the (somewhat) calm after the storm

The waves are still pretty high and undertow is a huge concern, but we braved the beach briefly to see the aftermath of Sandy Frankenstorm.

The tide is high and there's not much beach to speak of

Lots of clean-up and rebuilding to come

Some new grass dunes - we had to escape to its higher ground when the tide rolled in - hard

windy

We are experiencing a tropical storm here. It's funny, I've been here visiting when there was an actual hurricane a few years ago and we had to sit in the shuttered apartment until it was over, feeling very isolated, but the atmosphere is still a bit more intense now that I'm living here full-time.


My first reaction when yesterday someone suggested that the area schools might close—you're kidding, right? It's just raining hard—was tempered by how far the palms were bending in the wind last night. School didn't end up being canceled today—guess they're saving those hurricane days for a real storm.


Looking outside, the sky is almost a yellow gray—the rain is so thick—just not over us at the moment. Hopefully it is passing through (sorry, Carolinas). Today was the first morning since my daughter started school that I really couldn't walk her there—we had to take the car. And I really missed my morning constitutional. But it's just rain. It's Florida. I don't want to buy into the general weather hysteria of the area, but I have to admit that I'm hoping hurricane season is on the wane, too.

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stormy weather

Since when is a hurricane a political opportunity? To show you care. To show your concern. Feh. We haven't even had the debates yet and I am so over these people.

It's hardly news that U.S. media is intellectually bankrupt or that the 24-hour information world we live in will spin anything into a story. My mom has lived in Florida for years, but for the past few years every hurricane (since Andrew), no matter the location or trajectory, has been spun into a potential imminent disaster, until the residents are truly in a frenzy. I'm glad she's got her hurricane shutters, but I'm tired of seeing her get so freaked out by the news reports.

Katrina was a true disaster and hopefully, New Orleans and its surroundings will not get pummeled again. Mother Nature can be a bitch. But instead of trotting out all these opportunistic photo-ops, couldn't we just actually help that city and its people, so it wouldn't be unprepared for a wicked storm?