Catherine Stine's IDEA CITY

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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Hurricane Irene, Appreciated Followers & Campaigner 2011

First of all, I joined the Platform-Building Campaign, hosted by Rachael Harrie, so check in for chances to join in the fun and blog-hop. You don't need to be a Campaigner to participate. But if you hop on over to Rach Writes... by August 31st, you can make it official.

Next, I'm thrilled to report that I got two Appreciated Follower Awards in one day, and another a few days later. What an embarrassment of riches! So, I want to thank Kelly Hashway, Dawn Brazil and Courtney Koschel. Take a look at their great blogs and consider following them! It’s funny, they are some of the very bloggers who I would grant an Appreciated Follower Award to. Not so sure the rules allow me to boomerang them back, so my Appreciated Follower Awards (drum roll) go to:
  1. Helen Mallon at WritingNurture
  2. PK Hrezo at Fiction Addiction
  3. Candy Lynn Fite's On the Trail to Publication
  4. Shelley HW at Writ. Written. Wrote.
  5. Cathy Kozak’s When the Dervish Dances
  6. Charmaine Clancy's Wagging Tales

A Hurricane Irene Postscript: I was planning on hunkering down in Manhattan during Irene, but my family cajoled me into escaping to the hollers of the Catskill Mountains. We had three downed trees, including a beloved Willow. We lost power, had major
cabin-fever, and impassioned arguments over what movie to watch, what we should cook for dinner and the true meaning of A Clockwork Orange. We were also unable to drive our son to his dorm on Sunday night as the highways were closed. But, we were safe.

I must confess, I snuck out on the porch, delighting in the crazy high winds and hammering rains. I hope you all were safe!

Any interesting war stories from Irene? Any brilliant theories of A Clockwork Orange or why weather forecasters never get hurricane predictions right? Oh, or the true meaning of life?

43 comments:

  1. Glad you were safe! I just heard about the next hurricane, Katia. Wondering if she will make it up to NY. Our neighbor lost a giant tree, but we were fine.

    I am also a campaigner!

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  2. Yes, Katia will soon be breathing down our necks... Jenny, glad to hear you're also a Campaigner.

    Hey, does any smart geek know how to get ride of this annoying white background on all of my blog type?????

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  3. Hi Catherine! Another Campaigner here . . .

    Well, since I'm very well landlocked in Oklahoma, I don't have any Irene stories, but I could tell you oodles of stories about the 2007 ice storm (which knocked the power out of the church were I as getting married in two weeks), and the 2011 blizzard. I'm not sure whether I'd rather have a hurricane or a tornado, though. Generally you do get more warning with hurricanes.

    Glad you're safe, though, and can't wait to get to know you in the Campaign!

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  4. Glad you are safe, but sorry to hear about your downed trees. I know all about that from Ice storms.

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  5. Thanks for the award, too :)

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  6. Catherine, great choices for the award. I just realized that I had to re-follow you. After I reset my Safari, I lost my GFC follows--Actually, I didn't lose them all, just some. If that makes any sense.

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  7. Thankful that you are safe. We're having the opposite of a hurricane here in Texas. Drought. Our 30-year-old pine tress and cottonwoods are dying. No rain in the forecast.

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  8. Oh, Beverley, what a mess! Strange weather events seem to be cropping up more and more. I'll do a rain-dance for your pines.

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  9. Hello, fellow campaigner! I'm not in your group, but I still wanted to check out your blog and say, "HI!"

    I know PK! Awesome! Thanks for passing that award on! :)

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  10. I'm a Campaigner too. I don't think we're in the same categories but since we go way back...;-)

    Congrats on your awards and glad you're safe from Irene. I didn't realize you were so close. Whew!

    Now, you really shouldn't have been on that porch. You know that. :-)

    www.totsymae.com

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  11. I'm glad you were safe through the storm and congrats on your awards.

    We're in the same Dystopian group for the campaign so I wanted to say hello! :)

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  12. Hello! I'm in your Horror group.
    I'm glad to hear you made it out ok after Irene. Since I'm from the west coast I don;t have any Irene stories and being from Washington I don't have any hurricane stories for that matter. ;) We did have a huge windstorm and lost too many old trees. I sympathize with the loss of your beloved willow. :(
    Anyway, good to meet you! ☺

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  13. Hey Catherine, I'm in your horror campaign group. I'm in Charleston, so luckily we were just skirted by Irene. Some flooding downtown, but that happens in most heavy rains. I was here for Hugo all those years ago, and that was super scary, so I was relieved when Irene turned. Just wish she would have turned more so everyone would have been spared.

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  14. You're are a braver woman that I. That much family bonding time and I would have been pulling out my hair.

    -Aaron

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  15. Blogger Girlz, well, uh, yeah, that's probably why I was sneaking out on the blustery porch.

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  16. Thank you for the award! I'm honored! I will pay it forward.

    My husband and i were alone in our 100 year old cape cod house, before during and after Irene. I have to say we had a wonderful time--walking in the maelstrom, cooking by kerosene lamp. The fact that the damage to the town & beach was very minor made it easy to enjoy roughing it. The old dark house looks beautiful by candlelight.

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  17. We lived in Far Rockaway a few years ago--the mandatory evacuation zone, and I'm pleased to announce that my friends still living there only suffered minor flooding. We used to drive through the Catskills after moving to upstate NY, and what a pretty location to be battered in! Glad you survived. Oh, and happy to meet you as another campaigner. =)

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  18. Here on the porch of the West Falmouth Library my internet signal is fading.The award ceremony will have to wait until I return to civilization this weekend. I will enjoy the anticipation all the more!!

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  19. Glad that Far Rockaway and Falmouth didn't get too pummeled. Everyone, enjoy this last weekend of summer and sun!

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  20. Hi! I'm in your MG/YA group.

    Nice to meet you :)

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  21. Hi Catherine!

    I'm finally getting around to say hi to my Fantasy 4 pals.

    Great to meet you. Happy Writing!

    tameri...

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  22. Just a fellow campaigner stopping by to say hello!

    Also, super happy you made it through the hurricane (and family time) safely. Storms are horrid! During the April 27 tornados I spent the entire day holed up in my basement and I dare say that most of the southeast did, too!

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  23. glad you weathered the storm safely! We Floridians had a pretty easy time of Irene.

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  24. Congrats on your awards! I'm in your dystopian campaign group. *waves* Nice to meet you.

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  25. Hi Catherine! How fantastic that you're a creative writing & literature teacher! Too bad I don't live in the NYC area! So glad you were safe during Irene - I love sitting outside and watching crazy weather myself, although I've never been in anything like Irene!
    I'm a fellow Campaigner in the MG/YA group! It's great to meet you!

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  26. Hi Catherine, Another campaigner here in your post-apocalyptic group. Glad to here you made it through Irene safely and am looking forward to getting to know you and the others in our group.

    Happy writing!

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  27. Welcome all Campaigners, and everyone else too!!!

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  28. Hi fellow Campaigner! So glad Irene left you untouched. You guys on the east coast have had enough weather to last you for a long time.

    As to the theories: Clockwork Orange was never meant to be deciphered, giving us something to discuss during power outages. And the weather guys are so busy trying to figure out Clockwork Orange that they mess up on the predictions.

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  29. I'm so glad you and your family are okay. It must be very scary. I'm from the uk, so we don't have them here. My heart went out to all my Stateside friends when I heard the news.

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  30. Hello fellow thriller/suspense campaigner! Glad to hear you came through Irene okay.

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  31. Heya, I'm a fellow campaigner -trudging along saying my 'hi' -no doubt will pop by soon(ish) -take care and stay safe.

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  32. So glad you're safe! I'm a fellow campaigner. Just wanted to stop by and say hi!

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  33. Hi fellow Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic campaigner! I'm glad to hear you made it out of Irene safe, but sorry about the trees. :(

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  34. Hope electricity and other things have returned to normal. - from fellow campaigner Down Under.

    Every Savage Can Reproduce

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  35. Nice to meet you fellow campaigner and teacher.

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  36. Hello from a fellow campaigner in the suspense/thriller group.

    I'm glad you and your family stayed safe during Irene. It would be hard to resist going out into those crazy winds. Congrats on the awards. And... to tell the truth... I HATE Clockwork Orange!

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  37. Glad you got through that safely!

    Hello from a a fellow campaigner

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  38. Hey there, lovely post and so glad you are safe! I love your blog header BTW and am enjoying checking out your posts. Looking forward to the campaign!

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  39. Ah - glad to read that you're safe and well in the wake of Irene. And good to meet you - see you at Rachael's!

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  40. Aww! Thank you so much Catherine! I've had one heck of a week, and have been out of commission. Plus, for some odd reason, Gmail has not been emailing me with comments on my blog. I'll have to see what's up with that. Thank you , thank you for my darling award!

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  41. You're so welcome, Candy! And hi to all the campaigners. You rock.

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  42. Hi, Catherine.

    Fellow campaigner and Liebster -- keep wondering if I'm spelling that right -- nominee (via Candy Fite -- sweet of her!)

    I don't write for kids and teens (though, did once many years ago), but I do teach/facilitate creative writing and expressive art.

    Just stopping by to say hello.

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