influence a fresh mind.
Being frightened by a oncoming storm is very different than being terrified.
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We weren’t always at her house when there was a storm – she lived in Toronto and we lived in Oakville, but my mom was well aware of what she would do when it was a bad storm with lightning.
I really wasn’t worried about storms until The Green Storm – it did considerable damage in my part of town, ripping the roof off two big buildings, uprooting trees and even blowing some trains off the tracks, plus most of the area lost power for an entire week. Having witnessed the mementos flying out the window through the jagged edges of glass was pretty frightening though. Growing up, we did not have volatile weather like we have now – we’d have thunderstorms, but nothing the likes of what we have now thanks to climate change. The 76 mph wind gusts a few weeks ago was terrifying.
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Beautiful Black & white all photos. Very interesting & historic story tailing you. Nice your grandmother families. Nice they’re worked in farm. They’re farmer. .
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Thank you Raj. I am glad you liked the post.
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It’s incredible to think about life in our grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ time. The farmers worked so hard. I hope they had at least some time to enjoy life. What a traumatic event to see a neighbor killed by lightning! I am not really frightened by storms, but when I see lightning or hear thunder, I get inside, pronto!
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My mother used to tell me that at Christmas all the farmers and their families would visit one another as they would have more leisure time and she had fond memories of one neighbor who always dressed up as Santa Claus and would visit each farm family where he would pass out the presents previously provided to him by the parents. One year my mom said she got into trouble as she blurted out “that’s George Moro, not Santa Claus!” She knew him because of his boots and he always smelled of liniment. She was whisked away for that outburst. I envied her growing up and spending time with extended family, a ton of cousins, as I never had that growing up. I was not afraid of storms before The Green Storm which left me wary of storms after that, but this year, we’ve had many volatile storms, some predicted for tornadic conditions which was worrisome to me.
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Thank you for sharing this very interesting collection of memories.
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I’m glad you enjoyed reading this post Anne.
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How puzzling that Katherine hid all those boxes of chocolate in the attic. How very understandable Minnie’s fear of lightning. How lucky the senior manager was to be away when the derecho sucked all his work and mementoes out of his office. To witness that must have left you stunned beyond words! It’s certainly no wonder you are a weather worrier. And where you found yourself living for your golden years doesn’t bode well for getting any relief from your anxiety.
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My mother and grandmother never figured out why she didn’t just enjoy those chocolates Barbara. My mom sent them and her grandmother acknowledged them, but then stashed them away? I can’t imagine how awful it must have been to witness the neighbor being struck by lightning. It’s too bad about the derecho taking all of the mementoes because the furniture, brass shelving and the mementoes had been moved out of the way for the carpet installation – so they would have been safe, but on the other hand, the carpet installers may have been injured in that mid-morning weather event. The Green Storm made me take notice just how dangerous weather could be in a few minute’s time. The storm was relatively quick for all the damage that occurred. You know I have a lot of concerns with all the volatile weather as a result of climate change. We never had so many episodes of volatile weather as the past few years.
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I envy your detailed knowledge of your ancestors, telling their stories as if you were right there alongside them. Thank you for taking the time to share this history.
Any mention of severe weather reminds me of our own son who, after watching “Twister” at too young of an age, suffered nightmares anytime the news reported nearby tornadoes. Eventually he grew out of his fear but we’ll always regret that parenting decision. Hail is even more unpredictable of course; you never really see it coming. I don’t miss Colorado for this reason. Any forecast of hail – however low-percentage – had you wondering if your house’s roof was about to get hammered. We are in something of a sweet spot here in South Carolina: too far west for hurricanes and too far east for the north-south paths of tornadoes. Not that the occasional tropical storms here are anything to laugh about.
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Thank you Dave. We moved to the States when I was 10 so I already knew about my grandmother’s fear of storms before then, but then after my grandfather died and she retired, she spent several Summers here in Michigan and it was then I learned the most about her family and she delved into that fateful day. My mom had all the photo albums of her family so we spent some time looking through them as well and identifying who was who. I was envious that my mom and her extended family spent a lot of time together at the holidays, so she knew her cousins, aunts and uncles, an experience I never had as I had no siblings and all those family members all lived in rural Ariss and I’ve never met any of them. I was surprised about the hail statistic – I have seen the graphs of hail measurements, but never identified as lime-sized hail! That sounds scary for Colorado. We had hail damage here once, but not extensive, but I was driving once, just two miles from home, on what had been a sunny and beautiful day and a storm blew up and hail pelted my car. The car was burgundy and the hail did not puncture the paint, but made indentations on the top surfaces. On a sunny day you could see those indentations. As quickly as that storm blew up, it was gone. You are lucky you are in a sweet spot for weather – due to climate change we have so many volatile storms now and oftentimes the predictions are dire, then they don’t materialize – good, but another few months knocked off my life from worry.
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Colorado car dealerships used to have “hail sales” when their exposed inventory would take a hit. Then they got smart and put lightweight tenting over each of the cars. It’s a common sight these days.
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That’s interesting – I guess it would be too costly to make a carport-type of covering for them. Their luck the carport roof would collapse. When I think of Colorado, I’m apt to think of massive amounts of snow more than hail, so I learned something here.
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Ah, the rest of the story you mentioned when I wrote about Colorado lightning deaths. I liked all the family stories and photos. Farming life was so hard and constant. No breaks, really. I can see how that might make some people a bit grouchy. Your grandma’s fear was warranted. That Green Storm sounds pretty wicked!
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Yes, the rest of the story, as the late Paul Harvey would say. Thank you Eilene. I wish I had more photos of my great-grandparents but thankfully I could use photos of my mom to show the fields and the farmhouse porch. It was a hard life and my grandmother would say that even the farmers’ children did not live a life of ease. She would say they did that proverbial long walk in the Winter in a foot of snow to the only schoolhouse in town, with one ketchup or apple butter sandwich for lunch and in the Summer there were many farm chores, especially at harvest time. I like the camaraderie of those farmers though – that touches me. The Green Storm made headlines throughout several Midwest states and left a lot of devastation in its wake.
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Wow, what an intense story and glimpse into family history. The powerful force of mother nature can cause such devastation.
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Yes Zena – the forces of Mother Nature are so volatile, back then and now. I long for the weather I grew up with – sure we had occasional storms sometimes, but nothing like the severe weather that is becoming the norm here and across the world really.
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It sounds like you’ve witnessed some very bad storms. For some reason, most of ours occur at night and though we hear them, it’s too dark to actually see anything. One time my husband and I were driving through Illinois at the same time that a derecho was passing through. We pulled off the road and found a parking place beside a building to wait our the storm. It was pretty scary. I can understand that witnessing what your Grandma did would be traumatizing.
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I hope I can tell you that I won’t see any more storms, especially the likes of that derecho. I never heard of that word or weather phenomenon until that day Rebecca. I can imagine how scary it was for you and your husband to be outside at the same time as the derecho. It would be bad enough to be an adult and witness someone being struck by lightning, but a child, alone, would really be traumatized.
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Great stories and memories Linda ! We have had a lot of derechos in our province, they can be devastating. I had never heard of them until 2 years ago ! Weather is the one thing we can’t change and we are at her mercy.
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Thank you Susan. My grandmother and mother used to talk about these incidents and I learned more about it firsthand when my grandmother spent a few Summers here in Michigan with us and we had a few Summer-type storms. I never heard of a derecho until we had The Green Storm, but they are commonplace now. I hate that we have this volatile weather due to climate change – our weather makes no sense anymore. We have had highs of 59 for three days in a row and now we’re going back to the 80s again. At least there has been no severe weather.
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You are having the same weather as us ! I was so cold two days ago, we had our furnace on and then yesterday I wore shorts!
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It’s crazy weather! That was me Sunday. In the morning I went out to walk all bundled up in a coat and sweatshirt and in the afternoon I was in shorts and short sleeves!
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What a fabulous post Linda! It sounds like you had a wonderful grandmother, I see where your mom got it from! I love wrap around porches and find it fascinating how the neighbors helped each other. It reminds me of the Amish community today. I wish we could go back to those days. Your grandmother was amazing, all those kids and a farming life too. How’s devastating to have her foot stomped on and then not have her husband’s sympathy. I loved the part about all the chocolate. That would have been so traumatic for a child to see someone killed by lightening. As for the weather, it just seems to get worse and worse.
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Thank you Diane! I wish I could have spent more time with my grandmother. We often went to visit her and stayed for Sunday dinner before we moved here when I was 10, then after we moved to the States, we only went back three or four times a year. I liked when she came to stay with us several Summers after she retired and my grandfather died, so I got to know her even better, this time when I was an adult. I often wish we could go back to those days too – people were kinder, life was simpler. I liked visiting the Amish community of Shipshewana too. We have two similar towns in Ontario, of Mennonites though and my mom and I visited St. Jacob and Elmira and stayed in a bed and board in St. Jacob and walked around the town which was small and near the place we stayed. All very nice people and we bought a few treats to take home as well. The Mennonites were similar to the Amish except they have electricity and are permitted to drive vehicles. It is so odd about the chocolates – my mom thought it was a nice treat for her great-grandmother who already had a hard life, before the foot-stomping incident … it is puzzling why she didn’t eat them???
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That chocolate would have been eaten if it was mine! 🤣
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She must have put it in her trunk right away and didn’t smell it because the chocolate aroma would be difficult to ignore. I know my grandmother and mother were very puzzled over her doing that. If she was saving it for a bad day, she sure stockpiled it! 🙂 My mom said the chocolate was not rancid and smelled good, but had a “chocolate bloom” on it, but they didn’t eat it.
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Sounds like you live in a dangerous area, Linda! Lime-sized hail? Derechos? Yikes! We’ve had a few torrential downpours this summer, with gale-force winds, but thankfully, no hail or tornadoes.
It’s wonderful you know so much of your family’s history. No wonder Minnie was terrified of storms! Interesting that Katherine kept all the chocolates without eating them. Could she have been diabetic? Andrew was a real ‘prize’, giving his wife grief about her injury and subsequent disability. 😦
This was a fascinating memoir and I enjoyed the old photos as well. 🙂 I’d love to have a wrap-around porch.
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Thank you Debbie – I’m glad you enjoyed it. I like taking a trip down memory lane every so often. I am more uneasy every volatile storm that comes through here and the predicted bad storms that never happen are almost as bad as they create some angst beforehand.
I am lucky that I got the family albums from my mother and Mom sat down and explained who everyone was since I only knew my maternal grandparents (never met my paternal grandparents who died when my father was a teenager). My grandfather might as well have been related to Andrew as he was a real ‘prize’ too and I’ve written about him before here and not in glowing terms. My grandmother spent several Summers here in the States after she retired and my grandfather died, so I remember taking out the albums and her filling us in on some pictures and stories. She never mentioned her mother being diabetic but that does not mean she wasn’t either. It seems odd that she would have saved all those chocolates and never indulged in eating them.
As to the porch, yes, my grandmother and mother talked about how when all her siblings moved out, got married and had kids and they’d all gather at the farm for all the holidays … they’d run out of room, so everyone got their plate and took it to the porch and sat or stood there.
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I can only say this is an amazing story. Someone you know struck down by lightning in front of you? That’s difficult to process and then to live with the memory for the rest of your life. Makes sense that Minnie was no fan of storms.
The old photos are wonderful. What a great way to celebrate Grandparents Day.
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I think so too Ally – I’d be afraid to come out of the house any time there was a storm or the threat of one. She was a devout Catholic and believed the holy water would keep the house and her safe and luckily she never had any storm-related issues after that fateful day. I enjoy using the old photos in my blog and I’m glad my grandmother and mother sat me down to explain who was who and any backstories.
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Wow, that is a traumatizing memory to live with! The sheer terror of seeing someone getting killed by a lightning strike would strike fear in your grandmother’s heart every time she heard thunder and lightning. Nature is no joke! It is so powerful and mighty that humans don’t stand a chance.
Picture of your mom on the wraparound porch is pretty! She was a good looking woman.
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I agree Esther and I can’t imagine how she felt, young as she was and someone she knew as well. She would worry going forward, all storms and I saw it when she spent a few Summers here with us in Michigan after she retired and my grandfather died. She got agitated and anxious, even a routine Summer storm. We rarely have those routine-type storms anymore – they always seem extreme in one way, shape or form.
Nature is very powerful and I don’t have to tell you that – another earthquake in L.A. yesterday. Thankfully you say you’re not that close to notice them, but still. I like that picture of my mom as a young woman too and after my mom passed away I took some of those photos, (which are very small, maybe 2″ by 3″), and put them in vintage-looking frames to put on the mantel. She looked young and happy. I always coveted her dark, curly hair and blue eyes. I took after my father with his mousy brown, straight hair and gray eyes (and glasses). But I have her disposition. 🙂
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Wow, a fatal lightning strike would have been a traumatic thing to see! I don’t blame the lady for being afraid of thunderstorms.
I admire those old-time farmers. They had a hard life! Thanks for sharing these memories of your elders.
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Yes, very scary to witness JP. Farm life was so tough for farmers and their families. They hung in there and put in long hours every day, all year around. I took my grandmother to Greenfield Village one time when she visited for the Summer. I think you said you were here before for a family trip or maybe a field trip in school years ago. My grandmother had a wonderful time pointing out all the farm implements she recognized, old-time fashions she wore, especially the high-button shoes. I could barely tear her away to come home – my mom was worried as we were gone for many hours and my grandmother always had a heart condition and this was Summer … it was an age before cellphones.
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