Stormy Weather

Dozens of the brightest people in Pennsylvania and New Jersey gathered at Atsion Lake in the Wharton State Forest on Saturday to hold a picnic in the rain. Actually, they did not set out to have a rain-drenched barbecue. But stormy weather did not deter the Delaware Valley chapter of Mensa, an international organization for people with intelligence in the top 2 percent of the population, from holding its annual picnic at the lake. "We enjoy each other's company so much that we'll go to any length to be together," said Art Gardner, a Philadelphia certified public accountant who has been a member for 24 years.

Talking on the telephone from his office earlier this week, Miami coach Larry Coker wanted to know what the weather forecast was for today in Philadelphia. His 4-1, seventh-ranked Hurricanes will be at Lincoln Financial Field looking to put a thumping on an 0-6 Temple team that likely will be outmanned and outgunned once again. "Our guys, they'll freeze to death," Coker joked when he was told to expect a 67-degree, sunny day at the Linc. (It's now expected to be 75 and partly cloudy.

There is a reason why there's been no sun up in the sky. Meteorologists say the stormy weather that has inundated the Philadelphia area the last couple of weeks results from a normal combination of steamy, humid temperatures with cold air in higher altitudes. The combination makes it feel like it's been raining all the time. But the wind and rain may be coming to an end as early as today. Dry air is moving in from the Midwest to push the sticky humidity out of Philadelphia and over the Atlantic Ocean.

Michelle Wie almost ate herself out of the McDonald's LPGA Championship yesterday before a rain delay settled her stomach and moved the talented teen into the company of the biggest names in women's golf. Wie, 15, the first amateur ever to compete in an LPGA Championship, birdied four of her last 11 holes to finish with a 3-under-par 69 and stood 2 shots out of the lead, and 1 shot behind Annika Sorenstam, the world's No. 1 player. But Wie said she was ready to give up at the turn.

Bob and Mindy Fitzsimmons flew out of Syracuse, N.Y., on Friday morning, expecting by nightfall to begin a vacation in Key Largo, Fla. Instead, Bob Fitzsimmons said, they sat in a US Airways jet waiting to take off from Philadelphia International Airport from about 1 to 4:45 p.m. Friday, then sat in another US Airways jet out there from about 9 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. By 3 a.m. yesterday, he said, he and his wife had checked into a Center City...

A 53-year-old Delaware County man mowing his lawn was fatally struck by lightning yesterday afternoon when a fast-moving storm swept through the area. Joseph John O'Shea was pronounced dead at his home in the 400 block of Thornton Road in Thornbury Township, police said. There wasn't as much lightning activity yesterday as the night before, said Gary Szatkowski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, but "it only takes one bolt. " Steve Cummings, who described O'Shea as "the dad of one of my best friends," said he was riding by right after O'Shea was struck.

These students don't just talk about the weather. They predict it - for a daily, late-morning news show broadcast to the homerooms of Bishop McDevitt High School. The seven members of the third-period weather club begin their preparations early in the morning. They gather the daily temperature and humidity readings, and draw fronts on an erasable wall map. Juniors Dan Kelly of Cheltenham and Christian Grandzol of Rockledge trek across the hall to check a thermometer and humidity meter, mounted on a second-floor roof in a white box designed to protect the instruments from direct sun and moisture.

There is something so familiar about Leslie Uggams' extended cheekbones, incandescent eyes and Pepsodent smile that you just want to take her in your arms and cry, "Kizzy!" Or, maybe you've connected with Uggams before her groundbreaking role in Roots, the ABC mini-series that earned her a Golden Globe in 1977. You may remember her as the fresh-faced singer who graced the TV screen as the only African American accompanied by a bouncing ball on the 1960s variety show Sing Along With Mitch.

Stormy weather has slowed down a Coast Guard cutter that is towing a stricken recreational boat with six men aboard back to safe harbor. David Umberger, a Coast Guard spokesman, said the cutter is not expected to arrive at Atlantic City until late this afternoon, not this morning, as originally thought. The stormy weather is the cause, he said. The 32-foot Black Magic was found adrift about 120 miles east of Atlantic City Monday evening, 24 hours after the mother of the boat's owner reported it missing.

The last opening of the New Play Festival, Stormy Weather: Imagining Lena Horne, playing at Prince Music Theater, is a terrific show. That's not because Sharleen Cooper Cohen's biodrama is anything more than a stock rags-to-riches story, but because it's stuffed full of brilliant songs, many of the best of the American songbook: "That Old Feeling," "Stardust," "There'll Be Some Changes Made," "From This Moment On," "How Deep Is the Ocean," "Come...

THE DEDICATION of the Harry Kalas statue will have to wait until tomorrow. And the game that was scheduled to be played at Citizens Bank Park yesterday will have to wait until Sept. 20. Stormy weather early in the day and a dire forecast for later forced the Phillies to postpone yesterday's events even before the gates opened. The game against the Washington Nationals will be made up as part of a day/night doubleheader when the NL East rival returns in September. Roy Halladay, who would have been trying for his 16th win of the season, will make his next start tomorrow night against the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks.

Stormy weather has slowed down a Coast Guard cutter that is towing a stricken recreational boat with six men aboard back to safe harbor. David Umberger, a Coast Guard spokesman, said the cutter is not expected to arrive at Atlantic City until late this afternoon, not this morning, as originally thought. The stormy weather is the cause, he said. The 32-foot Black Magic was found adrift about 120 miles east of Atlantic City Monday evening, 24 hours after the mother of the boat's owner reported it missing.

Over her dazzling five-decade career, Lena Horne soared from Cotton Club showgirl to the screen's "bronze bombshell" to one of Broadway's grandest dames. She made her remarkable flight while toting the expectations of two races on a thrush's fragile wings. The 92-year-old actress, activist, and vocalist, honored with Grammys, a Tony, and the NAACP's highest award, died Sunday night at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. The cause of death was not disclosed. In 1943, when she made her name in the Hollywood musicals Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather, Miss Horne became the first African American movie star.

My mother, jazz aficionado that she is, never understood how "Stormy Weather" became Lena Horne's signature song, especially when everybody else sang it better than she did. After all, Horne, who died Sunday at 92, couldn't swing or improvise like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. She wasn't much of a stylist, like Nancy Wilson and Dinah Washington. But her breathtaking beauty was indisputable, and as she got older, her voice grew into it. The more honest she became with herself, the more resonant her voice.

Over her dazzling five-decade career, Lena Horne soared from Cotton Club showgirl to the screen's "bronze bombshell" to one of Broadway's grandest dames. She made her remarkable flight while toting the expectations of two races on a thrush's fragile wings. The 92-year-old actress, activist and vocalist, honored with Grammys, Tonys and the NAACP's highest award, died Sunday night in New York. Her death was announced by her son-in-law, Kevin Buckley, according to the New York Times.

I Can Do Bad All By Myself , Tyler Perry's endearing adaptation of the melo-comedic stage play that introduced his alter ego Madea, is a double shot of Saturday-night lowdown chased by a cheery chug of Sunday-morning uplift. Starring that spitfire Taraji P. Henson ( The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ) as a lounge singer who resists assuming guardianship of her late sister's children, the film is a variety show that successfully prompts laughs, tears, and song, culminating in heaps o' hope.

The congratulatory handshakes and pats on the back seemed endless. Penn Relays officials, fans and competitors stopped the Coatesville High boys' distance medley team after last night's Championship of America race at Franklin Field. Although the Red Raiders wanted to speak to their parents, they didn't mind all the attention. The quartet of Sean Ward, Chris Cline, Owen Dawson and Kyle Dawson won the event in 10 minutes, 8.51 seconds. Colts Neck (N.J.) was a close second in 10:09.

The stormy weather yesterday forced the postponement of all of the region's minor-league games. The Reading Phillies' Eastern League game against the Curve in Altoona, Pa., will be made up June 2 as part of a doubleheader. A makeup date was not immediately announced for the Trenton Thunder's Eastern League game against the host Connecticut Defenders in Norwich. In the South Atlantic League, a makeup date has not been determined for the Lakewood BlueClaws' rained-out game against the Crawdads in Hickory, N.C. The completion of the BlueClaws-Crawdads suspended game from Saturday will be played at 5:30 p.m. today, with a regularly scheduled game to follow.

The last opening of the New Play Festival, Stormy Weather: Imagining Lena Horne, playing at Prince Music Theater, is a terrific show. That's not because Sharleen Cooper Cohen's biodrama is anything more than a stock rags-to-riches story, but because it's stuffed full of brilliant songs, many of the best of the American songbook: "That Old Feeling," "Stardust," "There'll Be Some Changes Made," "From This Moment On," "How Deep Is the Ocean," "Come...

There is something so familiar about Leslie Uggams' extended cheekbones, incandescent eyes and Pepsodent smile that you just want to take her in your arms and cry, "Kizzy!" Or, maybe you've connected with Uggams before her groundbreaking role in Roots, the ABC mini-series that earned her a Golden Globe in 1977. You may remember her as the fresh-faced singer who graced the TV screen as the only African American accompanied by a bouncing ball on the 1960s variety show Sing Along With Mitch.