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Earth Outdoor Living Diaries

Read monthly diaries from folks across the country from all walks of outdoor and country life.

Thunderstorms...Incoming

Margaret McNellis
Posted by on in Connecticut
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There are some pretty severe thunderstorms headed my way.  For right now, the sun is shining, but one of the things I love most about July around here is that thunderstorms can roll in at any time.  Of course, safety is important--I prefer the thunderstorms to occur when I'm indoors (on the 4th of July this year I got caught out in one walking back to my car after fireworks...that was less fun).  Although thunderstorms are fun to watch, it's not a several-hours long activity, so it's important, even in the summer, to have plenty of indoor things to do.

Some of my favorite indoor activities are playing piano, writing reading and knitting.  At present, I'm working on memorizing Mozart's Fantasy No. 3--but if the thunderstorm knocks out our power, my electrical keyboard will be silent.  Knitting isn't usually something I pick up in the summer, but last March I started a project from the Jane Austen Knits magazine a friend gave me for my birthday--knitting a muff with a leaf pattern.  Books are always on hand and I have several stories I need to work on. 

Last summer, when Hurricane Irene hit, my sister and I were a part of a Scrabble-by-Candlelight game that was pretty fun.  Sometimes, living in the countryside when the power goes out can be sort of fun, and something of an adventure.  I have found that I don't feel the same way about the power going out in cities.  Everything seems frozen in time in that scenario, but perhaps that's because cities are so mired in technology.  Sometimes it's nice to have a forced break.

Tagged in: Connecticut indoor activities piano thunderstorms
Margaret graduated in 2007 with a Bachelors of Arts in Art History from Southern Connecticut

State University, in New Haven, Connecticut. There she explored journalism with the university

newspaper, Southern News, writing for the Arts & Entertainment section. In the spring of 2008,

Margaret began writing on a freelance basis, for internet marketing firms and local journalism

outlets. That summer, she enrolled in her first course with the Long Ridge Writers Group.

In 2008, National Novel Writing Month caught her eye and in 2009 she joined the Shoreline

Cluster of Poets in Madison, Connecticut. She’s a member of a writing and critique group with

several novelists. She began volunteering as Municipal Liaison of the CT Shoreline region for

National Novel Writing Month in November 2011.

When she’s not writing, Margaret enjoys playing classical piano. Margaret began studying Kung

Fu Kempo Karate in December of 2000. She earned her black belt in June of 2005, and taught

students of all ages. She enjoys reading—genres ranging from horror to historical fiction to

Classical Literature. Margaret is an intermediate knitter and loves to go for walks to the river

that runs by her neighborhood, where the quiet often allows for plot-related epiphanies.