Hurricane Irene and the Dowager Duchess Face Off

JERRY AND I WITH THE DOWAGER DUCHESS ON HER 80TH BIRTHDAY IN 2007.

Jerry and I just watched a live broadcast via MSNBC.  The reporter was standing on the Coney Island Boardwalk just down the street from my mother's apartment.  The view was from the exact location of a photo in my 5 July post.

MY VIEW IN JULY.  THE FIBERGLASS GUY WITH HIS FIBERGLASS BURGER
HAS A WHOLE LOT OF SHAKIN' GOIN' ON TODAY.

My mother's neighborhood has had a mandatory evacuation in anticipation of Hurricane Irene.  My mother and many of her neighbors, however, stayed put.  They usually feel invincible from the weather, living in their high-rise apartments.  My mother could go further into Brooklyn to stay with her sister who has had home care for a few years, living with the advanced stages of dementia.  My mother loves her sister but didn't think she could cope with staying with her.  Her other option was to go to one of three shelters designated for people in her neighborhood.  That was even less appealing to my mother, the "Dowager Duchess."

SIMILAR VIEW THIS MORNING.

Many of my mother's friends are staying home as well.  Her next-door neighboor is 89 and is in poor health.  She refuses to go to her niece's home away from the ocean.  Too many impossible stairs to climb.  My 84-year-old mother is going to take care of her, if she should need any help.  They live on the 17th floor and the winds are supposed to be worse up high.  The central hall is completely interior with no windows.  My mother says they'll just drag chairs out there if they need to. But, my mother is not at all concerned.  She worries my brother doesn't eat enough.  She worries Jerry and I spend too much money.  She worries she won't get the self-defense class she plans to take this semester at Kingsborough Community College.  But she doesn't worry about earthquakes, hurricanes, or any other natural disasters. She's a New Yorker.