Come on Irene

You have twelve hours to evacuate your home, pack a "go bag",  and seek higher ground from an impending hurricane's storm surge with anticipated floods soon to ravage your zip code. GO!

Two gallons of water, a can of Progresso Clam Chowder, Cup o' Noodles chicken soup, two bottles of red wine, one Chardonnay, Spicy Cheez Puffs, Double Stuff Oreos,  Sees' Candy Awesome Chocolate & Nougat Bars, a family size bag of Doritos Nacho Cheese flavor, a pack of Parliaments, dried cranberries and 30 vanilla scented tea light candles ~ these are to have been my sustenance away from home during the unforgettable Hurricane Irene of 2011.

As a veteran of Filipino typhoons, gusty winds and rain are all too familiar and dare I say sometimes comforting. Many were asked if they felt these evacuation measures to be exaggerated, and for once New York / New Jersey residents were in accord with a resounding "no"as they heeded the warning.  Ironically, the rain was hardly my motivation for following Jersey City's highly suggested voluntary evacuation.  The anticipated flood at next morning's high tide, compounded by high risk of being unable to descend to a potentially flooded first floor is a different story. It was at that point I welcomed a dear friend's invitation to be their hurricane refugee for the duration of this calamity.

Unlike a dramatic movie's exodus scene from catastrophic consequences (complete with cars embroiled in traffic), this was a leisurely twenty minute drive to the higher grounds of Weehawken, New Jersey.  Two miles prior to reaching my destination, turning onto JFK Boulevard East,  I was reintroduced to the a most breathtaking Manhattan skyline from Hamilton Park (pictured above). Rain clouds, mist, and increasing winds provided more than ample  foreshadowing of what was to come: a sit down dinner with good friends, an excellent dvd movie "The Conspirator", and zany photographic fun involving the cats of the household.

This afternoon's venture outside to investigate thankfully yielded bettter news. Damage, though clearly apparent in several areas, was thankfully not as severe. Now onto tomorrow's commute to work as that's surely a whole disaster of its own.