Over the past few days, storys of Typhoon Ketsana have been causing all our friends back west to write or call with concern. Is everybody OK?

Happily, everybody is doing fine. Ho Chi Minh City didn’t get hit very hard at all. We were mostly dealing with high winds and a couple of serious rain showers as the storm cell skirted past.

There are a couple of more typhoons heading this way. It’s that time of year, so it’s expected. We’re in a good, solid house that we can button down pretty tight. Our neighborhood is new and drainage is solid. We’re not worried about flooding.

Oddly, I first heard news of the devastation in the Philippines and central Viet Nam from friends in the West. Since I don’t (can’t) read Vietnamese newspapers, my news intake is a little delayed.