Nor'wester

Anyone living around here knows what this cloud means- a nor'wester, and rain is unlikely. The wind is rugged. The mountains create a turbulence that causes strong gusts among relative calm.

Today some of the gusts were real house-shakers, the sort that have trained me not to notice smaller earthquakes. One ripped the back door from its anchor and smashed the big glass panel. Shards of glass were hurled over a distance of four metres out on the lawn.

There were hundreds of tiny splinters with the larger pieces. The cat panicked and jumped all over them. The more I tried to get her off them the more she spun and danced on them.

I had to get down on my hands and knees to pick the glass up. I wore gloves and used the garden kneeler for protection. It took ages. Then I went over the whole area with the vacuum cleaner. One of the advantages of living in the country is the reduced probability that I was seen vacuuming my lawn.

My son is rigging up a temporary cover until something can be arranged to fix it. A sou'wester with rain would be very bad news.

The old panel was rather attractive. I used it in this shot.