Bracing for Irene - all those living aboard flee.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is invisible in the background.
Irene came, lingered over 24 hours, then terrorized the rest of the east coast. Had she come up the Chesapeake Bay as Isabel did in 2003, I would have seen a much bigger show. It was called: a rain and wind event. Right now, I'm already writing and half of my family is still powerless (cough) and 250,000 are also in the dark on day four. I am truly sorry for the folks in Vermont (they got our Isabel) and everyone who has suffered loss. (I haven't seen coverage of what happened in New York yet.) I DID see a show, though, and it WAS fabulous, but it all happened at night so I got few pictures. I did get this one at dawn (from my balcony, not the asylum).
Notice low tide when it was supposed to be high tide/flooding. You can see the bottom of the Bay. Irene pushed the water out. The changes in the water were awesome (and I never use that word).
The night was very exciting to watch from whichever window wasn't being pelted by rain. I stayed up almost all night watching black waters and huge trees wildly dancing in the night. They swayed together, sparkling and glistening; they looked like an old-fashioned sonogram picture of an unborn child without the child. I could picture one of the tree-sized branches snapping off, flying through the air like a scene from The Wizard of Oz, and impaling me right in my own bed. I thought, Irene is coming up the Bay, I know the Bay is right out there, that-a-way... So I slept in the living room where the trees seemed farther away. (Although I watched the trees from there too! The outside walls of my little home are almost entirely glass and surrounded by trees.) I had television, light, and the WWW! I knew many were in the dark. I knew prayers were being said all over the world (and by special friends and fiends) for those of us in Irene's path and I asked St. Monica, whose feast we were celebrating, for her intercession. HA! WHAT a deal! Prayer IS the way to go. +
I did not lose my power until 7:30 a.m., after the worst was over, (no scardy-cat crap for ME in the dark!) and, the only two trees which fell on the large property my apartment is on, were two; one on each SIDE of my building. (This has provided a few of my neighbors with a better water view!) My many flowers in boxes and pots on my balcony survived minus a few injuries (they were hidden and sheltered in a corner. My one(!) "Four-O'Clock" seed that sprouted(!) this spring and grew to a 3-foot plant ready to bloom (and couldn't be moved but was just pelted all night) looks anorexic but I will see a tiny bud or two bloom. The devastation we anticipated, or at least major flooding, never happened. The water went out to the sea to visit NYC. The usual storm mess was around my neighborhood, while others suffered complete losses. Trees shut down streets and Historic Annapolis was without power right along with the rest of us. There was no flooding and a heavy rain usually floods City Dock. The local radio station which broadcasts from Main Street ran on a generator and the DJ-babe read by candlelight.
The other personal favors I obtained are too numerous to list and too mysterious to try to convey. Our dear Maryland saw relatively minor damage compared to Isabel (which DID come right up the Chesapeake Bay). Sadly, we lost one elderly Marylander to the storm...MY brain has a hard time processing these types of freak accidents. I'm sure everyone in Irene's path received the prayers of all who had been with her before. I am grateful for them and especially for all my friends who were praying for me. How blessed I am that my friends are not crappy pray-ers. I am just now seeing the coverage of the rest of the storm. It is all very sad. My prayers will stay with everyone who is still suffering.
I noticed after the storm that I only heard the cicadas after the sun came out and then sporadically. I was laughing to myself about the "bigwig/noisy/menacing cicadas (yep, was). Now they sounded like they were all chirp and no....well. I thought Irene had wiped them out; the air was so silent. It was many hours before their constant whizzing would fill the air again. The ducks came back after awhile too. The first one waited a long time for the badling to return. (Yes, I said badling.)
The boaters came to unbatten their hatches and the "live-aboards" slowly returned.
This was the breathtaking morning after, with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge loyally standing...still. The mornings' colors never disappoint.
This day the air was cool and it smelled like a new spring day on the Bay. There is no sweeter smell on the earth. Our God reigns. +
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