I decided not to head out in the dark and possible rain with Tom this morning, choosing to sleep a bit longer and take my chances with some sunshine a little later in the day.
I went out around 11:00 and had hail just a coming down on me! So much for waiting....Tom said there was no rain or hail when he went out in the dark. Oh well. It's actually kind of fun to head out in the hail and see the looks you get from people! When I was about 2- 2 1/2 miles away the lightning made me a bit nervous. I stayed near neighborhoods so I could jump up onto someone's porch if the lightning got too scary.
To the east and the south was big, angry clouds and lightning. To the west and north was absolutely beautiful blue skies with sunshine peeking down on mountains with snow down to the middle and reds, oranges and yellows towards the bottom! I was so wishing I had a camera with me! I also wished that I could come home and paint the pictures that I saw! Every minute the scenery changed and made another pretty picture for me to store away for those really nasty days that are sure to come. By the time I reached home the sun was shining brightly on me and the blue skies above. I did notice however that it changed for the worse again really soon after getting home.
The hard part of this day is when I went over to say goodbye to my dear friend, Ellen, who is dying of cancer. Last week she didn't know she had cancer and today she is on her death bed. She is almost 82 years old so she has lived a good long life. She lost her sweet husband, George, just over a year ago and will be so happy to be with him again. But it's hard to say goodbye. | 
