Trickles and Torrents

Our family beach house is right on an inlet off
Peconic Bay on eastern Long Island.


Until my sister Peggy and her husband Bill
drove out there this weekend, we didn't know
how it had fared in Tropical Storm Irene.

We were lucky.

No big damage; a few wonky shingles, and shrubs and grass

burned to a crispy shade of brown by the wind-driven salt off the water.

Our next-door neighbor was not so lucky.

In the picture below, what Irene did to that neighbor's bulkhead.

Most of it ended up in pieces, in other people's yards.

Peg's phone shot of the neighbor's bulkhead.  What a mess.
Our bulkhead is fine, thank goodness!


The grass, above, was green before Irene came a-calling.
But the salt water breached the bulkheads and surrounded
the houses, covering the lawns.  Grass doesn't much like salt water.


This is what the grass looked like a few weeks ago:

Yes, it was this green.  Not anymore.

Bushes and trees aren't fond of salt water either;

the plants that face the sea are now mostly brown.

Tuesday's rain has rinsed them clean if their homeowners didn't

get a chance, but we won't see green from some of them until  spring.

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Back here in New Jersey, we're getting our own shades of brown.

And it's too soon to suit me!

Tuesday's rain and wind -- the last hurrah of
Hurricane Lee --brought down leaves

from a big oak at the corner of our driveway.

Lots of leaves.

I am still surprised when I see my house all white.  I love it!

But this picture of That Old House, and That Old Oak, taken through the very wet windshield of my car,

looks kind of cool, don't you think?  Only I'd like it better with more leaves on the tree, and fewer on the ground!

Please keep your fingers crossed that the rain ends soon in the North East,
or we might find ourselves flooding, again.  And we really don't want that!

It's Outdoor Wednesday at Susan's A Southern Daydreamer blog.  Click here!

I hope wherever you are, you have the right amount of wet -- not too much, not too little!  -- Cass