I sat on the back porch as an afternoon storm passed through. Off in the distance lightning and thunder announced its impending arrival. Slowly it all drew closer. The few patches of blue sky gave way to darker and darker clouds, and then the rain began.

Slowly and silently at first, hardly more than a drizzle, then harder and louder as workmen in a new house down the street dashed for their trucks. Pine needles began to fall among the raindrops. Water rolled off the roof, into our one little gutter and then to the downspout where what had begun as a trickle became a torrent.

The air began to get cooler but it was refreshing after the heat of the day. Rain, heavier and heavier, came straight down and loudly bounced off anything solid and level. In the middle of the storm an unintimidated chickadee landed on one of the feeders for a late afternoon snack.

Then, as slowly as it had started, the sky began to lighten and a patch or two of white began to appear. The rainfall grew softer and more gentle, and the now impotent thunder and lightning moved off to the east.

The storm was gone.