Yesterday around 4:00 pm we had one of the Thailand thunderstorms that I really love. I was relaxing upstairs in the main living area of our family home with all the wooden window shutters wide open. It was a hot, but not super hot, sunny day, probably in the low 80's. With the shutters all open, it's almost like being outside.  

Then I heard some thunder, not too close. It was still sunny, so I went back to my reading. Before long the sky was cloudy and the thunder was closer and more frequent. There was one really loud thunder clap, always the best part, and some wind and rain had begun. The roof extends quite a distance past the edge of the house, so if the rain is coming straight down, having the shutters open is not a problem. The wind picked up quite a bit and it was getting exciting. The winds were cooling things off considerably and now I was thoroughly enjoying nature at work.  

But then Aun Aun came into the room and started closing shutters. Of course the concern is that we don't want rain blowing in onto the wood floor. I had to admit she was taking the sensible course, because it was now raining really hard and the winds were whipping about. Which made it all the more fun to watch, but soon I realized I better get in line.  So I also closed the three shutters closest to where I was sitting. That killed off much of the fun, because with the shutters closed, it is a very closed in space, as there are no glass windows for looking out.  

So I moved to the kitchen, which is on one end of the house, but not fully enclosed. There are openings in the outer wall up above the cooking area and a large open area where the dishes are washed. I think the idea is to make it easy for the strong cooking smells to escape out of these openings. On the side next to the kitchen table where we eat, there are two more wooden shutters that swing out. They remained open, so I was able to watch the downpour, which was considerable, from there, breathing in the fresh smell of the pouring rain. All the green foliage around the front of the house was glistening in the rain and I imagined many happy plants saying "Thank you!"  

After about forty minutes of the storm, I looked far off in the distance and could see blue sky. During the next ten minutes, the rain subsided and soon it was all over. It had been fun, a lot like sitting out a thunderstorm in a forest while camping.  

The image of gathering storm clouds is from Wikimedia.