Refugee camp

While we got our power restored Sunday evening, what we didn't expect is a side order of guilt. The power/water situation has made a city -- well a region, really -- of haves and have nots. If you have, and you were raised in a church, well, you have to share the riches. Vlad and I have hosted our friends Lana and John and their daughter, Anna, every night sharing our kitchen (they've supplied most of the food), air conditioning, refrigeration and a working stove. Occasionally, we've given them use of the washer/dryer. I don't know how they've stood the humidity and heat all this time.

Last night they got their power back. We asked them to come back over anyway, to finish off the food, clear out their food from our fridge, etc. It was a good change of pace and the best of it was getting to know Anna better.

I've been taking bags of ice to work in our coolers, giving them to people still without power. And food; all the nonperishables we got for the duration of the Ike madness. They're slowly disappearing. It's taken the Chef Boyardee a full week to disappear.

The big thing now is laundry. People seem to have found the water and ice and gasoline. Now they're looking for laundromats or friends with power and appliances.

It's a surreal Houston/Galveston right now. Hard to get your bearings on what constitutes reality. It depends on what part of town you live in. On the west side of Houston, almost normal one block, total darkness the next. Galveston: you're out of luck till after Halloween. Woodlands: similar; the down side of living in a wooded paradise in tropical climes. East Houston and Port Arthur/Orange/Bridge City: a nightmare.

And Bolivar Peninsula: Much of it is off the map. If it gets electricity this year it will be a miracle.

Our friends Linda and Terry lost their place in Gilchrist on Bolivar. Post-Ike satellite maps show their place is a slab now. We have a lot of memories of that place. It's devastating to them. I'll talk about it at another time. It's too much of an open wound right now. But they made it through the storm in Beaumont. They spent a few days in Dallas with a friend, but have power again and are back in Beaumont.