Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Dodged a bullet this time...

Whidbey Island did, that is. Last Hanukkah Eve, the island was hammered by a huge Pacific storm which downed trees, knocked out power, and made ferry crossings miserable or non-existent. This Hanukkah Eve, the Oregon and Washington coastlines shuddered under the onslaught of high winds (over 100 mph in some areas), frog-strangling rain (5 inches in Seattle in a day), and floods and mudslides which have shut down our major interstate (I-5) for an undetermined length of time. The devastation on the mainland is immense but here on the island, we are in good shape.

Tomorrow I'm going into Seattle to visit my hospice-bound friend and will have a chance to see some of the mess. I am so grateful that the price we pay this year for living on the island isn't quite as steep. Last year, cleaning up and repairing the damage around the island, including my basement, took months. Of course, we could still get hit again, but it seems that the transition time as the seasons get ready to change is when these kinds of storms often hit.

I remember, living in Denver, how we would frequently get huge snowfalls a week or so before Halloween or right during spring break, the "adolescent" times of the weather cycle when air flows are shifting and temperatures going up or down.

It seems to me that changes often bring on storms, whether they are real physical storms or metaphorical/emotional storms.

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