"Halloween is cancelled!!!!  Halloween is cancelled!!!!!!!" 

That's all i heard as i flipped from radio station to radio station in my car.  But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Saturday Night: With my friend driving in from CT, through the beginning of the craziest snowstorm i have ever seen in my life, mol and i got reservations at our most favoritest eatery in the world, Chez Albert.  They are friends.  They are community.  They are also the site of our future wedding rehersal dinner.  Because we are still last minute doers, when it comes to things like "making reservations," we are sometimes out of luck.  In this case, we got a 9:15 reservation.  The late shift.  We piled in the car, mol at the wheel, and drove through the now driving snow (homonym double usage!!!). 

As we pulled into the back parking lot at Chez, we saw the kitchen, nay, the entire restaurant power flick on and off.  This smelled of adventure.  We parked the car and went in. 

Inside the mood was more panicked than usual.  While the Frenchman (capital F!) is, by nature, amazingly loosey-goosey, you could feel the kinetic energy of the pace being picked up.  We sat.  They told us what we already knew; they've been losing power.  They were waiting for us before they shut it down.  They love us and the feeling is mutual.  Touched.  I was touched.  So, we ordered immediately.  All courses. 

And they came and they were delicious.  Which is obvious, considering the source.  What is more note-worthy was the now fully raging storm outside.  We lost power temporarily too many times to count.  The small tree outside by the sidewalk was now coated in freezing wet snow and blowing in the breeze, resembling a Chinese dragon slinkily dancing in a parade.  And as we were paying the check, the first crazy piece of news came.  A tree branch had fallen on the cars.  And, "you're ok, as long as you don't drive a Subaru." Mol drives a subaru.  Amazingly, while there was a huge branch on the hood and windshield of the car, there was no real damage.  And that began the craziest f-n drive home i've ever experienced. 

*brief tangent.  did i mention that the card machine was down and we didn't even pay.  yah.  that happened.  thats community.  I mean, they DO know where we live if we never come back.  then again, never coming back would be punishment enough.  end tangent*

We pull through town, to a frozen snow-scape.  If it hadn't yet, it now becomes apparent that what is happening is some for reals shiznet.  and it is not messing around.  Trees are down everywhere.  Tree's are coming down everywhere.  A main road now has a canopy of trees leaning across the top, creating what feels like a driving version of Russian roulette.  Will they snap now, will they snap later. 

We are lucky to have many many different ways to get to our house.  Because of the mayhem, we decided to go home by the main roads. 

Main road #1:  main road number was has live power lines down and active.  The scene is dire enough that it quickly attracts a cop and his flashing lights.  We turn down a side road to turn around in their cul de sac.  Halfway around we are met with a full tree across the road.  Mol, aka. the driver aka our savior, pulls the half circle in reverse, and we are on our way.  Well, almost.  A guy and his car blocked our backtracking turn, as he struggles in reverse.  This went on long enough that my friend and i went out to help this guy stop being an idiot.  "I'm stuck," he said.  "No you're not" we replied, "you just need to go forward."  With that, he went forward.  We did tell him about the tree in the cul de sac.  I can only hope he did not die there, trying to back around that O.

Back on the road, we tried going past our house and doubling back on our street.  Up ahead there was a massive combo of tree/power line disaster, now block the major thruway.  (Would later come to find out the road we would have turned on from there was also SUPER un-passable). 

Turned around again.  Back toward town . Again the trees hanging overhead, threatening to snap.  New route home.  This time we took the road we usually take home.  It's a bit of a sideroad though, and we were playing it smart.  Miraculously . . . . let me say that again  . . . miraculously . . . that street was passable.  Street were no longer "clear." that was no longer a designation.  This particular street had a huge amount of trees down, but none of them completely blocked the road.  miraculous. 

We turned onto our road.  Probably 1/4 of a mile to go.  No chance.  Trees down. Plural.  big trees.  No chance. 

We go up past our house to the last remaining inroad to our home.  This is blocked, but only by movable branches.  We move them.  We then turn onto our street.  We are one house away, and we have to weave left, right, left to squeeze through 3 downed trees.  and then we are home. 

We park, get out of the car and hear "creeeeeeeeeaaakkBOOM."  A tree falls behind us, completely sealing us off the roadway. 

I. am. not. kidding.   This happened.  It was as indiana jones as it seems. and we were scared.  As we walked to the house, the sounds were of trees creaking and falling.  It was so constant and consistent that you could just sit there and listen to the neighborhood crumbling.   Surreal.

Suffice it to say, the power at our house was out.  Thankfully, we had a huge bag of tea-lights, and it was already pretty late at night.  We spent some fun time in candle-light, bundled up, and went to bed.