Yes, we felt it!!  Thanks to all of you who have e-mailed us to see if we're okay after hearing of the earthquake that hit the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday at 10:54 a.m.  We are fine -- only a few things falling off shelves and such at the house and really shaken nerves.

We were at church at the very end of Ash Wednesday service -- final meditation and candles being extinguished.  What an odd feeling to be kneeling in prayer and then, boom, lots of shaking and lights swaying -- it sounded and felt like a train running under the church.  We all froze.  Although it seemed longer, it only lasted about 40 seconds.  Lights continued to swing, and as we went outside, the trees were still swaying (our church is in a little valley surrounded by huge trees).

The seismologists said that because the earthquake was about 30 miles underground there shouldn't be aftershocks, but on Thursday they revised it as aftershocks rumbled through.  This one was a lot worse than the little guy that hit in July '99 -- it was also a deep one, but centered down near the Washington-Oregon border (see Some Info You May Have Missed. . . and click on "Big One" at the bottom of the page).

Following the church service, I headed to the Langley Marina to decorate a dinner boat we were using for a reception Thursday night as a prelude to the Whidbey Island Writers Conference.  All was well till 12:55 p.m. (2 hours after the earthquake) when the waves swelled up -- aftershock? tsunami?  We couldn't figure out why all of a sudden the boat began to rock, but it was quite a ride!

There appears to be lots of damage in Seattle and south, but there doesn't appear to be any damage here on the island.  Sea-Tac Airport is open again for limited business (the air traffic control tower was pretty beaten up) and a lot of the bridges have reopened.  The damage to buildings will take longer, but all the rules for new construction and money spent over the last 20 years or so to retrofit older buildings for earthquakes seems to have paid off.  We are fortunate that only one person died (heart attack after) and that the people who were injured were generally not serious.

We appreciate the concern and caring of all of you who contacted us to see if we were okay.  This was definitely a fitting beginning to Lent  -- not only did it "shake us up", it made us once again count our blessings!