Shake, rattle and roll

I really thought that when I moved to Pennsylvania that I had left earthquakes behind in New Zealand.  Which is why I didn't figure out what was going on the other day when the big one struck Virginia until it was almost over.


It really was hard to believe it was an earthquake, even while it was going on.  It's not an earthquake prone place.  This was the biggest earthquake on the East Coast since a 5.8 in New York in 1944.  This quake was felt by tens of millions of people who live up and down the coast and many of them have never felt an earthquake before.  I had more or less assumed that I wouldn't feel one as long as I lived here - let alone within months of moving.


Despite its relative weakness it was felt as far away as Chicago and Toronto.  Apparently the waves from earthquakes travel well on the East Coast of the US because it's all one big slab of old rock.  Buildings were evacuated in Washington and New York.  It was the only thing on CNN all afternoon.  There was little damage reported (although the Washington Monument, featured so much in these very pages, was damaged and has been closed indefinitely) but a lot of fear was inspired.


I got over it pretty quickly, but as with all earthquakes there are those few moments of concern about how long it's going to go on and how bad it will get.  Once the bottles stopped rattling, though, I knew I was okay and went off to find out what was up.   I toyed for a few seconds with the idea that a nuclear bomb had gone off somewhere, so unlikely did an earthquake seem.  Wouldn't it be just typical, too, nuclear winter arriving just as the tomatoes are coming in?  The reality soon became clear, though, and shortly after the earth stopped shaking, I did too.