At last, some rain and a break in the heat!

Two days that Raleigh reached 105ºF, and one that touched 106º (41ºC), in a span of six straight days above 100º…whew!

When a protracted stretch of extreme summer heat - record breaking temperatures - is broken by a sudden thunderstorm, the feeling of relief we get is wonderful. I could almost imagine the plants all around me sighing with satisfaction. Dogs, on the other hand, are often nervous about lightning, and sometimes even upset by very heavy rain. We humans should have a healthy respect for lightning, too, of course. At any rate, I came in out of the rain, and soon thereafter the sun broke through the clouds. Even as the last drops were falling, the entry was flooded with light. Well, flooded is a relative term in this case. The light was pretty dim, but there were no interior sources, no lamps on. The translucence of the umbrella caught my eye, as did the textures of the basket brought out by side lighting. Sometimes we photographers will stop to try to make a photo out of almost anything. 

For those of you interested in technical matters, it was shot on a "full frame" DSLR (a Canon 5D III) with a 135 mm f/2 lens stopped down to f/2.8, a single exposure of 1/6 sec (I was resting on the floor) at ISO 100. I adjusted the raw file in Adobe Lightroom, pulling back the highlights and raising the shadows. 

Meanwhile, I found that our dog Photon had clambered up the stairs in my absence. She's getting very old, and has trouble with stairs. Apparently her fear of the thunder claps overcame her fear of steps. She didn't seem to have hurt herself, and even looked a bit proud to be up in one of her old haunts. She was guarding some framed prints that are strewn randomly while the proper home for each is sought. I don't think I'll show the clutter in the hallway, but here's a close shot of Photon guarding the "treasures".

That's all for now.

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