Can I return this? - When last we left our intrepid commoner... hehe.
Okay. I'll try to keep this shorter than the first entry. No promises though.
After the event with the dumpster bully I spent the evening with family and friends enjoying some wonderful skyline chile made the way only Betty can make it.
It was good for me. The tension from the day finally began to unwind from my back and neck in the warmth of people who I loved and loved me back.
It was a wonderful pleasure to experience our annual Christmas Eve get-together with the edition of Jacob, Dan and Cathy's new and first child.
We had a blast playing holiday charades.
Christmas morning and much of the day was spent with my family.
It was good.
I don't know how else to describe it.
We took joy in each others company. Secretly I thanked the Lord for providing me with family members who so loved Him and each other. Also, I thanked God for a generous woman in our Church who took it upon her self to buy each of us gifts. I've enough chocolate to last months (if I'm good). She said she was making up for the times she missed. She is a new member to our Church this year.
Something funny struck me that morning. When I was a kid I hated the gifts of clothing. Well, okay. Hated is to strong a word. Disliked for the most part is better. There were a few clothing gifts I did like. My grandmother, now asleep in the Lord, had a particular knack for picking out clothes that I really liked.
Anyway, generally speaking, socks, jeans, and under-cloths were not things that brought joy to me as a youth on Christmas morning.
However, now that I'm an adult the jeans and shorts I got for this Christmas brought great pleasure. Funny how that works.
I used to hate Brussel sprouts, squash, and tomatoes too.
Well, from there on, the day was the normal family Christmas many around the world experience. Christmas ham, homemade cranberry salad, deserts (chocolate), etc.
One of the other wonderful gifts I received from my parents is a Phaphiopedilum orchid. Commonly referred to by the moniker Lady Slipper orchids because of part of the flower which looks like a lady's slipper.
I wish I had a digital camera to take a picture of it for you. It's quite beautiful. Although, my brother finds it to be rather ugly with its dark purple color and hairy petals. The picture to the right that I found by Bruny on Webshots. It is very similar to the one I have.
Okay, I'll admit it is ugly, but it's that ugliness that is so beautiful. It has a wonderful mottled green leaf too.
One of the reasons I love orchids so much, aside from needing a hobby to keep me sane, is that they are so varied in shape and color. A lot like people really and like people, they are a good deal more resilient than a lot of folk think.
I'm off track, aren't I?
Back to by Christmas excitement.
Well, the rest of the day was pretty much unexciting.
As had been my habit late in the evening, I checked Weather Underground to see whether I would need to turn on the kerosine heater in the large orchid gazebo/tent or if the electric heaters would be enough to get them through the night.
By Sunday morning the minimum low was expected to be in the low 50's and high 40's. So the electric heaters would be sufficient.
It looked like it would be a pretty good night overall.
So, I laid my head down looking forward to the morrow and a morning worshiping and giving thanks in the House of the Lord.
My thanks was even greater come the light of day.
At 4:15 a.m. I awoke to the screaming sound of a hurricane.
For a brief moment I was disoriented from lingering sleep and the roar outside.
Wind whipped and slashed the house and trees just like it had months earlier when three hurricanes tore through here.
Understanding crept in and my thought settled upon the orchids under the gazebo/tent outside.
Looking out the window to where the tent was staked and tied down I expected to see the milky white visqueen side. Instead I saw a clear small orange light burning in the darkness and I realized that was the light on one of the heaters. The plastic side was missing.
Quickly, I jumped into a pair of jeans and rushed outside to check on the tent.
The wind pushed with icy hands when I opened the door. Outside the visqueen was still attached to the tent, but the wind flapped it wildly in the air. I entered and found several orchids dashed to the ground.
Grabbing a couple I raced back inside and woke my brother asking for his help.
I went to flip the outside light on and he went to begin bringing the orchids inside.
A few minutes later my father, awakened by the wind also, showed up to help too.
The wind increased, pulling at and then beating down the tent upon our heads.
A tremendous blast broke two of the legs and pushed the tent down up us. Luckily the metal plant tree in the center of the tent acted like a column and held it there so that we could pull the remaining plants out.
By the time it was over, teeth chattering, hands numb from the cold, wind roaring, the tent lay flat upon the ground with whatever heavy lawn objects we could find to keep it from blowing away.
The orchids were safe inside and we turned to check out other things.
As some of you are aware, there was a Christmas tree lot on part of the Church property. The small office that was erected and looked like a third world shanty was blown apart. The contents spilled across the lawn.
One of the gates was broken and flapping in the wind. A chainlink fence was pulled from a pole and lay hanging across the sidewalk.
I remembered a friend, a senior up the street. She had a gazebo for her and her husband to sit under on their deck. My brother and I went over to see if it was still there. The canvas top was holding onto one corner. We took it down and stored it before it blew away.
Back home and listening to local emergency news, l learned that this unexpected wind event was the result of a Noreaster minus the snow. Wind was clocked at the local air port at 56 mph. A cruise liner coming into port during the storm listed twenty two degrees to the side and clocked gusts up to 80 knots. That's roughly 92 mph.
Some friends had part of their roof curl up. Across the street, more fencing was blown down and some of the ceilings over the walkways in the apartments were blown out.
Some 40,000 people lost power in the area.
It was a surprising event, but no where near as terrifying as what occurred in the Indian Ocean.
Later that morning, before learning of the tsunami, I thought back over the previous two days and the happenings that took place.
One thing that struck me was how differently I reacted to the bully and wind incidents.
When it came to the bully event, I had no fear, but when it came to the wind and the single thought that I was about to loose all my orchids, I came pretty near panic.
I'm not entirely sure what to do with that thought. I'm not entirely sure I like it.
The other thought that occurred, or I should say reoccurred, was just how blessed I am with a friends and family so loving and selfless.
It looks like all I lost was one baby orchid I started some months ago, with another receiving damage from which it will likely recover.
So really, I've lost nothing, but gained a better incite into what truly has value.
