While I have lived in Taiwan for close to twenty-two years, I am still a small town Kansas boy at heart. I was raised in Abilene, Kansas, and still think of it as my “home” in many respects that count.

While, Abilene will always be in my heart and I do find myself thinking of it and the people fondly from time to time, there are still some things I do not miss about the place . . . tornados, cold winters, hot summers, snow storms, and hail . . . honestly, it’s been so long since I’ve seen a hail storm that I’d almost forgotten about the beasties.

Please note that I used Photoshop to up the brightness on the still image grab from the video above as the original was shot during the storm and it was much darker out.

Well, thanks to the joy of social networking, I am more up to date on things back home than I’ve been for years. I found this video of today’s hail storm online after I saw my youngest brother and a few hometown friends post pictures of some golf ball and even baseball sized hailstones. My brother and mother both have damage to their cars.

Nope, don’t miss that.

Also don’t miss the sound of the tornado sirens they had either.

Absolutely don’t miss that.

Then again . . . while my life in Taiwan may be free of hailstorms and tornados (although we had one last month, a small one by Kansas standards but a bona fide tornado nonetheless) . . . I have moved to an island that has earthquakes.

Pretty much where ever you live, there’s going to be something.

To all of you who have been in storm’s way, our thoughts are with you.

– Brian