It was dark and mildly humid when I went out. A layer of fog settled over the neighborhood just like it did a year ago. There was a bit of wind but no real sound, the true calm before the storm. I stood on the deck and stretched and did some Pranashama yoga for a few minutes, breathing deeply and enjoying the breeze as I twisted and lunged. I joked that it was Hurricane Yoga – yoga to harness the powers of a huge storm for good.

By the time I crawled into bed at just about 2 am the night was still windy but quiet and I drifted off to sleep easily and quickly. When I woke it was with a bit of a jolt. A glance at my iPod told me it was 9 am but it wasn’t the time that woke me, it was the noise. Wind whistled loudly through the tiny crack I had left open in my window. Pulling my glasses on I peeked out through the blinds and saw that while Hurricane Earl hadn’t arrived yet, he had sent plenty of rain and strong gusts ahead.

About two hours before the eye was due to pass this general area George and I decided to try to see some water. The original plan was to drive down to Point Pleasant Park, the same place where we had gone swimming in the ocean only days before. As we headed closer to town though, there were too many big branches already down on the trees. Many of the streets of Halifax have beautiful, big, old trees. That wasn’t the best idea for driving because odds were good that a branch could have hit our van so we turned around.

First though, we did stop near a boating club and pulled into the parking area so we could enjoy a little view of nature in all her glory as the wind tossed the boats up and down and pelted people with heavy rain.

Humour me by forgiving me for my cheesy and fairly obvious choice of soundtrack.

By mid-afternoon we had the windows wide open, finally allowing some cool and fresh air into the house after a full week of stifling heat and humidity. We struck out around four o’clock once more in a second attempt to get down to the water. I had hoped to film some impressive post-storm waves out past the harbour but the entrance was closed off, complete with police blocking the way. The drive there and back showed a great deal of fallen trees and branches. Sad destruction to be sure, but it could have been so much worse and I think that all of Halifax heaved a collective sigh of relief that Earl was not another Juan.

Once evening rolled around, you would be hard-pressed to really tell that there had ever been a hurricane at all. Other than the branches dragged to the side of the road it was like nothing had ever happened. Earl roared up the coast, blew into town, and just as quickly blew back out. A party was held here with friends and family and just like Earl we rocked it like a hurricane.

The party was just for fun but it was still a pretty good way to celebrate making it through a hurricane that was the size of California without sustaining too much in the way of damage.