hurricane earl was here

hurricane earl has come and gone. my last post was the eve before when we knew it was going to be a category 2 hurricane. it just seemed like a whistly windy storm in the morning when we woke up but when the eye of the storm crossed over us around 1:00 we knew we must be in a hurricane. michael even said this has to be a category 3, which indeed it was, whirling up wind speeds of up to 120 mph. during the height of the storm the rain began to fly straight into our windows and through the cracks onto our living room floors. the howl of the wind grew louder and the pressure of the wind on our sliding glass doors had us eating the salad i made for lunch on the floor of our bedroom.

i didn't get many pictures during the height of the storm because all you could see out the windows was a blur of gray. we lost our internet access first thing in the morning and our power was intermittent throughout. when the power came on i worked as fast as i could before it would go out again to use all of the kitchen appliances i needed to make a raw birthday cake for myself and bake some cupcakes for ezra. yes it was my birthday. and yes hurricane earl rained on my parade. after the second power outage i raced to blend up a soup for dinner, boil some hot water on the stove, run a load of dishes, and keep the laundry going. meanwhile my husband and brother were opening windows and doors that we were warned to keep shut and i would find them and start to panic a little, tell them to hurry up and shut them and then catch a breath of the fresh air myself and begin to relax. everyone felt cooped up...except ezra the little homebody.

we played guitar, sang, beat on drums, played flutes, kazoos and harmonicas. steve napped throughout the day between reading his book. michael tried to study. ezra played trains on the bed. i tried to feed everyone and maintain some order in the household and not get too irritated that this was how i was spending my birthday with my brother here who had flown all the way for a visit just in time for a hurricane. i had so many other better plans in mind. finally after i was too sweaty to be comfortable in my own skin i took a shower after which i did a very necessary realigning of my chakras. during the course of my chakra work one of the affirmations i was repeating was "i am able to gracefully weather life's unexpected storms." this along with a few others helped me to release some of the stress that was induced by the hurricane and go with the flow a little better.

michael and steve took two outings out of the apartment and down to the lobby where they found people smoking in the stairwell but there was no one in the lobby. they insisted they were bored and wanted to drive around the island much to my horror. we did see a couple of people driving around and pull up to the bluffs next to our hotel. thankfully, the boys stayed inside the rest of the day. however we did go out onto the balcony after the storm died down and it was heavenly feeling the negative ions blow on us. steve said it was like experiencing the thrill of riding a motorcycle without the danger. ezra laughed and played with the swirling water spray that was splashing out of the jacuzzi onto his face. it was a relief the storm was coming to an end and that night we all slept deeply.

these pictures were taken off our balcony toward the end of the storm

the next day michael's school resumed and he had to be there for registration. on our way out we noticed the immediate impact on our hotel's landscape. the palm trees and other plants were ravaged and there was debris lying everywhere.

we drove to our nearest beach, mullet bay, where we saw surfers enjoying the day after hurricane waves, and an unbelievable amount of seagrass washed upon the shore. these are two things you never see at mullet - surfers or mounds of seagrass. within 10 minutes of driving we saw several trees ripped out of the ground, a couple of lamp posts blown over, signs fallen onto the street, and a few walls ripped apart. even though that may sound bad, the island's infrastructure seemed to hold up pretty well considering we still see the unsightly devastation left behind from hurricane luis that hit in 1995.

mounds of seagrass or seaweed at mullet beach

today we went to plum bay and saw lots of coral and sea sponges washed upon the shore.

the coral was still soft when i touched it.

the sky hasn't completely turned back to normal since the hurricane. we've also had tropical storm fiona come through, but she brought just a bucket of rain. that dark slant in the center of the picture is some kind of damage to my lens on my designated beach camera.

i have no idea what this little clear pearl was, but there were many of them as well.

each time i go out of the hotel now i see more signs that we had a hurricane - mostly by the sight of the withered down vegetation. i haven't yet driven around the island, but will hopefully find the time to do so before tropical storm gaston comes, if he does. meanwhile i will be realigning my chakras again so i can weather any more storms a little more gracefully.