coming in for a landing

It's a quiet, overcast morning in Kingston, New York. Snow is piled up outside the window, beyond which is the neighbor's house, its 19th-century brick painted a greenish beige. We looked at five apartments from which we chose this one, but we could have looked at more. The housing market is depressed in the Hudson Valley, in sharp contrast to Brooklyn, from where we moved. We are paying half of what we paid to rent our Red Hook apartment, although this one is about 100 square feet smaller. Since we lost our sleeper sofa, kitchen hutch, curio cabinet, shelves, various side tables, cabinets and chairs, 400 square feet is about enough for us right now. Knowing that Brooklyn rents have skyrocketed since we moved to Red Hook in early 2010, it didn't seem possible to start over there. We loved Red Hook and we loved our friends there, but the neighborhood we knew had been destroyed. Beyond the fact of increasing rents was the reality of fewer apartments. We were surprised by how many people we spoke with who assumed we'd be moving back into our old place. Having all of your long-collected and dearly loved possessions strewn about, soaked with salt water and caked with dry wall is not something you want to revisit any time soon. It's been fifteen weeks and I still spend every day cleaning, scrubbing and polishing my things. The apartment is just starting to look set up, and I'm grateful for what survived.

The photo above is the 1865 Second Empire mansion, in which we are renting a ground-floor apartment. Yes, back on the ground floor again, but this time we're high up on a hill. We signed a six-month lease, as we are looking for a building to buy. Not 100% sure we're going to stay in Kingston, but it seemed like a good place to land. It's a two-hour drive, bus ride or train ride (out of Poughkeepsie, 20 minutes away) from nyc. Kingston sits on a bluff over the Hudson River, making a gradual downhill slope from the Catskill Mountains. Ulster County, of which Kingston is the seat, is breathtakingly beautiful. The air is clean. People are nice. Food is fresh and delicious. Yes there are drawbacks- it's a bit hard for this city girl to adjust to the car culture she thought she left behind. But this is where we are for now, and it offers us a bit of breathing room as we get our lives back together.

breather

Here is a post I wrote on November 21 but never published. Each day I mean to do a post, but it's just too hard. I want to recount the whole experience. I want to tell of my trials and tribulations with FEMA. I want people to know. All I do is think about the storm. And all we seem to do is tell people what we've been through in the past three months. All we do is live it every day. But writing about it is a different thing. So here goes.

it's been three weeks since the hurricane. bryan is trying to sleep; derrick and pamela are taking a well-deserved break from the two of us. internet has been off, then on, then off, now back on again. phone service has been spotty.

today was the day we finished clearing our stuff out of the apartment. the landlord had been telling us that he wanted to start the renovation a.s.a.p. getting the cleanup done was nothing we could rush. we worked 25 days straight, adding various logistical tasks and wading through bureaucratic nonsense. the first few days, piles of friends of ours and our hosts showed up to fill contractor bags full of wet, drywall-covered personal possessions, discard ruined furniture, mop muddy floors, sift through mud for treasures, wash things off, and do loads and loads of laundry. they were kind and showed moral support. some were close friends, many of them I had never met before. friends of d's drove down from boston and helped us out, then went to other areas of the city to to see how else they could help. friends of mine, after helping us, volunteered through red hook initiative, a community organization that normally serves teens from the Red Hook Houses. RHI became an early triage center, accepting donations and volunteers so that the neighborhood could be served hot meals, given water and flashlights, be seen by a doctor and have any kind of question answered. as the number of people both needing and offering help increased, recovery centers spread throughout the neighborhood. carolina of portside new york turned 351 van brunt (our former store) into an information and meeting center. the sidewalk in front of the restaurant fort defiance was where volunteers came to get their assignments. visitation and good shepherd churches gave out packaged food, cleaning supplies and clothing.

on october 29 I packed my pink book bag thinking we'd be staying at d&p's two nights at the most. I brought a couple of changes of underwear and socks, something to sleep in, a toothbrush, my laptop, my two cameras and my passport. I remembered the battery charger for my pocket camera, but left my phone charger at home. b gave me a wind-up flashlight. I wore pink jeans, a lightweight sweatshirt, a cardigan, rain jacket and converse. I carried my rain boots with me.

at 1:00 a.m., after the worst of the storm had passed, bryan, derrick and I took a walk to the apartment to see how the place had fared. I took my book bag with me, hoping to sleep at home that night. a block from our place we faced a downed willow tree, crushing the chain link fence beneath it and spilling out halfway across van brunt street. I got a sinking feeling when we passed the cafe home/made's side yard, where all of the furniture and items that had been stowed there were tossed about like they were nothing. we approached the house where we had been renting the bottom floor, then stopped and stared. the stairwell leading down into the apartment was filled to the sidewalk with water. seeing that one of the front windows was cracked, I knew that the apartment was filled with water as well. we looked at it for a moment and left.

we have been staying for three weeks at d&p's pad. their fourth-floor apartment is on one of red hook's few dry blocks. elevation increases as small as a few feet created dry spots in an otherwise flooded neighborhood. power was restored here within a few days, hot water came within a week, as well as heat. as I write this Con Ed has restored power to most of the neighborhood, requiring at first that electricians sign off on each building, then relaxing their rules. for weeks street and traffic lights were out. The Red Hook Houses had no power, heat or hot water. the 76th precinct patrolled and stationed itself at key points. they shone bright lights on high towers to prevent looting and muggings. the storm surge had blown our back door open, breaking the deadbolt off the door frame. our back yard became filled with the objects of our lives as they were pulled out of the wet wreckage. I was grateful to the 76th for keeping an eye on our things.

there is so much more to talk about but I will leave it here for now.

tree-y

later that day

a month later

souvenir from new york city's last great disaster

francis' house gets cleaned out

where did all these shopping carts come from?

fairway wants its cart back

leave the driving to us

hot rod

faded glory

Everbrite Mercantile Co.

Since Bryan and I have been running Everbrite as an online business, all of our inventory was housed in our apartment. Most of what we had was destroyed, but we were able to salvage a small amount of the products. Over the next week or so I will be updating the site with correct inventory numbers. We hastily slapped a message on the site letting customers know the shop is closed, but in the mean time we have received a few orders. I will do my best to fill whatever orders I can during this time.

thanks for your patience and here's to a bright holiday season.

oh Sandy

I had intended for my next post to be a recent photo shoot I did of the apartment. I had finally gotten the place looking good after living there for 2.5 years, and it was a comfortable place to live and hang out. This is what it looked like the day after hurricane Sandy hit.

Bryan and I lost most of our possessions, including store inventory. If you would like to donate to our fund to help us recover, please click on the PayPal button.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

my studio

paint

bridgeport, connecticut.

peeling bananas

Kim and Aaron of Banana Peel Dance asked me to photograph the outdoor piece they performed for the Dumbo Arts Festival. The location was picturesque Pier 1 at Brooklyn Bridge Park, just a little hop and skip from my apartment. What great fun. The piece was over so quickly, and man did those dancers move fast!