summer storms & an orchestral moment

I feel like posting again. It's sort of been a Posting-In-My-Blog-Fever kind of day. Well, and evening at this point. Life has been UP and down lately, but I
guess that keeps things interesting. Or some crap like that. I tell myself these things to keep from going nuts.

Tonight we had a very satisfying storm here in New York City. It poured rain. Practically biblical. It was a warm, passionate kind of rainfall. There was even a sprinkling of thunder, as any proper summer storm should have. I was eating dinner outside when it started raining. Luckily I was under a tent, but I still got splashed. Coming home I got soaked.

It seems like I've been caught in several storms so far this summer. I was wandering around the lower east side during the first one. I got soaked to the bone. I was running around, trying to dart under the cover of awnings and the overhangs hovering above storefronts. Everyone else was doing the same thing, which made it kind of fun. A communal moment, so to speak.

That same night I got rained on a second time when the skies decided to unleash their fury yet again. I power walked my butt home. The rain was so heavy and dense that it was difficult to see. Lightning was flashing, and it struck a building near by at one point. I was so started by how loud it was that I literally flinched. I turned off my cell phone at that point, worried it was going to attract a bolt of electricity. Frying myself is not an option I want to take.

I've been mentioning the subway a lot lately on here, but I have to do it yet again ... groans all around, I know. I have to ask myself 'what is my obsession with traveling around underground?!' But there you have it -- the simple fact that I have one. Underground is neat.

During these summer storms it gets very wet and damp in the stations. Water drips everywhere, on to clothes, shoes, cement platforms and all over the tracks. Puddles form in the oddest places. Trains coming from elevated rail lines are plastered with droplets of rain. Even the litter on the ground gets wet.

I enjoy it though. It feels a teeny bit like being in a giant aquarium. Granted, this is by a loooooooooong stretch of the imagination, but still, if you have one it's entirely possible. I think of all my fellow subway riders as little fish floating under the sea. The effect would be complete with plastic seaweed drifting about.

But, back to the rain. I'm glad it came tonight. I've been waiting for it, watching it roll in on the weather reports.

Oh! and in other news I heard the New York Philharmonic last night. It was at a free concert in the park. It seemed to me that well over a thousand people were there, all spread out on their picnic blankets. Pet dogs and little children were in abundance. People had brought wine, snacks and, in some cases, complete three course meals. Fireworks rounded out the evening. All in all, a lovely concert. The program was good, although ending the concert with Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony was an odd choice -- very depressing and no rousing finale.

It was so lovely to sit and hear music in Prospect Park, though. Classical music is hard to come by, and being able to listen to it with my toes planted in the grass was very nice.

The orchestra plays in the park every year. For many people it's a bit of a summer tradition to go and hear the NY Phil perform in Brooklyn. I can understand why too -- great orchestra, terrible accoustics but amazing setting!

All in all, a very wonderful experience.