I had no sooner posted my last post when things began to get serious with Dorian. The good thing about hurricanes is that you have time to prepare and/or evacuate. The bad thing about hurricanes is that it is difficult to come to a decision. I would decide to stay one day and the next morning conditions would change and I'd lean toward staying. After seeing Dorian hover around the Bahamas for so long, I pretty much have decided I should just plan to evacuate. I would not want to be in a dark closet for 24 hours with a storm raging around outside!!
On Tuesday morning I was dickering about it again and then decided that I had notified relatives that I was coming up and I may as well go, regardless of what Dorian would finally do. I left early Tuesday morning and had an easy trip up with very little traffic. I had to medicate Rosie since she is an anxious traveler - pants the whole time. She took the meds on the first try and was mellow throughout the drive. We were there by noon and checked into the motel.
The manager of the motel was of Indian descent and we had a great conversation talking travel and how it broadens one's outlook. He was born in Fiji, worked in Australia and New Zealand, traveled widely, and now worked in the States. He did say the people in that town were mean or bad.....I can't remember which, and I can well imagine how they react to an Indian person. The conversation starter was that he spotted my bangles and commented on them! I then told him that I'd worked abroad and we went from there!!
As is usual with all families, there was a little drama. While I don't want it for public consumption, those with the password can see it HERE.
Overall, I had a very enjoyable, fun visit but was hoping to get back on Thursday. Chris and Rhonda C. had stayed and gave me a weather report that morning. So, I got up earlier than usual and had breakfast with cousins Larry, Betty, and Peggy. That was the only time I left Rosie in the motel room and I really didn't like doing it. Before leaving for breakfast, I gave her a sedative for the trip. She was not the least bit interested in the Pill Pockets I had used for the trip up, but she did go for cheese!! We left around 9:30 and got home around 1:30. The traffic was light and it rained most of the way, but I've been on I-95 with much heavier rain. This time it seemed that my timing was right - left early and returned early! It was good to be home! I unpacked the car and still have to put things away. That will happen later today......or tomorrow!
On the way up, I finished listening to Radium Girls, which was sad but very interesting. On the way back I listened to The Good Neighbor about Mr. Rogers, and I have to say it was great to come back to a nice neighborhood. On our morning walk, we checked in with Reyna, and ran into Lynn and Bogey, as well as other dog walkers. We all caught up on what others had done. This afternoon my neighbor was picking up small branches in his yard and he came over and picked up mine. We were lucky to have only minimal damage - actually no damage at all just a lot of leaves and other debris scattered everywhere. It will be an easy clean-up. We were very lucky. Needless to say, the season has just begun and we are hoping we will not have to do this again anytime soon.
As I write this, we are waiting to see what Dorian is going to do. Yesterday, it seemed imminent and I was busy all day making preparations - until I hit the wall around 7PM! I reserved a motel room in Wadesboro with intentions of leaving today. Now it looks like we won't have anything until later in the week. The media is saying it will spend about 24 hours hovering over the Bahamas, in which case it may begin to spin itself out. It is a matter of just waiting!!
Good news to report about Tippy. She came through surgery with flying colors and was released from the hospital in less than a week. I was amazed that she called me the day after surgery when she wasn't even expected to be able to talk that quickly. She was told that she might go home with a feeding tube and trach, but both were removed before she went home. The pathological report was great - they got it all!! The rough part has been being on liquids for a week, but after her followup visit, she has graduated to soft foods. She has done amazingly well and everyone is impressed and thankful for her progress.
Speaking of Tippy and other amazing friends: I was sitting at home minding my own business when the doorbell rang. It was the postman with a package for me, which was puzzling since I hadn't ordered anything. The first thing I did was look at the return address which was from Hawaii! Now I knew it was a mistake except it was addressed to me! The box had a hole in it so I reached inside and tore the hole wider. From it, I drew a lovely yellow shawl with a lovely note for Tippy. It was sent to her from a shawl ministry at a Lutheran church in Hawaii at the request of my friend Rhonda in Alberquerque! The card told the story of their ministry, which was very touching. I could not believe Rhonda's kindness, but it doesn't stop there. I was about to dispose of the box when another card slide into view. I reach inside and there was a second shawl....for me!! I was so touched. I thanked Rhonda and told her I was seeing Tippy the next day and would let her choose the one she wanted. That was just such a nice thing to do. I have great friends!!
I've also discovered that Rhonda is a Pinterest junkie!! She sends these great, personalized cards that she makes herself. I do the Facebook page for the Lowcountry Coalition Against Hate and I'm always looking for something like this to post. I asked if she would mind if I used it and she didn't object. It received the most exposure of anything I have posted thus far - it reached 17,000+ people, over 300 shared it, and one woman used it has her page photo!! I loved it!
South Carolina is becoming quite the place for Presidential candidates. Chris and I had a busy week when we saw and heard both Andrew Yang and Pete Buttigieg. Yang spoke at a restaurant and had a full house. He is a techie and some of his ideas are very forward-looking. He also seemed to be able to fully analyze a problem to get to its source. I was very impressed with him. We had an interesting experience at his event. Chris and I are sitting there with our which and chips waiting for things to start. Suddenly this handsome young man asks if he can join us - who would say no!! He was a staffer for Yang and sat and talked politics with us for about 15 minutes or so. He excused himself when someone started making announcements. Since Yang was delayed a bit, he came back and chatted some more!! As we have said before, it is so great to see these young people so involved. Mayor Peter had the largest crowd I've seen - 700-800 people. He is very comfortably able to articulate his ideas and views and is willing to actually answer questions rather than hedging. He, too, is very impressive and no doubt has a long political future ahead. It's fun to see them, shake their hands, and get a selfie.
After Yang left Las Palmas restaurant, he went on the Beaufort and enjoyed a little dancing. I thought THIS was cute.
As though we don't have enough to do, Chris and I attended the most recent meeting of the Lowcountry Immigration Coalition. It occurred after the shooting in El Paso and there were actually 4 new people in attendance in response to the shooting. I plan to attend future meetings and my guess is that Chris will also. It is the best way to know what is happening in the Latinx community and how we might help. No sooner had we done this, than I saw first hand how these people can be exploited. Rayna has a delightful woman helping her, named Antonia. Antonia's husband has also been helping Richard. They had been paying on their car and had almost paid it off when the previous owner came and took it back! I'm sure they felt safe in doing that, knowing that they would not/could not go to the police. I suggested they contact Aimee, the immigration attorney, but they were even afraid to do that. They are such kind and hard-working people. It is difficult to see them treated so badly.
Sun City Democrats held an Empty Chair Town Hall Meeting in response to Lindsey Graham refusing to meet with his Democrat constituents. They had personally delivered a petition to his office with almost 1000 signatures asking that he meet with us. He didn't even bother to reply, so they devised the town hall meeting. No one knew quite what to expect, but it was very cleverly done. There was an energetic MC from Washington. There were also some players who presented all of Lindsey's flip-flops, which were many more than I ever realized. This was another event that attracted a lot of people.
We also had an opportunity to hear our Congressman, Joe Cunningham, speak on climate change and the environment. We heard that there would be protesters so we had to be sure he had a great turnout. It was actually presented by a committee from a local church and they will be doing more of the same on this issue, which should be interesting. It's good to see groups stepping up
I was looking forward to a cocktail party on Thursday given by one of the Liberal Ladies Steering Committee members (Randie) for our group. Mid-morning on Wednesday I received an alert that the party had been canceled. Randie's husband had died suddenly of a heart attack that very morning. They were having breakfast before going out. Randie left the table to finished getting dressed. When she returned to the table, he was dead!! A memorial service and luncheon were held on Friday and I'm not sure how Randie held it all together. I'm sure things will be different once things settle and she has time to digest it all. So sad!
I will leave you with a Rosie story. Most mornings Rosie stays on the bed until I'm dressed and ready to take her for a walk, but once in a while she will jump off the bed and sit on the rug at the end of the bed - where I can't see her. She will then bark - one playful bark. If I don't respond, she will bark again. When I finally get up and round the corner, she is in that playful, front-paws-down pose, tail wagging. Once I get closer, she hops up and runs back onto the bed, ready to play. On those mornings I accuse her of waking up naughty!! She is a mess!!
The only other thing to let you know is that I've added a tab at the top called Photos from Friends. I thought it might be fun to share photos of friends we have in common. I'll give it a try and see how it goes.
