Monthly Archives: August 2011

Hurricane Irene

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Is that really two blog posts in a row about the weather? Oh yes, yes it is.

Hurricane Irene hit this past weekend. I was too busy to blog about it because we were worrying about a possible mandatory evacuation, which we got sometime on Friday night. Unlike the majority of my neighbors, apparently, this means that we packed up and left and spent a really uncomfortable twenty-four hours in a hurricane shelter.

Of course, my neighbors didn’t have a tree drop on their car in Hurricane Isabel in 2003, but I did. Maybe it’s the Virginian in me, but I know what a hurricane can do. When the police tell you to leave, staying behind is asinine.

People are now screaming about the government and media overreacting, which is also asinine, as when the order was issued, there was a Category 2 hurricane due to hit us, which is not a joke. We got lucky in that it downgraded to a tropical storm just as it was leaving our area, but it could have been so much worse than it was. It’s likely to still be days until we have public transportation back up and running the way it normally does, since quite a lot of semaphores are damaged, so the trains can’t run.

My neighbor yesterday said to me, “What, you were scared or something? I mean, they said the police wouldn’t arrest you if you didn’t leave, so what was the problem?”

Long Island, my friends, Long Island in a nutshell.

Waiting for the rain

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We are due, within minutes, another epic flash-flood rainstorm here on Long Island, which will be the second in as many weeks. Last week’s rainstorm rained ten inches in one day, which is an awful lot of rain, but particularly when you live four feet above sea level, as it has absolutely nowhere to go. Also much of what is dropping down on your head just came from the ocean. Some of it straight into my dining room, which was unfortunate.

But fortunately I live with someone who knows what to do about that. In fact, at this point, *I* know what to do about it. The house has been filled with drips and leaks that we’ve been slowly plugging up as we go, which is probably what I get for buying a 90 year old house.

So I’ve taken measures to keep the rain on the outside of the house and we’ll see how it goes.

It’s otherwise been a very quiet weekend, which was just what the doctor ordered. I’ve watched three entire movies while not actually doing something with my hands, which is a serious indication of how exhausted I’ve been lately. We went on Friday and saw One Day (likable, not challenging, lame ending). Then, as our hippy rightfully is fed up with movies that always have to end with a romantic ending, he picked out a couple to watch that were not uplifting, but were very, very good. We started with Boys Don’t Cry, which….just has to be seen, but not with children. Then we followed up with Skin, which at least ended with some happy music. Also very good. Go see it. In fact, skip right past basically anything in the movie theaters to see it.

I mean, it was One Day or Conan the Barbarian.

I did pick up the kid from the airport today, so my little family is almost nearly reunited. Himself is still in Ireland for another week, but the house is slowly filling up. On Tuesday, I’ll be picking up a cousin from the airport (I really should have priority parking at JFK by now, as this will be my fifth visit in a month), which I’m really looking forward to. This is the last visit for the summer, which must mean that things are winding down. The season change is upon us, so I grabbed up all the tomatoes I could handle and made sauce to freeze. That’s what August is, isn’t it? Frozen tomato sauce?

The rain has finally hit us, which is a great relief for the humidity and my sinuses, which have been awaiting this storm via giant headache. It is now the absolute best kind of summer day, as I never feel as fantastic as I do the day *after* a killer sinus headache. Nothing but blue skies tomorrow.

Joseph, Oregon

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Mutton Buster by searchingbuddha
Mutton Buster, a photo by searchingbuddha on Flickr.

I have been off in the western mountains for the last week, doing a fair impersonation of frolicking in the wilderness. I have climbed mountains and swam in a mountain lake, hiked trails and gone to a rodeo. (Well. You know. When in Rome.)

I bought a cowboy hat.

I’ve been getting in touch with my western roots, which actually makes a fair amount of sense when I think about the fact that my entire family is from west of the Mississippi River. I am very definitely an East Coast person; I grew up in Maryland, then moved to Virginia, then New York. I like my humidity and small mountains, my crowds and people who say what they mean, even when they’re saying it mean.

But big skies and mountain lakes are compelling. Joseph is an artist’s town; a place where it’s cheap enough to live that you can make a living doing art. It’s remote enough to be surrounded by beauty and wilderness. It makes me want to spin and knit and write novels. It’s an absolute inspiration, a refocusing on the things that I want to accomplish before I die.

In other words, an absolutely excellent vacation. I’m ready to do it again…and why, yes, I *am* free on Tuesday.