An Ill Wind Blows

There's an old Mary-Chapin Carpenter song about being stuck in the northern cold while she wishes she were south in Louisiana where, she sings, "there's a hurricane party every time it blows."  I keep hearing that chorus in my head and then wondering about the hurricane party.  Around here, we're not having a party so much as an anxiety watch.

State workers have been instructed to stay home and New Jersey has shut down all of its public transportation.  Schools throughout the state are cancelled, including mine.  The whole of the Garden State is in a state of emergency.  We're all hunkered down in our homes, awaiting the inevitable.  

The storm is slow-moving and hasn't yet come ashore.  This morning, we are getting a pretty good preview of what's to come.  The wind gusts started last night and the air chilled.  As we slept, the wind picked up and the rain began.  Were it not for the alarmist forecast, I'd say this is just a cold, windy storm.  But in every gust of wind or unexpected creak of the house, you can hear a sense of menace.

On the other hand, I've laid in supplies and we still have electricity.  I took that as a promising sign and stirred together some homemade muffins for this morning's breakfast.  The forecast reports that conditions should start to improve by tomorrow night.  This morning, with the wind and rain whipping around us, that seems a long way away.