Downpour!

10.49 a.m. One of many sudden downpours, each lasting about two minutes.

Setting the scene ...

For those of you who are not blessed, or cursed, with the intensity of American weather reporting in the media, here's a simple chart showing the northern edge of the storm and its projected path. As you can see just a degree or two to the west would result in far more stormy conditions for us, but it appears to be holding its course.

Regular updates will follow.

The calm before the storm

If there is any good thing to say about the changing weather it is that it comes as a relief from the searing ninety degree heat of the last few days. This morning we woke to cooler temperatures, but the humidity rose with the sun, and then the first of the clouds arrived.

Here on the far end of Long Island, New York, we are all waiting for Hurricane Earl to psss by to the east. Spared a direct hit by what is currently a Category Two hurricane we still expect to be blasted by tropical storm weather during the next twelve hours. All weather reports, hosted by groomed studio presenters interspersed by camera shots of reporters standing on windswept beaches shouting about storm surges and rip tides, agree that winds will blow up to sixty five miles per hour, and that rain will be heavy.

The waves are certainly huge, and will increase in size as the storm approaches. I stood for a few minutes on Bridgehampton beach and could feel the vibrations as nine feet tall shorebreakers pounded the sand.

On the floor of my garage is a small pile of goods in readiness for the worst. Our main worry is not flooding or rain but loss of electrical power. That's what all flashlights have been tested. Three cases of water, because our well pump is electric; matches and candles; propane cylinders to power the barbeques; an old fashioned phone that plugs directly into the network (cordless phones being useless, of course) and a radio.

We've already moved garden furniture to a safe place, and taken down the hammock. It feels like the end of summer, but it's not! Let's se what Earl brings ...

Despite the glorious weather ...

... these past few weeks of summer have been "challenging." Not so much for me but for others, for whom I have the duties of pastoral care. The Book of Common Prayer brings this sentiment home: In the midst of life we are in death: of whom may we seek for succour? Plus, the combination of weighty decisions and a doozy of a summer cold has really gotten to me. No time to write, but now that the moods of the community are lifting my own mood is lightening. What I really need this next few weeks is the beach and the water. And this afternoon I connected with those vital ingredients!