Wow. That was an incredible storm. Subhanallah. It began right at the mid day prayer. There was a huge howl and a big crack and I heard things flying around and hitting the ground. After prayer, I looked outside and saw pieces of the roof from the old house shattered on the ground, and a rotten branch from the old amra tree had broken off and was blocking the driveway. Doesn't seem like much at the time, then I went downtown to get some tobacco for my Dad, and I saw the devastation. Huge trees probably decades old each, uprooted, yanked out of the ground as if by some big hand. Straight trees snapped in half like matchsticks, with the crown blown 10 meters away. Not just one or two trees, I saw probably about 50 trees or more mangled. The local council had been busy, breaking down all the huge trees with chainsaws so they don't block the road. I was so in awe, that I forgot to take photographs.
I have been up since 3:30 am today. I had a little insomnia, so I did some extra worship. I blogged my letter to you, and after the dawn prayer I went to the butcher at the Tuesday market to get a cut for my parents, and I got some clams for myself. I spent the rest of the morning in the kitchen. I had a light nap before voice training, it wasn't much but I'm surprised I didn't struggle through it. It must have been the excitement of the storm. The temperature is so awesomely cool right now. No sweat! No need for AC! Alhamdulillah!
Clams need to be processed immediately before they die. Some clams live longer than others, but not these. I think I showed them to you before, these are the "snails of a thousand brains" type of clams. I separate the meat from the broth, and today I use the broth for my noodles at lunch, and I freeze the meat. Dinner was 3 cheeseburgers. Not very photogenic, mostly because I prefer sliced bread over burger buns, so I didn't take a picture of dinner. But you're welcome to have one. Darling Erin, I love you and I need you.
