Friday, April 15

Another sleepless night, thanks to thunderstorms and the threat of tornadoes. Since we are registered with a weather-call service through a television station in the Capital City, we got two calls last night, both warning of severe thunderstorms. Because I know that severe thunderstorms can spawn tornadoes, I stayed glued to the TV, where meteorologists were tracking the storms all night.

Thankfully, other than wind, rain, thunder and lightening, the worst of the weather bypassed us. Sadly, though, seven people in towns south of us died in the storms overnight.

Got up late, around 8:30, and lazed around after breakfast until I could muster the energy to do a treadmill session and weights exercises.

Mother came over mid-morning. She was draggy, too, having also lost sleep. Even if she could have ignored the storms, her cat could not. The cat gets absolutely panicky in storms, and of course nothing can comfort her.

While I was getting ready for the day, Mother peeled and boiled a pot of potatoes, which will be used tomorrow to make beef hash. After that, she worked on her jigsaw puzzle, while I went outdoors to take pictures of a particularly beautiful dogwood tree in our yard.

After I'd photographed the tree, I went to the shade garden to snap images of the hosta plants. As I was doing this, a truck stopped on the road adjacent to our yard, and an older man stepped out to ask me if the flowering tree was a dogwood, and would I mind if he parked in our driveway to take pictures of it. I told him to take as many pictures as he wanted. I'm glad someone else appreciates that tree as much as we do.

Back in the house, I prepared plates of chef's salad for Hubbie's and my lunch. Mother opted for a sandwich. Then I uploaded photos I'd taken at the garden tour yesterday, as well as ones of the dogwood tree and hostas, to my social network page.

Afterward, Hubbie and I went to the WDCS for a few groceries. Before returning home, we stopped by a home improvement store, where Hubbie bought a couple of grape tomato plants.

Supper tonight was the-week-in-review leftovers. Mother went home afterward, and Hubbie and I watched the 2003, R-rated movie, "Sylvia," starring Gwyneth Paltrow. The movie tells the story of poet, Sylvia Plath, and her passionate but rocky love and marrage to poet Ted Hughes (played by Daniel Craig). Plathe eventually falls into depression and commits suicide. Paltrow's mother, Blythe Danner, also appears in the movie.