Thursday, September 20, 2018

Hurricane Florence

I"m very happy and relieved to say that Florence was a week-long, nerve-wracking, non-event! It tore me away from MSNBC and diverted my attention to the Weather Channel, a sad commentary on my life!! Early on it looked like we would be okay and I was relieved to feel that I could stay put. I didn't want to have to sedate Rosie for hours in the car, nor did I want to put Mama Mia through it again. She is just to frail. Then, there was a model that showed it hitting NC and skimming down the coast, at which point I made a reservation in Valdosta, GA. By this time, all of the outside furniture was inside. Water, ice, and food had been stored, but now I packed to leave. The next morning, the situation looked much better, so I cancelled reservations.  I then just waited and watched. It was comforting that most of my neighbors and Bluffton friends were staying, so if I needed help there would be people to ask. As we waited, we had three gorgeous mornings - cooler, breezy and low humidity. Yesterday was 95 degrees again, so the storm didn't take the heat with it. We are all longing for a hint of fall in the air.

Once Florence hit NC, it slowed down and lingered forever. I can't imagine recovering for that much water short of tearing everything down and starting from scratch. Mix in with that all of the dead chickens, hogs and released coal ash, and heat - it will be a toxic situation for a long time. Since being here (1997), until a few years ago I had evacuated only once, years ago. Now it seems we have several serious situations per year. I hope to never go through what the folks in NC are dealing with now.

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Chris's husband, Larry. Things were pretty much at a standstill over Labor Day as doctors were not available. Chris came down from Charleston and David and I took her out to dinner. She went back up and stayed overnight on Monday, knowing that Tuesday would be a full day with doctors, tests, etc. They have tests they do to determine how much ability he might recover and he failed them all. At that point, the feeding tube and meds were stopped, except morphine to keep him comfortable. He died within hours. Friends were just stunned, and felt helpless, with the severity and speed with which it all happened. On Thursday, once Chris was back in town, I had her and friends over for an impromptu dinner. If nothing else, we (her friends) felt like we could show our support. Both the dining room and kitchen tables were used, but we all wound up sitting around the dining room table, toasting Larry and sharing our favorite recollections. It was a nice moment. It also warmed my heart that Chris asked for the photos (in my last post) of Larry that I'd taken at our last Drinking Liberally meeting. I don't often do that but we had such a good group, it was comfortable enough to dine outside, and we had lots of new people.  I'm just so glad I took them!  DL will certainly miss Larry as he was always so animated in his discussion and always solicited a laugh. No doubt we will have a toast to him at our next meeting.

There isn't a lot else to report, except most of us are trying to reschedule everything that was postponed last week. I was to have my windows washed and that is scheduled for tomorrow. Most of my friends and I are highly involved with Getting Out The Vote (GOTV) between now and November election....and responding to the onslaught of Trumpisms that happen on a daily basis. I do the newsletter for Liberal Ladies, am on the GOTV committee of Indivisible, and act as a substitute host for Drinking Liberally when needed. Just this morning, I've taken on another mission. I was called by the rabbi of Congregation Beth Yom and asked if I would serve on the Steering Committee of Lowcountry Coalition against Hate. The initial meeting took place several weeks ago and I hadn't heard much since then; so, needless to say, this was a surprise. We had a nice, long conversation....and he was very flattering, though he really didn't have to be. I feel this may be "over my head" but I do see the need. They also hope to make this a lasting voice in the community, not just about the Holocaust denier running for mayor. Anyway, tomorrow I am going to the first meeting before committing to anything. We'll see how it goes.

I continue to look forward to Ann's visit and being distracted from my usual, mundane existence. it will be fun to get out and about, beyond my usual haunts.

Since I am without anything to dress up this post, I'll leave you with an angelic photo of Rosie and her new, soft toy from our friend Camile.

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