Stormy Weather

The past 7 days have seen several local area thunderstorms, even one that produced a lightning strike on a nearby home. Yes, one of my neighbors had serious damage to the roof and gable from a strike which traveled through the house, through the yard to the neighbor's yard and erupted at the end of his driveway causing concrete and flower beds to explode! Naturally, the commotion of the firetrucks and police created quite a stirring of neighbors who walked and jogged down to the end of the cul-de-sac to see what was happening. We even had a homeowner from a neighborhood down the road ride over and inquire about the action. We're pretty friendly folk around here, so nothing was a secret. Besides we enjoyed seeing people we hadn't seen since the last neighborhood party.

But this just reminds me that the weather can be a serious factor in Douglasville. We don't have to contend with hurricanes or earthquakes or tsunamis, but we do have the occasional thunderstorm which blows down trees and strikes lightning into our yards. Once in awhile we have a tornado threaten us but so far that danger has not caused any damage to our locale. The rain that came with the storms was welcomed however, because we had had several days of dryness. My rain collection buckets were dry, and I almost had to use hose water to keep the tomato plans and flowers alive. I'm not known for my gardening skills, but this summer I have been more successful. I enjoy the gardening and the thrill of seeing something growing but so far my thumb remains a nice fleshy color. I look for greenness each day.

This week-end was tax-free day, and so we spent Sunday at Lenox Square Mall buying school clothes for the grandson. You should have seen the line outside the Apple store as people lined up to buy new computers free of taxes! We couldn't even go inside and drool or wish for what has become our next planned purchase. We will buy a new Apple before the end of the year, but we couldn't buy school clothes and computers this week-end. Apple computers are favored in my household over pc's.

Lenox Square Mall has Arbor Place Mall beat a mile. The Anthropology store and Apple store alone draw me back over and over again. Not that the Arbor Place Mall is shabby. I've spent many happy shopping trips there. Lenox Square Mall, however, leans toward the upper end of purchases. It's only 40 minutes from my house. We go west on I-20 and then north on 85/75 to the exit for 400 which takes you straight to Lenox Road. It's not hard to figure out how to get around in the area. Since my daughter was visiting, we had to stop by Filene's Basement, a big disappointment since the store was pretty bare. Are they going to close as so many of our other stores have done? I don't know. But if you hear anything let me know.