hurricane anniversary, love, and disrespect

Sunrise at Richland Creek Wildlife Management Area, Texas
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

Sometimes a majority simply means that all the fools are on the same side.
--Claude McDonald

Not sure what I'm going to talk about but it's been 10 days so I owe you faithful readers something right? This one is for Melanie! :)

One year ago today (ie Sep 13th, though technically being after midnight it's now Sep 14, but we'll pretend it's still the 13th) - Hurricane Ike hit (see my Sep 2008 blogs for pics!)! It wasn't a scary storm where I sat in my nice brick house. But in my neighborhood and all around Houston it wreaked havoc! Particularly where I live there are lots of trees (though they're disappearing daily for subdivisions) and many of the isolated ones fell on people's roofs! I was very lucky that I had no damage other than a single fence thingie (what are they called?!).

We had no electricity for someting like 11 days!! Again I was very lucky and blessed because my friend across the street (a majot street) had it from day 1! I don't know why she was so lucky, but the vast majority of Houstonians did not have any for days and weeks. I think she was on the grid with a hospital. Anyway, so I've lived iwthout electricty in my childhood so it was no big deal! And I had an absolute blast hanging out with friends and having a much more laid back lifestyle for a few days. It was a hurrication!

My son's birthday happened just after the hurricane, so he didn't even get a party... this year something happened again! Well his birthday hasn't happened YET but we had planned to go camping and tubing this past weekend but had to reschedule due to rain. Some may like it but camping in the rain is NO FUN for me, in a tent... yuk. Been there done that, no thanks. Plus tubing is also not so fun in the rain! So let's hope and pray that in a couple weekends from now, it will be sunny and warm!!

I was really irritated at SC Rep Joe Wilson screaming "you lie" at President Obama in the middle of his speech. What complete disrespect! I could go on, but I won't. And I was also very frustrated that people were so up in arms about Obama talking to schoolkids. The hypocrisy with which the very same people oppose the same actions they didn't think twice about with "W" astounds me. It's extremely frustrating that a man who ran without any insults and mud-slinging at McCain or Clinton (he attacked their policies but was not disrespectful or dishonest) - and he often says he wants people to know they can disagree without being disagreeable - gets the exact opposite treatment by certain people! You can disagree with his policies without being disrespectful...

Other than that, I'll share a few bits of wisdom that have come my way the last week or so. I get this daily wisdom email thingie and today's was, in part:

"He believed that the love of his life, if he ever found the Right One, would fill all the gaps of his own personality. She dreamed that her perfect match would always respond gently, never willfully. After the honeymoon phase they naturally began to find imperfections and disappointments. Both wondered if they had chosen the Wrong One. But in a sense, there is no Right One for anyone. In another sense, there may be millions of Right Ones."

Which is interesting because D&I just started this class on communicating in relationship based on Harville Hendrix's amazing book Getting the Love You Want. It's technically for married couples, and I had done a workshop on it with my ex, and honestly it was one of the few things that truly had a big positive impact on our learning to communicate better so since I do not ever ever ever want to get divorced again, so I want to make darn sure that I can resolve deep and painful and complex issues satisfactorily and peacefully... so I am excited about the class!!!

And what we learned tonight (of course it's not new to me) was basically the same thing as I got in the email above. I believe that to truly love someone is not a feeling we have in ourselves, but an action we show to others. And in showing love to another person, we reflect the selfless love that Jesus taught and we became his hands and feet in the world to one another.

3 things to share

Sunset in Tasmania, Australia. I took this shot out of a moving car! I love the clouds when they make that sort of thin cottony blanket in the sky.
Copyright (c) 2006 Wendee Holtcamp

I wanted to link to a couple interesting articles I read online. The first one, Post-Ike images bring to mind The Road my friend - also from Houston - emailed to me. The article is chilling, and illuminating, and worth thinking about. It talks about how The Road - a Pulitzer prize winning fiction book being made into a movie - discusses through literature how civilized society is not the normal state of affairs and with a major disaster, we could easily revert to a very different state of the world and how humans relate to one another.

The other article is just a funny dialogue between Chris Rock and Larry King, It's Simple: Vote for the Guy With One House. My favorite line is, when asked by Larry King if he was proud that at this stage of our history a black man is running for President on a major ticket:

"Um, you know what? I'm proud Barack Obama's running for president. You know? If it was Flavor Flav, would I be proud? No. I don't support Barack Obama because he's black....There's a proud feeling because of the character of the man."

I laughed because of the Flavor Flav reference!

Last I wanted to include this amazing poem by Rainer Maria Rilke from Rilkes Book of Hours: Love Poems to God. It really resonated with me in so many ways, the dichotomy between the way I feel when I'm in the city, in suburbia versus the way I feel when I'm outdoors, as he puts it when the "wind is blowing through a field of flowers" and all that is lost when our children who become adults never experience the pleasures of nature and exploration and how it connects us so deeply to God and ultimately back to humanity. It also speaks to me of how much women lose out when we don't find men who truly love us for who we are, rather than for what they see visually or what they want from us and how easy it is and how many women close down that part of themselves that desired to be truly deeply loved because they stopped believing they would be seen.

The poem's first line is also prescient with the way natural disasters are destroying parts of cities - New Orleans, Houston, and many in other countries - but it's so much more than physical destruction - it's how our souls are being lost from the heart of God and His creation and how it inspires us and makes us alive. And though he does not put this component into the poem to me it speaks of how important it is to not surrender to this fate by taking life into our hands and seizing the moment and living life to the fullest - carpe diem! Anyway, that is my take on it. It's chilling and beautiful and inspiring. I love it.

Lord, the great cities are lost and rotting.
Their time is running out.
The people there live harsh and heavy,
crowded together, weary of their own routines.

Beyond them waits and breathes your earth,
but where they are it cannot reach them.

Their children waste their days
on doorsteps, always in the same shadow.
They don't know that somewhere
wind is blowing through a field of flowers.

The young girls have only strangers to parade before,
and no one sees them truly;
so, chilled,
they close.

And in back rooms they live out the nagging years
of disappointed motherhood. Their dying is long
and hard to finish: hard to surrender
what you never received.

Their exit has no grace or mystery.
It's a little death, hanging dry and measly
like a fruit inside them that never ripened. III, 4/5

- Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Anita Burrows and Joanna Macy

rec.ike.ling

Here are some photos from the last couple of days. We got electricity back and since then, I've been frantically trying to get caught up on life. My house is a disaster without having the ability to vacuum or clean very well, and I had to restock my fridge and freezer, and still don't have a fraction of the stuff I had to throw away... I have been catching up on email, and online bank stuff, and all that online stuff that had been such a pain for the past TWO WEEKS. Holy moly. Because of the weird nature of the hurrication and the kids off school there's been a lot of socializing since I couldn't work - or it made it very hard to. Savannah started back at school today and Sam starts Monday - IF his school gets power. They're still without it as of now!

I mentioned yesterday the idea we had for the wood rec.ike.ling and here are a couple pics of us collecting boards from fences that have fallen all over. We got a couple of whole fence sides, too, using Matt's truck. Stef has a garage full too. I need to get back out and get more... there's a limited supply of this stuff and we won't be able to rec.ike.le any longer. We are going to make a bunch of very cool environmentally friendly wood crafts from all these boards and donate some money from our profits back to help hurricane victims. At least this is all the plan for now - we're just playing around with ideas and seeing where we can go with it!

Sam carrying boards from the "motherlode" of fence dump sites back to my vehicle. We did a couple trips here and in the evening the mosquitos were like something out of a horror movie!! What a cutie :)
Savannah unloading boards that we got from Stef's neighborhood. The kids cleaned out the garage earlier in the day and now we have a clean space for the boards and working with them.
Noodles anyone?
Uli, Savannah and Sam playing in Stef's pool.
Stef and Uli - what cuties!
Savannah and Uli hanging out on a lawnchair by Stef's pool.
Me and Georgia at Wazabi Sushi bar last night. Taken on my cell phone so it's grainy!
The Wa-Lu rolls I ordered which were very good! I am not a big sushi fan so this was a good start. It had walu tuna, cucumber, and avocado plus strawberries on top. Nice presentation!
Charlotte, Georgia, Carlos, Elisa, Maggie and me at Wazabi Sushi Bar. Stef, Georgia & I stayed out front talking until midnight after the place closed down. I need to buckle down and get some serious work done over the next few weeks! OMG I had the funniest story to tell from this night. I started talking to this guy at the bar when I was asking the owner for his take on the best drink (strawberry infused sake), and then later when I was sitting down with everyone, that guy came over to talk to me, but I didn't realize he was standing right behind me like literally about to open his mouth to say something, and I said to everyone, referring to my past relationships, "Why do I always attract guys that are jerks?!(though I actually said something a little more colorful...sometimes I have a potty mouth! I'm working on it!). Everyone at our table started CRACKING up at which point I turned around to see that guy and he started backing away (jokingly). It was absolutely hilarious like straight out of a movie scene. I felt bad, as I wasn't talking about him! But even he admitted it was classic.
The cool looking sushi boat Charlotte and Carlos got. It was even flaming!

still without power

I don't have anything profound to say, I have too much work to do! I am still without power, supposedly until Monday though apparently the power company is now saying that they can't even guarantee that. I had a blast last night at my friend Kate's who had a hurricane party - I"ll put some pics up later, but I have to get some writing done!

medication and hurrications

An endangered red panda in eastern Nepal
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

Community is a safe place precisely because no one is attempting to heal or convert you, to fix you, to change you. Instead the members accept you for who you are.
- Scott Peck, The Different Drum

In response to some of the comments, I thought I'd post a bit more of my thoughts on medication. I think it all depends on the person and the situation. I always have heard that when something is affecting your life in a negative way (affecting your finances, your general state of well-being, your career, your family life, etc), it has become a problem and you need to address it. I still believe in doing everything possible before turning to meds. There are so many options - support groups, therapists, meditation, prayer, becoming closer to God. We all have different thoughts about this, but I do believe that God heals. I think that we all have a lot of emotional ups and downs, especially women who go through natural cycles anyway. For those who express their emotions in writing, it can seem more "extreme" than it really is! That's mostly what I was saying.

I'm trying to prepare for a small claims court case over my car repair situation from earlier in the year. What excitement. I already went through mediation, which failed and the court case is set next week, and I hoped maybe it would be postponed due to the hurricane, but no luck. The kids are out of school until Tuesday and Thursday (different schools) at the latest update. They are enjoying their hurrication (don'tcha love that word?). I am still without electricity but I did get gas with only one car in front of me for a wait. However they were charging $3.99/gallon when just down the road it was only $3.10!!

Belly-button rumination #587

Sam playing Jenga on his birthday. Happy birthday Sam!
Copyright (c) 2008 Wendee Holtcamp

The reality is that every human being is broken and vulnerable. How strange that we should ordinarily feel compelled to hide our wounds when we are all wounded!
- Scott Peck, The Different Drum

There is pain in our wounds. But even more important is the love that arises among us when we share, both ways, our woundedness.
- Scott Peck, The Different Drum

I went running this morning and about 1/4 mile from my house, I tripped over one of the many fallen branches that are all over the sidewalk path I run. I held my hands out to stop my fall and got a pretty decent couple of scrapes on my elbow, & hands. At first it didn’t hurt, it was more of a shock but I saw how deep the cut was and all the dirt in there and I started to jog back toward home to clean them up. Then I said, ah screw it, I’m going running. I’m fine. I run 6 miles generally so I still had quite a ways to go and I was fine. I got to thinking about me and pain. I had an older brother who used to beat up on me a bit and really didn’t like me much, so I learned to be pretty tough early on. My dad who was a hippie was all against preservatives and medicines and stuff that is unnecessary and I have taken on that into my own life. I think people need to toughen up! I had two babies without any drugs, got through a pretty severe depression without drugs and went through a hellacious few years as a teen without medications (though I did “self-medicate” in those other teenage ways!). All that’s long past.

The ouchie on my elbow. What hurt worse was the alcohol I used to clean the wound! Digging in and getting the crap out of the wounds so we can heal is often worse than the original wound. But of course, it's absolutely necessary for true healing.

Anyway, I think that so many people take antidepressants and medications that some people have become out of touch with the normal range of human emotions (of which I display all of and many of on any given day!) and don't seem to know WHAT "normal" is! I think that, particularly with us creative types - artists, writers, etc - we have a deep well of emotion that we can tap into that allows us to create, to see the world in a unique way and to create poetry, writing, photograph, or whatever other artistic endeavor creatives get involved with. God forbid we destroy that beauty and creativity through taking medications that dull our human senses. And I do know there are some situations where people need medications and even anti-depressants and other medications, and to each their own, but I strongly believe we are a way overmedicated society.

So anyway I was reading this book on relationships and it was talking about differences between men and women and of course it’s a generalization but when I read the description of men, I was like that’s me! LOL. I really think in many ways I’m much more in touch with my masculine side – not in the way I dress or look but in my behavior. This book says that men “are programmed to move quickly and solve problems; they have the ability to focus and get the job done.” It also says that testosterone shapes the male’s body and he’s wired for building physical tension and releasing it.

OK I’m not so sure how much testosterone I have, but I swear I think I’m a man in a woman’s body (don’t worry, I don’t want a sex change, I like men too much! LOL). But I so relate to that description. When I want to get something done – whether it’s build a freelance writing career from scratch, learn how to do something, recover from a issue I’ve recognized in myself, I just find a way that’s been done before to solve that problem and I do it. Nothing can stop me when I’ve set my mind to something (though I won’t walk over people to get my way, I don’t think that’s right).

But I’m ultra-independent, a do-it-yourselfer, super active, I invest in the stock market, I bought my own house, I am an outdoorsy person who likes bugs, snakes, sharks and bears, and unlike most women (who tend to have the problem of not saying enough of their feelings and keeping things inside) I call people on their shit. And, weird or not, I feel like I relate to that description of the physical building of tension and releasing it. I know what they’re talking about… and I don’t necessarily mean THAT, but I do this with my build up and release of my emotions, but also in things like needing to work out until I’m exhausted, which ironically gives me tons of energy! The description of women is that their sense of adventure is internal, and their wiring gives them an edge in family relationships and they’re natural diplomats. Um, that’s not me! So I think that some people have a hard time figuring me out and for those who are trying... (besides myself) Newsflash: Stop trying! It’s not your problem! (PS This message is for a particular few people, not my general blog readers at large! Though in general if you try to solve someone else's problems you might want to look up the definition of codependency...).

Anyway, I have been talking to guy friends about some of these things. To one friend I said, “So if a guy has a problem with you or something, how do they deal with it with you?” and one guy said, “They’d just say hey man WTF is the problem, why did you do this?” And then they’d work it out right there. And I’d say but if a woman has a problem, she’d say “We need to talk. Guys hate this. Why does that phrase strike fear in the heart of a man?” He laughed and said, “Well that’s because of the setup.” Anyway typically I would tend to just call people on their stuff when they piss me off. I don’t get mad often at friends (unless you are a phone customer service person, who are born into this world just to annoy people) but when someone does something to tick me off I’ll just tell them – no beating around the bush for me. I do this to guys and to girlfriends. But in my experience, women are not so good at dealing with this, and maybe this is why so many marriages and relationships are so crappy. Women run away from conflict, they do not actually like to resolve it or maybe they’re just not so good at it. I’m not saying I am, but at least I know what bothers me and speak my mind… I’m not so sure that men are any better at resolving conflicts but I think that they’re not used to dealing with a woman who acts like a guy in that kind of thing. I think maybe I’m just from Planet Cruton, as Matt likes to say.

Oh, and we still do not have electricity. More areas around me do, and the gas lines are getting shorter. I think I heard something online that it may be on by Monday. Last night me Georgia and Amy went out for margaritas. That was fun! Yesterday during the day I spent some time with Sam, Savannah and Matt and we took Sam out to his favorite restuarant - Happy Buddha Japanese Steakhouse - yum!

Sam climbing the tree in our backyard. You can see the one missing slat from my fence - the sole damage from the Hurricane to my house. Yay for that!

This cat has got so much personality! She is so funny. She loves looking out the windows, especially when they are open with just the screen. She is also the cat that eats too fast and throws up all over so she is quite skinny. We call her the bulimic cat. Her littermate, on the other hand, is a typical fat orange cat.

This is my neighbor's house with a pine tree through the roof. This sight is quite common around my neighborhood!!
Here is another tree that was toppled over from the root ball. Another very common sight!

Day 6 without power

My two kitties, who are littermates, when they were young!
Copyright (c) 2005 Wendee Holtcamp

Still no electricity at the Holtcamp household. Today is Sam's 12th birthday! He spent the night at Matt's last night, and came over this morn to a table full of presents and it all decorated (I managed to find some stuff out - Target is open - yay for that!). We played some games this morning, including Jenga where you stack all the wood things up and see how long you can go without the tower falling over. I took some pics and will put them up later. I'm at Elise's charging my cell phone and checking my email, and then we're all going to our favorite restuarant Happy Buddha Japanese Steakhouse! Apparently they have electricity all down by the mall, which is where that is.

Last night Savannah & I went over to Georgia's house and helped her eat some of the chicken in her freezer which she grilled for me and the neighbors. We also had some crawfish etouffee over rice - yum! Tonight we may be having a girls night out. I am TRYING to get some work done but it's almost impossible to do in such a crazy situation. I work on my laptop for a couple hours, then have to run back to Elise's to charge it. Electricity is slowly going on in vartious places but only about 40% of Houston's gas stations are operational and there are still long lines. Fortunately I do not have to get gas, yet, and still have 3/4 tank!

madly in love with me

Sam looking at a California Poppy, Green Gulch Organic Farm
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

I'm beginning to think it's going to be a long, long recovery post-Ike for Houston... I have a full tank of gas, but some people are waiting for HOURS in the most massive lines you can imagine. I'm just way too impatient for that! I had a friend who got annoyed at me when I told him to fill up his gas tank pre-Gustav... I seriously hope he ran out, had to wait in a long line for gas - ha ha! OK that is my evil side coming out - he he. Now because I said that, mark my words, I'm going to have to wait in a long line...

We still have no electricity, and I had to throw out a bunch of food today. The weather cooled down a bit so that's nice. It's frustrating to not have life as normal, but I really can't complain too much. I have hot water. I have water! I have a gas stove. I've been to the grocery store and there's food and not long lines unless you want to get ice. Traffic is a bit hairy since traffic lights are all out and people are not always so safe (people run lights a lot). But hey, I don't need ice. I don't even own a cooler. And I'm going to drive even less because I want to conserve gas. There is just one spot that I know of that has cell phone reception - on the bridge over Lake Houston and I've driven out there a couple times, but I can use my home phone (did I say this already?). I get text messages on my phone though I think they're somewhat delayed. So life is weird, but I am getting by. Kids are off school through the end of the week, at least.

Yesterday I walked over to my friend Melody's to see if she wanted to go walking. I arrived right as she and her family and her parents (who live 2 houses down from her) were sitting down to a nice grilled dinner of steak and sausages from their freezer supply. Her mom piled up my plate with salad, potato, and steak - yum! And a glass of Pinot Grigio. So much for walking... ;) I was talking to her mom about a recent dating disaster, and we were talking about all kinds of things and she says to me, "You are beautiful. You are intelligent. The problem is not YOU! It is HIM!" I was like "I love you!"

I'm working through some issues and trying to find a phrase to replace my negative or self-sabotaging thoughts of feeling unloved. I have pondered using "I am loved" or "God now" or "God loves me" but they didn't quite do the trick. Then I heard this line in a Watermark song that says (God) is "madly in love with me" and I thought, that's it. That is the line I need to put in my head to replace the thought that is so deeply ingrained from my childhood that I am not loved. I don't need any man or any person to be in love with me, I need to fully acknowledge in every part of my being that God is madly in love with me! What a cool thought.

I'm trying to get some work done on my Louisiana pine snake piece but the people I need to reach are also affected by the Hurricane....So here I am, and I better get back to work! Tomorrow is Sam's 12th birthday - poor kid may not get the best birthday. I usually like to have the house all decorated for them, balloons, flowers, cake or cupcakes... I can't use my oven and the groceries stores only have the minimum of stuff, so I may have to make do.

Oh, and the Debbie Ford talk was cancelled and I'm so bummed! I hope it gets rescheduled!!

the shadow

The Coral Sea
Copyright (c) 2008 Wendee Holtcamp

I’m sitting at my kitchen table at dusk, drinking a cup of instant coffee and eating the last of my Hershey’s chocolate. I always have chocolate in emergency situations. Whenever I fly, I buy some chocolate – usually Godiva pearls. My philosophy is if there’s a chance of dying, you may as well have some chocolate. And all I can say about the instant coffee is thank God that I saw the woman in the grocery store grab some off the shelf, because I’d have never thought to buy some if I hadn’t seen her grab some. Thank God for small miracles!

Everything in the fridge is now room temp, and everything in the freezer is now mildly cold and melted. Fortunately I didn’t have much meat or other frozen stuff. I have some mushy blueberries – that is probably my greatest loss because I spent hours picking those things and they usually last me through the year for smoothies etc. I feel very blessed that my house is completely unscathed. I lost just one board off of my fence, and that’s it. I have 3 medium sized live oaks in my yard, and not even a branch came off. However many of my neighbors did not fare so well. Driving around my neighborhood in north Houston (not too far from the Houston Intercontinental airport) I notice a lot of downed trees. A LOT. Several people have pine trees through their roofs, or cracked in half and oaks completely uprooted in their yard. It’s truly amazing that this far inland we have sustained so much damage, and yet it’s also amazing that there was so little loss of life. It’s humid and warm, but a cold front is supposed to come through tomorrow I think. Heck I grew up without AC so it’s not a big deal to me!

At 730pm on Sunday night, I still do not have electricity, nor does anyone in my neighborhood, though some people throughout various parts of Houston do including my friend who lives literally just across the road (the major road that runs through this area, that is). I’m going over there in the morn to charge up this laptop that I haven’t used until now. I stopped by earlier today and they were having a hurricane party! But I am here with the kids, so I’ll go tomorrow. The kids are off school through Wednesday I think. They’ve been playing in the street with friends and just hanging out here with Matt and I who stopped by earlier for a few hours. I have been reading a lot. I read about ¾ of the book Dark Side of the Light Chasers by Debbie Ford, who I am supposed to go see give a talk on Thursday and I’m hoping and praying that still happens because I adore her, and have for several years, but I don’t know if it will be cancelled due to all the mess. This was the first book she wrote, and I’ve heard a lot of it in audio form because I’d bought a CD set of hers that has guided visualizations several years ago. But given all the soul searching I’m doing lately it’s been really good.

She talks about the ‘shadow’ which includes the disowned or hidden parts of ourselves. She says to ask, what words would you hate to have written to describe you in a newspaper article? What are some traits that you hate in others? And though it’s extremely hard for some people, you have to find where in yourself you manifest these same traits, or where have you in the past? Often these things are what drove you to become these traits’ opposite. If you insist you are not stupid, then maybe in our past somewhere someone teasing you drove you to do well in school and excel and to become well-read so that no one could ever call you stupid. But still, you may still do some stupid things, even though it’s not a word you would ever use to describe yourself. Maybe you see “drama” in other people but think you’re really non-dramatic but you seem to attract drama into your life. That’s because you have drama in your shadow. Maybe you hate when people feel sorry for themselves, or have that poor pitiful me aura or cry or get emotional, well that is because you’ve disowned that part of yourself, but it’s there. Somewhere inside, you feel sorry for yourself, but you hate it so much you become cold and despise people who seem like they feel sorry for themselves – or people in tune with their emotional side. The process can take some digging and some work, but it’s really valuable.

One of her main points is that we have all the traits in the universe, and we can become both the most amazing saint and the most awful criminal, depending on our circumstances. The hidden traits have to be “integrated” or accepted or they will forever be part of what psychologists call the false or hidden self, what Carl Jung called the Shadow. We will attract people into our lives who have these vey traits that we despise, because God, the Universe, whatever is trying to get our attention and getting us to recognize these hidden aspects of ourselves and of our personalities.

So it’s an interesting book and I’m going to do some of the exercises. One of them is looking at yourself in a mirror and saying the negative trait over and over “I am X” until it loses its emotional power over you and so if someone ever actually called you that, it would not have any sting anymore. Debbie Ford actually was part of a TV show on one of the major networks that must have only played a couple episodes then disappeared but where she took divorced or separated couples and had one of them work through this process in her workshop (among other things) and she had the people in the small group “flood” the person with that negative trait. It’s emotionally wrenching and they often cry or get angry or can’t hear it at all. But eventually they get through it and it loses its power. I would absolutely LOVE to do one of her workshops, but they’re too expensive for me. I know that Alanis has done them!! One day, I will attend one!

After Ike

OK here's the scoop. My house is A-ok, I'm fine and have lots of food and water, but no electricity and no cell phone coverage (tho I can receive and send the occasional text message). I am at Elise's right now who HAS ELECTRICITY! She lives across the major road from where I live so that gives me hope that I'll get mine on sometime soon. But she got hers last might and so far nothing in my neighborhood. Everyone's grilling.... Matt came over and grilled some fish & venison earlier. I don't have any meat in my freezer except a huge brisket that I guess I'll cook tomorrow. I'm BORED to tears - it's amazing how bored you can be even though I have tons of books to read and board games etc. STILL. Holy cow. Call me if you get a chance on my home # if you have it... However circuits are stressed so some people are having trouble getting through.

Trees are down all over my neighborhood, some through people's roofs etc but my house and yard are totally unscathed. OK I gotta get back to my house, think I'm going to go running or something. Going stir crazy!

Ike update

Well we lost power for a couple hours, even though it was not even raining! It is pretty windy. But then it just came back on. No telling how long it will last this time. Maybe it's time to make dinner... I'll udpate the blog or possibly my Facebook page from my mobile. I think that Facebook page is public... all for now.

Hurricane Ike

A white-tailed deer fawn not far from Jesse Jones Nature Park in Harris County, Texas
Copyright (c) 2006 Wendee Holtcamp

I suspect God is big enough not to be terribly bothered if we damn Him now and then. What really infuriates Him, however, is to be used. - Scott Peck, The Different Drum.

I love the look of vulnerability in the fawn's eyes. Just total helplessness, really. What sweetness and beauty lies in that vulnerability. In our weakness, I believe, we are made beautiful and in our surrender we are made strong.

Just in case anyone's wondering besides those who have already contacted me, yes I'm staying put in Houston. They actually told us residents who are not right along the coast to stay put to avoid the gridlock of Hurricane Rita, which I did get stuck in and that was terrifying! I have a brick house, I am going to be just fine. I just hope that I don't get any trees through my windows. We have lots of food and water, and have brought all the patio furniture in, etc. Me and the kids are just hanging out. I'm trying to continue work on my book until we lose power, maybe sometime tonight. We're wondering what to do with the basketball goal.... I think it's a bit too big to go flying through a window, and it's not near a window... so, methinks we should just leave it where it is. I hope that I do not live to regret this decision. Same goes for the gas grill. Hmmm.

I'll update on the blog so everyone knows I'm ok, in case anyone cares, or wonders :) I'm not worried! Maybe I should be?