Summer is outdoor time. The light lingers; the heat of the day dissipates; the air freshens. Maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll get one of those quick storms to roll in, you know, the very localized kind where the temperature drops fifteen degrees in a minute and it rains on one side of the street but not the other. And if we’re REALLY lucky, it will rain just hard and long enough to wash the car and give our thirsty postage-stamp of a lawn and our garden a nice cool drink, or maybe even knock down some of that awful pollen that seems to be lingering well into June.
With summer storms, timing is everything. A few evenings ago, a gang of us—the usual suspects—went over to the club to share an alfresco meal and listen to some good old 60s music: Frankie Valli tunes, to be specific. We were seated on the patio: the temperature was perfect, the wine was cold, and that most unwelcome of guests—Boris Humidity—was nowhere to be seen. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, someone looked up and said, “Is it supposed to rain?” Everyone bent to their phone; but in my oldies-addled mind, I heard Paul Simon singing “I get all the news I need on the weather report.” This particular weather report was coming at us out of the Northwest and now my mind is switching to that cataclysmic scene in “Ghostbusters” when devilish black clouds begin to gather over Manhattan and Dana (played by Sigourney Weaver) is possessed by Zuul atop her apartment on Central Park West and is transformed into The Gatekeeper. Remember that? She’s wearing a flowing red gown and is suspended in mid-air over a demonic rooftop temple as the clouds continue to gather and swirl overhead and a wild storm erupts.
You do remember this, don’t you?
Anyway, there’s thunder and lightning all over the place when Peter Venkman (aka Bill Murray) arrives and tries to reason with poor possessed Dana (“There is no Dana, only Zuul!”), but she rejects him and turns into a snarling beast surrounded by hellhounds who are guarding the gateway to Gozer the Gozerian.
Still with me? No? C’mon…I know you remember this!
Thank God, all the Ghostbusters arrive just in time, armed with their proton packs, prepared for a final Armageddon-like battle with Gozer and to close the dimensional rift that’s threatening to swallow all of New York. The proton packs are charged and ready, Gozer is defeated once and for all, and Dana is reunited with her own sweet self. Cue the theme! I know you remember that!
Where was I? Why am I telling you this?
Oh… so my friends and I are out on the patio, watching the sky darken ominously and the clouds start to roll in and what was previously just a gentle evening breeze has begun to howl like a banshee. Then there is one big fat raindrop, then another and another and suddenly it’s raining cats and dogs, but the music is still going and people are dancing and aren’t summer storms just THE BEST!
The storm didn’t last more than five minutes; OK, maybe ten. Our group went inside to wait it out, but most everyone else stayed under the big tent on the patio and had even more fun. And when the storm finally cleared and the music died away, I went outside and painted the sky.
Like it?
I’ll be right back.
