This morning on the radio someone was talking about how it felt to be in North Dakota while he struggled to hear news of his home town New Orleans during the Katrina flooding and I thought "that is exactly how it was for me." I heard, again on the radio, about the flooding of the Susquehanna River and Upstate New York as I drove to my job in southeastern Massachusetts. For two days I was glued to my computer looking for news from the local (including Albany) newspapers, reading the personal accounts that some of you sent out and finally viewing the pictures of the flooding. The reaction was disbelief and horror. Thanks to Diane Holbert for her initial account of canoeing down River Street and for the pictures that she and Jim Provenzon sent out that made it all finally seem real.

Then when the flooding had subsided and we could get through after days of hauling mud, and everything else out of my father's house on Bridge Street thanks to Pamela Cooley for delivering those Red Cross bag lunches so we could just continue working and for returning the next day to join the basement clearing crew just when our spirits and strength were waning. My father was lucky it was just the basement. My thoughts are with all of you as you rebuild and recover.