Hailstorm!

We got a … hailstorm today in Canberra! This was certainly not in the weather forecast.

I was stepping out at lunch. Cloudy it was and I had my rain jacket on. I saw a, kind of, turbulent cloud system approaching. I saw passersby hurry up and run back. I kept walking forward, thinking this would be more rain than usual. Then it hit me. Ah it was hail. So I walked back and and stood under the shelter.

The storm intensified as something I have never seen before! Golf ball sized hail hitting hard, ripping trees, smashing glass. I took this video below.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mlv88akymo66l8r/83300329_574172370104802_6882486050170601472_n.mp4?dl=0

After the hailstorm was over, this is how it looked like!
IMG_8463

When I returned home, I found my IKEA patio table smashed by hail. Or was that a meteorite?!
IMG_8471

Seattle [Art]

This is my attempt to draw the view of Seattle from West Seattle, with a view of Mt. Rainier in the background.

The sky – I initially tried drawing it as it appears in summer, of late with a haze. However, the result showed up as a bit anti-aliased. So I reconstructed the sky as having a standard sunset effect.

Seattlesk-final-2

That’s a Cargo ship in the waters, arriving from a long voyage across the Pacific.

On a recent long travel to Canada, I got to see the same mountain range, from the flight over Vancouver.
Mt_Baker_Vancouver

My time in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest was quite magical and I hope to be back there someday.