Against the stone breakwater,

Only an ominous lapping,

While the wind whines overhead,

Coming down from the mountain,

Whistling between the arbors, the winding terraces;

A thin whine of wires, a rattling and flapping of leaves,

And the small street-lamp swinging and slamming against

the lamp pole.

~ Excerpt from “The Storm,” Theodore Roethke

A rare day when it’s weather that’s not safe for walking in woods. Woke to the hurricane effects here. Lots of rain, a bit of wind. I didn’t want to walk in the woods. So, I went without Charlie, who isn’t allowed, up the track at the high school where I could walk laps without fear of any branches coming down. It poured, and I was glad to be out because it was warm and there was no one around. Got plenty wet, but enjoyed myself, and Charlie stayed dry. We didn’t get much of the storm here after all, but stayed in all the day. Frank and I digging in to a re-organizing project in the upstairs. Furniture moving around, up and down stairs. A housekeeping fixing and laundry and organizing day so that by tonight we are ready to start the week ahead. I had a nap, too, much needed. I sat down, thinking I would work a bit on some poems and then it was too delightful: to drop off while the rain came down on a dimly lit afternoon. When I woke up, later than Frank, he had been to the supermarket, the muffin store, the bagel store and cleaned up the kitchen and left a lovely flowering black-eyed-susan plant in full bloom on the kitchen counter. And he, too, had a well deserved nap and now is fast asleep. I did not get my tomatoes done. Just everything else.