A Local Storm

We live in a great part of the country where we tend to escape weather-related disasters so common in other parts of the USA. However, on Saturday a violent thunderstorm passed through. We suffered only scared cats but down the road about four miles away, the village of Canisteo was heavily damaged---downed trees that fell on power lines, houses, cars, streets, etc.

The picture above is a scene this morning of crews repairing power lines. The mayor said that every street had some kind of damage and that a state of emergency will probably remain in effect until Thursday. Quite a consequence for a storm that lasted about three minutes.

My morning routine includes checking my e-mails, reading the important news stories, and then turning to a section of the news considered oddball. If you've never read the oddball news, you are missing something very entertaining. For example, here are the headlines for today:

MOST VIEWED: ODDBALL NEWS
Man rides mule from Minnesota to Wyoming AP
British dwarf's penis gets stuck to hoover AFP
Gambler complains of urine-soaked seat AP
Van was rocking, police were knocking AP
UAE father of 78 eyes new brides for century target Reuters

Magic

I've been thinking about Aunt Erma. We sat across from her at a family reunion last summer and watched as dozens of children came up to greet her. I remember saying to my husband, "That's the way we used to look at her, too."

For the children would gaze at her with wide-eyes filled with love and adoration, and a kind of expectancy, as if they thought she was about to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

And maybe she was. A magician, that is. She certainly made the rest of us greater than the sum total of our whole.