Hurricane Aftermath

master bathroom decor

While Gary and I have been spared the worst hits of Hurricane Helene, we have family south of us on the Gulf coast who have described shocking damage less than a mile from their home. 

The destruction they are cleaning up is wind-blown debris, limbs and palm fronds, pine needles everywhere and broken limbs from their white Plumeria tree. They watched the storm water surge 7 feet into their cul-de-sac. Fortunately they needed to use their generator for only a couple of hours. They do not appear to have damage more than that on their property, just a huge mess to clean up.

But they posted more devastating reports very close to their home:

video on Facebook from John's Pass 

report regarding Treasure Island. 

These locations are just a mile away, on the Gulf and barrier islands. This is the area from Clearwater to St. Pete. 

The storm surge was 6-10 feet, depending on the tide that attacked as a fast slam, leaving 6 feet of sand covering the streets. 

North of us, still on the Gulf, where the coastline bends around to the west, which is called Florida's Big Bend area, are much smaller towns, fishing-village-type places, that have buckled into broken sticks. You've surely seen pictures on the TV reports. 

emergency lantern

We live some 60 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, so the effects of Hurricane Helene were not devastating to us. The east side of our town, surprisingly, had more wind damage than us with trees downed over power lines, roads, cars, and fences. 

tree fell through a fence;
photo from Ocala newspaper

Landfall was expected to be around 11pm Thursday night. We headed to bed a couple hours before that, per usual, and slept soundly. Before bed, Gary had pulled out some nifty battery-powered lanterns to keep in the bathrooms for nocturnal visits, and made sure we each had a flashlight on our side of the bed. (I discovered 3 of them in my night table drawer.)

Gary removed from its box his new solar generator (which uses a battery) and set it on the kitchen counter beside our refrigerator, in case the power were to go out.

As it turned out, our power flickered only once, apparently very briefly while we slept, so the generator was never powered up. I think he may have been slightly disappointed it was not necessary to use it but also relieved. 

Living this far inland from both the Gulf and the Atlantic, not close to any rivers or streams, in a concrete block house with underground utilities, and a brand-new roof, well, there were a lot of positives in our favor with this storm. 

But even with that said, there are more storms brewing out in the Atlantic and Caribbean as I type this, so the challenges may not be over yet. Hurricane season traditionally ends on November 30th.

storm debris on a neighbor's driveway

The destruction in our 55+ community appears to have been limited to pine needles, twigs, and broken small branches. A couple of residents have noted damage to their large sliding glass doors that took the full hit of wind. 

We have a CERT group (Critical Emergency Response Team) that gives out a large sign for times like this. After the storm has passed, we are instructed to place the sign in a street-facing window. The green is to indicate we are okay, not needing any help.

The other side of the sign is red, a call for help.

We put our sign in one of the garage windows, the location that is nearest to the street. Gary later saw a woman wearing one of those bright yellow vests trimmed with orange drive past in a golf cart, looking at each house as she sent by. We assume she was with CERT, checking on everyone.  

Thankful as we are for our good outcome, we realize that trouble comes to all people at one time or another. None of us are immune to the hard knocks of life. 

One of my takeaways from this storm is to remember to be gentle to all people as much as possible. Suffering can be very obvious, as when a home is cruelly washed away in the churning surf. Other times, pain is not obvious to the casual observer because it is hid deep inside of us.

This past summer I came across this book by a Christian author that speaks to how we deal with disasters of all kinds. After flipping through it, I decided it may have been written for me, and made the purchase.

purchase information

Quoting the back cover, "When our circumstances unravel, how do we hold on to truth, to hope, to who we're meant to be?" Hardships, as I have learned in recent years, can knock a person off balance, throwing off into odd directions what had only a short time before seemed so firm and secure. 

As per my habit with books I own and don't intend to share, I hi-lite with colored pencils statements that fit me:

blue for trouble, attacks, misbehavior, sin

red for information worth noting

purple describing who God is, what He does

green for what I should do, instructions

This color-coding, as well as handwritten margin notes and sometimes a hasty sketch of something turn my books into a journal, which is why I would rarely, if ever, share some of my books for another to read. But marking up my books this way helps me to easily review important points that are most meaningful to me.

Hurricane Helene brought with it the damage and loss we see on the TV news reports. At the same time, the storm threatened our sense of peace. This author gives "language to the voices that dwell in the deepest chambers of our wounded souls." I highly recommend this book for those who need rest from the mental turmoil brought on by life. 

Jesus told us, "In this life you will have trouble" (John 16:33), but to be encouraged because He has overcome the world. 

Until next time, grace and peace.

Lighthearted Storm Prep Observations

 

Some of my readers have already contacted me to ask where we are in relation to Hurricane Helene's projected path. We are in the red, but understand this can change for better or for worse at any time. 

Living some 60+ miles from both the Gulf and the Atlantic spares us concerns about ocean storm surge, but damage from wind (tornados included) is taken into consideration as we watch the forecasts.

😏 I like to quote the late husband of Terri D (Your Friend From Florida) at this time of year who said he wanted to go to the water but did not want the water to come to him! This is one of the reasons why I live in the middle of the peninsula.

We may get some rain later today but expect more symptoms of the storm on Thursday. My Bible study leader sent out an email regarding this week's meeting:

"Revelation 13:1 states that John saw a beast rising up out of the sea. We also have a beast coming from the sea called "Helene" that has caused everything to be shut down for safety reasons, including our study..." (I will be safe at home with Gary, watching the wind and the rain.)

patio chairs 

We have made the necessary preparations here at our house. The cast aluminum patio furniture is just too heavy to haul into the house (although we've done that in the past), so Gary turned it all over to a more wind-resistant position against the house, and then tied all the pieces together with rope.

statuary 

We also have a pagoda, a couple of fountains, and some potted flowers that have been disassembled and/or relocated to sheltered places against the house. In the past we have brought some of that into the house, but those small, bothersome Geckos often hitch a ride, unseen, and then startle the beejeemies out of us when they suddenly dart around indoors. 

[time out] 

our Geckos aren't this cute

I hit "save" on this blog post to have lunch with Gary. During that time, we discovered to our dismay that one of those Geckos had, indeed, made it into the lanai. Ugh! Grabbing a fly swatter we keep on hand for these kinds of invasions, Gary slapped the lizard silly multiple times and then picked it up with a paper napkin and dropped the body outside. It looked like he had lost his tail in all the mayhem, so I disposed of that.

I don't know if murder or just serious mutilation occurred, but once the creature was outside and we were back indoors, I didn't care. 

today's dessert

A notable aspect of hurricane preparations is assessing the food and water supplies. We are good on that. Gary prefers that we not buy just a whole lot of frozen food in the summer months just in case we were to lose power for a long time in hurricane season. We have been fortunate that we seldom lose power here but it's wise to keep that possibility in mind. 

With that thought, Gary pulled out the last of our ice cream sandwiches for our dessert. 😋 We do have a solar-powered energy source, purchased a few months ago and have not tried that out yet..... hoping it won't be necessary.

Orlando TV station

Getting back to the storm reporting, all the TV stations talk about not much else. Gary has made some astute observations about the weather people. Usually one weather person is sufficient, but when a hurricane is brewing, there are two, sometimes even three, on duty at the same time. I suppose that is reasonable.

But what is really interesting is that for normal day-to-day forecasts, the men wear a suit with a tie and the women wear either a dress or dressy pants with stiletto heels.

But you can grasp the true seriousness of a storm when the men shed their suit jackets to work in just their shirtsleeves, rolled up cuffs. They mean business when those wardrobe changes take place. 

One thing I am looking for this year is to see if and when the gals shed their stilettos for bunny slippers. Why would they wear those tortuous heels for the duration of the storm reporting? My guess is that the glam shoes will be shed but the cameras won't give us the full-length views we normally see.

Other than the storm, there's not much new to report since my last post. Somebody's birthday is fast-approaching but that will be blog fodder for another day. 🎉 😉

I close with this graphic that fits today very well:

Until next time, grace and peace.

P.S. 2pm EDT The rain has begun!

Nostalgia

Facebook photo

Nostalgia

Welcome to fall, or as Pam reminded us at Closed Doors - Open Windows, this is the Autumnal Equinox. With the changing of the season (although it's not very apparent here in Florida yet), I've been in a wistful frame of mind.

my blog header 2013 - 2017

During my last 4 years of living in Colorado, my blog's title was "The Brown Bungalow" because we lived in a (brand new) Craftsman style house that looked (to me, anyway) like a cute bungalow. 

one of several headers I made for the 
Sweet Tea and Sandals blog

When we relocated to Florida, I changed the blog title to "Sweet Tea and Sandals," which communicated some of the fun changes taking place in my life with the move to a city on the Atlantic coast.

For many years I had a free creative program on my computer that enabled me to design my own headers. I loved being able to do that, but along with a lot of other unanticipated changes in recent years, I lost that feature. The program has since changed a lot and now requires a monetary subscription. I decided to do without it.

the header for the blog when I lost it

Then in late summer of 2023 I unintentionally did something dumb that resulted in the loss of Sweet Tea and Sandals. That terrible circumstance, combined with the changes referred to above, was like a gut punch, and more than I felt like tackling. I opted to start this blog, the one you are reading now, My Journal Memories.

my current blog header

This title does not stir up fanciful mental images of tropical food and footwear, but that's just as well because the themes of my writing have shifted to a more serious motif, acquired with aging and life events.

"Resiliency is the ability to take disappointment 

and conflict and turn it into something better."

Ginny Luther

Walk in My Combat Boots by James Patterson

Southern Living

But with that said, it's been over seven years since I arrived in Florida. I'm still wearing sandals eight or nine months out of the year and I love the way southern restaurants brew up sweet tea.

palm branches

Something I did not anticipate with living in Florida is the amount of landscaping upkeep required of homeowners, palm trees, in particular. To prevent branches from rubbing on roof shingles and leaving stuff in the gutters, Gary regularly uses his pole saw to cut things down.

trimming palm branches for 
the trash truck

Then there are the weeds. They never take a vacation. (smile) Gary was telling me the other day that one of his first favorable impressions of me was that I pull weeds. On one of our first dates, as we were leaving my front door, I stopped to pull up a couple of weeds in the mulch bed. As I stood up, I told him I don't have beautifully manicured hands because I pull weeds all the time. Fortunately for me, he saw the benefit of that quality in deciding if I was "a keeper." (note, I do get professional pedicures regularly to compliment my sandals.)

the pedicure of yours truly

Returning to the subject of autumn in Florida, we kind of have to pretend there is a change in seasons. My friend Sandy (blog: Home Ec Major) who lives in the Panhandle has taught me that although summer clothes are still required for comfort in the autumn and winter months, we can wear the more seasonal colors. For me, that means I switch from wearing white sandals to brown. 😉

Home Decor

We can also switch out some of the home decor, which I'm doing just a little more of this year. Jersey Girl and I had lunch this past week, followed with a little shopping at a resale store. 

"new" table runner

At just $9, this suede table runner was perfect for our dining room. Then on another day I found this pumpkin at Hobby Lobby:

on sale for $7-something

the lil' pumpkin looks good no matter 
where I put it!

Not into Halloween decorating AT ALL, I choose to focus on blessings, thankfulness, gratitude, pumpkins, and the foods of the season.

Food

Cracker Barrel

To segue from autumn decorations into seasonal foods, we bought a small loaf of pumpkin bread at Publix to go with our habit of de-caf coffee and tea in our mid-afternoons. 

Mid-week, we had lunch at Cracker Barrel where the decor lends itself especially well to autumn and winter. Of course, with 90-degree temps right now, there was no flame in the fire place. They do tend to light it up in December, partly for warmth but probably more for the ambience of the Christmas season.

my plate at Cracker Barrel

As I've said before, Gary and I eat a lot of "heat-and-eat," which translates to the fact I've not made a homemade meatloaf in some two years. But Cracker Barrel made up for it, along with the turnip greens, okra, and biscuits. I have, by the way, made biscuits for Gary several times, and they tasted good, but mine don't compare with the flaky tender version we had on that day. Gary had the fried chicken, which was such a large serving that he brought home leftovers that still made for an ample supper for the two of us. Fried chicken. It doesn't get much more "southern" than that!

Bushnell, Florida

Paying Respect

With the slightly cooler weather we're having, we made a trip to the cemetery to visit the gravesites of our late spouses. It's an hour-long drive to get there, so it is our habit to take folding lawn chairs with us and we sit for a while at each of the two graves. But with the searing heat and wilting humidity of summer, our last visit was in late May or early June. 

our car near Edith's headstone

In my growing up years, my family did not live anywhere near the cemeteries of our relatives, so this practice of visiting gravesites on a regular basis has been a learned experience for me since coming together with Gary. But I like it. 

the back of my late husband's headstone

What are we supposed to do when visiting a gravesite? That is a reasonable question.

During the first year, especially, I would just sit and cry. A lot. Then as time passed, I would talk to him, sort of telling him what had transpired, but not expecting (or wanting) any reply from him. Just getting things off my chest, as best I could. I would also thank him for leaving me in such a good place, so to speak. He really did.

Nowadays when Gary and I visit these graves, I reflect on how incredibly blessed I've been since Tom's passing. I thank God again (as I do every single day) for His mercies to protect and provide for me. 

I thank the Lord for forgiving me for my blunders, mistakes, and the (frankly) awkward manner in which I've handled some things during the depths of my sadness. I also thank Him for lessons I've learned about human nature (mine and others) that is imperfect and the need for forgiveness. As somebody said in a recent movie we saw on TV, "grief makes us do things we regret." 

But God forgives and Christ has redeemed the repentant. I hold tight onto that truth. 

a wetland area at the cemetery

Then to bring this line of thought to a close with a bit of a smile, as we were getting out of the car near my late husband's grave, we heard what sounded very much like the grunt of an alligator. Just across the road from our car was this wet area with cattails and pond scum. 

We did not see a gator, but the common warning here in Florida is that any body of water the size of a bathtub or larger has the potential of a gator. We did not poke around to verify that but turned with our lawn chairs in hand and headed for the burial ground. 

autumn color in Minnesota
2022

I close with this thought: Autumn is proof that change can be beautiful. Accepting change is key to surviving whatever adjustments beg to be made. 

Until next time, grace and peace.

Post Script: How to Flip a Photo Horizontally

After my previous blog post, Jennifer from Trading Ashes For Beauty asked how to flip a picture. Of course all I can tell you is how I do it on my MacBook Air laptop computer, using the Photo program that came with it. These instructions will probably vary depending on the equipment you have. If what you have is different, perhaps my instructions here will somehow get you started in figuring out how to do it on your own computer.

Step 1: here is a selfie of me holding up my iPhone. Note that the word "Broncos" is backwards. I want to flip the picture horizontally so "Broncos" is not backwards.

Step 2: however you normally do it, get the picture into your photo program. Then look for the word "edit." Mine is in the top right hand corner of my screen. Click on "edit."

Step 3: Near the top of my screen, in the center, is the word, "crop." Click on that.

Step 4: Now go back to the right side of the screen to find the word, "flip." Click on that.

Step 5: When you have done that, your snapshot will flip so that "Broncos" reads correctly.

Voila! I hope this is of some help!

How We Do Things

 

It's Sunday afternoon as I sit at my desk, composing this blog post. While I often carry my laptop computer to another part of the house so I can be in the same room with Gary as I check email, read blogs, and compose my own posts, this time I am at my desk where my computer is plugged in. 

Later this afternoon we have a Zoom meeting to attend, which means Gary and I will sit side-by-side at the kitchen table while my computer will operate via battery. 

Before these meetings, I sometimes take a selfie of us with the Photo Booth feature on my computer to check the lighting (and my hair, to be honest -- ha ha!!) Here's one I took last February, thus the sweaters:

Oh wait. That's not right. Gary parts his hair on the right (his right) and I sit on the other side of him. I'll fix it:

That's the problem with selfies, you come out backwards! (with thanks to Sister who taught me how to flip a snapshot horizontally)

This post will be along the lines of those "daytimer" memes that are more like a phone call to a friend where you talk about whatever is current and just wander from one topic to another until it's time to take the laundry out of the washer or go pick up the kids from school (neither of which is the case for me today, by the way).

Yesterday we both did our laundry and cleaned house, which is our usual Saturday routine. Laundry -- did you get that? My guy does his own laundry and we both clean house together. 

When we came together a couple of years ago, both of us were in the habit of doing our own laundry and keeping our respective homes clean. We continued like that with the laundry and I chose which housecleaning duties to pick up while Gary kept up with the more physically strenuous duties. 

I vacuum the carpeted areas and he cleans the floors (of which there is more square footage) with an electric steam cleaner. I dust the furniture and he includes the towels (mine, too!) when he's doing laundry. 

an especially large kitchen drawer 

While Gary both handles and oversees the outside yard work, I pull weeds in the rock and mulched beds. Back indoors, I do the occasional tasks like cleaning out the kitchen drawers of crumbs, wiping down woodwork, dusting the intake vent by the air handler, and so forth.

By the way, when I was cleaning out the trays in the kitchen drawers the other day, it occurred to me to take a snapshot of each drawer before emptying it, which eliminated the mystery of how to put it back together again.

As for cooking, Gary said at the beginning that he would love for me to take that over, and I was going to; but it's evolved into him doing the vast majority of that and occasionally I bake some carbohydrates for his sweet tooth. That is working out well for us. 

I do a small amount of seasonal decor. Gary leans heavily into classic simplicity for home decor, so I keep it simple. Storage of seasonal decorations is a problem, too, so keeping it minimal is very practical.

For those who have known me for many years, that last statement is a big change. But I don't miss all the stuff that had to be hung, arranged, dusted, and stored. It was a fun part of my life, ingrained in me by my mother (a good decorator) and many hours in Hobby Lobby. Circumstances in recent years led me to simplify on a big scale, and I'm good with it. 

my older computer several years ago

Moving to another topic here, my computer pulled an unwelcome trick on me a few days ago. First thing in the morning I discovered I could not access new email on both my iPhone and my computer. 

Similar techie problems have sent me into literal tears since my live-in computer tech passed on to Heavenly Realms a few years ago. He took with him the vast majority of the computer expertise in our home, leaving me at the mercy of my kids (none of whom live close by) or deciding which stranger to entrust with the problem. 

After bravely and oh-so-carefully trying a couple of fixes on my own (and that's dangerous territory!!), we took my electronics to a small business here in town that was able to take me immediately. In a few minutes the problem was fixed and I was breathing a sigh of relief. Tears of joy were replacing the tears of terror. 

What was the problem? I really don't know but it had something to do with coming up with a new password. Why the old one was suddenly not acceptable is a mystery to me, but it's all good now.

By the way, I've reached a conclusion about myself: I don't drink or smoke. I cry. There's more than one way to relieve stress.

While I'm on the topic of upsetting things, I will briefly address the "elephant in the room." We stayed up past our bedtime to watch the debate. In my opinion, nobody "won" because intentions were not clearly outlined on either side and the utterly ridiculous should never have been given air time. 

Of course we reflected this week on 9/11 and where we are now. In all honesty, when my daughter-in-law called me that morning in 2001 to ask if my TV was turned on, I didn't think our nation would survive. So, although in many ways we are not in a good place now, we have to thank God for preserving us this long. He truly is a God of mercy, giving humanity more time to surrender to Him.

Sand Hill Crane on pinnacle 
of a neighbor's roof

One morning while I was on my bicycle, I passed this Sand Hill Crane atop a neighbor's roof. He is preening himself while facing a lake, so you can't see his head and neck in my snapshot. Around here it's not unusual to see birds of any size perched in these high places. I am always reminded of this verse:

For the eyes of the Lord

search the whole earth

in order to strengthen those

whose hearts are fully committed to Him.

II Chronicles 16:9 NLT

That verse makes me want to jump up and down waving my arms to get God's attention, "See me! See me!" But He does. He sees me. He sees, you, too. 

Thank God!

source

Until next time, grace and peace.