Deafening Rain on the Roof

Tweet I remember, as a kid, standing in a huge tobacco barn and hearing the rain pound the metal roof -- the voices around me were lost to the rain striking metal. It felt cozy and scary.

I'm reminded of that day pretty regularly here in Timor -- where even as I write this -- the rain is pounding the metal roof of my house -- deafening.  Add incredible thunder and lightning -- the house shaking variety -- and it's scary. Yesterday afternoon about this same time, a lightning storm passed through and struck something not more than 50 yards away.

Today, the rumbling -- lasting up to 30 or 40 seconds at some stretches -- is accompanied by strong winds and rain -- coming down sideways -- pounding and cleaning the windows.

Outside, across the street, several people are drumming -- seemingly keeping a beat with the thunder, lightning and rain on the roof.

On the second floor patio -- outside my back door, Nilla is nursing her three new kittens. They seem not to notice the sounds around them -- only the warmth of their mother's stomach and milk.