In the wee hours a huge and unexpected storm. The temperature plummets, the wind blows, torrential rain descends from the heavens and thunder shakes the old house to its foundations.
We come downstairs this morning to discover that the wisteria has been ripped off the front of The Rickety Old Farmhouse ...
... and in the hallway a mirror has fallen off the wall and is lying on the floor. It's knocked over a lamp, which has landed on a chair . The lamp is intact as is the the mirror frame but the glass is in shards. You'd have expected Bob and Sophie to howl as all this excitement unfolded but they seem to have decided that the nights events were just 'one of those things'.
The PONs watch as we repair as much of the damage as we can. The wisteria is so heavy I'll need to get the builders in with a fork lift truck. The builders are of course on holiday for all of August. Glass shards are gingerly picked up and put in a thick cardboard box for transport to the waste recycling plant. '' Must have been some storm '' says 'The Font' who has slept through it. '' Must have been " says Angus. After all the excitement the PONs opt for a lengthy doze on the stoop.
On the news this morning we're told Aretha Franklin is ill. Here she is singing Nessun Dorma in New York many years ago: https://youtu.be/B1WT8lvN3kM?t=83
15 comments:
Thank you for that clip. I'd heard it mentioned, that she was standing in for Pavarotti on zero notice. Amazing.
It's a pretty mirror, glad that was the only damage. Was it on the other side of the wall that had the wisteria knocked loose?
The wisteria was at right angles to the wall the mirror was on. The vibration must have travelled through the stone and shaken it off. Amazing considering the mirror isn't light.
Will the wisteria survive?
And will Aretha? The world needs her right now.
Wow - what a bunch of deep sleepers. We hope that you can save the wisteria - it is quite lovely.
You seem very sanguine about that mirror, Angus. Your Scottish forebears would have gathered all the pieces to bury them at midnight
That must have been some storm to shake what undoubtedly are foot-thick (even 2) stone walls.
Hari Om
Yikes... that must have been some storm... *cough*.... YAM xx
How right you are. There would have been much wailing and gnashing of teeth at what the mirrors fall would auger. Here the major worry has been whether the past tense of the verb slide is 'sliden' ( which 'The Font' tells me is archaic or 'slid' as in the mirror had sliden down the the wall.
This year the thunder seems to be peeling directly over the house. Previous generations of PONs would not havebeen amused. These two are oblivious to it all - thanks in part to 3 foot plus stone walls.
A special thanks to the weather channel for not forecasting it !
The wisteria may be foreshortened but it will survive.
It all happened at the far end of the house so we probably wouldn't have heard anyhting even if it had happened during the day. Despite it's rather run down looks The Rickety Old Farmhouse is 20 metres long and 20 metres wide so a lot can go on that you wouldn't know about. Bee nests being a good example.
Thanks for the link to the Nessun Dorma clip, I haven't heard it before and it's quite wonderful.
I wanted to share my favorite Aretha video with you: https://youtu.be/XHsnZT7Z2yQ
I think you made that word up. Sliden?
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