Before Ida, Isabel


 Before Ida, Isabel

Last night remnants of hurricane Ida swept through, bringing a torrential downpour, but no flooding or high winds here.  In September 2003 we weren't so fortunate.  The wind from Isabel dropped our enormous tulip poplar, multiple other tree limbs, and the tidal surge flooded the cottage up to the window sills.  We sustained tens of thousands of dollars damage.

We came back to the cottage from Wilmington as soon as it was wade-in accessible.  Here Mary and Mike are circumnavigating the house by kayak, about to dock at the ramp up to our deck on the previously inland side of the cottage.

After I rebuilt from all the damage I installed this plimsoll plaque marking the high water mark on our kitchen wall.


I have since installed a brace-bar across our double doors facing the Bay for when the weather is severe or when we aren't here.  The quotation is from Shakespeare's King Lear as he rants against the raging storm.
  

Later I depicted the Lear scene in a painting now hanging in the cottage dining room.  I used myself as the model for both the demented Lear and his accompanying Fool.  The storm has many threatening faces.  Shakespeare is the propelling wind force in the upper right.



Ironically, my grandmother's (Ida!) cottage Obida at Fenwick Island was destroyed by the Good Friday storm of 1962.  The site is now part of the Fenwick Island State Park.

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