My daughter Marisa and I will be live blogging from Barnstable-Hyannis Patch.com for the next couple of days-- or trying to! We're keeping an eye on Hurricane Irene from our perch in Provincetown, where the question "Do you have everything tied down?" can take on a world of meaning.
Right now, if you watch very carefully, you can see a leaf stir now and then. But there are dire signs of a major hurricane on the way: a barbecue grill in the living room, for instance, and in the refrigerator a summer's worth of basil, one of the few bits of the garden I can hope to save.
I've picked all the tomatoes that have any red, all the eggplants that are close to ripe, all the zinnias that are flowering...but the grapes are lost I expect and if the storm hits at full force they might take the trellis and the wall it's attached to.
But of course, I don't expect it to hit! Year in and year out we prepare and get one puff of wind. Mother Nature is waiting for us to become utterly complacent before she pitches the great fast ball of all time, right into our gut.
Meanwhile there's something wonderful about getting to pick everything in the garden at once, keeping the family close, and living according to the weather. Of course everyone rushes to the supermarket, even though there's plenty in the larder. There is no better, more natural feeling than laying in provisions for your family, against a dangerous, unpredictable world. Go forth and buy batteries, sez I!
