Showing posts with label storm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label storm. Show all posts

After the storm


Sandy has left and in it's wake we are facing now the secondary effects. Although rebuilding is slowly beginning,

Waiting for gasoline in Westchester County, NY

people are getting used to different ways of life and long lines everywhere are faced mostly with patience at places to eat and particularly at gasoline stations. The only gasoline station, still open around here with gasoline left, has waiting lines from the time they open until late at night of up to three miles, slowly sneaking forward around the blocks. Which effects traffic everywhere, these are mostly smaller streets around here. Additionally there are still roads blocked with broken down power lines and fallen trees. The traffic is horrendous, people from as far as New Jersey come to Westchester for food, gasoline and shelter. We slowly feel the tremendous measure of the damage around us.

Winter wood is piling up on our front lawn. We are making progress.

But people are so friendly and very industrious, we are getting help from friends and we all keep the spirits up. There might be still some time until we are restored to normal, but on the other hand we can only be grateful for the relative minor problems we are dealing with, compared to the awful news we receive still daily from our neighbors in Manhattan, Queens and the shore at New Jersey! 

Aerial view of Breezy Point, Queens, a largely burned down neighborhood after Sandy hit...

The Army and National Guard forces from neighboring States like Vermont and even equipment from California are flown in to help ease the disaster. We are hopeful and in the spirit of community everywhere:

WE CAN DO IT, TOGETHER, AGAIN!




Images via google image and private.

Reflexions on a stormy day

I am sitting and watching the storm clouds move fast, gray and heavy, the trees are bending and the grass is splattered with torn branches and leaves. 




Howls from the chimney make me aware of the powers above, then minutes of stillness followed by another round of cracking winds. Rain hits the windows, rattles the glass. 
Wind --- Windows, there must be a connection? To keep the winds out  ---windows....


Inside it's quiet, a small candle holds the light up against the growing shadows.



This window lets me travel away....to Italy, a small bronze warrior from an ancient Roman site near Sienna ( brought home 27 years ago...) and a glass bottle from France (this year) keep me occupied with thoughts of summers past and warmth and sunshine.




The small glass bird knows the secrets of the window, whispers of traveling light,
the rain and clouds and sun.
And of the occasional flowers within.


Seemingly a small view opens me up wide.
And the storm blows on...




All images by V.Zlotkowski
Copyright 2012

Simply summer


Summer window with garden flowers

The summer heat invites us to enjoy simple pleasures. 

Party decorations

Sitting by the water and just enjoying the breeze, summer evenings with friends and candle lit dinners with flowers picked from the garden, bike rides under tall shady trees, watching the birds and the bees, busily following their own paths...

Stormy sky over the Greenhouse


A storm rose in the afternoon, just to pass with lots of thunder but little to no rain.
The heat is unbroken. Maybe tomorrow.

And yet...


Playing tennis with Papa


Yesterday we went up to visit our youngest son (12) at camp, he is homesick and we felt a little sad leaving him tearful for another two weeks. There are surely great experiences to be made at camp, we hoped for him to have the best of times. But we felt his deep sorrow and the daily busy routine gets to him. He is a sensitive boy and the loud and permanent presence of so many kids and the strict daily regiment seems to be his undoing. 


Fueling the emotional batteries


We had no idea this would happen. He is a well rounded young man with good friends and an easy nature.
Additionally he was so severely sunburned, that I brought him to the nurse to have him treated. She had seen him before, but did not really follow through. I wondered a little about the boy's care up there. He has blisters on the back of his fingers and earlobes the size of a nickel...His nose was crusted over with burns.
We were shocked to see him like that! He still is not ready to take care of himself and there is clearly a lack of reminders at camp.
This being his first camp exposure, we all learned something new about him.
We decided to bring him home two weeks earlier then planned, making the camp four weeks long, enough for him and enough for us. 
I am secretly counting the days, surely just like him, to have him back.


A tiny hummingbird came to sit near me in the honeysuckle, just resting before the storm passed overhead, reminding me of every silver lining....

Black chinned hummingbird 

And it occurred to me, that these bittersweet experiences will also have their good, we just will have to wait and see.
Learning about oneself is not always easy.

And now it just begun raining, softly and steady! Welcome cool air!



All images by V.Zlotkowski