Home Again

We are back. More about our trip later. First, a few observations after being gone from a hurricane ravaged city for 5 days.

Things that have changed:

• My mother finally has power at her house. (So glad not to have to beg her to come over every time we talk on the phone.)

• Most of the schools have reopened.

• The grocery stores have both refrigerated and frozen items stocked again.

Things that have not changed:

• Our library is still closed.
  

• Most of the traffic lights are still flashing.

• The streets are still lined with dead trees and limbs.

We have already retrieved Aunt Sarah from her friend's house. Her building now has power, but the elevators were damaged and are still not operational. They have no hot water. There is also the small matter of water soaked carpet that hasn't been dealt with yet. The common areas of the building are all stripped to the concrete sub-floor.

As a city, we still have a long road ahead of us to get back to normal, but there is evidence that we are getting there. However slowly it seems.