Boom! (Drip Drip Drip)

Boom! It doesn’t take much. June 4th's volcanic eruption in Chile is bedeviling them in Australia with flight delays and fog, and I hope you know that just because some of us live in the northern hemisphere it don’t mean we won’t be affected too babe! (Can you say Mt Pinatubo? When it erupted in 1991 we had two whole years of lower than normal temperatures what with the ash kicked up into the atmosphere.)In fact can you say, or do you even know about,  Mt. Tambora, in Indonesia, which blew in April of 1815 and was the largest eruption in recorded history kicking off what is still referred to as “The Year Without a Summer” ? Also “The Year of Poverty” on account of all the people who starved to death. Here in the U.S. they had snow as far south as Pennsylvania - in June no less - and the crops all died: their little cells just  can’t endure even a mild frost according to what I’m reading here today.That volcano last winter in Iceland: is that out of earth’s system by now? I wonder. And how about this new one in Chile? Will Mama Earth shrug one shoulder and send the ash cloud from that caroming up our way?I hope not, though there are always silver linings. Wikipedia says that in July 1816 the "incessant rainfall" during that "wet, ungenial summer" forced Mary Shelley and pals to stay indoors for much of their Swiss holiday and hatch a contest to see who could write the scariest story, And what did that give the world? Frankenstein, one of the first books ever to show what mischief  man can make with his yeasty imagination and a few too many hours in the lab.So be on the lookout for more o’ this R-A-I-N.  It's sad I know  but look at this way: you'll be saving on sunscreen. AND your little battered hide will thank you (and maybe even grant you length of days.)  This is not a close-up of your latest sun blister but rather a picture taken by NASA showing the caldera created by that volcano that blew in Indonesia almost 200 years ago. It is 3.7 miles in diameter. Take heed earthlings!  More here if you wish to be further amazed.