Nighttime storm

Around 4am today I was woken up by flashes of light.  I thought at first that someone had turned on my bedroom lights but it turned out to be some rather impressive lightning flashing, accompanied by thunder — ranging from low grumbles to loud crashes — and then heavy rain hitting the roof.  I lay awake for a while listening to the noises of rain and thunder until I fell asleep again.  The noise scared my niece, who woke up crying and then ran to her parents.  My nephew slept on undisturbed by the storm.  When I called my boys this morning I told them about the storm and that it was a little cooler than yesterday; Don said that it hadn’t rained yet in Ottawa, and it was still quite hot and muggy.  Jerry concluded that it was too hot for cuddles and was stretched out by himself, just watching everything, until I called his name.  He just pretended to ignore me (I saw his eyes flick at the screen and then away) before doing his usual trick of trying to knock away the phone from Don.  He reports that he also slept quite well last night, and got about 6 hours before he started waking up.  He’s hoping that the heat will break later; the forecast was for rain and thunderstorms but up to this afternoon, neither was happening.  Fingers crossed that it’ll be much cooler this weekend, as the 40C heat is stifling!

I slept soundly from around 9:30pm until the storm, then again from a little after 5 until almost 8.  That, I tell you, is a beautiful thing!  I’m a little sleepy this afternoon but it’ll pass.  For some unknown reason, I had a bit of a nosebleed today — not long; I wiped my nose and it came away with blood on it.  It lasted a few seconds, but it was unusual.  I ate some of yesterday’s leftover lunch and I’m pleased to report that it tastes as good as it did then.  A little better, if I’m being honest.

The thing with me and restaurants is that I usually tend to order things that I don’t make myself.  The exception is when there aren’t many choices available to me as I’m not vegetarian but I don’t eat red meat.  I fall afoul (no pun intended) of the vegan crowd, because even in a vegetarian entrée I’m inclined to add animal protein, usually chicken.  Somehow, a meal of only vegetables leaves me unsatisfied.  You’re free to share your thoughts, but this is what tends to work for me.  So I often don’t order pasta dishes because they’re super easy to make well, and it hurts my wallet to pay 10x or more of the cost for a basic meal!  If I do order one, I expect it to be excellent but I’m often disappointed.  I’ve now got to practice making a decadent rosé sauce, and incorporate elements like pine nuts and pesto.  I love having the challenge of a new recipe to try, even more to share it with others so we all enjoy something different and delicious.  (There’s an outstanding pasta party for us to execute as my pasta machine is still sitting unused on the shelf!)

School and snacks are done, and it’s time for play.  We’re watching Tinkerbell fairies and I’m about to be banned from watching it as I’ve pointed out that if Tinkerbell wasn’t so disobedient her friends wouldn’t be repeatedly in danger, needing to rescue her.  I was told, “No, Auntie Sonja!  She’s not naughty!”  “Well, yes, because she was told not to touch anything human, and she went ahead and did it anyway, and that’s why her friend got hurt.  So that’s why you should listen when your adults tell you not to do something!”  That’s not a popular opinion with the small people… and then I say things like she needs to be punished even though she saved everyone as they wouldn’t have needed saving if she had behaved.  That led to screams of horror, and sulks.  I’ll have to rectify this, or they’ll be difficult to settle into bed tonight.  So off I go to work on that.  Good night!