Sandy Redux (or, another overdue post from the coast)

I suppose at this point, I could argue that I'm going for authenticity as far as the whole "postcard" thing goes. At least in the sense that it takes a long time to receive a postcard and it never really tells you much ;-) Good thing you're a forgiving bunch, eh?

Sandy. Hurricane Sandy. Superstorm Sandy. So that happened. We were really so lucky in our part of the state - lots of people without power, including me, for a week or more, but that was basically it. I'm sure you saw or at least caught glimpses of the devastation at the shore and in the city. I think I'd pretty much gotten shell-shocked by all the images by the time we started hearing about massive snowfall and crazy waves on the great lakes.

So, let's see. On the Saturday before the storm, Pam came up for a visit and it was really good to see her. We went for a long walk, had lunch and talked and talked. Like old times :-) She was still there when I met with a landscaper about dealing with the overgrowth at my grandparents' house. (I'm still waiting to hear what that estimate is.) On Sunday, after church, I had lunch with the man I'm seeing - more about that later! :-D The Seminary decided over the weekend to close on Monday and Tuesday, October 29-30 because of the weather forecast. We all hoped the models were about to be proven wrong. They weren't.

Monday night was one of the most unsettling nights I've ever had. I wasn't as out and out terrified as I had been during the tornado in Bloomington - you know, the one that came days after most of Joplin, MO had been flattened and my mom's cousin was nearly killed and literally lost her house. But the wind was wild that Monday night, roaring all night long with occasional eerie pauses. I sat on the couch and sang some of Handel's Messiah to calm myself (and the cats) by flashlight when the power had gone out, and then I went to bed and tried to get some sleep.

Aunt Cherry took me in for the week, because she lives in a neighborhood where the wires are all underground, and she never lost power.

Every day, I waited to hear from the Seminary about whether power had been restored and if we could come in to work. I'd brought a couple of ALA Tech Set books home over the weekend, and I did read almost all of one of them - but it was generally hard to focus on that stuff when I kept seeing footage of the shore on Aunt Cherry's TV and reading about things in the paper. The church where my aunt works opened at least part of its facilities as a shelter, and Aunt Cherry got really busy with that. I offered to help, but she never called on me. I made some curried butternut squash soup (Nora, you created a legacy! I've been passing the recipe along :-)) to share with the people taking shelter, but Aunt Cherry said they didn't need it, so we ate it. I helped her gather up all the twigs/branches in her yard, kept checking on my friend who's having a baby in a few weeks and her husband and their four cats (because they'd lost power, too, and don't drive), went over to my apartment at least twice every day to feed and otherwise check in with my cats. (My aunt is allergic, so I couldn't bring them to her place. She lives about 1.5 miles from my place. So, even after my parents got their power back four days before mine came back on, I kept the cats at my place and slept at Aunt Cherry's. My parents live about 20-25 minutes from me and my aunt.) Halloween was postponed to Monday, November 5. I voted in a different location than where I would normally go, because some districts were rerouted due to power outages; but at least I still got to vote!

Anyway, as I said, we were lucky. I lost a week of work (but still got paid) and some groceries. That's it. All of the FPC folks already know this, but if you want to help in the recovery effort, please consider giving to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (which has established a special account for long-term recovery from Sandy).

Sandy and Sally

Okay; so the title of this post is a little tenuous for creating theme, but hey. Sometimes life is tenuous. (Hopefully not in this instance...)

When I was growing up, joyously singing in the children's choir at my church, I longed to sing with "the big kids" in the chancel choir. And when that day finally arrived, I remember being adopted by the most dynamic (some might say notorious) duos in the choir: Sandy and Sally.* They were like two halves of the same person; I don't know how long they'd been friends, but truly peas in a pod. Very irreverent, amazing alto peas. It was awesome. It was, I think, only 4-5 years later that Sandy passed away from cancer :-( I still miss her and can't imagine what Sally feels.

But, now that I am a "big kid" too, and back at the church I grew up in, I feel a little of that spirit of Sandy when I'm singing alto (and being somewhat unruly) with Sally on Thursday nights and Sunday mornings.

This weekend, we're all wondering if we're going to experience a different sort of Sandy altogether, though. (See? Tenuous. But that's stream of consciousness from the human mind for you.) So I thought I'd better write something before all heck breaks loose...which I hope it doesn't.

For those of you who missed all my posting on Facebook, the Seminary had a huge celebration in the nearby University chapel yesterday for the bicentennial of the school. I got to sing in the choir. It was AMAZING. Still having trouble getting back to a normal sleeping schedule from all the endorphins.

Tomorrow, my dad (and maybe my aunt) and I are going to meet with a landscaper over at my grandparents' house in the hopes that we'll be able to get an estimate we can live with for dealing with the years of overgrowth. Trying to avoid this look: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hbomb/41068279/in/set-177453

I've also scheduled a meeting on Tuesday morning with a plumber for an estimate on all the plumbing stuff that needs to be done. Let's hope Sandy isn't in the midst of creating a much larger moisture problem than we're already having!

On Sunday, weather permitting, we'll be singing a really fun arrangement of Amazing Grace in church :-)

My sister's finishing up another field job (this one's in Iowa - which reminds me; I need to find out where I go to vote and whether I can vote early...) and should be headed back east in a little more than a week.

*Incidentally, when I joined BCS back in 2007, two of the first people I met were altos named Sandy and Sally. My time with that choir was some of the best time in my life so far. Coincidence? I think not ;-)

Dieses Wochenende (This weekend)

So...really not so good at this blogging thing. You're a patient, patient person for reading this :-)

Things are both good and busy here. It's sometimes a challenge to keep everything spinning without getting dizzy.

This weekend, I was planning on either going to yoga or celebrating my friend Pam's birthday (which is today) with her after work. But it turned out that Pam's a little under the weather and would rather try to get together on Sunday; also, I didn't get done work until late, so I couldn't make it to the yoga class. Alas! But, I did have a nice conversation with my Dad on the phone, a relatively pleasant drive home from work (the sun finally came out after several days of grayness), and a fun/good conversation with my sister which included watching a couple of episodes of Arrested Development together – a pretty good trick, since she's working out in Iowa this month and I'm still in NJ.

Tomorrow, I'm not really sure what my plan is, but at least part of it will revolve around my biggest challenge – working with my Dad to get his parents' house (which to say it is in serious need of help is something of an understatement) fit for me to inhabit. Preferably by the time my lease runs out next spring. Neither of us knows what we're doing, so we're going to have to hire people who do know. And yet we have to know something in order to hire the right people to do it. A pretty puzzle and that's without the layers of psychology involved, which I won't even go into, except to say, it probably would help to hire someone to help with that, too! ;-) Could be worth it though. This has the potential not only to result in a habitable house for me and my cats (and future special someone, suggestions, anyone?) close to my church, family, friends, work and public transit (hooray for trains!), but it would keep the house – which has been in the family for 60 years now – in the family. I'd like to hope that it will help some of the psychological stuff, too, but let's not put too much on this one (albeit massive) project.

Sunday, I have church (and church choir, of course) in the morning and then it's on to the Deacons' Pancake breakfast (yay!!!) and then a visit to one of my friends from high school who now lives a ways away (still less than 1 hour, though) and finally a visit with Pam – who also lives a ways away but less than 1 hour.

Tomorrow's got a slight chance of rain and is still forecast to be in the upper 70s, but Sunday's forecast is for cold (low 50s) and rain. So I may be forced to eat a few extra pancakes to make it through the day ;-) Must also see about getting a bike sometime soon; all this driving isn't being kind to my girlish figure...

P.S. Nina says it's time for bed:

Besser spät als nie? (Better late than never?)

Well, here I am finally writing with only a few minutes and barely any battery power in my phone. Ha!

Reader's Digest version of my life: singing in one community choir, one Seminary choir, and one church choir, AND ringing in the church handbell choir. Life is good!

Also keeping very busy at work. We launched the new library website on September 11 and are now working on user experience testing, exploring social media tools and use, and getting ready to offer a mobile app. Among other things. I have to go to rehearsal now. bye!

On the way to Cape May

I got to go to Cape May again this year, although it was a short stay. Maybe it's because my family has been going down there every summer since 1988, but I really like it there. The ocean is beautiful and soothing, the "boardwalk" (really a paved promenade) is subdued in the evening unless you go into one of the few arcades, the atmosphere is relaxed, things move at a more leisurely pace. You can eat yourself into oblivion, if you're not careful, because there are so many restaurants and sweet shops; but we're usually relatively careful ;-)

They haven't been coming since the beginning, but my dad's cousin and her daughter (who is 11 years younger than me and 4 years younger than my sister) have been joining in for many years now, and sometimes my dad's cousin's husband joins in for part of the time. It's a lot of fun and one of these days I'll write a longer post about the traditions we have, but it's been a long day and this one's going to be short.

This year, we played Cape May like it was the Farewell Symphony: My sister, myself, my dad's cousin and her daughter all arrived late on a Saturday afternoon. Our mom, dad, "Aunt" Cherry (Mom's best friend), and my dad's cousin's husband arrived Sunday afternoon. My sister had to leave Sunday night; the crazy lady left at 10pm and drove for about 3 and a half hours back to where she was working until her internship ended this past weekend. Dad's cousin's husband had to leave after lunch on Monday, and his daughter had to leave Monday late afternoon/early evening to drive 4 hours back to where she lives and works in Connecticut. Then I had to leave Tuesday morning to work half a day, since I only have 3 (now 2) vacation days to use this fiscal year. (I'll have 20 to use next fiscal year! Yay!) Mom, Dad, Aunt Cherry, and my dad's cousin stayed until Friday.

Next year, I think we're going to try for a Thursday-Tuesday stay, and hopefully more of us will be able to stay for more of the time.

Stormy weather

I know Bloomington has had some severe weather this summer, and we're getting some here, too. While I'm all for a beautiful, dramatic summer thunderstorm (that hopefully brings cooler weather), scary sideways, tree-splitting winds can take a hike (along with the extreme heat)!

Last night, Mom took Aunt Cherry and I out to a local ice cream place to hear her library coworker's band. We had a really nice time - got to meet some of Mom's coworkers (and one woman's family), listen to some chill, bluesy tunes, and of course eat delicious ice cream (two scoops for me: one mint cookies and cream (so tasty) and one milk chocolate brandy hazelnut).

We could see the clouds rolling in, but didn't think too much of it.

Mom dropped Aunt Cherry off at her house and then brought me over to my apartment, and by this time, it seemed like a storm was definitely imminent. I tried to get Mom to stay at my place until it blew over, but she just wanted to go home.

No sooner had I climbed to the top of the stairs to my 2nd floor place then all heck broke loose. The wind howled, driving the pouring rain at the sides of my building. The lights started to flicker. Aunt Cherry called asking if we were alright. I told her Mom had left and that I'd asked her to call me when she got home. We both sat and tried not to worry. I read some more "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett (evidently the Blogger spell-check knows Mr. Pratchett's name, by the way) and Neil Gaiman (sadly, it doesn't recognize Mr. Gaiman), perhaps not the best choice as it happens to be about the end of the world ;-) About 10:15pm - roughly 15 minutes later than if she hadn't just driven through insane weather - Mom called from the driveway of my parents' house. She made it! Had to pull over for a while, and take detours to skirt flooding, but she made it. Thank goodness!

None of my family (Jackie included) suffered any damage from the storm, but driving to church this morning was definitely an eye-opener. Debris littered streets all over the place, some trees torn apart so badly that the streets they were on were closed off to traffic. (I didn't take any pictures; sorry)

Hope you all are staying safe and sound out there!

Batgirl and friends

I was up before the sun this morning (oops), so I'm fading fast here. Just a short note about what's going on in my world. I went into work a little early today (it's been very busy) but got to leave early with my summer schedule (longer days M-Th, short day F).Then my mom and aunt met me at work and the 3 of us rode up in one car to visit my sister at the wildlife refuge where she's been interning this summer. (She's just there for a couple more weeks.) I'd been up there one other time, but my mom and aunt hadn't been, so that was cool. It was hot and humid, but that's NJ for you. Got to see the baby bluebirds (that were just hatching the last time I visited) via a web cam streaming video into the visitors center, which was neat. And got to see a humming bird enjoying the cardinal flowers behind the center. My sister is working tonight (she's a bat intern) so we had an early dinner with her at a nearby diner and then came home.

The cats were happy to see me - or at least to see their dinner appear ;-)

My sister's blog about the internship is at: http://njbatgirl.blogspot.com
Now it's off to bed. Good night!