Climate Change

Oak in front yard took a hit, limb-wise

Anyone who doesn't believe in the current climate change has to be living in a cave for the past few years.  In August, Hurricane Irene roared up the East Coast and left us with tree damage and no power for 4 days.  At least it was warm, but the contents of the fridge/freezer had to be quickly cooked or tossed.  We grilled (and ate) a lot of chicken breasts.
Now in late October, a Nor'easter ripped into us and the power was out for 3 days.  It was cold, but the upside was we just shoveled some icy snow into the cooler.  We also shivered and cowered (cats, too) in front of the fireplace.  Oddly enough, I slept very well in the 52 degree room with a ton of bedding. 

Beech tree destroyed in the neighborhood

It was so sad to see so many gorgeous, mature beeches with no limbs.  Our neighbor lost a  beautiful Japanese maple, now forever misshapen.  In August, we had some warning, and I did all the laundry, ran the dishwasher, and did all the "storm tasks" in advance.  Sunday morning, we were digging out the candles and the hurricane lamp.  Another casualty was the discovery that the globe of my grandparents hurricane lamp had  broken.  Beautiful etched glass.  I wanted to weep. 

For some odd reason, the kitchen phone, which  had been on the fritz since early October, decided to start working again when the power came back on.   And S.O.'s old watch, bound for the repair shop, also began to work.  Is that crazy or what?   Maybe some of you read the Sunday New York Times Column in the Style section, "what I wore."  Stay tuned for a not-quite-so-upscale take on What I Wore by an exurban dweller in the  style-deprived South Shore.  

I had a chance to read my novel (no title yet) on the Kindle and did some editing.  Man, it is almost impossible to get the typos out of a MS.  The Kindle is a great way to check on your formatting and catch other errors.  Easy to see problems.  Very happy I had the time to read it.  AND I found some passages that can be cut, too, a joy since the word count is, shall we say,  kind of high.

O.K.  Enough.  Have to perform stage two of the chicken soup.  We always eat well during these weather crises.  We ate a whole quart of thawing coffee ice cream.  Ice Cream Soup is actually pretty good. 

  Remind me to stock the freeze with something besides chicken breasts. 

As ever,

Grapeshot