The gentleness after the storm

The view from my porch this morning, looking east to the line of storms that obscure the sunrise. It’s a very still and quiet morning here on Nexwlelexwm/Bowen Island. A line of thunderstorms passed over the island a couple of hours ago, and as they have slowly made their way east, there are lingering rumbles coming from up the inlet. Lightening is striking the mountain tops of the Brittania Mountains. The ground at my house is a little wet, so at least some rain is falling in this little system, and I hope that means that there are fewer fires likely to start as a result. In the quiet of an August Friday morning, very few commuters are rushing for the ferry. The Queen of Capilano slid into Snug Cove a few minutes ago. There is no wind at all, nor any kind of swell in the bay, so the sounds of the morning are five or six nuthatches in the forest around me, some chickdees in the Saskatoon bushes along our garden edge, crows far off on the ridge top maybe bothering an owl or an eagle,…