After the Storm

Late in the day a thunderstorm blew in and pounded us with high wind, rain, thunder, lightening and hail. The works! It was the kind of storm that made you glad to be inside and safe and dry and cozy with your loved ones. As storms sometimes do, it lifted and left us as quickly as it arrived. The sun came out and it was a beautiful sight to see raindrops gleaming on the tree branches. The photo below, a Kwansan Cherry Tree in full bloom, was shot with a regular iPhone camera by my husband (a close up): 

Next, I grabbed my iPhone and joined him on the front porch and happily snapped away. (I may not have told you, but I’m in iPhone ecstasy, finding so many different apps and downloading several camera ones to achieve different effects with my pictures). The following were shot with Instagram, which gives you about 10 different effects to choose from when you save your image. Of course, you cannot see the raindrops glistening on the trees; I would need a macro lens for that, but I thought they were stunning nevertheless! Well, perhaps that's overstating it, but I do like them.

The red spot in the one above is a reflection from the sun and I probably shouldn't include it but I do like everything except the spot. I like seeing the sun.

After a while, we walked outside. There's something so special about the way it feels after a storm. The light is almost surreal and the grass is a great deal greener (there IS a scientific fact to that, so I'm told; something about all the nitrogen in the rain; but I defer to my amateur meteorologist husband, who knows these things.

I'm back inside now with the window thrown open to feel the fresh air and listen to the peepers telling me spring is here. Darkness has descended and all that remains of the storm is a greener lawn and the thought of having to clean eight paws later when the dogs are taken out for their goodnight wees.

How was the weather at your place today?