First off, let me tell you how much I fear tornadoes. I am one who is completely fascinated by the world around me – and trust me, if a funnel cloud formed nearby, I would definitely be tempted to observe it. None the less, when I was a child, I would scare myself silly with this one National Geographic magazine that showcased tornados. It just freaked me out that this type of power existed.
I never had to worry because I lived in this little town called Earlton, Ontario (on many maps because it had an airport!). Tornadoes never happened up there.
Funny enough. Not too long after our family moved away, to North Bay, a giant tornado struck this very small town.
Freaky – coincidence? I was a very happy 8 year old…because I wasn’t there.
So then we lived in North Bay. Another safe city, no tornadoes. Never had to think about it. But then again, we did have very strange weather patterns. North Bay has two very large lakes around it (Lake Nippissing and Trout Lake) as well as smaller lakes and a lot of swampy marshes. It was a very humid city. And you would catch some pretty stellar thunderstorms. I remember when I first heard about waterspouts appearing near Callandar, I was getting worried about how far the weather could go.
Tonight, I guess the city saw its match. But what exactly happened???
Hard phone call to get. “Mom & Dad Home” appears on my cell phone. That made me smile, because the day before I got an email from them saying that their phone line was dead and internet down (I really do not like Bell in the least.). They had been up to Earlton to visit the Finnertys over the weekend, to help out as Finn continues to recover from hip surgery. When they got home, both phone & net were caput, so the neighbours let them use both services at their house (thanks Mr & Ms Brooks).
I was hoping that this phone call meant their phones were back up and running. I answer. After a cheary hello from my mother, she continued to say ‘I called to let you know that we’re okay’.
What does that mean??? I mean, I got the email letting me know that their trip back from Earlton was good and that they would call me when the phone was back up. So I was confused by this comment.
Then the news about the storm that hit the city.
North Bay was struck by a severe storm front…eyewitnesses from Sturgeon Falls to Callandar claim that tornadoes touched down all around…but they have to wait to confirm all these reports. None the less, when I finally got home around midnight tonight – I turned on the weather network to find out more about what went on. (A side note – a few years back we lost our North Bay feed of MCTV, and the main office became the one in Sudbury…that being said, NB is barely featured on our now only Northern Ontario newscast – so there isn’t a constant coverage of this storm right now.) Anyway, it looks like the city got ransacked. At first glance, many many trees have been uprooted. A lot of things went airbourne. The float planes along Trout Lake have been capsized and many have been overturned onto the beaches. Powerlines and poles are down, damaged buildings, cracked trees. In Callandar, just outside of North Bay, many eyewitnesses claim to have seen tornadoes touch down. The little lighthouse along the waterfront may be missing (it has been destroyed, but the ‘carcass’ cannot be found yet). Roads have been damaged. Many areas have been completely blocked off by uprooted trees and mass destruction. I know for sure 90% of the city was without power (which honestly sucks – because their humidex is also in the 40s (mid-high 40s)). This could be very bad if tomorrow’s weather keeps the city in a heat alert – as many older people might not fair well without air conditioning/fans…any cooling methods.
Unfortunately, the city’s homepage is down – and their newspaper hasn’t posted anything yet about the storm. So it’s a waiting game to see what the real damage is in the city, but more so in the surrounding areas. What roads have been washed away by flash flooding. What towns had the tornadoes. Is everyone okay.
It’s kind of scary. I don’t know much yet about if people have been hurt or killed (less of a concern for North Bay, more so for the small towns around that were hit harder) – but I’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available. There are just some parts of the world where you expect certain types of weather – but other places, it almost becomes a shock. Just a simple tornado warning posting I saw on the homepage of ‘The Nugget’ (NB’s newspaper), threw me off.
My prayers go out to a great majority of Northern Ontario. Severe weather struck many cities/towns in the northern part of this province – all suddenly – all very destructive. I just pray that everyone is okay and that once the clean up is underway, they discover that the damage is less than expected.
Meanwhile in Toronto…
We were sitting at ‘Future’s Bakery’ talking about Cyril’s music video when I mentioned the storm that hit North Bay. About 20 mins after this conversation, strong winds started gusting around us (we were on the patio). Then lightning and then the rain came down. But the wind was very strong and passed through very quickly. It was creepy – because all I could think about was the sudden storm that hit North Bay in an intensity that wasn’t expected.
Luckily, our city saw diddly squat compared to the rest of the province.
It came, it went, it’s done for now.
On my drive home, I drove by several sites where large parts of trees had come down and are now sitting across the entire street. Craziness.
Life none the less…The weekend was great. More flies had to die. But I am VERY HAPPY to say that I finally came home to a fly-less apartment tonight. I’m hoping it was a random phase.
BUT – the bug stories don’t just end cause the flies are gone. No no. God was nice to me and put the fly plague aside because he had a fun little one waiting for me in my bathroom. I was about to take out my contacts when I took notice of something in my peripheral vision. A dark spot along side the upper wall near my shower.
Oh my goodness, I thought I had met the largest centipede ever when I initially moved into this apartment. I was wrong. I met him tonight. This guy was like the King Kong of centipedes. I let him know I was not happy about his presence and proceeded to squish him with a very thick paper towel (folded over more than once…grossness). In tow was a small little centipede baby crawling along the ceiling.
Anyway – that was gross. But I was very happy I didn’t have to deal with that AND the flies.
Back to the weekend. Did some errands on Saturday morning. At about 4pm, I met up with some gals from Freedomize to check out Jen McN’s play “Primal Broads” at the Circus Festival in the Distillery. It was a great show. This girl belongs on stage. : )
It was great to meet and get to know these girls too – some of which I had never had the opportunity to meet before. We chilled out at the festival for a while afterwards and caught glimpses of other skits happening in the open.
At night we checked out ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ at Rainbow Cinemas. That was fun. I have yet to see the first one – but this one was fantastic. A lot of laugh out loud moments and fun story.
Fun aside. Mags had to work on Saturday (that’s not the fun part). They were shooting at Cherry and Mill Street – which is just north of the Distillery. So I was able to chat with her for a bit as I walked by. : p
Sunday was lovely. Had a wonderful brunch with Erin & Kristy at their Don Mills/ Eglinton apartment. So fun to be with these lovely ladies again. Haven’t seen them since their Christmas party. We just chatted and caught up. Enjoyed a moment on their balcony (they really have a great view of the downtown core – distant, but clear) and ate yummy food.
Sunday evening spent my time at Freedomize. It was a great worship set and a great sermon. It was a much needed boost for the upcoming week.
Hung out at the end of the service chatting about the possibility of a “Women’s ministry” starting up in Freedomize. Said some hellos & goodbye’s to people and then by 8pm, I was en route back to my car. I parked in a new lot this time. As I was leaving my car, I was texting myself all the directions (as it was through the underground Concourse – ugh) all so that I wouldn’t lose my car. : ) And it worked. Yay.
Note to self – NO MORE texting myself and NOT being aware of my surroundings. Some of you think that I will now talk about how I almost walked into a wall. No no…another creepy man story. I was walking through the concourse (which was deserted at the time) and typing with my phone’s ‘smart type’ option. Anyway – I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going – in terms of meeting up with other people. This guy suddenly popped out of a corner of a stairwell staring at me and walking quickly towards me. Something he did caught my attention and I noticed that he was fixed on me and there was NO ONE around me – and I mean like no one within hearing distance either. So I put my phone down and just quickly tried to create distance and walk diagonally away. He followed me for a bit until I reached the doorway and then booted it up the stairs. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs but was looking up at me. I actually looked back to make sure I wasn’t followed anymore.
Creepy much? I mean, I am very aware of my surroundings, but at the same time naïve in the sense that I HOPE that nothing bad actually happens to myself or anyone I know for that matter. Or anyone in general. Moments like that are scary – and shouldn’t happen to people.
Aight – let’s try to end on a high note.
Fun times. Laughing – a lot this weekend. The ‘cuts of beef’ poster on our production office door. Mutual ‘wees’ from Kim and myself as the car drove over a bump. Chilling with new friends. Car rides and new stories. A photocopier that didn’t jam on me at all today. A great sermon. Catching up. A new puppy at our production office.
Props to: Ms. Sue – who is kindly going to help me redesign my softball shirt. Ms. Lisa’s idea about putting names on the back – good ol’ Kensington.
There is so much more to even think of saying – but I’m drawing blanks. Today alone I felt I hit every emotional level a human could. From ultimate happy moments to feeling scared, to pure sadness. What a funny day. Must be because I’m a woman. But it doesn’t feel like the best reason right now.
Oh well.
Oh yeah – shout out to my sister and her hubby, the B-man. I got home to a pile of bills, and then a card from my sister. It was a ‘thinking of you’ card – that she sent to me to let me know they are keeping me in their thoughts, since hearing about Aucky’s passing. Sadly, they have both had a loss with their own pets. One of my sister’s bunny’s (Kyra) passed away a while ago. It feels like that death was sudden. Also, Brian sadly lost one of his ferrets from an illness as well. Correct me if I’m wrong – but I think it was cancer. I don’t remember the name of the one that passed away (it was either Theo or Arthur). Thank you guys – it was a nice smile when I got home. : )
Life’s funny. None the less, we have to enjoy the time that we have been provided with. It would be a shame to let this life go to waste.
So smile as often as you can. Cry when you need to – but try to see the rainbows through the storm. Enjoy the moments you experience – they will be the things you remember years from now. They will be the things that could bring a smile to your face in the future. That smile could be seen by a stranger passing by and make them smile. It could be a smile that spreads through the nation.
You owe that smile to that stranger.
I love it when I walk by people who randomly get caught in a smiling moment – and you know it’s something they were thinking about. You can see the shift in their face. It’s fun.
