"Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.”~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

While soaking my feet tonight and musing over the pros and cons of taking a hacksaw to my ankle, I spent my time working through the day's articles on Fark and ran across this op-ed published by the Daily Mail rag out of the UK.

While she makes a few fair points (infrastructure and response to disasters can always use improvement) but I just can't wrap my head around her entitled and whining tone.  Equating the US to a third world country goes beyond hyperbole considering what she describes as her "hardships" during Irene's Aftermath.  Not to mention that from her house, she's looking through a pretty thin piece of glass since merry Ol' England hasn't exactly been a shining example of first world decorum and prosperity this summer.

Irene danced her way across 10 states and has caused an estimated $7 billion dollars at least in damage.   Is it any wonder that crews and relief services were stretched thin?  Or that they might have done triage and prioritized more damaged areas (VT, Quebec, points south) first?

My issues with Ms. Churcher are that:

a) She states that she has covered impoverished areas of the world where modern day luxuries and conveniences are unheard of or reserved for the up most members of society.
b) Lives in the Northeast and hasn't been through a least one storm that knocked her power out before. While Westchester County, NY isn't as prone to the storms of upstate NY or NE they do see snow and bad storms are not uncommon.
c)Apparently skipped the day they taught how to research a subject in journalism school- and don't get me started on her complete lack of common sense.   If she has enough to balance on the head of a pin I'd be very surprised.

Irene was not a flash in the pan winter squall that arrives with a flash of lightning as it's calling card- we knew this storm when it was in the Caribbean.  By the time Irene was saying hello to GA and the Carolinas there was strong consensus from NOAA and other reputable weather services that she would soon be visiting most of the Easter Seaboard.

I pay next to no attention to the weather during the summer unless I have an event and I  knew about her 10 days out.   While I'm sure Ms. Churcher is a busy woman with a full schedule that no doubt trumps mine, I find it hard to believe that she did not have the time to research and prepare for the storm appropriately.   Laying in supplies, getting enough charcoal/propane for a grill or enough fuel to run the generator for a few days is not exactly hard to do and can be accomplished in one afternoon.

The part that really gets me?  She lives in lower NY.  She's seen Nor'easters- we have at least one every freaking winter.  While the correct definition of a Nor'easter is different than that of a hurricane- they can and do get up to hurricane level winds and the damage caused by a nor'easter is arguably just as bad and the recovery can be harder due to the problems with responding in snow and ice.

Mind you, everyone I know was pretty blase about Irene- we hosted a BBQ the day before and our preparations consisted of making sure there was enough oil lamp and ice to keep the fridge cold if the power did go out.  Which it did.   We were without electricity for 48 hrs and my son's first day of school was pushed back one day.  

Yes, ma'am, we are indeed living in third world conditions.  

I might be a wee bit uncharitable tonight but I find myself unsympathetic towards her experiences and hope that she might have learned some lessons from Irene's visit.

New items!

I had a great weekend full of work, time with friends after and now a day off!   Of course, my days off are seldom true days off, but we all have that.  Housework NEVER ends.

Last week I finally finished editing and posting my latest glass work  and started working on another set of wine glasses.   Thanks to Antika Neuva, I have enough blank goblets and glasses to last a year at least.   She takes fiendish delight in hunting out new glasses for me to paint and alter.   It's scary sometimes just how much delight she takes in doing so now that I think of it...

One of my latest (and current favorite) goblets:

I've pretty much decided to focus on getting all the naked glasses that I have all over the house properly painted, listed and packed away before doing any more non-commission portrait work.  The glasses are, while not simple to do, easy enough to paint in bulk quantities and I quite literally have boxes piled up in my work area that my husband has very politely not said anything about.  

To be honest, I'm not sure if I should be proud or disgusted that my husband has learned the trick of silently nagging....  

So, Ganesha and Thoth are my last paintings for awhile. /sigh   

Ganesha Dancing in Acrylics

Thoth in Acrylics

So, Saturday after work I went over to a friend's house for dinner and to do some hair color for a few friends.  Very proud of my performance Saturday evening- 3 colors and one hair cut in 2 1/2 hrs!    An average color service takes anywhere from 45-90 minutes depending on type of color so very pleased with myself^^     I stayed the night in Hudson with a friend since at 10:30 I was not really up for a 90 minute drive back home.   

Sunday, I was home for all over 2 hours before having to leave for work and another get together with friends- this time a wonderfully fun Tarot and Pie Party.    Arrived home around 10:30 to be greeted with desperate puppy kisses from my dog Lucky- who, after determining that I was O.K. and still Me, deserved no further attention since I HAD LEFT HIM ALL ALONE and proceed to spend the rest of the night cuddling with my husband while giving me "See?  This is your fault." looks all night.   

Well, it's nearly 10am now, so I suppose I should get on with the rest of my day.   

Have a great day!