life like a storm

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough." 

— Mae West

This is where we spent the majority of this past week .

A constant reminder of how wondrous creation is...and startling when you realize how close 

the nations capital is from this quiet, bright and beautiful countryside. 

On Friday, Mr. D and I took a late afternoon nap outside on the loggia

and watched as sheets of rain billowed across the mountain and sent waves dancing across the pool.

The thunder rattled in my chest and that sweet unmistakable smell of a hot July thunderstorm

filled my lungs - for some reason reminding me of growing up in the most general sense and

yet somehow managing to encompass every summer of my childhood into that single familiar mist.

We laid together watching the mountain disappear in the thick and heavy downpour

and listened to the rain drops dancing loudly on the pool deck.

Soon the clouds grew lighter and the mountain began to reemerge

and believe me when I say, 

it would have taken your breath away to see how green it all now reappeared.

The middle of summer is definitely here 

and life has never seemed more abundant and clear.

photograph by Mr.D