h'm

Getting to the Internet is nearly as difficult in Melrose as it is in Buffalo, although Melrose at least is well-heated and features three cats and an adorable (if spookable) kitten and my folks.
So I'm still not caught up on the f-list; email me if there's anything important. (the @livejournal.com is active.)

I had already planned to visit my parents this weekend, which is why I had five days off in a row, for which I am exceedingly glad. We would remain holed up in Melrose but it seems that Z's website's server is up, which means his office has power, which means they really really need him. So we're leaving here 7 am today and he'll be at work this afternoon trying to sort things out. So-- back to Buffalo, and hope the charge-up I did on all my appliances lasts me a while. :(

Our neighborhood is still without power. I'm bringing back things to bake pies etc. with. We'll have nothing else to do for heat. National Grid says, I think, Thursday, but God knows-- they've also admitted that they have no idea what they're doing.

I didn't mean to accuse y'all of not noticing I wasn't online, I just wondered if Buffalo had made the national news.

I will point out that it's not winter there-- we hadn't even had a frost yet-- so when it's not snowing, it's about 50 deg. F. So there's that...

I have to get off the computer so Z can check a couple things before we leave. If I ever have Internet again, I'll tell you all about my kitten-taming exploits this weekend. I also have a big frozen jug of unpasteurized preservative-free cider, so life could be much worse. But I'm sort of not looking forward to being home: a blackout is fun for one night, and actually I had a blast Friday night, but after that it's just a pain in the goddamn ass because you can't get anything done in the dark without your various machines.

back in Buffalo

Made it without incident this morning, Z driving the whole way while I made my way through my second reread of The Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy. I am going to write a review of that trilogy, I might mention: there are themes and aspects in it that I think a great number of you on my f-list will really enjoy. I certainly enjoyed it and it is what got me through this blackout-- I'm secretly a little pleased that I had so much time to read, although the distraction of trying to hold a tealight to the pages made it rather difficult for me to keep track of all the loose threads being tied off at the end. Which only made the reread better.
But I digress.

Kat, sorry to have missed you-- but I am never in Melrose long enough to do all the things I want. My poor uncle quietly said over the phone that he was sorry not to have had a chance to see me, as "things have been difficult lately"-- he and I have always meant to be closer to one another than we are, and I wanted to know whether he has managed to find an antidepressant that works. (He is not the only close family member on them now, I find. Hm.)
One of these years I will take a long vacation there and get everything seen that wants to be seen. I am a little jealous that Z gets to see his hometown all the time, and when I watch his extended family all together I wonder how they did that, that so many of them live within an hour of one another. Generations upon generations of my family have scattered themselves to the winds, and it is hard enough to gather a handful at any given time. All four sisters haven't been together since Katy's wedding.


We dropped Z off straight at work, and I encountered an astonishing amount of debris on the way home. Buffalo hasn't been cleaned up yet, not by a long shot. But there's almost no snow, if that does any good. It's eerie, how storm-shattered most streets are. Little damage to houses, but the trees are devastated.

I stopped by Z's mom's house to see how she was doing. Her power had come on the previous night, much to her astonished delight-- we were told a week, by National Grid-- and she had spent the day cleaning out her fridge.
I should do the same. I shudder to think.

In suspense, I pulled up my driveway, and with great delight saw that the porch light was on. Power! I have power!

I promptly passed out in my bed. I will update about the weekend later.