Special Effects

We witnessed lots of special effects yesterday. A storm rolled in and pushed out the smoke and heat we've been suffering under for days. Lightning is always a big thing in the mountains as it's responsible for so many forest fires, including the one that caused the smoke we're dealing with now, but concerns aside, it was quite the show! We went out for Mexican food and across the parking lot we had good seats for watching it. It was a lot more impressive than this photo indicates. Huge multi-branched strikes filled the sky, one after another for almost an hour. I just caught the end of one here. I was still excited to capture it with my camera though.



We had to laugh at another customer who yelled at the waitress, who is a friend of ours. The guy told her to hurry up as "my house is on fire." She looked at him and said "Your house is on fire. Right now. You know this for a fact." He scowled and said his house was right underneath the lightning and so it was probably on fire. Then he paid his bill and left in a hurry. After that as each group of people finished their meal they announced that they had to leave because their house was on fire.

(Just for the record - Clearly, NO ONE'S house was really on fire, including the crazy who yelled at the waitress. It would not have been funny if a house was really on fire.)

Later we went to the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It didn't disappoint. Like the books, as Harry gets older, the movies get darker and more dangerous. The furious wand fights in this one were, if I may, pun intended, "spellbinding" to watch. (I wish I'd had a wand of my own and the ability to seal the mouths of a row of teenagers sitting behind me however. GRRRRR.)

I'll have to go see it once more when the crowds thin as I missed a bit of dialogue - good thing I'd just reread the book so I didn't have to worry about following the plot.

And now it's time for me go attempt my own special effects - to turn my living room chaos into a spectacular show case. Sigh. I wish I had a wand.