Sunday, August 28, 2011

Here we are on the flip side.  Irene has left the area and is now menacing New England.  We were surprisingly lucky and I have no photos of local devastation to show you.(Emily and Katie came through the storm with only minor issues as well.  We're very lucky)  If you want to see the damage, you can look at msn or cnn or one of the other news organizations. 

It rained like the dickens yesterday afternoon and well into last night.  There didn't seem to be very much heavy wind but a branch from one of our trees  broke off and thumped against the back of the house.  THAT was startling.  And I discovered that I didn't mind the storm as much when it was light.  When it got dark and I couldn't see what was happening, that bothered me and my anxiety level rose a bit.  Around about 11 pm or so, it seemed to slacken off and the rain never picked back up after that.  It continured to rain most of the night but more quietly.

Right now at 5 pm, it's breezy and the wind is dry.  The temps are in the 70's and the humidity is down quite a bit.  And a bit of trivia.  Someone told me that the last time we had an earthquake and a hurricane in the same week was in 1949.  It's ok with me if we wait another 60 years before it happens again.

We tried to go grocery shopping Friday afternoon but there were no carts to be found.  The store wasn't too crowded but the carts were all in use.  We decided to pick up some snacky foods and do the shopping later in the week.  It's actually a good decision since the locusts picked the shelves clean.  We use a shop vac as a vacuum cleaner in the house.  It died sometime this week and I went to home depot to buy another one and the guy laughed at me.  Evidently these are on the list of emergency supplies that people were buying up in preparation for the hurricane.  I just needed a new vacuum. 

We made as many preparations as we could.  We have extra water and had candles and flashlights and emergency yarn.  I was prepared with some simple projects to knit but it was never necessary.  Our power flickered two or three times during the height of the storm but never went out. 

Friday, I taught Handle with Care and then Pk and I left work early to go out to lunch (and grocery shopping).  We had a nice lunch and then came home.  It was a good day.  Handle with Care went well even if I did have to take a big guy down to the floor wearing my white jeans.

Saturday morning I woke up with a head full of snot and a sore throat.  I drank tea with honey and sucked on cough drops most of the day.  I am thoroughly sick of both at this point.  I am still congested today but it's not as bad and the soreness is less. 

I spent lots of time working on my beaded shawl.  I haven't seen it spread out at all since it got too big to just use my hands.  I got out some pins and a blocking square to check it out. I'm on row 215 of 256 so I'm making slow but steady progress.  I like the way the leaves are developing as I make my way toward the ends.  There are a lot of stitches in each row so it takes me about half an hour to complete one.  The next section is beaded so it'll move slower still.  I figure it'll be done by the time the weather cools down enough to wear it. 

I also finished another pair of Embossed leaves socks.  I seem to be on a jag.  The yarn is called Mirkwood (the name of a forest in the Fellowship of the Ring) so I thought a leafy pattern would be especially appropriate.  I love the way they look.  These are a gift so they won't be gracing my feet.  I wore my anklets this past week under a pair of pants.  As I crossed my legs, they peeked out from under my pants legs and got lots of compliments. 

We're sitting here feeling kind of disoriented and tired.  Yesterday/last night wasn't all that tough but the stress level of all the hype for the impending storm is taking a toll. On Saturday I got to the point of just wanting the storm to get here already so we could deal with it.  The build up was overwhelming.   I feel exhausted and Pk keeps saying how he just feels "out of it".  I put some dinner in the crockpot this morning and in a short while, I'm going down and dish it out.  We'll probably have an early night and then it's back to work tomorrow.  It doesn't feel like we had much of a weekend but that happens sometimes. 

And it's Labor Day next weekend already.  How did that happen.  I swear it was just Memorial day.  This summer for all its excesses, just sped by. 

And that's the week that was.  I'm looking forward to a quieter week, although maybe I shouldn't say that.....

7 comments:

amy said...

Glad you came through okay--I was wondering. I feel the same way, absolutely exhausted and wrung out. We gathered extra water for drinking, washing, & flushing (our well pump is electric) but so far, we've still got power. Chris had a huge list of Things to Do ahead of time, but we got just a little rain, and some wind. We have lots of trees around here and I think they serve to shelter us from the worst a bit. All the downed trees are elsewhere (so far--knock wood!). Apparently we still have a couple hours of potentially high winds to go.

I can't believe summer is over either. My kids start school Tuesday and I'm very, very cranky about it.

roxie said...

SO glad you came through relatively unscathed! I was worried about you. It's better to be prepared, but just the lead up to something like this can be exhausting. And you almost feel let down if nothing disasterous happens.

Rose Red said...

Glad Irene doesn't seem to have been as bad as feared. Sometimes I think the authorities and /or media make a worst case scenario for these sorts of things, to ensure people are over-prepared. Which is way more preferable than the opposite.

Your shawl is looking great so far. I think you will be finished before you know it!

Saren Johnson said...

Glad you're okay. Why would vacuums be on the list of supplies?

Anonymous said...

the build up about the storm was huge even over here. we were sure you were headed for another katrina. better to be safe than sorry i guess. im glad to hear you came through ok, but the anxiety is awful isnt it. hope you are over your cold by now too.

Bells said...

i'm so glad the damage has been minimal. Well, not for everyone, but not quite the catastrophe it could have been.

Loving your beaded shawl. It's getting quite big by the looks of it!

Sheepish Annie said...

I thought a lot about all you guys in Jersey over the weekend. We did OK up here, at least in my area. It was a long 24 hours without power but a fair trade off considering how little damage we were dealt. And now the weather is just amazing!

Happy Sunday!  I am sitting here working on my sweater made with the cashmere yarn my husband gave me for my birthday last year. I’m further...