Time flies between blogs! It’s not that there isn’t much to
write about, I guess it’s more of a lack of time & energy.
Here it is 4th of July, “Independence Day”, which
means more to some of us than others these days. Never thought I’d be writing
about this as I too used to be one of those people. 4th of July was
just another holiday, a day of summer barbeques, going to the beach, the boardwalk
& a day off from work.
Another spin on this day are thoughts of a popular movie,
“Independence Day”. We’ve been through
something this weekend & as bad as it is, it could have always been worse.
It has been a rude awakening for a lot of people that we need to be more
prepared for these challenges when they do come along.
I was not here to witness the nonstop lightening, rain,
winds, sound of trees snapping all around & in some cases falling on houses
& cars. The horrific stories don’t end. And still, as bad as it has been,
it could always be worse.
This storm called a “Derecho”, hit without warning. They are
extremely rare & we may never experience another in our lifetime. It took
down the tallest & oldest trees all around us, straight from the root
system. It never seems to amaze me how shallow a root base these tall, old
trees have.I was down in Ocean City, Maryland, drinking & dancing at a famous place called “Seacrets”, celebrating a special friend’s birthday for the weekend. We never heard a thing. We left there around 4:30-5am, it was raining, but, very little. It had obviously rained quite a bit while we were in there. My neighbor called at 7:30am to tell me he just wanted to let me know my house was ok. OK?....there was a pause….then he went on to say what had happened & that our neighborhood had been destroyed. There were trees on at least 3 houses in our 17 house neighborhood, 2 cars, & many, many more trees were down all around the rest of the neighborhood. Mind you, I’m still drunk & trying to process all the information my neighbor is giving me. We got up, gathered our belongings that we had just lugged up there late the night before & started back home. We had to wait 3 hours for a ferry, but, what were we in a hurry to get to at this point anyway?
We are hard core survivors here. We spent 2 months in Africa, higher temperatures, in the bush with much, much less & did way, way more. These last few days, we had the luxury of a generator so we at least had the fridge & freezer running & also a fan. We’re also fortunate to have city water, (never thought I’d say that!) sewerage & gas. We looked in on neighbors throughout the day & made sure everyone had all they needed to get by. We have 2 neighbors whom are suffering with Alzheimer’s; one is on hospice & the other not far behind. There is a neighbor whom just gave birth recently to their 5th child, but they opted out for the conveniences of electricity, rightfully so. There is also a couple recently married & are spending their honeymoon in Europe. No sense coming home from there! We are a tight neighborhood & it is times like this that make us even closer.
The images posted here are all taken within a 5 mile radius
of my home on Saturday evening through Monday. (Most are only within 1 mile) I
find it difficult to visualize even in my photographs the extent of the damage
in our area. I stand in one spot & turn in circles. It’s everywhere I look.
I will be only posting 5 images here & then I'll post the album on my facebook page.
Our power was restored late last night. We had the best
night sleep we’ve had in days! Thank you so much to all the workers whom made
this happen. To all the people who still don’t have power…hang in there. It’ll
make you appreciate it all the more when you do get it back. Don’t you remember
growing up? We all made it to this point! We never had air conditioning.To the people who are complaining about not having the services they usually do…” where are all the people to come & help us”…..are you kidding me?? SUCK IT UP! You could live in Colorado & not have a house at all to come back too. People are helping people all around us. Be one of them.
One quick story to give you something to think about…………. I called my grand children’s mother to check on all of them & she told me they were camping down around Ocean County when the storm hit. When the first lightening strike hit, she took the children out of their tent, put them in the truck & took them home, against the wishes of her friends she was camping with. The next morning, they returned to the campground to gather their things & there was a tree, 3 foot in diameter, laid across the tent the children were sleeping in. They would have been killed. Sunday we awoke to news that 2 children sleeping in a tent were killed by a tree falling on their tent.
For all of those who came out of this unharmed, this is what
you have to be grateful for. Food, houses, cars, can all be replaced.
I am grateful for my awesome family, friends &
neighbors. I have a lot of people out there that make my life that much better
because they are part of it! Thank you for your help & offers of
convenience to make my life easier during these last few days! We really are
all in this together.
Today….back to work.
Schedule:July 14th, 2012 Saturday Beachfest I Arts & Crafts Festival
Place: Bicentennial Park * Engleside Ave, Beach Haven * LBI, NJ
Time: 9:00AM to 4:00PM *
August 3, 4, 5, 2012 Friday thru Sunday Ocean City Boardwalk Art Show
Place: Ocean City, New Jersey, Boardwalk
Time: Friday, 9am till 6pm Saturday, 9am till 8pm, Sunday, 9am till 4pm
November 3 & 4, 2012 NOYES MUSEUM of ART CRAFTS MARKETPLACE 2012Place: The Noyes Museum of Art
733 Lily Lake Rd., Oceanville, NJ 08231
Time: Saturday, November 3: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Sunday, November 4: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
On another note...I won’t be going to Rwanda to trek silver back gorillas this
year as planned. The trip has been postponed till the end of next June.
I will be going on some sort of other adventure sometime in
the very near future, just not sure where or when yet, but, I’ll keep you
posted!
Stay well & be happy my friends! Life is too short &
remember this is NOT a rehearsal!...MAKE IT ALL COUNT!!!
Peace!
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