I hope everyone on the east coast is doing okay. I’m happy to say that my family and friends all seemed to have weathered the storm alright. Down in my part of Brooklyn things weren’t too bad – our power lines are underground so we didn’t lose power and thankfully we didn’t flood. I lost phone and internet for a couple of days but all things considered, that’s probably more of a blessing than anything else! Can’t say the same for much of Brooklyn – Coney Island and the Sheepshead Bay area are a mess – Queens had a massive fire in which dozens of people lost their homes. The lower half of Manhattan (below 34th street) was eerily pitch black last night. Transit is a mess and the roads are snarled with traffic making it even harder for supplies to get in. I was able to get to work because I walk but along my 5 miles route through Sunset Park nearly every gas station was closed and the ones that weren’t had lines 20 blocks long.
The images that are coming back from this storm are absolutely horrible. The Jersey Shore basically doesn’t exist, and as someone who spent many many many weekends of my high school summers there, it was sad to see. And as per the latest rumor they are still pulling bodies out of homes in Staten Island.
The Hudson Valley where I grew up got hit hard. I spoke with my mother last night and she said she won’t have power for another 10 days at the earliest.
Friend of mine posted the question on facebook if it’s really right that we’re doing the marathon this year all things considered. There were a range of answers, some less eloquent than others, but most people believed that there has to be a better way to spend already limited resources and police man power than that. I agree. No offense to the runners but things are still really bad out there. As of today, the death toll is up to 41.
After the storm we took a walk down to the pier through the garden and I was sad to see this:
Though it does sort of look like the Gelfling Ruin from Dark Crystal, doesn’t it? Minus all the carvings of course.
And Jay made a friend
That said, through it all we managed to have a nice Halloween even if we carved pumpkins the day before.
Sammy and Frank say, “Happy Halloween, kids”
Come say hi.
It wasn’t my idea to write at five in the morning. I would never have an idea as ludicrous, as crazy, as sleep-depriving as, well I’ll say it, stupid as that. It was my husband’s idea. I just went along with it because clearly I hate myself….and sleep.
That’s all. Stay safe, kids. Be careful out there and for pete’s sake, be nice to each other. We’re all a little frazzled.
Ally Malinenko 