*
It’s nearly impossible to articulate the devastation wrought by the recent hurricane.
We see news reports, photos, video. The end of the world for so many people: trapped in basement apartments (water rushing in if the doors open in; doors jammed if they open out — cars inundated, passengers trapped — home roofs ripped off).
Short of death but still devastating — homeowners helplessly rummaging through debris. Unspeakable anguish.
And by what twist of fate do I, here in Maine, undergo less than a good downpour?
Should I say fate has no rationale? (By definition?)
I’m left speechless and enormously grateful!
*
Mists on the Rivers-- 
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — They sent thousands of firefighters, 25 helicopters and an arsenal of more than 400 fire engines and 70 water trucks. Yet the fire still advanced.
They dropped retardant chemicals through an ash-filled sky and bulldozed trees and brush to slow the march of the flames through the steep and rugged terrain of the Sierra Nevada. Yet the fire still advanced.
Bursting across a granite ridge into the Lake Tahoe basin, the Caldor fire now threatens tens of thousands of homes and hotels that ring the lake.
[as if hurricanes weren’t enough0
facing the whirlwind, just brutal out there