Mom, The Lanyard, and Lightning

I'm sorry I haven't posted much lately, but my Mom died and our family has been out of town for several days. She was diagnosed with breast cancer 4 years ago and thought she beat it the first time around. It was still there and spread throughout her body. She was diagnosed as terminal with 6-24 months to live. That was 6 months ago. It's been a rough week, and I'll miss her a lot.

At Mom's funeral I read a poem I found a few months ago called "The Lanyard" by Billy Collins. It's a beautiful poem. After returning to Woodstock on Sunday we got our mail from our neighbor and noticed that Billy Collins would be in Woodstock at the Opera House on April 19th. Of course I ran downtown Monday for tickets only to find out it's sold out. If anyone has 1-2 tickets they can't use, I would like to purchase them from you!

We left town last Tuesday to be with Mom. I was up late Monday night (actually to 4am Tuesday morning) taking pictures of the thunderstorms that came through Woodstock. I holed up at the Mary Endres Middle School doorway and captured a few lighting shots. Here are a few, the rest can be seen on my Flickr page. Click the photos for a larger view.