"Up the creek with no paddle" or "Stranded with no Sudoku"

http://www.truveo.com/toronto-tornado-august-20-2009

Sorry I don't have any pictures but if you follow this link you will see what a wild night Toronto had last night.

I will begin with our very different Blue Jay trip experience. Checked the weather, yes, it was calling for thunderstorms but in the dome that would not be a problem. Failed to check traffic on the QEW. We had planned to catch the GO at 4:15. Because of an earlier accident on the Skyway bridge two lanes were closed so at 4:15 we were still navigating the QEW. OK, another train would go at 4:45. But would we be there in time for it? Should we just drive into TO.? No, another train would be leaving at 5:15 so surely we could catch it and still get tickets before 7:00. If we could just get from Union Station to the dome without any rain. No problem. Got our tickets, had time for our usual hotdog and inside in time for the warm up drills.

Very soon after the game started we began to hear thunder. Now, to be able to hear it above the noice in the dome tells me it must be quite a storm .
About the fifth inning the dome begins to open and no rain now falling.

It was a lousy game, at least for Blue Jay fans. Not only could they not hit but they made all kinds of errors. Anyway, 9:45 game over, good timing. We will get home before midnight. When we got into Union Station there was a posting for our train say to "wait" there was a delay. Because of the storm the switching signals had been damaged and had to be repaired. Two hours later we were still waiting. About 1:30 our train finally arrived.

So, what do you do for those hours when you are waiting. You listen intently for the periodic announcements regarding the delay. But apparently the announcer had marbles in his mouth because many of us could not understand what he said. We would compare our interpretation with those around us who were also waiting. Of all times to be without a Sudoku book. First, you try to find a seat. You just wait 'til someone gets up and you grab it! Then you begin to watch people. My focus was on the types of shoes people wear. Many, many were wearing flipflops. A few ladies in extremely high heels (yikes!). but apparently Wayford's focus was on their feet. On the way home at about 2:30 in the morning he said "Ever notice how funny people's little toes are?" After being in the Atchley family for 57 years and knowing the oddity of our little toes they would have to be quite odd for him to notice. I should be happy that that is where his focus was because some of the apparel could have drawn attention to other parts of the body.

We began to speculate as to what if?? What if they don't get the train running again tonight? It's too late to call someone to come get us! Could we go to a hotel? How much would a taxi cost to take us to Burlington to get our car? There was even a poster with a homeless girl lying on bare springs for a bed and that thought crossed my mind.

Anyway our train came, we got part way to Burlington and someone pulled the emergency cord and that had to be checked out before we could go on.

Then an announcement that the train would only take us to Oakville and we would be bused on to Burlington. Guess what? Not enough busses to carry us all. So they had to make a call for more busses. Another wait. After about 20 minutes the busses arrived and took us on (making two stops before we got to Burlington). At 3:06 I was safe in my own bed, thankful that the tornado missed the dome.

Would I do the GO again? Yeah, perhaps another night like last night will not happen again for a long time.

Storm in Oklahoma 2009

One of my favourite things that came

out of the storm was a comment Jacob

made. While he and Jeremy and Lauren

were watching the hail fall, Jeremy heard

the noise of what turned out to be a mini

tornado. With one swoop he took the kids

to a closet and instructed them to huddle down.

That would have been an unfamiliar pose for them,

and a bit scary, I'm sure. Jacob, in his 5 year old

wisdom said "Jesus, 'tect us!"

If we could have as much faith as a 5 year old!

July '09 trip to Oklahoma

A beautiful evening for an outdoor wedding

in Oklahoma in August. It was still quite

warm even though it was 7:00 p.m.

A part of the Atchley clan who have assembled

for the wedding.

An impressive wedding party.

Part of Great-grandma Smith's time was spent

reading books to the kids. One of them was

all "tuckered out"

It wouldn't be Oklahoma without a storm.

Very little hail but lots of wind and rain.