...(tears).

I grew up spending summers in Vermont - on Lake Champlain - and until the pandemic I went back every year for a reunion with my oldest friends and just to enjoy such a beautiful place. My area of Vermont and my local area here in Northeastern New York was devastated by Hurricane Irene in 2011, power outages, massive flooding taking out roads and buildings - and the news reports say that this current flooding and destruction is much worse.

Brought down buildings and some on the shore of Lake Champlain - when I visited soon afterwards in 2011 - were totally washed away. And this storm and flooding is said to be worse.

My friend who I grew up with lives in the most rural area, nearest to a one-store town on a dirt road off a dirt road. Fortunately, it's up a hill and the amazing house she built is three stories, but I worry about her just the same.

here (SoCal) from all the rain we had.

Keep hearing flood warnings interrupting on the TV, but so far my fairly rural county appears to have been spared. You stay safe, too!

Take care!

thinkíng of moving up that way. Recent storms have kinda put that on hold, though. Hope it all straightens itself out soon enough. People are húrting up there.

I spent many months in a cabin around Burlington, not far from a working farm. No idea where my father found out about that, since he was born in Brooklyn and we lived in Queens. But, summers were for Vermont and catching fish in the lake.

Including when my brother went to UVM, as did most of my friends. It looks like the hardest hit this time is Montpelier - there's now a state of emergency. The streets are flooded and there's much worse damage than occurred with Hurricane Irene, which we thought was as bad as it could get.

And Vermont is usually wonderful in the summer, especially anywhere near the lake. And it's popular in winter as well, Stowe is known for skiing.

but so it goes. The whole area up there was fantastic before the rains. Probably will be again in the not far future. When safe, I'll be up that way again.