The suspense over local effects of Hurricane Sandy, downgraded to cyclone status, but still immensely powerful, brought a surge of catastrophic effect to areas on the eastern seaboard of the United States, with massive flooding events, deaths, large power outages, wind-caused structural damage, and temporary population relocation.  And no little amount of panic.

In Canada, where the weakened storm front was to have given southern and eastern Ontario a taste of what our American neighbours were experiencing, the results were infinitely less damaging.  Provincial and municipal warnings and recommendations, abetted by those atmospheric conditions prevailing, led people to believe that they too might be in line to experience the dire effects of the 'storm of the century'. 

People were advised to stock up on at least three days' worth of water, food, batteries so they could be self-sufficient for a short period of time post-storm.  When we went to bed last night after an overcast day and much expectation, the wind hadn't yet come up abnormally, nor had the rain begun, while we know that Toronto was experiencing both hugely.

This morning we woke to sunshine glinting off the remnants of an overnight rain which hadn't amounted to much out of the ordinary, nor were there signs that wind had extracted an environmental price, bringing down trees and power lines.  So we have been fortune to escape anything remotely akin to what Americans have been faced with, these past few days.

Neither the fear and panic nor the damaging effects of both the emotional toll and the hurricane's landfall effects.  For which we are thankful.