Well, several days after Frances has left and the news organizations have run out of adjectives, I sit here relatively unscathed. Frances knocked out our power for about 16 hours (better than the 8 days Charley left my family on a generator) so that wasn't so bad. The wind blew, the rain fell, and we sat around periodically looking out windows and rehashing old stories. This morning was spent picking up the yard, swinging a machete (clearly, my favorite part) and chopping with chainsaws. Logs, logs, and more logs with some twigs thrown in for good measure. Trees down. Bushes smashed. Debris blown to kingdom come. My father is pleased with his chipper - a glorified small engine powering a rotating blade system that rends anything tossed into it to instant mulch. Now, on the horizon, looms Ivan - a powerful looking storm that haunts Charley's path. Really it is too early to tell, but Florida will simply have to close if we get nailed again. Both coasts lie in ruins. Those that have escaped as we did are the lucky ones, with only minor damage and few repair costs. Ivan prompts the question: why all these storms in such rapid succession? Is it chance/fate? Is it the result of the accumulation of industrial emissions as some have suggested? Is it the natural pregression of our constant barrage against the environment? Who's to say? Everyone has their theories.

Due to the storm, we did not get to attend church - perhaps it was even cancelled. I was looking forward to returning to St. Hilary's, my home base, for a morning of worship and conversation with old friends. 'Twas not to be so, apparently. Now, I can only hope my flight will leave on time Wednesday morning. Trevor's school has been cancelled indefinately. My Grandmother's home town, Ocala, was hit pretty hard apparently as well.

With emails abounding about the incoming Seabury students and the start of school, I find myself actually looking forward to the resumption of classes and a regular worship life. I've missed Morning Prayer with the community. I wonder how seminary will look to me, post-CPE. Different that's for sure. And, I've my new job at St. Augustine's to look forward too. Though, I can't find myself getting overly excited about it as it will only last two months. My contract with them was for two months only as they were looking for an ordained person to take on Children's Chapel as one of their responsibilities, but I was secretly hoping it would take them longer to find one. Unfortunately for me, it did not. And now, I will retire to my room, to read and sleep.

-R