Lightning, Blackberries & Hummingbirds ~ Oh my!

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in the studio when I thought I heard the faint rumbles of thunder. As promised the afternoon thunderstorm that would bring rain to my garden and hopefully relief from the heat had arrived. My son and I quickly rain downstairs and outside to get the dogs in. Our dogs are pampered dogs and are not expected to stay out in the rain any more than we would. Plus, my little Min Pin is afraid of thunder. We barely made it into the house before the downpour began. The rumbles of thunder grew louder, the wind picked up, it started to rain sideways and down came the penny sized hail - also, as promised! Before I had a chance to collect the dogs and the little one, a clap of thunder crashed so hard I nearly wet my pants. I ran, the Min Pin ran and my child ran. Somehow we all met in the middle. I swear that was the loudest clap of thunder I've ever heard in my life. It shook the ground and rattled the whole house. The storm didn't last too long and the monstrous clap of thunder was the worst of it.

I hadn't thought about that clap of thunder again until this morning when the whole family went out on an impromptu blackberry hunt having been notified by the dh that the wild blackberries we'd recently discovered were ready to pick. I was making my way over to the blackberry bushes when I saw this:



A beautiful oak tree, formerly perfectly healthy with all of it's bark blown off. Then I thought of the thunder....it hadn't been thunder at all. We could see where the lightning had struck and blown the bark from the very tip top to the very bottom to kingdom come. The bark is scattered over 150ft from that tree in every direction. I just been letting my dogs in maybe 10 minutes earlier in the same back yard!
After this disturbing image, I was compelled to check the weather station to see what would be promised for today. But so far, we have blue skies, lots of sunshine with 94 degree temps and all the humidity the south has to offer. Before it got too hot we did manage to collect enough blackberries to make a superb blackberry cobbler for desert tonight. And while I was taking their picture, some friendly hummingbirds were busy buzzing my head. No doubt politely asking me to move from beneath their feeder. They were kind enough to pose for a few pics. Thought I would share. Have a great day!