Mother Nasty Nature

Nobody wants to fool with Mother Nature. We have seen such disasters in the last few years world wide on her account. She gave us a small whipping here and unfortunately, there are some sad stories. Cottages out here in Lordship I believe, cannot be rebuilt if a storm takes them down. They own the structure, not the land....please tell me if I am wrong but I think this one is gone...

This is all that remains of a beautiful cottage. I walked by it on many a day. The hammock, the fun painted front door with a polka dot theme and inside, the true beach lover. That was very obvious and I want to say how sorry I am about their Mother Nature misfortune.

One door down, another casualty that defies reason. The front is ripped off but the wall hangings and more stay intact. It doesn't make sense! Not sure how this one will pan out but again, I wish them well.

I walked at 6:15 a.m. to check out the damage, again. Hearing trucks all day today leads me to believe they are working to get rid of all debris and make the cottages safe again.

This cottage sign exemplifies the love out here in Lordship!  We love our community, beach and year round residents alike and we "worship" the long sunny days of summer with bicycle riders, walkers, runners, dog walkers and many more. This little hurricane can't stop us one bit!

Irene is Gone.

Some aftermath shots as tides receded, and the sun tried to come out again.

We residents of Lordship were told that a "curfew" was in order and we MUST stay inside our homes until 5 p.m. Emergency crew did the best job ever trying to control us along with any true emergencies. I applaud them and admire them.

The water at the end of my street receded by 1 p.m. when the tides changed. Debris and still churning waves can be seen here.

Now that we were able to venture out farther, we came upon the Seawall, Marnick's and a swimmer? Some people just can't resist a good wave.

The road along the Seawall was completely destroyed! Unlike Gloria when the Seawall was demolished, this time, the water undermined the integrity of the road but the wall itself was only slightly damaged.

Surf was still up when we walked at 4 p.m.
Yes, we went out three times and probably walked about 6 miles total for the day. 

Water "boiling up" from an underground storm drain?

Water channels and new tide pools were carved out of the beach everywhere along the Seawall. Amazing that the wall held off the impact this time around!

Uprooted vegetation, colorful, poignant. 

The sand that was swept in will be appreciated by beach walkers.

The sand and dirt that washed out and the erosion that resulted from the storm inflicted may not be so good.

In the end, we are left with another "notch" in our belts. This past year and one quarter has seen a tornado, a few blizzards, a small earthquake, a 102 degree day, a hurricane and what have you in between that I either can't or don't want to recall!

During Irene

The storm has subsided...but we did go out again. At the height of the wind, tides and probably danger, we...as well as all of us curious and stupidly fearless Lordship residents gathered to see the storm.

 Storm central....11 a.m. and it is high tide. The storm is at its supposed peak. We walk to the end of our street.  It is a dead end that looks out over a row of mostly summer cottages. We have a tidal basin pond at the end of the street.....flooded with debris. Looks like a cottage may have gone down by the looks of the wood, steps and contents of a house. So sad.

You can see from the end of my road the devastation and the intensity of the surf that there must certainly be damage. The tidal pond is one with the Sound here.

Photo here and below courtesy of my friend Nina K. I think this one wins the BEST PHOTO of IRENE contest hands down. (Not that we have a contest but maybe we should?) This is Russian Beach and a pathway down to the beach. WOW.

Below is a great shot from Colleen, my daughter's friend. Another path to the beach from the "bluffs" along Russian Beach out here in Lordship.

I must say here that I am not completely crazy. I went home, it got a little scary. BUT, I do have a few friends that live closer to other vantage points and they, just as I did, got out to to take some awesome shots of the fury of this storm as you have seen! Did I say we were ALL fearless? It must be something in the drinking water out here. Sort of a long time running joke.

Irene is Here!

Of course I had to venture out...warnings of danger disregarded. Two hours before high tide and before the full force of the storm hit seemed safer than later, but I can't guarantee I won't try again. Trees are down, roads are beginning to flood and the waves are beautiful.

My "driver" Papa D, a.k.a. my husband took me on a short ride through Lordship. I got a little nervous a few times seeing limbs down, remembering last year's tornado!

The sand, whipped into quite a frenzy, stung my legs so the rest of the shots were taken from the safety of the car, or Jeep, thanks Claire! Here the sand is being pushed across the road between the cottages. 

The seawall was inaccessible, barricaded off by our local police. The Bluffs were windswept, a landscape of gray, white capped waves a-crashing in succession, and the wind a-howling!

Lordship has no fear. Of course we don't! So far.

Waiting for Irene Week

This week I knew I had to get out and walk when I could due to weather forecasts! I took some very random photos during the early morning. Some sunny mornings, some humid and cloudy. I will never call them dismal because if I can be out there, I am happy.

Seaglass is actually hard to spot if it is too sunny and especially in the early morning when shadows are long and intense. If the glass is wet, it glistens though and these two pieces were fortunate finds!

This is what I mean about long shadows! My shadow, at the seawall in Lordship, taking the shot and trying point it out.

The stormy waves the day before Irene...hoping they bring in new treasures!

On a gray day the colors just pop. These two blue crab claws I found (and staged....shame on me) were fresh and bursting with their natural colors. Their colors fade quickly in the sun!

I actually am very fond of blue crabs...they are such lively, fighting crabs! Here you see I painted one on a Trader Joe's sign.  I remember them when I was young in the tidal pools at Fairfield Beach where you could entice them to "put up their dukes" in fight mode. Happy to see them returning to the Sound after years of absence.

River versus Sound?

Yesterday during a company outing to Indian Well State Park I escaped for a bit and walked a trail into the woods. Lo and behold, the most serene sight...a waterfall! This is something I do not get a chance to see very often, and although Long Island Sound is my love, this was just beautiful!

There were actually some people swimming and I had to ask them to move so I could get a good shot of nature...not them with nature almost natural!

The pools of water from the cascading stream were so inviting.

And water reflections of sky, trees & sunlight were so earthly colorful.

Not only was the stream a source of inspiration but so were the moss covered "legs" of this river bank tree. The roots look like they are reaching out towards something. Hmmm.