We've had quite a hectic two weeks here. We had a storm that made local history in the destruction wrought on our power system, and I've been scrambling to get caught up after surviving six days without power. We were blessed that we weren't hurt and our property damage was limited to one damaged tree losing a major section and taking out a streetlight and part of a smaller tree next to it as it fell. Many other people weren't nearly so lucky, and thousands are still waiting to get their power back on.

It literally came out of the blue. After I finished working in the garden as described in my last chapter, I had to hurry to clean up to go out with Mom to a meeting of our business women's club at a local pottery studio for a "Fun Night" of painting pottery. One of the members with a crafting bent had suggested it and gotten people signed up for Diva Night at the studio. This was a monthly women's only evening where men and children were banned so the ladies could enjoy painting and various diva activities, mostly eating pizza and other snacks and winning various prizes by spinning the diva wheel if your number was called.

We fortified ourselves with pizza and snacks and then looked over the unpainted pieces for sale on the shelves around the studio. Mom picked out a small piece that looked like a sundae glass and I picked out a fish plate. I had absolutely no idea what to do with it as I had never painted pottery before, unlike Mom who had painted a number of pieces in her youth as part of her art classes. I picked up some little pots of paint that looked like tropical fish colors and a brush and returned to my place.

I decided to try to make an exotic fish. It wouldn't have to look like a real fish that way, which was quite likely in any case. I summoned my knowledge of quilting color combinations, tried to remember what the fish applique patterns I had seen when admiring a quilting page that week, and applied brush to the paint. I started with the yellow since light colors had to go on first and made several bold arcs along the fish's side from front to back. Then I brushed some yellow along its fins, and added orange highlights along the edges. I gave it a yellow and orange mouth and an orange ring around its eye.

I leaned back, cleaned my brush, and took a look around at how the other ladies' projects at our table were going. It was obvious that I was painting to the beat of a different and somewhat eccentric drummer. Everyone else was painting simple patterns with stripes and dots of colors and flowers. They seemed to be doing much the same thing at the other tables, too. I had painted enough that I was committed to the piece, so I opened the pot of purple paint and started shading the edges of the fins with purple, lightly blending the colors together in what I hoped would be an artistic effort at feathering the colors together. I put a dot of purple paint in the fish's eye for a pupil.

Next came a turquoise blue to fill in the background. I feathered it in on the base of the fins to connect those first yellow strokes to the body. By then, my efforts had been noticed by the wide-eyed ladies at my table. They made a number of encouraging remarks about the fish, which now lay there looking like a cat had made a lethal swat of its paw across the body. It was turning out to be a bit more exotic than I had planned. One of the studio assistants came by to see what was going on and made encouraging remarks about it. Mom made encouraging remarks about it, and turned back to painting lots of flowers on her sundae glass.

I considered my options. I got some green paint from the rack and stroked some along the top of the stripes, then added some purple on that along the upper border. That seemed to tone them down somewhat. I was assured that the colors would darken when the fish was glazed and fired. Finally, I lay down my brush and surrendered the fish to the studio assistant, who whisked it away to parts unknown to join Mom's already finished glass. I fortified myself with more pizza to recover from the birth of my first piece of painted pottery and wondered if this was going to be a monthly event.

It was quite dark when we got home and I whisked my seedlings from the lawn where they had been set out to enjoy the sun back onto the terrace. The night was calm, and I was hoping that the front coming through would cool things off so I could do a little more gardening early the next morning. It was also calm when I woke up the next morning, but only briefly. Suddenly the thunderstorm cells that had moved into the area exploded into a supercell with hurricane force winds that made the yard look like it was sloshing around in a washing machine.

Only about half an hour of fury and the storm was through our area, but the damage done was enormous. Power was out across most of the city with hundred of trees toppled, many blocking the streets and some onto houses. Emergency crews scrambled to rescue trapped people and restore emergency services. We got out and surveyed the damage to our house, extremely thankful that we had called the landscape service company to have our big trees inspected and pruned just a few weeks earlier since our house was unscathed despite the many large trees that shaded it. Amazingly enough, the vegetable garden looked just fine, with the tomatoes still happily holding up their leaves with no damage at all despite being held up on stakes.

Mom called them back about the damaged tree, and then we got out with a pruning saw to try to remove enough of the fallen limbs to clear a lane in the street. A neighbor who cut firewood came by with his partners and finished off the biggest sections and stacked the rest on the grassy strip beside the curb to clear our part of the street. The landscaper came by with his crew a few days later and heavily topped the tree in the hope of saving it.

Then it was a matter of waiting until the power was restored. The first few days were at least bearable as the afternoon highs weren't too bad and the house cooled off at night. However, as the daytime highs in the 90's returned and the house warmed up, it got pretty miserable during the days. Our refrigerator warmed up by the third day, and I moved what I could to the upright freezer. Due to my negligent housekeeping, that had not been defrosted in months and was largely filled with sheets of ice about two inches thick on the tops and bottoms of the shelves. There wasn't much food to defrost and lots of ice to melt.

I spent a great deal of time putting down newspapers to sop up the water and moving wet newspapers to the tumblers. I would roll up the wet papers, put down some new papers, then dash for the tumbler to minimize the dripping on the floor. I shredded and spun the papers in with more fertilizer, then returned to the house to cool off as much as was possible. The last two loads of wet newspaper were simply dumped in front of the bigger tumbler as both were constipated with torn newspaper by then.

The freezer kept everything at refrigerator temperatures until the power came on six days later, so we only lost a few things in the refrigerator which couldn't be moved to the freezer in time. In fact, it wasn't completely defrosted even then, and Steve has been laughing about my housekeeping saving the food. After all, we might need the ice if we have another bad storm. The composters had a feast of pre-composted vegetables while we feasted on defrosted but still safe hamburger and TV dinners. I donned my now disgustingly dirty gardening gloves and plunged my hands into the constipated mess, fluffing and shredding and adding more fertilizer before I added the refrigerator's contribution to the composters.

So, the garden is still doing well and the largest tomato plants started blooming today. The composters have been digesting their newspapers and have had several more fluffing sessions to help them along. They are nearly full with more compost almost ready to make compost mulch. I am hoping to take care of that this week when we have another break between storms. We have severe weather in the area even as I write this, with thunderstorms coming through every few days.

As to the fish, Mom and Steve picked it up while they were out on errands. It did darken when fired, and my artistic shading and feathering showed up fairly well. Mom said encouraging things and wanted her sundae glass displayed among the family china. Steve said encouraging things with a bemused smirk. The cats were unimpressed, especially since they found no food on it when I showed it to them. I've been afraid to ask if this was going to be a monthly event. This is starting to look like another hobby which is going to require some research.