I call this one, “Light and Shadow at the Home Depot”.
Month: September 2016
Words and Images Collaboration
I have to share these collaborative pieces. Julie Powell (juliepowell2014.wordpress.com inspires me with her gorgeous photos and I do my best to honor those photos in verse.
Leslie and I have been busy creating a few more collaborations; her beautiful words and my pretty pictures. Here are a few more in case you have not seen them
Before we were Kings This is one of my favourites so far….I adore Leslie’s poem and I love the Elephants!
These two are Strange Bedfellows…….
Til next time, happy snapping…
~Julz
Snapshot #s 18 and 19
These I’m calling, “Timberrrr” and “Shattered Glass at the Truck Stop.”
Bed and Breakfast Interlude
Twelve hours without electricity (courtesy of Hurricane Hermine) and the joys that it brings (hot showers, air conditioning) resulted in Studly Doright and I staying in a Bed and Breakfast Inn on Friday night.
We’d tried to find a hotel in Tallahassee, but the ones with electrical power were all completely booked, while ones without power wouldn’t have improved our lot. I looked farther afield and found the 1872 John Denham House in Monticello, FL.
Even though the grounds of the inn had suffered at the hands of Hermine, this gorgeous home experienced a loss of power only briefly and was an air conditioned oasis on a hot, humid Florida day. The cool air felt so good when we stepped into the foyer that I almost cried.
The inn’s proprietress gave us a brief tour of the first floor before showing us to our room.
Studly Doright and I were fortunate to book the honeymoon suite. It was a great deal more charming than the room we stayed in at The Camelot Inn in Amarillo, TX, 40 years ago.
I took these photos after our night in the room, so the poorly made bed is my fault. It was impeccably staged for our arrival.
After a restful night Studly arose early to play his Saturday golf game, leaving me to enjoy breakfast without him. I didn’t think to take take photos of the meal, but it was outstanding, consisting of a fluffy soufflé, fresh fruit, yogurt, and homemade biscuits with a variety of homemade jams and jellies.
I met two of the other guests at breakfast, Gordon and Addison, who are members of a meteorological research team from the University of Oklahoma. The two men used the inn as a base while studying Hurricane Hermine. I pried as much information from them as possible, trying not to be too obnoxious. I’m fairly sure I failed in that regard.
Sensing my interest they provided directions to their rig parked at the edge of town, so on my way home I stopped by to snap some photos:
I sincerely hope the researchers gained useful information for future hurricane survivors. Specifically, how do we avoid loss of electricity? Now that would be a worthy project.
Peace, people!
Hell Can Wait
Snapshot #18
It’s heartbreaking to consider all of the dairy products and frozen goods that had to be discarded after the hurricane left Tallahassee without power for two days.
I snapped this one at the WalMart on Tennessee Sunday afternoon. Let’s call it, “Crying Over Spoilt Milk.”
Snapshot #17
I call this one, “Morning Tea at the B&B.”
Hermine’s Exit
Hurricane Hermine arrived in a fury of wind and rain while Studly Doright and I lay sleeping Thursday night. Downgraded to a tropical storm shortly before impacting the Tallahassee area, she inflicted damage nonetheless.
The electricity went out around 1:45 a.m. EDT, well ahead of Hermine which hit us at 4:30 on Friday morning, and did not come back on until sometime on Saturday–long enough for all of the perishables in our refrigerator to be rendered unusable, but thankfully before the contents of the freezer could be damaged. I spent Saturday afternoon cleaning out the fridge.
We still don’t have cable or internet service at Doright Manor, so I’m sitting in a cafe in Tallahassee typing this as Studly plays golf. As long as the links are open life does go on.
We could have stayed at home Friday night, but the heat accumulated during the day made the un-air conditioned house uncomfortable. We looked for a hotel in Tallahassee, but the ones that had power were completely booked. We ended up staying in a bed and breakfast inn in Monticello, FL, and once I have access to my own internet connection I’ll share photos of the beautiful home in which we stayed.
If one merely glances out the window the world looks perfectly normal.
The sun is shining, birds are singing, squirrels are squirreling. But just a trip around the neighborhood gives clues as to the force of Hermine’s wrath. Unfortunately I’m unable to share any additional photos right now. I’m hoping that’s due to the Internet at the cafe and not something going on with my WordPress account.
Downed trees and fallen branches littered the roadways. Leaves stripped from branches were plastered to the sidewalks. Businesses and homes sustained broken windows. But as far as I know there were no deaths or serious injuries as a result of the storm, and that’s the only thing that matters.
Thanks to all my followers and readers who’ve been concerned with our safety. I received so many thoughtful posts that until today I was unable to respond to. Off I go to the grocery store to buy replacements for perishable items. At least one really good thing came from Hermine–the inside of my refrigerator is sparkling clean.
By the Numbers
Note: No joking in this note, the number 651008 represents the number of brave U.S. men and women killed in combat. God, I’m sick of wars started by old men and fought by young people. I didn’t know the meaning of the number until after the post was written. A sobering thought. Carry on.
A friend from childhood posted a number on Facebook several days ago and asked what we thought it represented:
651008
My first guess was the mileage on a vintage truck. No, it wasn’t that. My next guess was that it is the number assigned to an automotive part. So far, my friend hasn’t provided the answer. I’m waiting impatiently for a response.
In the meantime I’ve been contemplating numbers. Did you know you can google your exact age and a calculator will determine the number of days and months you’ve been on this earth?
On Wednesday, August 31, I was this old:
I feel like I should have more days than that to my credit. Surely nights spent pacing the floor with a cranky baby count for more. And if I’ve been alive for 3,125.7 weeks, that means I’ve survived over 3,000 Mondays. Doesn’t that alone deserve a medal of some sort?
Logically, my brain skipped to wondering how far we are from the planet Neptune. Thanks again to Google, I found this information:
Too far for a weekend destination, and I hear the weather is terrible there this time of millennium. The average surface temperature is a balmy -218° C. Still, that’s a lovely group of numbers.
Much closer to home, did you realize that humans have an estimated 32.7 trillion cells in their bodies give or take a few trillion depending on the metrics used?
I still have no idea what 651008 signifies, but if I google its properties, I get a page chock full of information:
And the above showed only a part of the page. Well, this made me wonder what properties the number 1 has.
Kind of fascinating that the lowly number 1 has so much going for it.
Life is good here at Doright Manor. Good enough that I can spend my morning fiddling with Google and contemplating numbers as a possible hurricane approaches from the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of approximately 504 miles.
Maybe this would be a good time to visit Neptune.
Peace, people.
Life is Good
We have electricity.
Praying for Eyebrowz 