Well, I can add one more item to my "Been There, Done That" list. But I don't want to relive it ever again! We sit pretty close to the epicenter of the Earthquake that shook here yesterday.
Siena & I were at the Mall playground inside when it all happened. Even though I've never been in an Earthquake other than feeling a slight "Jolt" of one when I was in Richmond about 7 or 8 years ago, I knew this one was an Earthquake right away. The one in Richmond back then was nothing like yesterday. Sitting in such an open space like I was, I could see everything shake & I just knew it was a big enough one to get the heck out of there. There were so many people that just stood around not knowing what it was & not getting out, I guess because they had never been in one before. Once in the parking lot a woman drove by telling everyone outside that she had just heard that it was a quake of 5.8 with the epicenter in Mineral, Va. Siena wanted to go back in to play but I had to explain what had just happened. She said that she really didn't feel it since she was running around playing. Besides, I had seen a piece of some part of what looked like a lighting fixture fall from the skylight area that we were under. Thank goodness no one was right under it when it happened. Once outside, I was trying to call Mark but couldn't get through because the lines were all jammed but he finally called me & he was okay. They had felt it a good bit in DC too. Everyone in DC was evacuated from their buildings so it was a bit crazy up there. The trains to get out were shut down but finally opened back up & he later managed to get on the 1st train out. Even though he was on his way home, the trains were only allowed to move at about 15 mph to avoid coming off the tracks in the event of another quake or after shock. It took him 4 hrs. to get home. It usually takes only 2.
Siena & I were also going to go to the Library on our way home from the Mall. We went on over but found that they had just closed. They had to have an inspector check it out for structural damage. So we went on home to find a little mess of our own here. I had a decorative bottle of oil on the top of the kitchen cabinets to fall & burst all over the kitchen (a huge mess to clean up by the way) , 2 glasses in my wine rack to fall & break & one empty perfume bottle on my dresser to fall & break. Siena's portrait from earlier this year that I had gotten framed & mated was leaning on the mantel, had fallen, but thank goodness it did not break. So all in all I guess we were very fortunate. Actually everyone around here was, since I haven't heard of any fatalities out of the whole ordeal. There's been some structural damage in several buildings especially in a small town just west of us & the Washington Monument has a crack in the very top.
The kitchen mess!!! With oil every where in the 1st pic.
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