Yes, I really am crazy

What do you do during a thunderstorm? Do you shutter the windows, turn up the TV, curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and a throw and get cozy? I certainly don't. I grabbed an umbrella, ran down the block to the lake (yes, I live just a minute away), found a nice spot amongst the rocks and started snapping pictures. Now I know that waving an umbrella around when there's flash after flash of spectacular lightning displays is not a good idea, but I was counting on the trees behind me to take the hit should something come close enough to strike. Half hour later I finally figured out the approximate camera settings that would at least give me half a chance to catch an arc or two. An hour later I was soaked and my arms were getting numb, but I did manage to catch this one picture. It's not perfect, in fact it's far from it, but I was absolutely ecstatic when I looked through my pictures and saw this one amongst a sea of completely black or blurry smears. Next time I'm hoping I'll get the hang of things faster and come away with better results, but in the mean time I'm going to curl up on the couch in front of the TV with a nice hot cup of tea, a cozy bathrobe and one of these Chocolate Toffee muffins left over from this weekend's baking spree and pretend that I've been there all along, just like any other sane person.


These are the result of a spruced up Friendship Bread recipe. Once you have the basic recipe that gets passed along with the starter down pat, you'll want to experiment. I spent a whole weekend with a friend tinkering and while we came up with some great options, the Chocolate Toffee muffins were the best. I sent most of the muffins we made down to my sister to share with her always hungry college friends and I think they said it best when they called them "Crack Muffins."