Sure was a Good Friday!

Happy Easter Weekend! I'm on beautiful Bowen Island for the weekend. The sun is shining, a mere facade of the storm that was yesterday. This storm was possibly the worst and most entertaining daytime storm I've witnessed in years. It wasn't the rain or the temperature drop than made it impressive but the sheer force of the wind that made it remarkable

When all was said and done we spent 22 hours without electricity, placed 7 logs on the fire, experienced 5 tormenting power flashes, sipped 4 cups of wood stove tea, witnessed 3 trees crumble, snuck 2 early easter eggs and enjoyed 1 fantastic french toast dinner.

This post has little to do with my running world in fact I used the storm as an excuse to take a rest day. (This is the first one in two weeks so I don't feel that bad about it) I could write about how frustrated I am with my foot or how proud I am that I have the mental strength to bike for 90 minutes straight but not today. Today is about the storm.

The power of wind storm was my sole entertainment for the day.  It was beyond astonishing, who needs TV when you can watch the wind force tress so far past their breaking point you stare in amazement as they bounce back when the wind changes directions. It's like a chess game tress versus wind. The wind advances, shows it's ugly teeth and the trees answer back. When you think there's no possible way the tree will survive it's like the wind losses their knight and lets up on the advance.

It didn't always work this way, if we're keeping score by number of trees down it would be 3-0 wind but I don't know where that leaves the tress when you consider all the ones that withstood the force.  Watching the carnage was my favourite part, is that weird?

There is this tree you can see from our living room window it's distinctive and when I was little my creative juices were clever enough to name it "tree-ey." Well since I've been galavanting on the mainland four alders have grown up to match half the height of tree-ey. I was watching the wind throw them side-to-side limp, like a rag doll and while laughing to myself at how funny it would be if they fell. I feel like my mental energy was the final push that allowed one of the alders to succumb to its fait. As I pointed this out to my parents I notice where there were three trees only two stood in place.  Another man down I guess.

As the day went on I spent way too much time trying to understand the storm from every window and every angle. It was incomprehensible to watch a seemingly powerless force prove to the seemingly perfect example of strength, set in it's ways for well over one hundred years, who had control. When you lye on your back and watch trees rock back and forth you wonder how they became gigantic, did mother nature allow them? What would happen if they were to fall?

On a smaller scale I found out. I watched in disbelief as part of a huge evergreen broke apart and fell onto the roof of our neighbours house. I quickly learned it's not funny, funny isn't really the best word. It's a combo of shock, amazement and disbelief that something so strong can fall so quiclky, it comes out in a laugh but it's actually kinda scary.

Today I realized how much I miss trees. Living on the 26th floor of a downtown apartment you forget what it's like to be encased by the power of mother nature. Today was about trees, nature and the power of that force, not about running. Today was nice, creative, resourceful and so was the french toast made by candle light. Today was a great day.