Posted in: "life"
This is very sad. Way back in the beyond when Ironmn and I were in the backpacking phase of our relationship, we spent a week on the Continental Divide around Silverton, CO. I took Infinite Jest with me (a mere 1100+ page, 1.5 lb opus) because I could not put it down.
Think I'll go home tonight and start it again.
Hey all - well, we made it through Ike with minimal damage. Lots of tree branches down, lost water for about 24 hrs, our power was waaaaaay funky (went out Friday at 9:30 pm, back on at 5:00 am Saturday (!), off at noon on Saturday, and then back on hopefully for good Monday night at 5:00), and the wind was driving rain under the doors as the worst of the storm came through. But all in all, we were very very lucky. The girls slept through the worst of it, and missed the pine trees in our neighbor's yard swaying like blades of grass in the breeze.
We don't have internet access at home yet, so posting will be sparse until that gets restored, but I just wanted to let anyone wondering know that we are ok. Stay tuned.
Ehem. So, as some of you may be aware, a big ass hurricane named Ike is currently barreling his way across the Gulf and has decided that Galveston Bay looks like a pretty nice place to come ashore. So posting over the next few days (except for tomorrow's previously written/scheduled spinning post) will be nil, given that 100 mph winds and consistent electrical service are pretty much "Matter, meet Antimatter - Kablooey!" Hopefully there will be much knitting, but the girls may not be so keen on Mama huddled in the corner knitting by the light of her headlamp while the roof flies off (Mom, I'm kidding!) (At least I'm kidding about the roof)
In fact, this morning on the way to daycare, I had the following conversation with Devil:
D: Mommy, is the storm going to come visit Daddy's office? (Ironman's place of employment closed down yesterday afternoon in anticipation of Big Ike, so he worked from home today)
P: Yes baby.
D: Mommy, is the storm going to blow our house down?
P: No sweetie it's not. But it is going to get really windy and rainy for a while.
D: (silence. Clearly she's not convinced about the house not blowing down.)
P: Besides, if it looks like it's going to be really bad, we'll leave.
D: (Considering the consequences of leaving, not realizing that we would not be bringing all of her books plus the Dora Princess adventure DVD) Um, OK.
And that was it. Here's to hoping she continues through the next 48 hours with as much equanimity. Keep your fingers crossed that Ike suddenly springs a leak or hits a patch of Artic air or something and that we all make it through in one piece.
(And if I could arrange to guarantee that my roof would survive in one piece too, that would be great).
Not to pack up stuff for the following day after a couple glasses of wine.
Last night was the first meeting of the year for my neighborhood Mom's Club, which meant lots of women + no kids + wine and chocolate = whee! After said meeting I went home and packed up my work clothes for today since my optimistic plan was to run to the pool, get in my "long" swim, and head to work straight from there.
Well, I made it out of bed and stumbled my way to the pool, and managed not to drown. Got my clothes, showered, went to get dressed and realized that I had packed a white shirt. And a dark red bra.
Sigh.
If it was a black bra, at least I could maybe argue that I was making some kind of psuedo-Goth-Riot Grrrl statement (as ridiculous as that may be in TX). As it is...thankfully it's a fairly substantial white shirt, so unless someone is staring at my boobs (or it rains suddenly, and me without my umbrella), I should manage to make it through the day with my dignity more or less intact.
Maybe.
The past two days have been pretty significant in terms of coincidences. Or things coming together. But I'm struck by the fact that the first African-American nominee from a major political party accepted his nomination on the anniversary of Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech the day before the three year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina hitting NOLA. With two more potential hurricanes headed towards the Gulf Coast in the next week or so (not to mention two more months of campaigning), I am sobered by waiting to see what will happen and how we will respond. And whether anything will be any different.
I'll keep my fingers crossed.