Friday, April 3, 2009

Librarians and Poets Laugh Off Weather Warnings

Weather forecast for Alabama on April 2, 2009: Severe thunderstorms, high winds, possible hail and tornadoes.
Who remembers the weather forecast on April 3, 1974? That was the day 100 tornadoes hit in the U.S. The previous Monday our neighborhood in Huntsville had been hit by a tornado, and many houses totally demolished. Our house only got a damaged roof and a door, along with a truckload of debris in the yard.
Last night at the Gadsden Library, Alabama Humanities Foundation sponsored another poetry workshop. These happy folks braved the storm to paticipate in "planting a seed."

5 comments:

Carrie ~ Cricketwood Prims said...

Kathleen,

One day of 100 tornadoes is enough, glad you are not experiencing that damage today. Do you have a picture of the shell from your last post. I have never seen one.

mah said...

You know some people just don't know when to stay home! LOL. People who love reading, poetry and all the "good stuff", can't be stopped!
I remember when I was a kid, I would spend the rainy, stormy days in the church library, my mother would have a fit, especially if it was thundering and lighting! Love it. Mary Ann

Kathleen Thompson said...

Hey, Girlfriends! Carrie, I wish I had a pic of the ones we saw--they were tiny but gorgeous. I've googled one and I'm going to try and post it. Be aware though that the camera missed the amazing part of the "sail" that gives this jellyfish-like creature its name. The sail, that little see-through thingy that stands like a little sail is shaped like a lazy S if you look at it from the top. So it looks as though if this WERE a sail, if the wind caught it in one of those S loops, it would go one way, but if the wind came from the the other way, it would also catch it. So, this little sailor can't go wrong--he can catch the wind from any direction. Don't you wish we had such a sail in our lives?

If I did, Mary Ann, I suppose I'd know just when to GO and when to STAY home!!

By the way, my mama's method was to make us sit on the bed while a storm was passing over. The houses we lived in really had no "safe" place, so what was she thinking? I can only speculate, but at least, there on the bed, I suppose we'd all go together. But, YES, I need to learn something about when to go and when NOT to go. Have a great day!

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Oh, I'm thankful it was minor, Kathleen! Sorry to hear you had any damage at all. Last year, my mother in law got a huge tree through her roof from a tornado (she was crouched in the hall about fifteen feet away), and my cousin's mother in law (a few blocks away) had three trees that nearly demolished her house. Tornadoes are serious business! I hope your damage is not hard to get fixed, and I hope the cleanup goes well.

XO,

Sheila :-)

Kathleen Thompson said...

Oh, you're so sweet, Sheila. I must have bungled my words; I meant to say this happened in the tornado of 1974. But we were fine. It was a traumatic ordeal, nonetheless. I recall that the next morning you could not see a blade of grass in our lawn for the debris, and a Red Cross truck brought coffee through the neighborhood.What a blessing that was. Weather is definitely nothing to sneeze at; I'm very cautious.

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