Irene, Good Morning, Irene...

Only Ian would bring pretzels to a hurricane.

I heard once that in pre-20th century conflicts, such as the American Revolution and/or the Civil War, locals would come out with picnic baskets, or their 18th/19th century equivalent, to watch battles from a comfortable distance... Hurricane spectatorship isn't nearly as unusual, but it is a bit surreal. Ian woke up around 9:30 this morning, and almost immediately set about the work of assessing/monitoring/reporting on/engaging Hurricane Irene. First to the window, then to the porch, and ultimatelyto Irene herself, in her relatively mild form, sweeping all trees on the periphery every which way and the rain falling gradually more forcefully.

But before we got into the thick of it, Ian, Madeleine and I sat on the porch- first on the ground and then, at Amy's urging, on the wicker couch, and Ian brought out gluten-free pretzels for the refreshment of the hurricane audience.

We love Irene, but we don't want her to hurt anyone, or anything. Ian has maintained a small, triangular scrap of paper, ripped out of the corner of a larger sheet, with the word "Irene" written on it - apparently to remind him of who was coming to town. He kept it on his bookcase, next to the alarm clock, but today, he took it downstairs and, I think, carried it around with him. At one point, he held it up to show me, like a ritual affirmation of the identity of the storm.

Eventually, all three young'uns were out on the lawn, in full rain-gear regalia. I joined them, within minutes, in a bathing suit, which baffled them, but it is August, after all, and the water was actually pretty warm and refreshing - in fact, I don't think I've ever noticed such warm rain water before. (I got some wonderful footage of both boys e, almost in stereo, in their high-pitched voices,"Daddy-what are you doing in a bathing suit?!!!") First they marched around the periphery of the yard, and up and down the driveway, to assess the festivities and think of how they might join in, before they set down to more concrete tasks.

Even before he got outside - heading down the stairs and looking for his raincoat on the first floor, Ian was name-dropping "Bob" and "Andrew" (which is from long before his time), trying to project just how formidable this storm might be. At regular intervals, Ian was filling us on on the caliber of the storm "Force 5" vs. "Force 7," for example (at one point, he told me, he and Mommy disagreed as to which degree we had reached, with Amy, of course, maintaining the wimpier position). When the storm went up a notch, he would let us know - always an upgrade - and point out that now even large trees were swaying, which indicates Force X-plus-one - seven or eight or nine... At one point, I questioned whether the storm had really reached the strength-level that he had proposed, but he presented an irrefutable case for his diagnosis. Luckily, he was on top of his game, because he had read all about it in one of his everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-anything books for kids - another stroke of brilliance on my part when the Used Book Superstore was having a sale. He had basically memorized the chart outlining the criteria for various force-levels, and applied his knowledge on the "field". If you're going to have a hurricane, it never hurts to bring a scientist...

Madeleine and Golden, the dog, were the smart ones, who decided to go inside in relatively short order. Being as food-centric as I am, I ran inside to cook things in case we loseav h power, bu I came outside at intervals to check on the boys, and they were busy, first monitoring the stream of water as it ran down our street and into a sewer at the edge of our property, and then, diligently constructing a dam consisting largely of sticks and oak leaves, to stem the tide of rainwater in a way that may well have rescued half of New England from more serious flooding...

Eventually, even Ian got a bit bored with the whole thing, and they all came in for hot dogs, and to dance to Celtic and African music, and finally to (re-)watch "The Prince of Egypt" - a good movie for a hurricaney day.

I said a few prayers upstairs, since we missed church and it's both Sunday and a major feast. Ian asked me what I was doing, and when I told him, he pointed out that I should also pray for people in the wake of the hurricane.

(August 28, 2011)