Thankful

When a calm ocean reflects a screaming blue sky it’s hard to remember we are still in a recovery zone.  Let me clarify that statement.  At our house, we have electricity, phone and water and have had it except for a few hours during Sunday’s storm.  But as of this moment, others in our town and surrounding areas do not, and in some cases, have been cautioned that they may not until the weekend.

As Irene arrived in our bit of earth, she had already been downgraded to tropical storm status, and my husband and I agreed that we’d seen worse weather during bad winter snows.  Living to the east of the cyclone's path, we didn’t get much rain, in spite of the tropical-storm force winds that blew for over 12 hours.  When Monday morning dawned sunnier than it has been all summer, my husband left the house about 6:15 to make his 60 mile commute to work.  He was there for over an hour before a coworker who arrived later asked, “Are you aware the building is closed?”

Back at home, I noted an eerie quiet.  Typically, a steady stream of contractor trucks clank by on our commuter street on weekdays, but on Monday an odd car or two passed but that’s it.  I chalked it up to people getting a late start after the storm.  Later I headed off to my job at the gourmet food/cheese shop. As I drove down the state highway, it was clear we’d had bad weather, but other than branches by the side of the road nothing seemed amiss, until I pulled into the parking lot at work and found this

For the rest of the day, folks appeared at the shop (where we did have power) some showered, some not, most without electricity, hungry for food, trying their best not to be cranky.  Our town emergency management team continues to leave us reverse 911 calls updating us as to the progress of the electric crews, and the TV keeps us informed about the destructive flooding of inland rivers. 

 

We are blessed and thanking a higher power every moment.  While there are minor inconveniences (a meeting cancelled due to lack of power, road closures, a library working with backup generators), we are not personally affected in any way that matters.  In spite of tree and electric trucks everywhere and blinking lights at a few intersections, when I went out with the camera this morning, it was still possible to capture an image like this.