Happy August to you all!! Coming into your inbox right on time this month! As you recall I poked my head in late for July due to some incredibly unforeseen circumstances....a Hurricane!
The hurricane truly was not on my radar until I found out it was heading towards Cancun where a friend of mine was vacationing. I checked in on her while she was there to see her game plan, and once she told me they were going to leave a day early to miss it, I relaxed and put the hurricane back out of my mind. Then suddenly news alerts popped up that the hurricane had taken a turn and would hit Houston. I did a spit take, a "say what!", and a gasp simultaneously. So a relaxing weekend that Ricky and I planned turned into a frantic hurricane prep escapade. We cleaned up the backyard, tucking things into the garage, grabbed some non-perishables from the grocery store, and nabbed some gas for the generator if it came to it. Feeling prepared and ready, we watched the news. Throughout the day, the hurricane was slowing from a Category 2 down to a Category 1, so we felt a bit more relaxed and confident that it would be manageable once it made landfall.
The hurricane hit overnight Sunday into Monday morning. Ricky, Leonora, Frankie, and I sat and watched the rain and wind whipping through the neighborhood. The wind gusts topped out at 90 mph, and the eye of the storm was only 20 miles west of our house (Holy Bananas, I know!). We oddly didn't lose power until after the storm passed. Our house was fine, just some minor fence damage and a ton of tree debris. Everyone in our neighborhood went into clean-up mode outside once the storm passed, and we saw many trees having fallen on homes (we count ourselves lucky!). We got our generator up and running to protect Leonora's breast milk in the freezer and power our devices while we waited for the electricity to come back on.
We figured it would take a minute to regain power, but we didn't expect it to take 3.5 days. And as the days went on, the temperatures started rising. We were sweaty messes, to say the least, and found ourselves seeking refuge in any place with A/C that allowed dogs inside (Hello True Anomaly). I painted to meet a few deadlines as much as I could handle in the morning. And then we left the house once the heat became too unbearable. We eventually lost internet, making phone calls and most texts impossible. There are still texts from folks that I never received. We embraced the waiting game until our power came back on (what else can you do?), but it was a sweaty wait, to say the least.
It's been a few weeks now, and everyone has power back (it was over a week for many homes), but our streets are still piled high with tree debris. While the situation was a lot, I found it best to just accept it for what it was; otherwise, it would have made my sweating feel that much worse. We grilled out for dinner, read books, and restaurant/coffee shop-hopped to anywhere that had power. We embraced the rain, if you will. Shortly after we got power back, I started painting this cute little rain number for a personal project that I will be sharing soon.
I recorded this coming together and compiled it into a little video for you to watch at your leisure below with some relaxing rainy vibes. I know most people don't like the rain, but I find it to be both relaxing and cozy (yes, even in a hurricane haha). I included more moments of pause in the video than normal...more moments where I'm switching colors or thinking through what direction I want to head next or thinking of how best to fix a mark I didn't like. I loved painting this, but often with every painting I question if I need to start over or re-do a section. Sometimes I allow myself that luxury, but usually, I just push through and embrace the marks and paint strokes that were made and see where it takes me. Much like the hurricane, I accepted the painting wasn't perfect but that it would all work out in the end. (see what I did there....real full circle moment).
I will see you all in September.
Enjoy your August and the last bits of summer as we slowly start to slip into my favorite time of year (ahem...Autumn)
xoxo
Rachel