Something worth watching from the porch

I figure thunderstorms are the things I miss most about summer in the Midwest. There is this perverse secondary longing for the scent of deepwoods off (all DEET-y and acrid). But mainly it's thunderstorms. The Midwest is a place without the luxury of a lot of topographic variation. It's twiggy to the West's tyra banks. But we make do, and we get by and it's fine. But there is nothing to compare with a full on, come-to-Jesus Midwestern thunderstorm. These are phenomenal, catastrophic, mesmerizing events. We don't have mountains, but the rest of the country doesn't seem to get the kinds of clouds that deliver a good summer storm. I'm talking about lightning every few seconds, thunder that causes you to wonder about the status of your fillings. None of this pansy stuff, I'm talking epic,John Ford-esqu, Lawrence of Arabia, Great Wall of China storms, storms with clouds like Kim Jong-Il's bouffant and a similarly sized ego. Big, I say.

Now, in fairness to my newest home, last night, DC got a good storm. Nothing great. But very good. There was some drenching rain (as my nearly ruined sneakers, books, socks and phone can attest...all are recovering nicely this morning), some wind that seemed to come from directly above rather than in any cardinal direction. There was a particularly wonderful thunderclap and some good lightning. It was nice, it nearly satisfied my hunger for bigger storms. But man I do miss a great Ohio or Kansas storm. Now those are something worth watching from the porch.