More weather antics....

After the enormous heat wave of the last few days, with temperatures up to 40° and high humidity, everybody was looking forward to some cool relief in the form of rain and wind.
WE GOT IT!!!
On Monday, as I left the house, large raindrops started falling thick and fast. By the time I got into the car, hail stones were rattling on the roof, making a scary noise, and within minutes the road was under water, branches, twigs and leaves were flying everywhere, and I had to turn back because the road was impassable. I tried 2 other turnings, but no chance, same story, so I was happy to get back home safely. The little lane at the back of the house - which is on cellar level - was also full, so I had to paddle home. 2o minutes later it was all over. No more rain, the sun was shining, and I decided to go to my frined's after all. The water was steaming off the streets, and apart from a bit of paddling to get to the car and a nasty and very muddy puddle at the post office, exactly THERE where I got out of the car, it was a journey with no problems. Tuesday and Wednesday the weather heated us up again enormously, and then, yesterday afternoon, the clouds started to build up again. In a few minutes, the trees were bending in the wind, the sky went from greeny-grey to lilac to dark purple, and then it started - thunder, lightning, strong gusts of wind, rain and hail stones, and it was as dark as night. Really spooky! It lasted all in all for about an hour, and caused a lot of damage throught the county - trees and roofs blown down, the airports here and in Frankfurt had to close, and trains and trams were blocked for hours because of trees and branches on the tracks and / or damage to the overhead cables. Lots of roads were under water again, a lot of people got injured, one got killed. A man from the fire brigade said it was the worst storm he had experienced here in his 30 years as fire-man.
Today it's a bit cooler, but will be heating up again today and tomorrow, and the weather men have predicted more storms for Saturday....are all those people right with their visions of global warming?



The photos were taken from my balcony, except for the last 2 which were taken from the internet.

Hot days and nights....

Here in Düsseldorf it is once again too hot to do anything. I wouldn't mind if it would cool off in the evening, but hot and steamy nights are not conducive to sweet sleep. The weather experts have forecast big storms for tomorrow, and hopefully some cooler air after that.
It has been sooooooooo hot that I have hardly been able to craft, I need an air-conditioned craft room. Well, I can dream about it....
I managed to get Gina's challenge LO for this month done. I didn't have any bird photos for it, as my printer is *on strike* just now (too warm??), so used lots of die cut birds and bird cages (TH Alterations), some die cut flowers and some transfers. The leafy background paper was in a packet I got from my best friend B. Gina, hope you are satisfied with my attempt. The second LO was made in May for Alma's challenge, which was supposed to have a song title in it and... and...? Can't remember the specifications any more. I used black magic paper from coredinations and a photo which Gina sent me. Tried to keep the colours simple. I hope Alma will forgive me that I didn't get round to putting up pics till now....