As Jou Hart Reg Klop

Toe ek dit die eerste keer hoor toe dog ek, wow! Visioni dell'Italia. Wereld musiek in Afrikaans. Love it! Perfekte stem wat die regte atmosfeer skep. En die beat? Amper verslawend. Amper as of jou hart wil saam klop. Ek wil amper se skuif die lirieke bietjie agter toe. Nie dat die lirieke of die video sleg is nie, net van minder belang, want dis die ritmiese oorrompeling, gesigte van sonnige lande langs die Middellandse See, wat my by bly.

As Jou Hart Reg Klop - Anna Davel

Killer Ice

Ice! Like we have never seen before. Like Kentucky has not experienced in recent memory. Lots of it. And on top of that? Snow. And that equates to more than a million soles in several states without electrical power, and to some extend, without water. Living in an electrical world, in the middle of winter, temperatures way below freezing and the world around you chilly to the bone with no or little heat inside the houses…It turned to death and a state of emergency.

Icy adventures of a plum tree

In the beginning...Freezing rain that turns to ice on contact created an icicle plum tree (on the right) and an ice rink driveway good for skating.

The next day...inches on snow on top of a thick layer of ice and the plum tree is struggling under the weight of it all.

By Saturday the plum tree has nearly totally collapsed.

Wednesday night, they told me, the sky was not just dark, it was pitch black and there was an eerie silence to be heard. No trucks or cars on the bypass, no doors being opened or closed, no sirens or hooters, no normal evening sounds. Dead silence. Except for the whiplash of breaking branches and the thunder and thud as trees broke apart and crashed to the frozen ground.

You see, I was not here. Compare to Danville at the time, I was in a tropical paradise, Monterrey, Mexico (as if that can ever be a paradise), sitting next to a hotel pool in the late twilight of the day, sipping brandy and coke, answering emails on my Blackberry and talking to M on the phone. Hearing what she’s telling me was one thing, seeing it two days later was far worse than what I could imagine. I did understand the enough to catch an earlier than planned flight home.

M & M inspecting the damage.

The aftermath...Damage in the hood.

The backyard...Bruised and broken. Trees turned to stumps, stick figures or heaps of broken branches. A cloudless and sunny Saturday caused a quick meltdown accompanied by crashing ice all day long.

Frozen Fence.

Incredibly, by Sunday the temperature was back up to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, nearly all the snow and ice in my yard were melted and all you heard all Sunday long was the sounds of chainsaws and people at work. Cleaning up the neighborhoods. Fortunately we suffered no major damage except to the trees.

Frozen Electricity