5:30am, October 10th

//

I awoke 30 minutes ago to the chaos of a torrential downpour. Austin has been exceptionally dry over the last year, so the sound of any sort of rain is enough to rouse me from my sleep. It’s still going. There’s no “pitter-patter” of rain drops outside my window. The sound is more akin to a wash of cymbals. Yeah, it’s raining pretty hard.

I get up and look out the window. The rain is coming down in heavy sheets. More like blankets if you ask me. It’s ferociously windy. The trees are being tossed back and forth and the water in the street is flowing this way and that, frantically trying to run its natural course in the midst of the wind gusts.

Lightning flashes through the tightly-closed window blinds, illuminating my very dark room. Every 10-15 seconds the sound of thunder reverberates, causing the window glass to tremble ever so slightly. Someone’s car has a hyper-sensitive alarm system, because every time the thunder rolls, the alarm goes off for just a moment.

The rain is letting up ever so slightly and the wind has also died considerably. Now the sound is more akin to that “pitter-patter” I mentioned before. It reminds me of waiting out storms in a tent in the Rocky Mountains. I’m excited to go outside and feel the wet earth underneath my feet. In fact, I hope it keeps raining throughout the day.

Time to get up and put some water on the boil. I do believe this early-morning thunderstorm calls for a french press and some time spent sitting in silence.

Cíao.