What inspires you?

The view from the driver's seat.

Sunset over a gorgeous,
if fleeting, lake.

I think a lot of writers are used to getting inspiration from all over the place. Personally, I find weather pretty inspirational. Blue skies are boring if they're just on their own. They have to have something alongside them to make them interesting. For me, the coolest skies are those full of huge, artful clouds. I love a rainy day, but then that's easy for me - we don't get a heap of rain where I live. Crazy storms are the stuff of daydreams for me. So some of the weather we've had lately has put a huge smile on my dial.

My pants are not usually shiny.
The rain made them shiny.

Just over a week ago, I got caught in a torrential downpour on the way to my car from work (it's a twenty minute walk). Most of the photos in this post are from the moments just after the rain stopped - and stop it did, abruptly, leaving behind a spectacular sunset. New temporary lakes had formed in the streets, and the carpark was awash. In my opinion, a post-storm sunset is far more spectacular than a boring, run-of-the-mill cloudless sky sunset.

A few days after this freak downpour, I went with family to the airport to pick up my brother and co., arriving from Canada via Sydney. We collected them not long before the airport was closed down due to crazy stormy weather. Phew, their flight landed just in time! On the way back home, we saw a huge tree that had blown into the road (and a car underneath it). Then, as we drove along the Esplanade in the city, we saw this:

The mighty Swan River floods its not-very-high banks.

I peered eagerly out of the car, hoping to see more roads in ruin. I've always been a winter girl (at least, the Australian winter...which for some nations elsewhere, basically constitutes a fine summer). But sometimes I wonder if I'm a bit of an Apocalypse enthusiast, too. ;)

What inspires you?