Lent Day 42: Thunderstorms

It's a cloudy day here in Anchorage and I find myself pining for a thunderstorm. (Isn't pining such a good word?)

But thanks to science (ugh, science!) we don't usually have ththunderstorms here. I've heard thunder once in almost 5 years, so I have to get my thunderstorms elsewhere. Lucky for me, there was one while I was in Hawaii. I was probably one of the few people hoping for rain on my vacation.

One of my goals in life is to learn how to photograph lightning. Without getting struck by lightning, of course. I guess I better find somewhere to practice.

Lower 48 Special and Miranda Lambert

So I just figured out that I've been writing for a year and I didn't even know it!

Life's been pretty crazy the past few weeks: baptisms, funerals, air travel, car travel, hotels, new jobs, life decisions, etc etc etc. But life's getting back to normal and I'm getting back to my regular schedule.

I had a bit of an extended spring break thanks to some full Alaska Airlines flights, which was nice because it meant spending more time in sunny, (unseasonably) warm weather with my family.

Including this guy- isn't he the cutest?

It also gave me some time to reflect on things I love about the lower 48.

So, the lower 48 special: (It's a little like .38 Special)

(Full disclosure- It's March. In Alaska. It's really cold and gross, so this is pretty much just an ode to summer.)

1) Thunderstorms - I wrote about these before, but I seriously love them. I got to see a couple while I was in TN/IL, and they were good ones - lots of lightning and thunder. There's just something about the drama and the danger, right?

2) Shorts- Everyone knows shorts are better than pants. I just wish I had more of a chance to wear them. Okay, I didn't actually wear shorts while I was on vacation,  mostly because I'm not really sure where my few pairs are. But in theory, I could have been rocking them like nobody's business. It's never really warm enough for shorts in Alaska, even in the summer. Sure, Alaskans might risk it a few days during the summer, but let's be honest, legs that don't see the sun most of the year, don't look very good in shorts.

This was actually last winter. I was going out to get the mail.

3) Warm Nights- I went out for ice cream one night when I was in Nashville. And we sat outside. And I didn’t need a coat. (I had whiskey and pecan ice cream, and it was amazing) Here in Alaska it’s not warm outside at night, even in the summer. In fact, I haven’t lived somewhere with warm nights in a really long time (California doesn’t have warm nights either). There is something so great about being outside after a long, hot day. It might not have been summer, but that didn’t stop me from getting Summer Nights stuck in my head.

4) Steak ‘n Shake- When my sister asked me what I wanted to do while I was in Nashville, my only answer was, “Go to Steak ‘n Shake”. You can’t get Steak n Shake just anywhere, and they have the best fries ever. (They are even better if you get them with cheese). It’s traditional diner food, but so much better. They make their burgers with ground steak rather than regular ground beef, and while they are delicious I prefer the Chili 4-Way, which isn’t actually on the menu. I guess technically it’s a Chili 3-Way with cheese or a Chili 5-Way without onions, either way it’s spaghetti topped with chili and cheese. It’s a delicious comfort food party in your mouth.

Since I spent nearly two weeks in Nashville, it seemed appropriate to pick a country song, so this week's hot jam is Kerosene by Miranda Lambert. I like Miranda because she's sassy, plays her own guitar, and writes (most) of her own songs. The video for this song is kind of dumb, so I suggest listening while you update or facebook status or tweet about how cool I am. Something like that.

Potpourri Week! and J. Geils Band

Potpourri: meaning medley or miscellaneous collection. Like the Jeopardy! category, not the dried flowers.

Occasionally I'll come up with something to write about that doesn't really lend itself to an entire entry: enter potpourri week. These are some (unrelated and in no particular order) miscellaneous favorite things.

Thunderstorms- When I was little my family lived in a house with a great front porch. It had a swing, a brick ledge that went around and was a great place to watch thunderstorms.

I distinctly remember sitting on the porch one night with my family watching the lightning from a particularly exciting thunderstorm thinking this must be what it looks like if you were inside an egg when it was cracked. I’m sure my love of watching storms came from my Dad. One time, while the tornado sirens were going off, my Dad was outside looking for the tornado while I was inside, duck-and-covered in an interior closet, (like you are supposed to be if you don’t have a basement) because he wouldn’t let me go outside too. If I was better at advanced math I might have majored in meteorology. Of course, then my friends and family would have had to deal with me shouting out weather patters rather than rock formations in the car. I’m not sure which is worse.

Avocados- When I was in high school there was a rumor going around that our mascot, the warriors, was going to be changed. To the fighting avocados. Seriously. And it was semi-believable because Fallbrook is the avocado capital of the United States and former avocado capital of the world.

My appetite for avocados is a new one. They are kind of a weird texture (some say it’s the same as butter) and don’t have a ton of flavor on their own. Maybe it’s an acquired taste, because I’ll put them on just about anything.

Newspapers- I’m sort of contrary when it comes to newfangled business. I still would prefer a letter to an email I refuse to use any sort of e-reader contraption, I don’t want my phone to be able to tell me where the nearest Starbucks is, and I like reading the newspaper. Not Wall Street Journal Online, not Anchorage Daily News’ AND.com, the actual printed copy of the newspaper. I like flipping through the sections, I like getting ink on my fingers, I like doing the crossword puzzle, I like feeling like a dad in a 1960s television show. My perfect morning would involve a sunny, warm porch, a cup of coffee, and the newspaper. Pure heaven.

Chocolate Milk- There’s a little restaurant in Metamora, IL, where my grandparents live, called the Family Fountain. It’s a typical small town café. There are unofficial men and women tables, (men generally talk farming, women talk knitting/crocheting/other crafts), they serve biscuits and gravy, pie and other comfort foods, and everyone always orders the same thing. I order 1 pancake (which is the size of a dinner plate) and chocolate milk. No fancy pre-mixed chocolate milk here. It’s regular milk with Hershey’s syrup and you have to stir it in yourself. And it’s my favorite part of breakfast.

This week's hot jam is Centerfold by the J. Geils Band. Centerfold was the band's only big hit, but it was a big one. It hit number 1 on the Hot 100 in 1982 and was a regular video in the early years of MTV. For some reason, the oldies station my alarm is set to often plays this song in the morning, and I catch myself sleepily humming along. (Not that I'm complaining, it's not a bad way to wake up.) Centerfold tells the story of a boy surprised to find his high school crush in a "girly magazine". That has to happen in real life. I mean someone sat next to Pamela Anderson in history, right?