The winds are incredible today. All lastnight I heard it rushing past my window. The neighbor's wind chimes were working overtime. Every once in a while I heard a tree limb fall, or someone's recycling bin go rolling down the street like a suburban tumbleweed. I woke this morning to find my bin in the backyard against the grill. Emily's hula hoops and toboggan has been loosened from their spot between the deck and the house, and were strewn across the yard.
All of this wind brought me right back to Japan, with the frequent Typhoon warnings. The warning levels were from 1 to 5, with 1 being more of a "button your sweater" warning and 5 being a "tie down the patio table" sort of warning. Our Japanese home had metal storm shutters on the larger windows that we rolled down. It made the house so dark. And they rattled in the wind something fierce, insuring that you would not sleep restfully that night. What always amazed me about the storms though, was that the wind was so strong, it would seemingly blow all of the clouds away in the night, and the next morning you would wake to clear, blue skies and bright sun. Beautiful weather to clean up in.










