After Ike

Wow... two things come to mind today. First, I had intended to add a new post once a week. You can see how long it's been since the first post. Life has been full! Second, and this is the biggie, my title,' shreds and tatters,' ... which took me a long time to commit to, has taken on meaning never even considered before Ike. Galveston could be described as being in shreds and tatters right now. I feel disoriented driving down familiar streets. Piles of debris reduce some streets to a single lane of traffic. Many such piles are mostly tree limbs dragged from yards, twigs and even trunks of ancient monarchs. Other piles contain stained, soggy, broken furniture, rugs, toys, appliances, kitchen cabinets ... remnants of life before Ike. Then there are the piles that used to be houses. This was worse than Rita, worse than Alicia, worse than Carla.

We are blessed. Flood waters did not rise into our home, or my mother's home. Our home is livable, with all utilities and telephone restored. Air conditioner compressors, outside on the ground were submerged in the salt water storm surge and will have to be replaced. My mom's home has running water only, no electricity, no gas, no telephone; so until all those are restored, she can't move back in, so Rudy and I won't be moving back in either for a while yet. I have some photos I've taken of our homes that I want to show you, but can't get them posted from this computer ... sigh ... my sister-in-law Christy's. It's a great computer, mind you, and I'm so lucky to be able to use it, but, I think that because it is on a wireless network and the upload doesn't seem to take. So if you want to see some amazing shots of Galveston, go here: http://www.galveston.com/hurricaneikeslideshows/

I'll see if I can figure out this picture thing and show you some I've taken. Feeling very blessed ...