Goodbye to All That

This is how things looked at the lake we visit. I took this picture last weekend. Just last weekend!The warm morning light on the railings, the topaz hue of the leaves...Then at afternoon's end, there was this view from the end of a dock:How does the heart not break when one looks at such beauty? Especially now that Sandy  has come like an avenging angel sweeping all before her.God's own leaf blower is a hurricane.We wake to a wider sky today.More light, with the foliage gone.More light, in the day's early portion at least, with the thudding new arrival of Daylight Savings in the wee hours of this morning.I woke at 3:45 and never slept again. Don't know why.I wandered the house watering a few thirsty plants, then brought coffee back into my bed and read my book.The plants can't say they're crazy about being brought inside now that I've closed up the screened-in porch.Being next to a radiator is especially hard for them.But it's adapt or falter in this world. Out in the porch this peace lily would be frozen brown stalk in less than a month .And so it is with us. Adapt or falter.Get out of bed now. Sweep the leaves from your stoop.  Do your errands early so you can feel cozy when the night once again lowers.And think of all who, a week after the storm, still have no light or heat.