Post-Isabel...

I have been wanting to write about Isabel but, alas, without power it's hard to get online. We haven't had power since last Thursday (so, approaching a week now), and I've only been online a couple of times since then, when I could get into the office. Even here in the office things haven't been perfect--there are several campus entrances blocked, the water wasn't drinkable until yesterday (because the pumping stations were down when the power was out, potentially allowing bacteria into the system), and although the power came up on Saturday it was knocked out again yesterday by tornadoes in the area.

So we're not quite up to full speed yet. But classes resume tomorrow, we were able to have church on Sunday, and the kids have managed to occupy themselves without tearing down the house or killing each other. Today Mariah is babysitting for someone who got her power back yesterday--after five days in the house with three boys, she needed someone else to watch them while she cleaned up and did laundry today! And Nick came into the office with me, to watch a video in the library (seven days without television was beginning to seem like cruel and unusual punishment) and to cut up paper on my office floor. In the meantime I've managed to plow through over 300 e-mails. Frankly, it was more fun reading by candlelight, something that I've really enjoyed over the past several days. In fact, I'm starting to think it would be fun to have "blackout night" once a week or so, where we eat by candlelight, keep the TV off, and play hearts around the dining room table, as we've been doing all week. Check in with me in a month or so to see if I carry this one out.

There's plenty more to say, but I'm a little sleep-deprived--not to mention overwhelmed by the sudden return (to me, anyway) of the internet.