In the dark ...

To say last Friday was a windy day just doesn't express it.  It was the kind of wind that if you parked your car sideways to the wind, you wouldn't be able to open your driver's door.

So of course I went for a drive.

The car would gently rock when a particularly strong gust came along. 

Driving down Cow Bay Road, not far from Caldwell, a movement to my left caught my eye.  An aged evergreen with shallow roots was slowly toppelling over on a front lawn.  Between the saturated earth, shallow roots and high winds, it just couldn't hang on.  Over it went.

I ended up at a little Church that backs right onto the ocean not far from Rainbow Haven.

I turned my car so the passenger side was facing the ocean.  Otherwise I would not have been able to get out and if I could have, I feared my door might be pulled off !

The waves were pounding the shore, creating an oxygen-filled froth.  That froth was then being hurled up the hill like great gooey globs of white merangue.  I braced myself, leaning into the wind, taking pictures and even took a video.  The ocean was ROARING.  I couldn't hear my own voice in the video.  I couldn't hold the camera steady  It was an amazing experience. (click the picture below to enlarge and see the gooey globs)

But these images just don't give you the full idea of the noise of the waves and the strength of the wind.
Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQBDdXwmKg0 .  Notice the white globs flying up the beach.  The noise you'll hear is NOT static but the wind.  Turn your speakers down.  It's pretty loud.

I later learned that the wind gusts had been clocked at up to 136 km ph in the Halifax harbour.

That would explain why later in the day the lights went out.

Kaitlyn had friends over and I had hoped to spend the evening watching the Olympics.  Instead we rooted out the candles and I got to try out my emergency alcohol fueled stove.  With my nice hot bowl of soup I settled down to read by candle light while listening to my transistor radio.

By the way, "Death Ship of Halifax Harbour" is about a ship that arrived in 1866 bearing a shipload of Irish and German immigrants and a deadly cholera outbreak.  They were quarantined on McNabs Island which lies just off the shore of Eastern Passage.