calm after the storm

and it huffed and it puffed and it blew our crepe myrtle down.  but that's all.  remarkably little damage around here from a big wind that lasted for many hours.  we didn't even lose power. a big surprise.  we spent the day cooking food that wouldn't last if the power did go out, eating that food, and watching The Hurricane Isabel Show on the weather channel.  also sleeping.  i couldn't keep my eyes open, and kept dozing off for hours at a time.  we only got three inches of rain, not the six to eight they'd been predicting.  all in all, for us, it was a gratuitous holiday.  we went out as it was getting dark to prop up the framework of the greenhouse which was listing badly to the south.  then this morning it was listing to the north. it held up, and the panels are safely bundled up waiting to be reinstalled.  maybe i'll wait for a visit from R to do that.  the crepe myrtle is a sad loss, it was so wonderful this year.  that area where it was pools in standing water when it rains, which has been constantly this summer.  i think the roots were simply waterlogged, and when the big wind blew it just couldn't grip hard enough with its toes.  it fell on the compost bin, which was already enfeebled and cracked.  we went to home depot and got a new one this evening.  tomorrow will begin the work of cleanup.  sawing the tree off the compost and moving the compost out of the old bin into the new.  i think i'll relocate the bin into the garden itself.  it will make all aspects of composting easier.

we remained in a very slow mode this morning, and it was still blowing pretty hard.  this afternoon we headed to the beach, cape henlopen again, for a walk in the surf.  we stayed a long time, walking, sitting on a log just watching the breakers roll in from far out in the ocean.  there were waves farther out than i've ever seen them.  a lot of the beach was washed out, also the steps up to the boardwalk and the ramp. next we went in to rehoboth beach for fish and chips and ice cream. a fair number of people were there, and they had put the benches back on the boardwalk.  places along the waterfront had opened back up, and it looked like the beginning of a busy weekend.