Thankfully it has Tara, although it really has been a rollercoaster of a summer until now! thank you for catching up, I seem to be the last to read everyones posts at the moment - and there was me thinking summer would be an easy ride! x
Haha! I had the same illusion about summer. It’s gone poof. I can’t speak for you, but unstructured time was a good thing. I thought I’d get more Substack reading, but I still want more expanses of time for that. 😅
Gosh, Susie. This sounds intense and horrendous but also exhilarating in the witnessing of the power. I'm sorry for all the damage, though. The power of nature is something to be in awe of.
I have witnessed the coming of several major storms (we tend to get some crazy ones a few times a year in Melbourne), but I have been lucky to have never had anything damaged. Some near-flooding, but nothing ever smashed.
I hope the recovery is OK and things are more stable with the weather.
Thank you Nathan, I have to admit to loving a good storm and then feel a terrible guilt at my exhilaration knowing that many others will have suffered. and it seems to be every time now, each storm more violent and damaging.
Thankfully, this morning I had good news from the insurance company and all damages will be paid for. I'm stunned and delighted!
I imagine your storms are equally, if not even more wild! I spent a very exciting/terrifying - I couldn't decide which - night in the Blue Mountains about a thousand moons ago, the noise was otherworldly, and the rain!!!
Recovery, though I hesitate to tempt fate, is progressing nicely - I'm hoping August will be a much calmer month. Have a great weekend. ☀︎
Last time we had to make an insurance claim due a freak storm which set light to every piece of high tech equipment we owned in one small room, they didn’t pay out, they said we had miscalculated the size of the room (mere centimetres) and that the insurance was void! So Ditto!
I understand your anxiousness Jan, these storms become more fierce every year, one wonders what is in store for us and our children in years to come, its a frightening thought to dwell on but I think its time, past time! x
Susie this was an awesome and exhilarating read. I was there with you!
The wild beauty of nature. Love it so much.
I always find it interesting how media frames Catastrophe Naturel, or Natural disasters. Yes a disaster for the people and infrastructure for sure but nature is just doing it's thing, being itself. The true natural disaster is the one that humans inflict intentionally on nature.
Thanks Jo, I am delighted you feel the wild beauty as well as the ferocious dangers, I really couldn't agree more. Sadly until all the doubters and non believers are convinced that climate change is a reality, dear Mother Nature will not abate in her anger; she really is only acting naturally in her response to our behaviour, she is pleading with us in the only way she knows how! 💛xx
About two weeks ago I have written a scene for my new book about a double hailstorm that is life changing for the character (and I experienced a few), but I must say your writing inspires me to crank up the volume of that fictitious scene even further.
On our hill in the French Morvan we had that same stormfront passing through. The craziest one minute of rain ever. Up, and sideways, before it remembered to fall. With no warnings prior, it came running through like a high speed train.
I am deeply complimented by your comment Bertus. To have inspired a writer I admire as much as yourself is high praise indeed!
My very belated and heartfelt thanks.
I love how you write of the storm on your hill "Up, and sideways, before it remembered to fall." I have known this too, been awestruck by the ferocity, highlighted by the one streetlamp, that so very appreciated French habit in small hamlets!
Thank you dear Elske, every year these storms gather force and every year the damages are worse, I fear for the future, for my children and theirs. When will we learn?
But yes, there is enormous beauty in them despite their ferocity!
This is superb Susie (first piece I've managed to read here for "some time" too, so you've set a high bar for those to follow!).
Capturing that raw energy of nature, and how it translates into our emotions, is not easy to do without falling back on cliché and tired, worn language. This piece, however, reads fresh and powerful, with the always outrageously good photographic accompaniment adding a rich depth to the whole.
As I read, I can't help but wonder how often this story will play out in coming years? I also cannot help but wonder how many others do not realise the danger of such events, wiping out a crop here, destroying a series of greenhouses there. The knock-on effect could oh so easily cascade. It frightens me.
Thanks for sharing this, your writing somehow just keeps getting better and better, and I'm so glad you share it here.
Enormously belated thanks Alex, we are still offline here and 4G is so very erratic I am struggling to keep up with replies - Notes I have almost abandoned altogether in case they warrant yet more internet time... the consequences in my stats rather evident but this is a minute and v very personal problem compared to those caused by this last storm.
This was a strangely easy piece to write, I seemed to be carried along by the ferocity and pace of the storm so I'm delighted it read well for you and yes, I think a photograph always helps to highlight when words seem insufficient, Im glad you liked them, that they enriched the writing...
I don't even want to think of how these storms will effect us in years to come, they become more fierce every year and as you say; the knock on effect has the potential to be catastrophic to homes, to wildlife and to small businesses alike. What will this world be like for our children and their children? Nature is treating us in the only way she knows how to and considering the appalling way we have treated her, she has good reason!
Thanks again Alex, I hope the week has treated you kindly further north, have a great weekend.
Susie, your encounters with nature are so extreme! We all are experiencing mother nature’s power and ferociousness in degrees but your special hill and surrounds seem particularly vulnerable. The way you describe her approach—tentative and then without-a doubt-ominous—makes her wrath feel all the more scary and dispiriting. I’m so glad the damage was minimal to your land and property, though upon looking at your link, it looks like others didn’t fare as well.
I find myself wanting to see a new Tarot card image called Susie of the Hill. It would be an image of a beautiful, powerful, unflinching woman standing tall on her hill with all forces of nature both gentle and fierce whipping around her. She feels it all, but never topples
As you so often do with your deeply generous comments dear Kimberly, you brought tears to my eyes, though that last paragraph is a compliment I am not certain I could live up to. I do feel it all, every breeze, every flake of snow, every scorching sunbeam, but I fear I topple frequently... I curse and weep at the ridiculous non believers, the doubters... climate change here on my hill is apparent every month of the year, every year nature suffers a little more. Flora and fauna have disappeared, the land shows signs of deep fatigue and the ferocity of these storms worsens every year... I have never witnessed anything like the storm of this summer but I remember saying the same last summer too, which forces the question of just what awaits for the next and the next?
I know I am not alone in these fears either... Thank you, with love xx
While reading your story and viewing the amazing photos "hell on earth" came to mind, the spiritual battle between good and evil that is more apparent each day. You know my opinion regarding the unprecedented weather patterns, sadly the worst is yet to come. I pray God continues to embrace you in His Light, keeping you and your family safe. Always in my thoughts and heart... xoxo
I agree darling, as you know well also, this is a taste of 'just desserts' and well deserved! But how fearful that makes me for the future, when will we learn to take care of this planet as SHE deserves? We will not win a battle against nature if she decides to pull all the stops and sadly that day is near... or at least foreseeable if we don't act quickly and sensibly !
Sending love sweet soul, we may have good news on the connection... Ill let you know in a message when its confirmed, not getting my hopes up too high but ive everything crossed 🤞🏽xxx
You words take us to the top of your hill. Your photographs, a stunning darkness, as if hell itself is traveling on the wind. Carrying cold stones of ice to litter its path along the way. Susie, it reminds me of the evil sky as Frodo and Sam move ever closer to Mount Doom. Your damaged home, your inner turmoil.
You paint an all too vivid picture . Trying to out run the wind, carried by it instead.
“With the wind behind me I turn and run, its wild fury pushing me forward as if urging me to hurry.”
Your words carried me along so that I too almost became debris in the wind.
No one could define climate change better than this. A deep exhale from me, that you and yours are safe.
Thank you, belatedly again, for which I apologise, August 12 seems a long way off right now... I wish with all of me that we weren't so dependant on this internet thing!
"Your words carried me along so that I too almost became debris in the wind."
your words here are closer to the truth than you can imagine... as I turned and ran I'm sure the wind lifted me making my steps longer than usual, it really felt like I was flying at times... than k goodness it was short lived!
It is strange that you mention Mount Doom, if the hill had erupted behind me as I ran, I wouldn't have been surprised! I haven't felt so small and insignificant since a tornado passed through here, out of nowhere, without warning in June 2012.
I don't know when all the doubters will start believing in climate change, but damn, it needs to be soon!
I really did not expect a reply Susie. Just letting you know I’m out here appreciating your words. I knew you would have more than two hands worth of things to take care of. Especially that darn paperwork!
These storms seem to gather force every year don't they, one wonders what exactly we will have to deal with in another fifty?
I heard about your storm from a friend who lives in the south, she said it, also, was catastrophic... and if it isn't a storm, its a drought or a freak tornado (here two summers ago). You are so right Veronica, there is something more terrifying waiting for us and the damages are horrendous, to both livestock, property and businesses.
Perhaps, one day soon, the doubters will pay more attention to climate change? I really hope so!
awesome and terrifying to read about, let alone behold. I have never witnessed a storm so powerful and catastrophic, but I feel like I was there with you, relieved that the loss was not more, and so so saddened that despite these warnings from our home, we continue to fail in our guardianship of this planet and its inhabitants. Sending love and strength to endure through the cleanup and disconnection 🖤
Thank you so much Emily, I think the chaos and damages are finally calming, most roofs are repaired and if not they are at least safe from the next storm that may or may not arrive. Hopefully not though...
When we moved to France I don't think we ever thought of the weather in terms of anything other than it being warmer and sunnier than in Ireland, how wrong we were and every year the severity gets worse, whether it be in terms of heat, rainfall or wind... or even all of these together!
When will we learn? its terrifying...
Sending love back to you sweet lady, I hope all is well and the reason for no letter this week is just a busy life 🙏🏼💛xx
Even when writing about chaos your words are so beautiful and clear and lucid. That storm still seems biblical, I'm glad your roof and windows made it through.
Huge thanks Deirdre, biblical seems quite appropriate now that I've written and relived it... I feel deeply guilty at the pleasure I get from these phenomena but despite that I pray its not going to become a common occurrence...
You have this uncanny ability to transport us with your writing. I feel as if I'm standing there on the hill with you as the sky darkens and we can smell the rain coming. The photographs you capture, as always, are stunning.
I'm so glad you felt the force Ben, this was such an exceptionally violent few minutes I felt that to not capture in words the full ferocity would have been almost a sin...
Thank you again for sharing and for your always kind words for my photos my friend.
Goodness! I’m coming late and reading a few posts together. I hope August has settled down compared to July.
Thankfully it has Tara, although it really has been a rollercoaster of a summer until now! thank you for catching up, I seem to be the last to read everyones posts at the moment - and there was me thinking summer would be an easy ride! x
Haha! I had the same illusion about summer. It’s gone poof. I can’t speak for you, but unstructured time was a good thing. I thought I’d get more Substack reading, but I still want more expanses of time for that. 😅
Like 24 hour days! 😂
Yes! 🙌
You are an alchemist, spinning gold from hailstones and hunter's gestures.
May some unexpected boon appear from all that feels like loss.
My sincere gratitude.
Your kindnesses are always a balm to this skinny old gal David, my most gracious and heartfelt thanks.
I have a sneaking suspicion the hunters may think of me more as a meddler than any alchemist, It is unintentional meddling - mostly - though!
My your weekend be filled with sweet birdsong and gentle breezes my dear friend.
“…the hunters may think of me more as a meddler than any alchemist.”
Imagine that as the opening sentence of a tale you alone can tell. Blessings and gratitude, Susie.
Gosh, Susie. This sounds intense and horrendous but also exhilarating in the witnessing of the power. I'm sorry for all the damage, though. The power of nature is something to be in awe of.
I have witnessed the coming of several major storms (we tend to get some crazy ones a few times a year in Melbourne), but I have been lucky to have never had anything damaged. Some near-flooding, but nothing ever smashed.
I hope the recovery is OK and things are more stable with the weather.
Thank you Nathan, I have to admit to loving a good storm and then feel a terrible guilt at my exhilaration knowing that many others will have suffered. and it seems to be every time now, each storm more violent and damaging.
Thankfully, this morning I had good news from the insurance company and all damages will be paid for. I'm stunned and delighted!
I imagine your storms are equally, if not even more wild! I spent a very exciting/terrifying - I couldn't decide which - night in the Blue Mountains about a thousand moons ago, the noise was otherworldly, and the rain!!!
Recovery, though I hesitate to tempt fate, is progressing nicely - I'm hoping August will be a much calmer month. Have a great weekend. ☀︎
So pleased to hear re: insurance! Phew!
Last time we had to make an insurance claim due a freak storm which set light to every piece of high tech equipment we owned in one small room, they didn’t pay out, they said we had miscalculated the size of the room (mere centimetres) and that the insurance was void! So Ditto!
Jeeeez. Well, I'm even more pleased to hear they didn't mess you around this time.
You have such wonderful neighbours, Susie. Natural and almost supernatural.
I am lucky that both are understanding of my madness David, natural and supernatural!
really powerful and scary too. I'm relieved the pandemonium was short on your your hil but anxious for the devastation to come in some places.
I understand your anxiousness Jan, these storms become more fierce every year, one wonders what is in store for us and our children in years to come, its a frightening thought to dwell on but I think its time, past time! x
Yes -- we certainly shouldn't be looking away x
Susie this was an awesome and exhilarating read. I was there with you!
The wild beauty of nature. Love it so much.
I always find it interesting how media frames Catastrophe Naturel, or Natural disasters. Yes a disaster for the people and infrastructure for sure but nature is just doing it's thing, being itself. The true natural disaster is the one that humans inflict intentionally on nature.
xx❤️
Thanks Jo, I am delighted you feel the wild beauty as well as the ferocious dangers, I really couldn't agree more. Sadly until all the doubters and non believers are convinced that climate change is a reality, dear Mother Nature will not abate in her anger; she really is only acting naturally in her response to our behaviour, she is pleading with us in the only way she knows how! 💛xx
About two weeks ago I have written a scene for my new book about a double hailstorm that is life changing for the character (and I experienced a few), but I must say your writing inspires me to crank up the volume of that fictitious scene even further.
On our hill in the French Morvan we had that same stormfront passing through. The craziest one minute of rain ever. Up, and sideways, before it remembered to fall. With no warnings prior, it came running through like a high speed train.
I am deeply complimented by your comment Bertus. To have inspired a writer I admire as much as yourself is high praise indeed!
My very belated and heartfelt thanks.
I love how you write of the storm on your hill "Up, and sideways, before it remembered to fall." I have known this too, been awestruck by the ferocity, highlighted by the one streetlamp, that so very appreciated French habit in small hamlets!
To feel and see the power of nature, is both haunting and beautiful. So glad you are okay, your words built an impressive picture 🙏
Thank you dear Elske, every year these storms gather force and every year the damages are worse, I fear for the future, for my children and theirs. When will we learn?
But yes, there is enormous beauty in them despite their ferocity!
Sending love sweet soul xxx
This is superb Susie (first piece I've managed to read here for "some time" too, so you've set a high bar for those to follow!).
Capturing that raw energy of nature, and how it translates into our emotions, is not easy to do without falling back on cliché and tired, worn language. This piece, however, reads fresh and powerful, with the always outrageously good photographic accompaniment adding a rich depth to the whole.
As I read, I can't help but wonder how often this story will play out in coming years? I also cannot help but wonder how many others do not realise the danger of such events, wiping out a crop here, destroying a series of greenhouses there. The knock-on effect could oh so easily cascade. It frightens me.
Thanks for sharing this, your writing somehow just keeps getting better and better, and I'm so glad you share it here.
Enormously belated thanks Alex, we are still offline here and 4G is so very erratic I am struggling to keep up with replies - Notes I have almost abandoned altogether in case they warrant yet more internet time... the consequences in my stats rather evident but this is a minute and v very personal problem compared to those caused by this last storm.
This was a strangely easy piece to write, I seemed to be carried along by the ferocity and pace of the storm so I'm delighted it read well for you and yes, I think a photograph always helps to highlight when words seem insufficient, Im glad you liked them, that they enriched the writing...
I don't even want to think of how these storms will effect us in years to come, they become more fierce every year and as you say; the knock on effect has the potential to be catastrophic to homes, to wildlife and to small businesses alike. What will this world be like for our children and their children? Nature is treating us in the only way she knows how to and considering the appalling way we have treated her, she has good reason!
Thanks again Alex, I hope the week has treated you kindly further north, have a great weekend.
Susie, your encounters with nature are so extreme! We all are experiencing mother nature’s power and ferociousness in degrees but your special hill and surrounds seem particularly vulnerable. The way you describe her approach—tentative and then without-a doubt-ominous—makes her wrath feel all the more scary and dispiriting. I’m so glad the damage was minimal to your land and property, though upon looking at your link, it looks like others didn’t fare as well.
I find myself wanting to see a new Tarot card image called Susie of the Hill. It would be an image of a beautiful, powerful, unflinching woman standing tall on her hill with all forces of nature both gentle and fierce whipping around her. She feels it all, but never topples
As you so often do with your deeply generous comments dear Kimberly, you brought tears to my eyes, though that last paragraph is a compliment I am not certain I could live up to. I do feel it all, every breeze, every flake of snow, every scorching sunbeam, but I fear I topple frequently... I curse and weep at the ridiculous non believers, the doubters... climate change here on my hill is apparent every month of the year, every year nature suffers a little more. Flora and fauna have disappeared, the land shows signs of deep fatigue and the ferocity of these storms worsens every year... I have never witnessed anything like the storm of this summer but I remember saying the same last summer too, which forces the question of just what awaits for the next and the next?
I know I am not alone in these fears either... Thank you, with love xx
While reading your story and viewing the amazing photos "hell on earth" came to mind, the spiritual battle between good and evil that is more apparent each day. You know my opinion regarding the unprecedented weather patterns, sadly the worst is yet to come. I pray God continues to embrace you in His Light, keeping you and your family safe. Always in my thoughts and heart... xoxo
I agree darling, as you know well also, this is a taste of 'just desserts' and well deserved! But how fearful that makes me for the future, when will we learn to take care of this planet as SHE deserves? We will not win a battle against nature if she decides to pull all the stops and sadly that day is near... or at least foreseeable if we don't act quickly and sensibly !
Sending love sweet soul, we may have good news on the connection... Ill let you know in a message when its confirmed, not getting my hopes up too high but ive everything crossed 🤞🏽xxx
You words take us to the top of your hill. Your photographs, a stunning darkness, as if hell itself is traveling on the wind. Carrying cold stones of ice to litter its path along the way. Susie, it reminds me of the evil sky as Frodo and Sam move ever closer to Mount Doom. Your damaged home, your inner turmoil.
You paint an all too vivid picture . Trying to out run the wind, carried by it instead.
“With the wind behind me I turn and run, its wild fury pushing me forward as if urging me to hurry.”
Your words carried me along so that I too almost became debris in the wind.
No one could define climate change better than this. A deep exhale from me, that you and yours are safe.
Thank you, belatedly again, for which I apologise, August 12 seems a long way off right now... I wish with all of me that we weren't so dependant on this internet thing!
"Your words carried me along so that I too almost became debris in the wind."
your words here are closer to the truth than you can imagine... as I turned and ran I'm sure the wind lifted me making my steps longer than usual, it really felt like I was flying at times... than k goodness it was short lived!
It is strange that you mention Mount Doom, if the hill had erupted behind me as I ran, I wouldn't have been surprised! I haven't felt so small and insignificant since a tornado passed through here, out of nowhere, without warning in June 2012.
I don't know when all the doubters will start believing in climate change, but damn, it needs to be soon!
I hope the week has been kind to you xx
I really did not expect a reply Susie. Just letting you know I’m out here appreciating your words. I knew you would have more than two hands worth of things to take care of. Especially that darn paperwork!
Ha! Don't even mention the word paperwork Lor!! With no wifi I'm tearing my hair out and that's before the claims experts have surveyed the works...
A hug to you for your understanding though, huge thanks
OMG! I know what you're talking about. A dreaded natural catastrophy that seems to happen every summer ...
We've had 'our hailstorm' in June (in central Portugal) and it wiped out the grape harvest 😰
fortunately no broken windows or roofs.
These storms seem to gather force every year don't they, one wonders what exactly we will have to deal with in another fifty?
I heard about your storm from a friend who lives in the south, she said it, also, was catastrophic... and if it isn't a storm, its a drought or a freak tornado (here two summers ago). You are so right Veronica, there is something more terrifying waiting for us and the damages are horrendous, to both livestock, property and businesses.
Perhaps, one day soon, the doubters will pay more attention to climate change? I really hope so!
awesome and terrifying to read about, let alone behold. I have never witnessed a storm so powerful and catastrophic, but I feel like I was there with you, relieved that the loss was not more, and so so saddened that despite these warnings from our home, we continue to fail in our guardianship of this planet and its inhabitants. Sending love and strength to endure through the cleanup and disconnection 🖤
Thank you so much Emily, I think the chaos and damages are finally calming, most roofs are repaired and if not they are at least safe from the next storm that may or may not arrive. Hopefully not though...
When we moved to France I don't think we ever thought of the weather in terms of anything other than it being warmer and sunnier than in Ireland, how wrong we were and every year the severity gets worse, whether it be in terms of heat, rainfall or wind... or even all of these together!
When will we learn? its terrifying...
Sending love back to you sweet lady, I hope all is well and the reason for no letter this week is just a busy life 🙏🏼💛xx
Even when writing about chaos your words are so beautiful and clear and lucid. That storm still seems biblical, I'm glad your roof and windows made it through.
Huge thanks Deirdre, biblical seems quite appropriate now that I've written and relived it... I feel deeply guilty at the pleasure I get from these phenomena but despite that I pray its not going to become a common occurrence...
You have this uncanny ability to transport us with your writing. I feel as if I'm standing there on the hill with you as the sky darkens and we can smell the rain coming. The photographs you capture, as always, are stunning.
I'm so glad you felt the force Ben, this was such an exceptionally violent few minutes I felt that to not capture in words the full ferocity would have been almost a sin...
Thank you again for sharing and for your always kind words for my photos my friend.
yes so true!