Waitin' For the Fall Out

In case of emergency: bake. The night before Sandy was to hit, I made a nice low-cal apple crisp and some loaded oatmeal cookies with walnuts, raisins and chocolate chips.

All the meteorology tracking reports were in this morning and Sandy was still on course to take that sharp left turn straight into New Jersey. There was no going back, only ways to process the news. Try to understand exactly what it all meant. There were possibilities of 50 foot high waves crashing onto the shores and affecting us in the New York harbor, to what extent, it was hard to pinpoint. Then the winds were going to be up to 100 mph and that could possible take out many windows in the highrises and send debris sailing down to pedestrians. Definitely lots of old beautiful trees which is so sad to see but certainly the least of our worries right now. Then there was the surge that was the biggest threat, raising the water line to flood great portions of Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island as well as so many rivers and streams in Jersey. Subways could be under water, shutting down our systems for days. None of this good news.

But the newscasters still broke away to their cheery segments like Halloween costumes for pets and things of that nature. Were we all gonna die in a few hours?! Or worse, sit and watch a majority of others die and then have to fight our way out of this concrete jungle without food and power, swimming alongside the giant rats and nuclear cockroaches?

All unknowns yet this calm morning. P and I went to walk the neighborhood to get a reading on the fear levels. Not many people out and it hadn't started blowing too much yet. The streets were pretty deserted and businesses were closed all along Fulton Street. Except Academy Diner. God bless 'em. They were open and happy even if it was a nervous happy. However it did sort of feel like that scene from The Birds right before all the seagulls tried to come crashing through the windows. I was spooked but not enough to not enjoy my Club Sandwich and fries. Again, we were eating very poorly but if not now, when???