irene

hurricane irene cut short the annual FCG trip to avalon. wednesday was a gorgeous day, blue skies, sunshine, and a nice breeze; thursday started off well enough - haze, sun, and a steady breeze out of the south. i rode my bike the length of seven mile island and the head-wind nearly stopped me in my tracks; with the tail-wind i was ripping along at more than 20mph. on flat ground that's pretty much a land speed record for this lady. but, through the rest of the day thursday, we saw clouds roll in, rain showers came down, and we even had the street outside one of our houses flood.

half the team left thursday night around 11pm, while the rest of us opted for a few hours of sleep before a 5am departure. the upside of waking up early was a complete lack of traffic. the downside was, well, the 4:30 wake up. orion was on the eastern horizon over the beach as i packed my car - fall is coming, some time after irene moves on out of here and she's a distant memory.

who knows how long the power will remain on here in west chester; it is still on now, and i cooked up a delicious sweet potato and pumpkin risotto and now i'm ready for some wind and rain. hunkered down away from any flooding and fallen trees, i'm sure once she blows through we'll see plenty of sun this week.