Irene

Sometimes a little storm is all life needs to be suddenly sunny again. This weekend we hunkered down under the splattering edge of Hurricane Irene and enjoyed the drama of just such a storm.

Saturday morning, with Hurricane Irene blazing a trail toward us, Pete and I went for a bike ride with Dad (whose knee is slowly on the mend). Just 8 miles or so, a good short workout in preparation for our ride in four weeks. It was a windy ride, but that was good preparation too. Those bridges into OC are killer with a stiff headwind. Afterwards, I made my weekly ALDI run, but was careful not to buy too much food that might spoil if the power went out during Irene. I spent the rest of the day reading, crocheting, and watching the rain start to come down. We went to bed as the wind and rain intensified and hoped for the best.

The power went out around midnight and we heard the whistling wind as we tried to sleep for the next eight hours. When we got up, Pete decided we should have ice cream for breakfast since it would otherwise turn to inedible soup in the warming freezer. A bowl apiece made for a nice breakfast, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Our landlord graciously let us run an extension cord out our kitchen window to his generator so we could power the fridge.

I sat on the porch for the next hour or so, reading and then - suddenly - around 11:00, the power was restored. I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip muffins, which I'd been craving since last night, and took some over to Mom, Dad, and sister who'd also been without power and had spent the morning bailing water out of the basement.

Later in the afternoon, Pete and I took a drive over to the park to see the river. It was brown and swift, much swollen and looking rather tired of all the drama.

Me? I would rather enjoy another day at home, a cup of hot tea on the porch, and a safely whistling wind outside. But if I must return to the office tomorrow, I will make the best of it buoyed by the refreshing glow of a storm that has passed.

[I write this post in the context our our safety in southeastern Pennsylvania. For those who weathered Irene in far more dangerous conditions, I do not assume that a refreshing glow was the result and I certainly do not mean to make light of a storm that, for some, caused extensive damage.]