The Ice Storm, Beautiful Destruction

All through the night we heard cracks and booms. We had heard there would be freezing rain, but expected nothing like this. The first big bang we heard was a transformer blowing. The rest of the noises were trees falling and branches breaking. Every time I fell back asleep, I awoke to a few more trees breaking. I had no idea of the time, because the power was out. At one point, we were wide awake, so I checked the cell phone. 3 am, in noisy darkness.

At first light, he got up and looked out the window. "Come here, you have to see this," he said. Reluctantly, I got up from bed and came to the window. Wow, what I saw was amazing. The whole world was covered in ice. The trees, the grass, everything. Branches were coated an inch thick.

Before I even got dressed, I grabbed my camera and my snow mocs and stepped outside. It did not feel cold, after being in the cold house all night, the air felt warm. Excitedly, I walked around the yard in my pajamas taking pictures. The early morning sky was slightly gray, but the ice was beautiful nonetheless. The mailbox, the trees, the tricycle, everything was covered; the basketball hoop sported icicles. After a quick lap, I came back in to share the excitement with my family. He noticed the broken branches and took a turn to step outside. I sent my oldest outside too, but he came back in and said, "Dad doesn't want me out here, it's too dangerous."







After getting dressed, I took the camera outside again. This time the sky was a little brighter, and the neighbors were out too. Our street was now blocked by a 25 year old pine tree that wasn't there an hour ago. Tire tracks adorned the edge of our yard where someone tried to get around the tree. As we stood, more trees and branches fell around us. We heard cracks and witnessed the destruction as weighty branches fell.

As amazing as the landscape was, I had to go back in and check on the kids. I quickly snapped pictures of blades of grass covered in ice. Looking out the back windows of the house, I saw power lines sagging, more trees down.







When I went in, he came out with his chainsaw to clear the road. A few minutes later, our neighbor came out to help, and together they chopped the pine tree away. For an hour, they chopped, and shoveled the tree and icy branches off the road. The city truck came by surveying the damage, and then a bulldozer came to take away the remains.

My neighbor said she had never seen anything like this in their 12 years here. Our street on the hill does get more wind and wild weather than our old house, but this was an anomaly. The city of ice, beautiful destruction. For all the crazy weather of the world, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, snowstorms, I'll take an ice storm any day, at least it's pretty.

I sit in my parents house now, two days later, typing away. We have checked the power grid, 8,000 people still without power in our city. A call to the neighbor revealed that our street is still in the stone age, no electricity. We drained the water before we left, so are hoping for no pipes burst upon our return. If anything, we are enjoying out visit with my parents. It is nice to be warm, and the fellowship is good too. All summer I tried to get us here, and as my husband said, "it took for Hell to freeze over," but we're here. :)

We have been having a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's so far. Twice they babysat the younger kids while we went for walks with only two, or one child; first down by the harbor, then around the block. We got to go out to lunch with no kids, and today we built a fire outside and roasted marshmallows. The 3 boys are having a fun sleeping on air mattresses all in one bedroom. The husband and I are enjoying the view of the pond, and the kids love all of grandma's toys. Last night, I got out all the photo albums from my childhood, and took a trip down memory lane. I saw myself at the age that my children are now, and tried to see the resemblance.

Soon, we will have to go back home, and get back to our usual routine, of school, and work, and housework. As for now, we are enjoying our emergency vacation, and time with those we love.