kitchen table math, the sequel: the ocean in the air

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

the ocean in the air

We have power.

We also have trees. This morning I've relearned the lesson of Darwin: we've been through three 'Treemageddons' in the past 2 years, and the trees that were standing at the beginning of this storm are the trees that survived those onslaughts. They're still here.

Imagine what the scene would be like if none of those storms had happened.

Listening to TV... subways, buses, trains. All down. C was unhappy with us for summoning him home in the run-up to the storm, but when he learned last night that all the dorms had lost power -- and that most of the other Westchester students seemed to have gone home, too -- he was mollified. The Long Island kids, a much larger contingent, may have stayed put.

Still waiting to hear what's to become of his midterm tomorrow. I would really like NOT to be driving to the Village to deliver my child for a post-hurricane midterm that can't be rescheduled by even a day.

Later on, I'll try to post the video I took last night. The air sounded like the ocean. There was a soft, continuous roar that would periodically build to a loud, crashing din like the waves coming in --- and all this without a branch or a leaf so much as trembling. Perfect stillness on the ground, a roar in the air.

I must have been hearing the wind currents, right?

The wind currents or the gods.

5 comments:

Catherine Johnson said...

I am absolutely exhausted.

Barry Garelick said...

Catherine just informed me that they have now lost power.

SteveH said...

We're back with power after two+ days, but it was frustrating to see those who didn't lose power just down the street. An email to Barry saying we still had power was probably the last one I got out on Monday.

We got 80 mph gusts even though we were a very long way from the center Not much rain. Schools were pre-cancelled for Monday and Tuesday and my son is wondering if some teachers will go right to the tests rather than pick up where they left off. He was going over physics by flashlight. The end of the quarter is coming up.

Lgm said...

The first thing we noticed Monday morning was the roar of the wind. We did lose a pine tree when the wind picked up in the afternoon- the tree co was there first thing Tues. and the power co was on the job before the tree people were gone, restoring power to some 200 homes and businesses within 24 hrs. Very little rain for us. No school m,t,w...good for the students as it is the next to last week of the qtr and the extra time to put toward papers is nice.

Catherine Johnson said...

I'm even more exhausted now, if that's possible.
School begins again on Monday.
I'm living in fear that we get to be one of the "pockets" of people who linger on without power for days on end.