All Hail to the Red, White and Blue

Sunday before last, we went to the lighthouse after we saw the Nina and the Pinta.

This maple was bright against a very dark blue, stormy sky. Try as I might, I was not able to get my camera to see what I saw.  I could get the red winged seeds and the light wood but I could not get the dark sky: disappointing.

We drove less than a mile when it started to hail and then rain sideways. We pulled up under a not-big-enough tree for shelter. When it stopped, there was quite a collection of pea-sized (and a little larger) hailstones. I took this picture a good five minutes later.

That evening we learned that the plentiful hail near my school was the size of golfballs. 

It left marks on the sidewalks where it had hit.

The poor trees had piles of green leaves under their canopies where the hail had knocked them off.