Musings of Eric Sharp

and A/C, and refrigeration, and my studio, and hot water!!

Came home today after hitting the gym, and was astonished that my power was finally turned back on! I’ve been living very primitive since Sunday morning, no thanks to Hurricane Jeanne.

So you ask, “what have I been doing without power for a few days?” Well, lets just say that my Scrabble skills have been elevated to an astronomical level! Here’s how I survived Jeanne and its aftermath.

On Sunday,  I played 5 games of intense Scrabble. We each took turns holding the flash light, beaming it down at the playing board as the opposing player contemplated their next word. Throw in some wine, beer (Fridge was on its last leg), and our uncanny ability to find a Dominos Pizza open during a Hurricane – we managed just fine! Though, I was forced into missing my Fall tradition of visiting “Devaney’s” where I watch the Monsters of the Midway (gosh its been a while since I’ve referred to the Bears that way) play every Sunday. Instead, I resorted to repeatedly calling my brother as he provided a live update to ease my curiosity every 10 minutes. I’ve only missed two Bears games in about 4 years – and this was the 2nd. Sigh.

Monday morning started off with an ice cold shower, a bit refreshing considering it was around 85 degrees throughout the townhome. That night I took Rufus for a run and we grabbed some takeout from P.F Chang’s (MAN that crab wonton appetizer is phenomenal!), watched some MNF, and eventually fell asleep on the couch.

I’m back at it now though, trying to recover from those 2 1/2 days away from the studio. All I feel like I’ve been doing is typing these last 24 hours. E-mail, and content for my new A2M site.

Type type type, all day long….hurricane season needs to stop for all.

Shots of Hurricane Frances passing through this afternoon – the sky was breathtaking before all the wind and rain forced its way into Central Florida.

As I continued my preparations for Frances today, I stopped at a nearby Publix to discover the usual Hurricane pandemonium to stock up on bread and non-perishable items.

It’s not often that you can find something interesting enough to shoot in a grocery store. So without camera in hand, I was limited to my low resolution Sprint Camera phone today. I uploaded these to my pictures folder, and downloaded them to showcase how bizarre it was to see rows of empty shelves.

Are you kidding me? The forces that be have allowed another category 4 hurricane to head right our way – say hello to Frances.

Just read up on Channel 2 news site that the current damage to the Bahamas is unprecedented – it could be the WORST in history. Let the chaos begin…

Nothing like bringin’ in a hurricane with some drinks and a front row seat!

As idiotic as it sounds, we remained on the front porch (view below) throughout the passing over of the eye, and witnessed a barrage of sounds, gusts of winds exceeding 85 mph, and torrential downpour from 4 pm on.

It was quite amazing to see huge oak trees bend in U shapes towards the ground. We lost power around 6 ish, and were limited to flash lights, candles, and beer & wine (of course) through the night.

Overall, I’m very thankful we all remained safe during this natural disaster. There were a large number of unfortunate people throughout the state of Florida, and I hope that their lives are pieced together as quickly as possible.