Verdant Valley

This image was made a year ago in July. We visited the small country school, about fifteen kilometers east of Drumheller, where I grew up until I was ten. Verdant Valley School was a two room, two teacher school with maybe 35 or so children attending from the surrounding farms. After school was out us kids had the whole schoolyard to ourselves. This included all the playground equipment, skating rink, etc. Many a time I remember watching big thunderstorms roll across the farmland until at last the rain, hail, and lightning would come at us like a freight train. There was nowhere to go, so we just had to hunker down and wait them out. I recall one memorable storm when my dad and uncle were attending a class at the University of Calgary and so the rest of my family, one brother, two sisters and my mom, along with my two cousins and aunt got to watch a spectacular light show! My mom and aunt didn't want us kids to get scared and kept us busy drawing what each of the lightning strikes looked like. Once my dad and uncle returned they told us that many of the power poles near the yard had been struck and damaged during the storm. The phone would ring every now and again when the telephone lines got hit.
[Olymous E-410, 14-42mm]