We have good news from Sam and Judy Lewis in South Carolina:

 Arrived home in Pawleys Island, SC to find no damage to the house.  Lots of tree debris.  We lose the contents of the refrigerator from the prolonged power outage.  We saw a few trees down on top of houses but all in all, very little damage in our area. All this is amazing as it appears that the storm's eye passed over or near us and the winds were very high.  A Myrtle Beach weather station reported winds over 90 mph.  To the north in North Carolina is a different story because while the storm was weakening and turning to sea, it dumped a lot of rain.  A breach of a dam and stream flooding caused many to be evacuated from areas where they sought shelter from what was predicted to be a coastal storm event.

I'm glad they didn't have serious damage.  I haven't heard about any damage from any of our Joe's Ponders who have winter homes in the southern states.  I guess everyone is ok, or if they were hard hit, they have been busy taking care of themselves and their homes and haven't had a chance to check in.  I hope everyone is safe.

I was just outside to take a couple of photos of the foliage and just as I rounded the corner of the house, the wind picked up and leaves were floating down all around me.  I had noticed that the tops of hills seem to have lost their "glow," so the wind has taken a toll.  I would say we are past peak in most places now.  I'm still enjoying the colors on the hillside in back of our house, but it isn't as bright as it was this weekend.  I'm sad to see the colors fading, but now we can look forward to the tamaracks and oaks turning, and that's always pretty, too.

Don't forget the Apple Pie Festival in Cabot this Saturday, and also the pot luck supper in St. Johnsbury for the benefit of the Kingdom Animal Shelter.  Click on the images for details.