A Mighty Wind

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

—“Who Has Seen the Wind?” by Christina Rossetti

(The wind tore a large limb off our Mountain Laurel tree, and it was still blowing when I took this picture.)

Last Monday, we had a bizarre windstorm that wreaked havoc all over Austin.  It toppled trees, downed power lines, and sent traffic snarling for hours.  Our power went out for about four hours, part of our very old fence blew over, and a large limb was torn from the Mountain Laurel tree in our front yard.

I love our Mountain Laurel, and it blooms fragrant purple blossoms that smell delicious and attract the bees each spring.  This year, because of the ongoing drought and the warm winter, our tree bloomed early and was already budding when the wind blew through.  I was sad to see the torn limb lying on the ground, but at least the tree is still standing.  The same can’t be said for many of our neighbors’ trees, so we were fortunate.

I’ve lived in Texas my entire life, and I can’t remember a windstorm as powerful as this one.  This summer is expected to be unusually hot and dry, so who knows what’s coming next?