Saturday, before the storm hit this area I was busy having a blast at this year’s PAYA Festival. I was so glad that so many book-lovers braved the elements to come out to the festival. The crowd in attendance was proof that even a hurricane can’t keep a true bibliophile away from books.
Although it was raining a little bit on the drive back to New Jersey, the real rain didn’t start until Saturday evening. Then it started raining cats and dogs and elephants, and it kept up all night. As if the hurricane wasn’t enough there were tornado warnings too. We heard some gusts of wind here and there, but the big damage around here was mostly water related with flooding in all sorts of places and trees falling down thanks to the extra soggy ground.
We lost power in the afternoon, and didn’t get it back until after dinner. Even though the pizza place down the road was also without power, they cooked us some pies by flashlight in their gas powered stoves. We ate them by candlelight, and the pizza tasted just as good as if it had been cooked with the benefit of electricity.
I encountered one storm-related road detour and an afternoon where we were “forced” to play a card game to amuse ourselves, but other than that I was lucky enough to suffer no hurricane inconveniences. I know some people were not as lucky. My heart goes out to anyone who suffered losses at the hands of Irene, and I feel for anyone still cleaning up from the mess the storm left behind.
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I’m glad you survived relatively intact! That was some serious business, but riding it out with pizza…classic!
Sounds like a nice hurricane experience, all-in-all, especially the pizza!!
Yes, even in the most remote parts of NJ you can almost always find a pizza parlor willing to cook you a pie – even during a power outage!
I’m glad you weren’t hit too hard.
That is so awesome, food you didn’t have to cook and then to enjoy it by candlelight… it sounds almost like a nice break. 
I hope no ice cream was harmed in the power outage, and that all of your friends and family are safe too.
I’m glad you guys did okay in the storm. It was crazy and I know a lot of people who weren’t so lucky. We didn’t lose power or get flooded, so I feel really fortunate.
Glad the PAYA event went so well! I grew up on the same road where the event was and my parents still live there – funny!
Well, if we’d had some ice cream it would have been a good excuse to eat it. It’s funny, my boyfriend was just telling me a story about his father filling the back of his car up with ice cream one time when a grocery store was giving it away thanks to a power outage.
Yes, thankfully everyone I know is safe and sound!
Yes, there were some areas that got hit pretty hard, but luckily we weren’t one of them.