I've Survived October!

I was going to write on Saturday about surviving my crazy October but instead decided that there were a few days left of the month so I wrote my week away.  And it is a good thing I waited to talk about surviving the month.

At the end of September I wrote about how crazy my October was going to be. I had a 10 day trip to Minnesota for a continuing ed preaching conference followed by some vacation time with family and friends.  Then a weekend trip to Rhinebeck for the New York Sheep & Wool festival with my Stitch and Bitch ladies.  Following that with a dessert/bon voyage party for Bob and finishing up with bishop's convocation.  Well just when I thought I had survived and actually enjoyed the craziness that October brought, it ended with a snow storm.

Now being from Minnesota I'm use to snow in October, but flurries and maybe even some sweep-able snow, but not anything measurable in inches or even feet.  A few years before my family moved up north, there was the Halloween Blizzard of '91 that lasted 4 days and piled a foot and a half to two feet of snow in many places.

But this was different.  It was snow, but it was the heavy icy snow.  And being Connecticut, many of the leaves were still on the trees.  Maybe it was just because I was gone for most of the month but I had yet to be driven crazy by the sound of leaf blowers this year.  So between the ice clinging to the leaves many of the limbs, branches and trees that did not fall over or break off during Hurricane Irene just two month ago came down.  And with the limbs they brought down the power lines.

We were for the second time in 2 months left without power for multiple days.  And this time, being without electricity also meant no heat.  Fortunately with candles, many blankets, long underwear and two compact heats I refer to as our dogs Daisy and Koko, we kept warm.

Worship was cancelled on Sunday, we spent much of Monday at a local library, took showers at the Y, ate out more than normal and about 67 hours later our power was restored.

But we are the lucky ones.  Many people are still without power and will be for over a week by the time everything is restored.

The local schools have been cancelled all week meaning they already have 10 "snow" days and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet.

But life moves on.  Bob is still hear for now, but we are headed to New York City tomorrow so Bob can apply for his student visa at the French Embassy.  Afterwards he will book his flight and will probably be off to Paris before Thanksgiving.

And I'll be home alone in Connecticut hoping that there won't be any more long term power outages because they are much more bearable when we lay in the bed piled with blankets and surround by candles playing cards.

Hope you all are staying warm!