Did you feel it? Of the many things I love most about living on the east coast, there are a few things I thought were absolute truths: the fact that we have defined changes between the seasons, the celebration of the lobster roll, and that we don’t have any real earthquakes. Surprise, surprise to me as we had one on Tuesday. After meetings at the Fox studios Tuesday morning, I returned back to Westport to shoot several BetterTV segments. Marty (the videographer) and Rhiannon (the co-host) arrived and we got busy shooting in my studio. We are the power of three, as we make an aMARzing team. As a matter of fact, Marty was my first vidoographer/editor I was teamed with when I began working for Better TV. As for the lovely Rhiannon, she joins me when she can on many of my shoots as we have great chemistry together on camera.
As always we finished up early, and while Marty was packing the car Rhiannon and I were in the living room when the entire house began to shake. We both looked at each other and asked the same question: “What the heck is that noise?” I wondered if perhaps pipes might have burst in the attic or some such thing. Marty did not feel anything, so we both though we were just both crazy. Not! Later, Rhiannon called me from her car to tell me it was an earthquake. A 5.9 magnitude earthquake, that is. Hitting Mineral, Virginia, but also felt here in little ol’ Westport, the after-effects vibrated Rosebrook Gardens like never before. What I was surprised to learn after all the drama is that this was not our first time experiencing an earthquake here in Connecticut. Between 1668 and 2007, we have experienced an astonishing 137 earthquakes! But this was the first time ever that I experienced one for myself. Bloody crazy. Thankfully no one seems to have been hurt. Whew! And where was my beloved little Schnauzer to protect me? Fast asleep – through the whole thing. I guess she was not paying attention when God handed out the instinct to animals that helps them “predict” tremors!
So this week we survived an earthquake first, and now there is a hurricane watch in effect for parts of the East Coast as Hurricane Irene roars towards the United States, traveling up from the Caribbean. I guess we will have to shake it off, not let it rattle our nerves and just roll with the punches. Violet will roll up and take a nap for sure. And me? I’ll have to rock myself to sleep. Shake, Rattle & Roll has a whole new meaning.
