Today's thunderstorm

Feels like this one is right overhead.

This afternoon's thunderstorm

Rolling in.....

From the Marigny bus, at Jackson Square.

By the time I got home. Thunder's rolling right overhead, the wind off the river is picking up.

Darkness at Noon

Right now a fierce thunderstorm is rolling in, the world outside our front door is as dark as twilight, here just before noon. So much for Jazz Fest.

Yesterday a similar storm kept me in the house from sometime around 1:00 pm till nearly 6:00, but it didn't have as much lightning and thunder here in the Bywater as it did elsewhere in town. They had to shut down Jazz Fest yesterday, too.

Today's storm is already flooding the street. The sound of the rain and wind is terrific.

Yesterday the Campus at UNO closed down due to flooding. I have a banquet to attend there later this afternoon - I'm not sure I'll be able to make it.

Island paradise

I am sitting on the breeze-cooled porch of a guest house in Key West, while the private jets roar overhead and the palm fronds sway.

Below, at the pool deck, people lounge by the water.

We are just a couple blocks off Duval Street, that easy, sleazy thoroughfare. This morning I took a walk through the neighborhood, past the art galleries, antique stores, t-shirt shops and adult entertainment parlors.

Here are some pictures.

We're going out to explore now - see you later!

Clouds came in from the north and it started to rain

Sunday morning the sky was overcast. Weather Underground's radar shown a swirling mass of storm out in the Gulf, wheeling toward Mobile and Pensacola, and turning our way.

By mid-day Sunday brunch, the sky to the northwest was dark gray. When we came out of the Rouse's supermarket up on Franklin by the lake, raindrops spattered us as we pushed the cart to our car. It all let loose on the road, sheets of water on the windshield, abated when we drove under the I-10 underpass, then splashing back down as we emerged.

We out ran the storm to the Bywater, but the drops began falling as we unloaded the groceries. We settled in for a cozy Sunday afternoon.

The rain came down again in the evening, and then again at four in the morning, I could hear it pounding away on the tin roof of the gallery outside the bedroom window. This morning as I walked the dog, thunder growled off over the river, where I could see a thunderhead over veiled rain. The forecast is for more storms the rest of the week.

I have a few errands to run, but otherwise, it's a stay-in kind of day.

It has broken the streak of excess heat, for which we're grateful. During the afternoon rain, I could sit comfortably on the front porch with a book and watch the rain come down. Jack's tethered to a long lead near me, so he can wander a little, but when the rain comes, he's happy to stay under cover.