"Irene" begins

Yesterday we battened down the hatches, and Friday we stocked up. Today we wait, watch, worry. Hurricane Irene is over New York as I write this, and I sure hope Rob's business in the city and Long Island home stay OK.

Stocking up included shopping for printer toner cartridges (have work to do in preparation for a meeting Monday), bread, and fabric. Since it's going to rain steadily, I will very happily sew on my row robin unless the power goes out. In that case, I will try to applique by the window. But I do want to get to the row robin, which was flying around the country, from St. Louis to Michigan and several other places, this year. I had chosen a garden theme, and my friends did a wonderful, creative job on their rows. Friday, I found two lovely green batiks for between some of the rows and for simple borders. I am hoping to put this quilt on a wall in the basement, right next to my treadmill so I can enjoy it while I walk.

While at the quilt shop, I chatted with Paula about a row robin for our Heart of Vermont Guild. She's going to base the guidelines for the new RR on those of the online group I belong to. I think there will be a "Square Robin" and a mystery quilt coming out of our local group, too, so it will be a busy year.

Yesterday, while I was out getting toner, I ran into Chuck, husband of Florence, the former librarian from Brookfield. She was one of my favorites when I was working, so I went out into the parking lot to find her waiting. She has retired, too, and is as busy as I am. But it was good to catch up since I have wanted to drive down to visit her for ages.

Battening down the hatches included putting all flowers in pots in the garage and taking our big wooden rockers in from the porch. We usually leave them out all year long, but if the wind picks up enough to blow them around, they could really damage our French doors. I noticed my neighbor has taken her glass-topped table and hummingbird feeder inside, too.

It started raining softly during the night and has picked up steadily since I got up. The worst is supposed to start around noon and continue into the night. Paul went downtown already to check on the sandbags at the Old Labor Hall. He isn't thrilled about a repeat of the flooding that occurred in May. So he'll be worrying all day, and probably going down to check a few more times. Good thing I stocked up on gasoline, too!

This morning, while the power's on (and it may well stay on), I'm going to do a little cooking. Our annual condo picnic was cancelled due to the weather, so I think a pot of chili is on the agenda along with the upside-down cake I was planning to take to the picnic. One good thing - glad it's not snow!