Tornadoes and Sharks...Just Summertime on Cape Cod #CapeCod #tornadoes

*Free use photo -- not the actual Cape tornado

I've lived on Cape Cod for twenty years now, and the summertime shark influx has been an ongoing annual occurrence since about 2009.  Before that, the Cape didn't have a lot of reports of Great White sharks (despite the fact that the 1975 hit movie Jaws was filmed on Martha's Vineyard...view a few pics of local settings in this post).  The first time I really remember hearing a lot about sharks here was in 2004, when a 15-foot Great White shark became somewhat stuck in a body of water near Wood's Hole.  That shark drew tons of attention, a lot of curious boaters, and became the first Great White tagged with a satellite tracking device in the Atlantic before it was coaxed back out into the open ocean by experts.  Sightings now happen all the time, and sadly, we had a shark attack fatality last year--the first deadly shark attack in MA since one in Buzzards Bay in 1936.

With the Cape being a peninsula surrounded by water, in addition to sharks and other sea life, we do often get wild weather as well: Nor'Easters, hurricanes, blizzards, etc.  A few of them were significant enough for me to write about on my blog, so with this past week's bizarre tornado touch-down, I took a little look back to some of the other crazy weather events I discussed on my blog since I started it in 2012.

Hurricane Sandy devastated a great deal of the East Coast in October of 2012, but the Cape escaped the majority of its wrath (and that was a relief--Sandy was a deadly, destructive hurricane).  While we only got the fringes of Sandy, we were hit with a rough Nor'Easter about two weeks later.  What I remember about that one is that a downed power line started a fire in our tree (Sandy's sister storm) and also how a true friend came through for me at an important time.

In 2014, we had a terrible blizzard that blanketed the Cape the first weekend of school February break...and of course the night before we were due to leave to take our kids to Disney (all park tickets bought in advance cause I'm a planner).  While we made it to Florida, our older son had a terrible injury the day we got back.  (Blizzards, Blackouts, and Broken Legs).

In 2015 there was Juno, or "Snowmageddon 2015".  That led to a post about some of the other blizzards we've experienced here, and also the disastrous blizzard-related skiing trip. (Blizzard of 2015/Snowmageddon)

But tornadoes?  It's just been announced that we actually had THREE tornadoes last week.  Before that, there was one in Wood's Hole (Wood's Hole again?) last October...before that, 1977 and then 1968.  

Thankfully, my understanding thus far is that no injuries occurred...although there was extensive damage, and there is footage of the roof being ripped off a Yarmouth hotel which is mind-boggling.

My family spent a lot of time in our basement Monday night and Tuesday during the day.  While taking cover in the basement with my younger son on Tuesday, we heard water splattering, and I opened the storage room door to find water pouring through the two small windows.  When the tornado warning lifted for our area, we ran outside to find the window wells overflowing with the amount of rain that had slammed down in such a short period of time.  We took buckets and bailed the window wells while getting soaked...every step in our yard had us sinking into swampy puddles of mud and mulch.  We spent the rest of the afternoon learning how to use our wet-vac, and getting our work-out in as we carried tubs of water up the stairs to empty.  Definitely a day I won't forget soon, but the most important thing is that while our house was damp, it was still standing...and more importantly, no injuries reported despite three tornadoes during the busiest season here.

So it literally has been a "Sharknado" summer here on Cape Cod...I do hope things calm down a bit and that everyone who comes here (including our revolving-door house guests coming in August) gets a chance to relax and have a safe and wonderful visit.

Lunch with the Authors of #TWRP! #amwriting #romance #suspense

Now that school has started for us here on Cape Cod, I've had a moment to a) breathe and b) reflect on how quickly our summer passed!  First, due to a long series of terrible blizzards here this winter, the last day of school stretched until the very end of June.  My youngest son promptly left for a 3-week science and technology sleepaway camp, which required quite a bit of supply-gathering and transportation issues on the weekends, when the Cape is at its busiest.  After that, the entire family left for a 10-day road trip, during which we found ourselves visiting 4 states plus the District of Columbia, not to mention the 8-hour drive just to get to our friends and family.  I taught my Fiction Writing and Publication Class for Cape Cod Community College in Hyannis. My debut novel, SILVER LAKE, was purchased by Amazon's Encore Imprint and re-released in August, and I organized an all-day Facebook party with 16 fabulous authors from The Wild Rose Press whose books also were also acquired by Encore.  I also had to show up for my job teaching fitness classes every day, with enough energy to jump around, or enough caffeine to fake it.

Group photo after lunch...hope to meet many more of our
talented authors in person in the future!

So I've been so busy, I haven't even had a chance to write about another big highlight of my summer.  Every August, the Cape Cod Writers Conference takes place in Hyannis. I could not attend--yet another event, the commissioning of the impressive Coast Guard Cutter Joshua James in Boston--but I was especially sorry to miss it this year, as the President and Editor-in-Chief of my publishing house, The Wild Rose Press, was there as a presenter.  Luckily, TWRP author Kevin Symmons put together a luncheon later in the week for all local TWRP authors to attend.  We had a lively group, with people traveling quite a ways to meet up!  There was much laughter and networking and it was a fantastic day.  After years of interacting with many fantastic and supportive "Roses" online for years, it was wonderful to connect face-to-face. Hope everyone else had a fabulous and possibly less-hectic summer than I did...looking forward to my favorite season now, autumn...colorful leaves, crisp nights, and a certain October event that celebrates all things spooky and paranormal!

And if you'd like to visit Cape Cod while enjoying some steamy romance and haunting suspense, add GULL HARBOR to your reading list!  This TWRP title has been a #1 Kindle Bestseller on 3 separate occasions!  A dangerous ghost and an ex-boyfriend await psychic Claire Linden in Cape Cod's Gull Harbor...  Happy Reading :)

The orange banner made it a
very exciting day for this author!

Memories of Blizzards Past #blizzardof2015 #Snowmageddon2015

So far, here on Cape Cod, at my house anyway, we've been spared any major damage from Juno, also known as Stormageddon 2015.  We haven't lost power, just days of school and work. My husband is outside snowblowing, so I can't really say how he feels about the storm at the moment, but I've been happily typing away in my writing cave all day.  Coffee's hot, fire's burning, and my kids are entertained because we got friends over here to keep them company before we were snowed in.  So, yes, there are a few extra people in the house, but they're having fun.

Our tree took down
the entire neighborhood's
power and started a fire.

Since I started this blog in 2012, shortly after my first novel, SILVER LAKE, came out, I've written about a number of memorable storms and blizzards.  There was a Nor'Easter that hit us right after Hurricane Sandy did so much destruction further south.  This particular storm hit our area worse than Sandy had and also started a fire in our tree.  It also happened to be the day of my very first book discussion and signing at a local library--you can imagine how that turned out.

In December of 2013 there was the storm that hit while we were on a ski trip, contributing to a series of events which led to one of the most disastrous "vacations" we've ever had.  While I can laugh at most of the things that happened now (see: faceplant off the ski lift) and I've recovered the feeling in my finger (it took a year), that weekend did convince me to hang up my skis forever.  Seriously, I'm done.  No great loss for the skiing community--I was never very good.  So, actually, the mountains are a safer place with me inside the hotel room, writing novels or catching up on my own reading list.

Me shortly before I gave
myself a frostbitten finger.

After this momentous decision, we chose to head south for February break in 2014.  But of course a huge blizzard rolled in the night before we were supposed to leave for Disney, adding an enormous amount of stress to the usual drama of going away for a week.  Would we be able to get to the airport?  Would our flight even still be scheduled?  Was it safe to leave the house with no power or heat in the middle of a blizzard? Would the poor kitty be okay in the cold?  And, if we didn't make it to Orlando, would any of the parks refund our money for the tickets and events we'd scheduled and paid for already?

But the one blizzard that sticks in my memory the most happened well before this blog existed--right after Christmas, in December of 2004.  My kids were 2 and 5.  We lost power for days, and with it heat and hot water.  Neither my husband or I had anything resembling a Smartphone, if they were even around then.  Since we have so many pets and the kids were so young, a hotel didn't seem like a good solution...not that any rooms would have been available anyway.  One night, we managed to drive to the YMCA, which had power, and we stayed there almost all evening--took the kids swimming, and finally took hot showers.  On the way home, we found an open store that actually had a few battery-powered lanterns left, so that was a big night.  Being thrown into total darkness at 4 pm each afternoon makes for very gloomy days.

But when our power finally returned, we learned the horrible news that had stunned the world: the Indian Ocean tsunami had decimated coastal areas across South Asia, killing 227,898 people.  It was the single worst tsunami in history, and the destruction was devastating.  The news coverage quickly put my perspective in order: we had been cold, smelly, and frustrated, but we were alive and well and safe in our home.  I felt terrible for every complaint I'd uttered during our storm.

So my hope is that no tragic consequences result from this historic blizzard of 2015.  Right now, the communities closer to the water are getting pummeled, and the news is reporting that Nantucket is "off the grid".  I don't know what that means, but it doesn't sound good.  My thoughts are with everyone affected by Juno--stay warm and safe!

Blizzards, Blackouts, and Broken Legs...Good Riddance, February

I've had so much stress jammed into the shortest month of the year that it feels almost strange to take the time to blog.  But writing is my therapy, and thankfully, all of the bad stuff has or will eventually fade into memories.  In the meantime, I'm trying to stay positive, especially in the face of the unknown challenges ahead.

For the first half of the month, I was trying to get everything done for our trip to Disney.  Exciting, yes...but almost every school in New England has the same February break, and the Orlando parks reach alarming levels of crowds.  Since I'm a planner, I spent a great deal of time online, figuring out how to best avoid lines--and my efforts were successful, thankfully (see Disney Tips for more info).  But of course in addition to planning, there's laundry, packing, taking off work, getting the animals taken care of, finding our summer clothes in the middle of winter, etc., etc.

I'm a nervous flyer, so I was already feeling apprehensive by Saturday night before our trip.  Then the blizzard started.  We've had so many this year, I don't know if this one had a name.  All night long the winds howled and the house shook and my husband and I tossed and turned, unsure if our trip would be cancelled (and all my carefully made--and paid for in advance, of course--plans would be messed up).

My husband finally got out of bed at 4:30 a.m. and began shoveling us out.  We have a snow blower, but he thought the neighbors might not want that kind of wake up call before sunrise on a Sunday morning. 

Our cable was out, but a check on my phone told me our flight was still on.  We were dubious, but determined to try.  As we were getting ready, though, the power went out.  Super.  We had no idea what was on and what was off, and we were leaving for a week.  We had to unhook the garage door to get it down and turn off the water in the event the heat didn't come back on for a while.  More stress.  (The power did come back, 10 minutes before we had to leave...we ran around shutting things off at that point).

The flight took off as planned, and we had a great time.  Monday morning was back to school and work.  My oldest son, 15, had his first spring soccer practice that night.

A half hour into practice, I get a call that he's injured and I need to come get him.  By the time I arrived, his knee had swollen to the size of a large melon and he could not walk at all.  His friends carried him to my car and I went directly to the ER.

The x-ray films showed a very scary break of the proximal tibia and growth plate at the knee.  The orthopedist couldn't believe a healthy bone could break that way from just a slip and fall, but it did.  He said a surgical repair was needed, and a Children's Hospital was the best place for him.  By 11:00 p.m., my son and I were in an ambulance for an hour and a half as we were transported to Children's.

My husband met us, after dropping our younger son off, and we all waited in the Children's ER the rest of the night as doctors came and went and decisions were made.  At 5:45 a.m. we were moved to a room, at 6:45, my son was in surgery.  He had several screws placed in his leg and a giant brace put on to hold the bones in place.

Thankfully, the surgery was a success...but he'll miss at least a week of school.  He'll miss all of soccer.  He will be in a brace for 4-6 weeks and require PT after that.  All this is temporary, and I'm profoundly grateful for that.  But to see my son in pain, and struggling to move, is so difficult.

Recovery will be a long road, but he will recover.  In the meantime, I'd like to put this month behind us...except for maybe the 5 days we spent in Disney, with 80 degree temperatures and lots of family laughs (believe me, we have had some hilariously disastrous vacations--see Skiing Disaster and Shutting Down the Zip Line Course--so a great one was appreciated).  This new ordeal will be a memory soon too, and the big scar will be an interesting story one day.