Susie's Secret: summer storms are here again!

What a brilliant day! Sun was shining, even a few clouds in the sky all spread out and flat like it was swiped on by a giant knife. I was IMing Britta (on our Blackberrys!) [or should it be Blackberries?] and got tired of typing on our phones and moved to Facebook chat then we managed to set up Skype and have a video chat! You know what they say with one thing leading to another... It was so exciting to see someone and actually talk face to face (as it were.) I miss my Canadian friends SO much! I'm really hoping to convince Ayla to get online with skype but don't know if that is possible as she's using Britta's prehistoric laptop. Hope so! After chatting I went down to Bunnings to take advantage of their free paint chips. I'm starting a little 'colour my world' collection in which I match things in my world to paint chips and document them in my art diary. Just so in future when my memory is failing me I can remember the exact hue and tone of the grass that day or the colour of our old laundry. Inspiration for this: How to be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith. Enough quirky inspirational and mad things to do on any given day.

Late tonight the clouds rolled over and I could smell that smell. You know the one where the air is getting so heavy with moisture that it can't take anymore. You can smell the change and you know that the rain is to follow. Here it just turns on like a city water pump. It gushes down with no introduction or prelude. Heavy disruptive and determined to shout "I told you so!" if you haven't cleaned out the gutters. Dad has finished the guttering on the patio but the tank hasn't gone in yet so we had four buckets under the drainpipe. You know it's raining hard when you can fill a bucket in less then thirty seconds. I ran around frantically filling up all the buckets I could find, even the watering can. Such a waste otherwise! It was a good and proper thunderstorm, windows rattling, lightning bolts, lights dimming and sheets of lightning to make the night day. Amazing hand of God. That's the thing that makes me most believe in God is the raw power in the universe. I know I could not witness such infinite strength and not believe in some greater power.

*take note that the brown section is what represents the majority of the backyard 'lawn.'

While I was at Bunnings I very foolishly went into the plant section. Well, not so much the plant section as into the cacti and succulents section. I have this thing for dangerous plant life. I don't know what it is, it's always been like that. Anyway, I end up walking out with a venus fly trap and a new cactus. The fly trap, I imagined it to be bigger. It's got a variety of different sized pods but the biggest is only about 2cm long! They've got spikes on the inside lid. I'm not sure how they actually lure the fly in there long enough for it to close on it. I can rarely catch the little buggers! It'll have a feast come summertime if it's quick enough. I've named her Jonze but haven't thought up any good names for the new cactus on the block, any suggestions?