How can you watch the clear sky and the stars as you see the lightening?

Yesterday I was in the balcony lying on the floor and watching the stars wishing for a falling star... I really needto catch one these days/// :( Anyway, the sky was clear but there was a kind of light. I thought it was someone with a porch lite. However, it was not. It was the lightening because I heard the thunder in a few moments. And one more time and one more time. How can you watch the clear sky and the stars as you see the lightening? In Abkhazia it is so possible. Yesterday morning, I was in Gulrypsh and it was raining. I came to Sukhum and there was no rain. It was sunny. Than a few hours later it started to rain in Sukhum. I went to Gulrypsh and it was sunny there... Climate is really interesting in Abkhazia.