Lightning at sunset, June 24, 2015
It rained on Wednesday morning.
It rained all day.
It rained all night.
By 2 a.m. Thursday, I was jittery.
The thunder roared constantly.
I turned up the fan to drown out the thunder.
I could still hear the thunder.
I worried about the cats. One was in hiding; another mewed from a corner behind a door. I scooped her up and pulled a quilt over both of us. It was too warm, but it calmed us.
We were terrified.
If we just get under the quilt…
But the thunder is really, really loud.
I was so nervous.
I read a few pages of Petronius, because I just received my copy of an excellent new Latin edition, The Satyrica of Petronius: An Intermediate Reader with Commentary and Guided Review (Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture Series) by Beth Severy-Hoven. It is a superb alternative to the other Latin Petronius texts, which include M. G. Balme’s heavily-adapted The Millionaire’s Dinner Party, and Gilbert Lawall’s Petronius: Selections from the Satyricon, a very disappointing edition that provides so many notes that it is virtually translated for the students.
I was very happy to find Severy-Hoven’s book at Amazon, because it is so, so difficult to find Latin texts. Her commentary and background essays are also appropriate for undergraduates and high school students.
By the way, those who dislike Charlie Hebdo would really hate the vulgarity of Petronius!
mirabile dictu 
That’s some storm! I’m often glad I live in the relatively mild-weathered UK!
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The storms are worse than they used to be!
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That’s the whole story of face-book. So many people there endlessly pretending their lives are better than they are. Mary Beard would enjoy your blog. You are doing what she does: showing how the classics are right up to date, deeper too.
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The weather is terrifying and we’ve got flooding again. So depressing.
Very flattering to be compared to Beard!:)
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Petronius on the reading list, then!
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It’s fragments,but it repays reading: the longest section is Trimalchio’s dinner party, which inspired The Great Gatsby!
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I guess there’s a lot to be said for our weather in the UK, but I’m phobic about thunder and lightning, and our storms petrify me, even though they are not as scary as the ones you get. Next time there’s a storm I’ll tell myself it could be worse!
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Global warming has made the storms much worse here. Trees down all over the neighborhood last year! Glad the UK’s not that affected yet.
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