Island in the storm

If you looked around our apartment about midnight, you'd think someone had flung a few dozen bags of salad onto the decks and into the pool -- a mess, but nothing horrible.

Ernesto came off Cuba's coast with dreadful potential -- waters at 86 degrees Fahrenheit in the Florida Straits could have been a great tonic -- but the storm stayed slow, lazy and weak.

Despite some notable exceptions -- Georges, Irene, Wilma -- Key West seems blessed, and this was yet another proof. But if occasional squalls can do this, what could sustained high winds do?

Still, Ernesto was evidently not to be more than a good deal of intermittent winds and substantial rain -- and a temperature break into the low 70s, the first time in months without air conditioning.

Mostly, the cool wind and rain made me feel like reading a book and napping. Which I did.

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Overnight update: There were some gusts into the 40s. They woke me up, and I heard a sound I couldn't place.

I checked outside the kitchen door -- and it was Sparky. She scampered inside, and was happy to curl up on the bed, wet but purring.