Stormy Weather

It’s been Stormy Weather days around here lately, both literally and metaphorically speaking.  Here, take a look :

That’s the tree that used to be in my backyard.  Now, most of it is on my neighbor’s roof – except for the part that is crushing my fence.  All of this thanks to a wind storm that swept through town yesterday, part of a streak of rain, tornados, and hail that has harassed much of the south east this week.  You can imagine the past 24 hours have been more eventful than I like, as we deal with insurance, tree removal companies, and the like.

Stormy weather indeed.  If this is what spring is going to be like, please take me back to my cold and rainy winter.  Or jump me ahead to summer.  Have you seen the sun lately?  Or are the skies just as dark in your corner of the world?

There have been storms in the book world this week as well.  Amazon had a “glitch” (as they are calling it), and a large number of books were removed from their search and best seller lists.  A large number of authors were impacted by this, as their books could no longer be found on Amazon.  That it happened over Easter weekend fed the conspiracy theorists, as well as slowing response times, and it was late Monday before Amazon was ready to release an explanation and begin returning the books to their listings.  I spent a lot of time (too much, really) following along some of the hundreds – thousands? – of online conversations about what was happening.  And came out of it with nothing more than a lot of dissatisfaction at how it was handled, a lot of lost hours, and a feeling that mega-corporations that have too much influence on any part of a market are a bad, bad thing.

And hey – it’s tax day in the US!  Stormy weather indeed, as many people are having a tough time paying for food and a home, never mind sending a check to the government for taxes owed.  If you find yourself in that unfortunate situation, please remember – even if you can’t pay them, you’re doing yourself a favor by filing before deadline.  Putting this particular paperwork off can result in some particularly dark skies on your horizon.

~~

I know that these stormy days will pass, and we’ll soon have bright skies and fairer days.  But until they do, I think I’m going to snitch a piece of candy from the kids Easter basket and bury myself in the Christmas story I’m nearing the end on.  If there are going to be bad days, at least I’ve got chocolate and writing.