HEY there. I’m tentatively online. I say tentatively, because I don’t like to agree to something and then bail — but as you may know, I’ve been offline following what has been described as an “Explosive Sting Jet Cyclogenesis” (AKA Kristin), that devastated many parts of our beloved Portugal. If you just want to know when I've rescheduled this week's session to, then just scroll to the bottom or check the updated calendar! So this is a little about our experience of an “Explosive Sting Jet Cyclogenesis” 💨 We (Hubbie Carl, me, and our 3 kids) were, thankfully, away from the aforementioned sting jet — which is described as a scorpion’s stinger ♏🦂 — as it curved in and stung Portugal about 36kms away from where we live. Leiria was hit bad. As it came in, it sounded like a truck 🚛 was barrelling into our home. Our curtains were blowing around as if our windows were wide open — but they were firmly shut, double glazed, and with shutters down. We were huddled away from the windows, praying it would pass us by. And then it was lights out. Thankfully, we had advanced knowledge that a storm was coming in. To be honest, we’ve heard that many times before — and like the kid who cried wolf, we didn’t take it that seriously. We prepared a little, but were honestly surprised when it really was a BIG DEAL. We had charged up our devices, pulled our plant pots into a sheltered position, drawn off a load of water to filter, grabbed candles, matches, firewood, and rechargeable battery packs… all five of us sleeping like sardines in the same room. Bundled like mammals in a protective nest. And our preparation was great. It helped lots. Note to self — pack chocolate next time. Waking up the next day, the howling wind was still there. House alarms and car alarms going off — but without electricity, life sounds different. Friends popped by and we compared notes. We were grateful that we don’t have electric shutters on our home. Many of our wealthier friends were locked into darkness for two days.