Looking Up

11 Sep

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

Louise Gibson

 

Life presents many challenges from birth to the grave,
But lift your thoughts to God above
He promises to save.

 

God fashioned us in our mother’s womb,
so I am certain He had a plan.
We were designed in His own image
to serve our fellow man.

 

When I was a child, I thought as a child-
striving always to please.
It took a lot of challenges
to set my heart at ease.

 

My heartfelt wish, as I was growing up
was to be a caring soul.
I desired all humanity
to make loving others their goal.

I know it is unrealistic
to expect Heaven here on earth-
But wouldn’t it be wonderful
if every soul felt its worth?

 

Reach out and “touch someone”-
A word of encouragement, or a smile will do.
Your kindness will be rewarded-
It will all come back to you.

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Snakes, Doves and Renting Crowds.

10 Sep

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

All week I have been strolling through my brain cells, in search of a topic to blog about and came up with zilch. This morning as I embarked on my walk around the world, reading blogs and searching twitter, I came across this post:

Rent a crowd

I had heard that some of the recent protest events had used paid protestors but even though I am always looking for an easy way to make money, I couldn’t see myself as a  paid protestor.  This post indicated some politicians had used paid cheering sections. I can cheer! After all, I once cheered for Disney World when they filmed their Christmas Parade. Then I read the part about scripted answers to questions from the press. I marked that one off too. I’m still looking for a way to make easy money so if anyone needs to hire a crowd to open a new Cold Stone, Brusters or Marble Slab ice cream store, I am available. Ditto for Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. If Dippin’ Dots is hiring, I will work in exchange for the dots as I love those cold BBs of ice cream and they are too expensive for me.

Dippin dots

Remember when people would say “a picture is worth a thousand words”? If you saw a picture of someone’s action, then you took it as truth. Now with Photoshop and video editing one is wise to consider carefully what we see, hear and read before accepting it as truth. Our Father knew about this and gave us wise counsel in Matthew 10:16

Matthew 10-16

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Flying Legends Airshow ~Part 3

9 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

3 – Friday July 3rd

My first English breakfast with hot tea the next morning was great! A fried egg, Canadian bacon, grilled sausage links, grilled tomato, mushrooms and navy beans, served with toast and jam.   It looked like a lumberjack’s breakfast to me, but I ate the whole thing.

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As I was leaving, my host said, “You go on out to your car with those things, and I’ll catch you up with your suitcase.” I love how the English phrase things. I discovered the airplanes in the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Museum located in Newquay had been moved to a new location. This coupled with the fact that I could not find any indication that there were any real ships to see at the Mayflower Maritime Museum in Plymouth, helped me decide to by-pass those two museums. That reduced my travel by 125 miles for the day! What was I thinking?

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I headed north to Yeovilton to visit the Fleet Air Arm Museum. DiVoran and I had visited this museum in 1991 during our trip to England, Scotland and Wales. At that time it was a small museum with most of its few airplanes on display outside. But I did remember that they had one of the Concord prototype aircraft in their collection, which we were allowed to walk thru. It was filled with the original test and recording equipment.

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Since then they have expanded their museum with a huge new hanger, and with more restored RNAS airplanes. Of course, the Concord prototype is now their centerpiece and I was able to walk thru it again.

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Now I headed for Bath to have afternoon tea at the famous Pump Room and Roman Baths. This was one of the most memorable stops DiVoran and I had made during our 1991 trip, and I wanted to experience that special sensation again. However, Greta was not cooperating that afternoon, and she took me on a wild goose chase for almost an hour, all over the area surrounding Bath. Finally, after taking a Stress Gummy and asking directions a couple of times, I found a carpark within walking distance of the Pump Room. I spent a delightful hour relaxing over pot of Earl Gray tea and their famous Bath Buns with Strawberry Jam. This fabulous experience was enhanced by a wonderful three-piece ensemble playing classical music.

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I did not take the time to go through the Roman Baths, since DiVoran and I had explored them in great detail when we were last there. I did however, take a drink of the “Special Healing Water” available there in the Pump Room. It had noticeably less of a sulfur taste and smell than I remembered. I asked the attendant about that, and he said that it was thought the sulfur deposits that the water ran through were being eroded away, reducing the sulfur taste and smell. There you are, Bob’s your uncle!

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Since I had wasted so much time running around the countryside, following Greta’s misguided directions, and with the extra time I had spent at the Pump Room, I decided to just head for Bristol and try to find the Well Cottage B&B before it got dark. The B&B was very nice and instructions on the door of my room informed me that the hostess retired at 9:00 pm. I couldn’t see how that could possibly affect me. Not, that is, until after I had taken a shower, and discovered I had somehow locked myself out of my room (yep, it was after 9:00). I was so glad I had put my pants and tee shirt on. I knocked a couple of times on the door I thought was the hostess’s door, and got no answer. I was really stuck! Then another guest came out, saw my plight, and told me she could have her husband call the hostess on the phone, and request that she come let me into my room. Boy was I ever embarrassed! But when the hostess came and unlocked my door, she told me it was OK, and not to worry about it. Whew, what a relief that was!

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—–To be Continued—–

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Fair Babies

8 Sep

Our friend, Patricial Franklin is sharing today. Welcome back, Patricia!

Fair Babies

Patricia Franklin

I’m working the Pro-Life booth at the Fair. It is a lot of fun, and the children and adults love the baby dolls on display. Don’t know if you have ever seen them, but they are soft replicas of 12 weeks and up of what babies in the womb look and feel like. They feel the same, weigh the same, etc.  The kids love to hold them.  Last year a family came by — first the Dad came strolling by with two seven year old girls.  He walked on and the girls stopped to hold the babies.  The mother came up struggling with a baby stroller in the crowd, saw the girls, stopped, and shouted: “PUT THE BABIES DOWN AND BACK AWAY!! I looked at her and started to back away myself. The girls giggled, put the babies down and ran to catch up with their Dad. The exhausted mother stopped for a minute and told us the baby in the strollers was the first one she’d had in seven years and it was hard work. She said “And now I have to try to explain THIS to my girls!! Meaning pro-life. Then she stopped, relaxed, we both smiled and I said, ‘I’m sure you will do just fine.” I have thought about that so many times this year, and every time I have to smile… especially at her words … BACK AWAY, which is usually what you hear in the movies as a fierce warning.

I have never had a bad experience. Sometimes a few people will try to start an argument, but it just kind of dies on their lips and they either walk away, or we have a pleasant conversation about babies. Most people are very friendly and talkative and will often tell you the story of their lives. It used to be that people would walk by and try to ignore us, or they would act embarrassed. But something was very different last year. So many people stopped and talked to us. Many had never seen the replicas before, and I was surprised at this. Some came up and picked the dolls up and cradled them like they were alive. I was surprised by many young men who came by. One, who had on a ragged shirt and wore an earring said, “Oh, I love these! I want one of the babies!” He did not fit the stereotype of what you would expect by the way he was dressed. He was with some other young people. He got one from us, and several of his friends came back and bought some of the little 12 week replicas. They were apparently students and very pro-life. This would give them some help talking to their opposing students.

I have helped in the library at the Catholic School for years.  It is only one day a week.  We basically just check books in and out…. and read to the kindergarteners.  It keeps me in touch with the younger generation.

It is amazing how you get the feeling of people’s reactions even before they speak to you. Last year a young lady came and stood across the aisle from us for a long time, looking at our booth. Whenever I tried to catch her eye, she would look the other way. I got the feeling she would like some information, but did not want to talk to us. So I gave my attention to someone who came by. While I was busy, she came over to the end of the counter and picked up a brochure and walked off with it. My thought and prayer was instinctively “I hope you will save the baby.” I was almost certain that she or someone she knew was pregnant and did not know what to do about it.

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Our Fifty-Eighth Wedding Anniversary

7 Sep

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and Artist

Bill and I were married at the Congregational Church in La Mesa, a small town on the California coast. Friends of Bill’s Mother’s had come through Albuquerque where I lived with my parents, and had invited me to ride back to California where they now lived, so I could visit Bill. He was stationed on the U.S.S Hector at the naval base in San Diego.  It seems now that when we decided to get married, so I could stay there with him, all we had to do was say, “We’re getting married,” and everything was done for us that could be done at such short notice.” In case you’re wondering, it wasn’t a “shot-gun” wedding. Even though we’d been engaged for a year, our mothers were shocked when we called them.  Since Bill was only nineteen and a parent had to sign for a boy under twenty-one, Bill’s mother sent her permission. I, as a girl of eighteen, did not need signed permission from my parents, but I did need a blood test.

Our dads were unable to be there because they were both on business trips – William Lites, Senior, for the Southern Baptist Convention and Ivan Bowers for the Atomic Energy Commission.  They worked hard to support their families and were both gone many hours and days throughout our teenage years.

Our mothers worked for the government at desk jobs in Albuquerque.  They worked hard too, but they had more regular hours and were able to come to the wedding.  My Mother, Dora Bowers, drove out with my Aunt Jenny, and my cousin, Kathy.  Bill’s mother, Agnes, and Bill’s younger sister, Judy, flew out on a  TWA Constellation from Albuquerque.

I had planned to wear my pink linen dress from the previous Easter for the wedding. It had only a tiny stain on the skirt, but Joan, the lady I was staying with, insisted on borrowing a wedding dress from her friend.  We were married by the Reverend Curtis Claire.  He chucked obey from the wedding service because he thought it was too old fashioned.

1 wedding

We had the weekend before Labor Day to get ready for the wedding. Our mothers and hosts booked the church, bought the cake, made the punch, took us grocery shopping, and helped us find a place to live, none of which either of us had ever done before.

We drove Aunt Jenny’s car away from the church. When we left Joan’s house after the reception, however, we had to get into Bill’s chopped and channeled 1932 five-window Ford Coupe and drive the ten miles on the San Diego Freeway to our new home. It was a bedsit in an old house, next to Balboa Park in a suburb of San Diego.  We had the tiniest yard you ever saw, with a pomegranate tree in it. We left the white vinyl couch made into a bed because we were at work all day and it wasn’t worth bothering to fold it up every morning and put it down every night.

Chop Car

On Bill’s first day off, we went to the San Diego Zoo. I don’t’ think I’d ever been to a zoo before. It was wonderful and I loved it. I got a job at a diner and rode the bus to work. We had a lot of fun, we both loved the movies and went to one every weekend in downtown San Diego. On quiet nights at home, with no T V, Bill worked on model airplanes and I read library books. On a misty night in January, we packed everything we owned into the second-hand Mercury Bill had traded the hot rod for. We drove over California mountains and across Arizona desert to Albuquerque where I stayed for eight months attending Beauty School while Bill went cruising to Japan swabbing decks all the way.

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The Concert

6 Sep

Judy is still on break and I am sharing this one from the archives, September of 2012.  Enjoy~ Onisha

Sunday Memories

 Judy Wills

JUDY

 

I always remember there being a piano in the house.  Mother would sometimes sit down and play her favorite hymns from memory, with embellishments.  Occasionally we four would gather around the piano and sing along – Mom playing, Daddy on bass, brother on tenor, me on soprano.  Fond memories.

I started taking piano lessons the day I started first grade, and continued until I graduated from high school.  Now you might have thought that I was some kind of whiz on that instrument – and you would be dead wrong!  Talent?  Yes, I think God gave me some talent.  But not the GIFT.  I always have to have that piece of sheet music in front of my face, or I can’t play anything.

As time went on, I honed my talent, and became fairly accomplished.  My usual fare was church pianist, and occasionally the organist.

Our new Minister of Music wanted to do something new and different – so he organized six of us pianists and we began preparing for a six-piano concert!  One of the local piano stores had a room full of Clavinovas (digital/electronic pianos), and allowed us to practice at the store.

Close to time for the concert, and the pianos were moved to the church.  Up on the stage they went, and our practice time was closer to home.  We played two or three pieces all together – different parts of the song, like an orchestra.  Then we each played a duet with one of the other pianists, then a solo.  We were each to introduce ourselves to the audience and tell something about ourselves – just to get acquainted.

Friday night came – and the first concert.  The sanctuary was nearly full!  And then it became a labor of love – for the instrument and for our God who gave us all the talent to use for His Glory!  A labor of love, but such fun, as well.  My sister-in-law said, “WOW that was Great!!  What a glorious thing to hear SIX pianos played by six talented musicians all at one time!  I can sense God’s hand in this concert and in these musicians.”

I like to think that all those piano lessons have paid off.  I may not have the gift, but what talent I have, I use for God’s Glory.

Oh sing to the LORD a new song, for He has done marvelous things!

His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him.

 

Psalm 98:1

 

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Latch on to Love

4 Sep

From the Heart

Louise Gibson

Louise Gibson

When we let go of the negative
we can latch on to the positive,
and that positive emotion is love.
Love is like a healing balm.
Open your heart to receive it.
It comes from our Lord above.

Accept what you cannot change.
The circumstances wouldn’t have been different
by anything you could have done.
Love is forever.
With love battles are won.

Love shows up in so many ways.
It brings comfort and strength when we feel weak.
Hate doesn’t take you where love does.
It is the peace of God that we seek.

Everything you want is on the other side of fear.
Fear is the killer of dreams.
Rise above your circumstances, don’t stay under them.
Nothing is as bad as it seems.

Painting by DiVoran Lites

Painting by DiVoran Lites

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Electronic Flu

3 Sep

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

Are you retired and feeling burned out? I couldn’t ever imagine feeling that way while I was still  working. Yet that is exactly what happened to me. Each week I spend hours online, being social and learning everything I can about marketing novels. I enjoy doing it, but even a good thing can become overdone. I was certainly overdone.

Fortunately God knows my needs before I do and we were offered the opportunity to cruise  at a very low rate. As time drew closer I went through my eReader selecting books I wanted to read and put them in a collection. By the time I finished, I had forty books for my one week cruise, maybe a bit over optimistic.

On a hot Saturday in August the three of us boarded  the ship and made our first big decision.  We were going to skip the welcome aboard show and spend the time on the upper deck, hoping to see a sunset. (We have cruised many times but have seen very few sunsets, due to dinner and show schedules.)

Well worth missing the show.

Well worth missing the show.

That set the tone for the rest of our vacation. “No Schedules, No Plans” Formal night? Who needs it? We chose alternative dining and had the chance to enjoy talking with the servers and the grilled steak in that venue is way better than the steak in the dining room. I do have to add an addendum here. Rebekah did have a schedule as she had a deadline to meet with her fabulous editor, Clive S Johnson.

DSCN0968

Rebekah working to make her deadline.

 By the end of the cruise, we had attended one afternoon show and one movie in the theater. We even skipped all the dining rooms one night and opted for room service.

The best part was being completely unplugged. Instead of internet, I opted for good old-fashioned reading pleasure.

 I had planned to download more books to my device when I went ashore to an internet cafe, but we didn’t bother getting off the ship except for a shore excursion in Jamaica. I didn’t come close to reading forty novels, but five is not too shabby.

The Books

Amelia’s Story by D.G. Torrens

I have been wanting to read this books for ages. The author experienced abuse that no child should ever have to endure from a mother. Yet the story showed me a young girl of great courage and spirit. I am looking forward to reading the sequel which I believe will pick up around age eighteen.

Think by Valerie Howard

After reading Amelia’s Story, I chose Think for my next read and it was a perfect choice after the emotion of Torrens’ novel.  While Amelia  was an outspoken heroine, Nicole, the main character of Think is just the opposite. She is stressed to the max trying to say the right thing and stuffing down her emotions. That is until she meets an odd man at the pharmacy.

Cassidy Jones and the Secret Formula by Elise Stokes

This is book one of the Cassidy Jones series. It falls into the Young Adult genre and for several years I put off reading it because I thought it was a kid book. Wrong. YA books are awesome. I read this one out-of-order as I read the fourth book Cassidy Jones and the Luminous first. After reading it, I knew I had to have the whole series.  Cassidy is involved in a lab accident that causes her DNA to mutate. The mutation led to her having supercharged senses and they scared her. I don’t read superhero books but this series is special and readers of any age will enjoy the books. I hope book five will be coming  out in the near future.

Army of the Worn Soles by Scott Bury

Scott is a member of a writing Face Book group, Art Knows No Bounds which I am a member of. We hosted his cover reveal on Rebekah Lyn Books  and I knew as soon as I heard the story behind the book, that I had to read it. For a history fan, the first sentence of the blurb hooked me.

“A Canadian is drafted into the Soviet Red Army in 1941, just in time to be thrown against Nazi Germany’s invasion in Operation Barbarossa.”

The novel is a based on facts Scott gathered from conversations with his father-in-law over a number of years. A popular author I read calls books like this one, “Faction.” It is a fascinating look into the life of an unwilling soldier in the Red Army. It does have strong language, but appropriate in a war setting.

Murder for Glacier Blue by Diane Rapp

This book is part of the author’s High Seas Mysteries series. All the stories are set on cruise ships, so a perfect read! I have read other books in the series and it was fun to reunite with Kayla and Steven, especially since this is their wedding cruise. Of course Kayla and Steven always fall into a mystery and a murder and this book is no exception. I have to confess I am still reading this one. I am feel like I am on the cruise with them and loving the scenery. I am almost to the wedding part and I can’t wait to see how that turns out. Will the horrid ex be a problem, will anyone else die?

. Before the cruise I felt used up. I think I was suffering from “electronic flu.” I believe it is quite common in today’s world. Employers are now considering allowing employees to use their electronic devices while working, thereby enabling the spread of the flu. Is there a cure? Yes, find a quiet place and read a good book!

My next read is Burnt Secrets by Barbara Martin. I planned to read it on the cruise but I  hadn’t downloaded it to my device. It is set in the Smoky Mountains (My favorite place) and I am sure it will be a good read.

Random photos

I worked hard today.
Tea at Good Hope Plantation, Jamaica
Murders scare me
Our version of afternoon tea.
You can’t ake me leave.

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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 2

2 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

1

 Day 2 – Thursday July 2nd

We landed at London-Gatwick Airport in a typical cloudy/fogy English day. I was surprised when stepping out of the airport to find it as hot and humid there as it had been in Orlando when I left. I took the local commuter train from the airport to Crawley (10 minutes) where I had scheduled the pickup of my rental car.

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It was a 5-minute uphill walk in that heat and humidity to the Arora Hotel where the Budget Rental Car office was located. At check-in, the only instructions I received regarding how to operate the rental car was how to open the trunk. If you haven’t driven a modern car recently, let me tell you, the multitude of bells and whistles can be overwhelming. It took me all day to figure out how to operate the cruise control, and I never did figure out how to turn off the rear window wiper. The avoidance control system on the car was something else. I can see that a one-button programmable trip control for automobiles (while you sleep) is just around the corner.

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Once I got on the road, “Day 1” almost turned into a total disaster! Nothing seemed to be working. My iPhone had no bars and my Garmin wouldn’t work. Ron had told me not to make or receive phone calls while I was in the UK, so I wondered around a large portion of the southeast of England that day, asking for directions, and staying lost almost of the time. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was going to be absolutely lost without “Greta” (my Garmin) during this entire trip, so when I was able, I sent Ron a text for “HELP” hoping he would receive it.

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I learned right-a-way that trying to learn all the rules, regulations and road etiquette in the UK, while driving on the “wrong” side of the road and trying to read the road signs, is a daunting task. Parking is a whole new experience, and I don’t think I’ll ever understand how that works!

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Somehow, during all that running around lost, I did manage to locate the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum situated on the old WWII Tangmere airfield. This museum had a small collection of aircraft outside and in one small hanger.

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The Goodwood Aerodrome in Chichester was RAF Westhampnett during WWII where No. 145 & 602 Squadrons were stationed, during the Battle of Britain. I learned that it was from this airfield that Douglas Bader flew his last sortie. Today it is a private airfield where they host airshows and auto racing events.

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I was so tired and frustrated by 4 o’clock in the afternoon that I just had to stop, take a Stress Gummy, and pray for help from my Friend upstairs. Thankfully Ron called and was able to help me with most of my problems. That allowed me to continue on to find the Solent Sky Museum in Southampton, which is a small museum with one large hanger and 18 beautifully restored aircraft inside.

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Then it was on to check out the Bournemouth Aviation Museum just outside the city of Bournemouth. This museum only had 7 aircraft outside, none of which were in the best condition.

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Then, Greta started acting up, (taking me along farm backroads and through small neighborhoods) before I finally found The Kings Arms, located in the small village of Georgeham, Devon outside Exeter. This 600 year old Pub & Inn was showing its age, but was well kept. When I walked into the pub that evening, the owner looked up from pulling a pint of ale and said, “How can I help you Mate?” He was a great host and carried my bag up the two flights of narrow stairs to my room. Boy did the bed feel good that night!
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—–To be Continued—–

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Hurricane Mania

1 Sep

Woo-hoo we have a guest blogger today! We have been trying to convince our friend,  Pam to try her hand at blogging ( she is an excellent writer) for years-Onisha

Hurricane Spaghetti Plot

A friend, and a new Florida resident, asked for “storm wisdom and suggestions”….so here goes, my tongue-in-cheek, short version of how to deal with Hurricane Mania in Florida.

   

Florida Homeowner 101 Tutorial –

9 Steps for a Safe Hurricane Experience

1. “PREP”  No matter what is happening around you, try to remain calm until 24 hours before landfall (and have a room reservation inland with a 24-hour free cancellation policy).  While remaining calm,  it’s ok to pull out the pre-packed Hurricane Prep Kit/Bin/paper sack from underneath the staircase before, or at the 72-Hour mark before landfall. This action is socially acceptable as a Florida resident. New to Florida?  You are allowed to use your “call a friend, option, search the Internet, wander around the plywood section at Lowe’s, or look helpless by the flashlights. You are even allowed to worry a little as long as it directs you into a smart action plan.

2. “KEEPING INFORMED”  It’s ok to watch local weather folks but remember to breathe deeply between reports/updates. Updates will continue to look differently as the event progresses-lots of times for the good-but you should kinda worry when your outside cat turns up missing (they sense these things) or the weather channel brings on the gray haired experts (who aren’t normally on camera) or they start broadcasting live feeds at the end of your driveway!

3. “FOOD”  Check the expiration dates on canned goods (last BIG Florida storm was 10 years ago). Respect Tropical Storms-they are not “an out of the woods” trump card. Power goes out with 45 mph winds too!  If you lose power have a pact with your family or friend that everyone crashes at the “house with power”; “Tag-you’re it” agreement. Not really a legal document but you may get a free meal out of it.

4. “SPIRITUAL SPIN”  You can remain in denial until the 24-Hr. mark.  Still time to pray the storm away at this point. Others may already be praying; it’s time for you to hop on and join them to make sure you are part of the action (this has worked MANY times in Florida).  When you finally see where landfall is going to happen, and its somewhere else, God will forgive you if you think/say “Thank God it went somewhere else!”.  Just don’t repeat that to your friend who just lost his roof in another state.

5. “PARTY TIME” It’s ok if you have a “cone party” but NOT a Hurricane Party!  Cone parties are for watching the shifting of the cone landfall probability maps on TV.  You can serve a spaghetti dinner, as they are now referring to the different tracking models as “spaghetti” maps. These predictions come everywhere from the National Weather Center, colleges (from Master Program students??!), Weather Underground (from Underground Atlanta? Or Natchez Under the Hill?), and from the freelance “weatherman” who is tracking the storm from his den while watching football and the Weather Channel updates.

Hurricane Parties are still NOT in vogue in Florida or smart!  Give the cops your next of kin’s phone #.

6. “OFFICIAL DISCLAIMER”  “Hope for the Best but Prepare for the Worst -just get ready!” Message from the Governor usually happens before or around the 72-Hour mark or whenever they can’t figure out where it’s going.

7. “COMMUNICATION”   No! You may not have phones, texting, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, etc available for crucial updates and calls for help. Figure it out. Your phone may not be able to get you help as you are under rubble or broke down on the road, unless you have great confidence that cell tower #20 is up and running or that your phone battery has juice!  Don’t take chances thinking technology (and the Weather Channel app) replaces early preparedness or common sense. Ever heard of batteries, weather radios, and flashlights?  Think ancient survival.  Call an old person if that’s a reach for you. Also, think,”I’m an idiot” for taking a video outside in 80 mph winds for a FB post.

8. “THE ESSENTIALS”  Filling the tub with water is not so you have water if your son’s wife goes into labor (hot water needed for that you know) or to be used for drinking water (is YOUR bathtub really THAT clean?).  Tub water does work for flushing the toilet-do I need to spell it out? Young person-YouTube may have a video for you on this simple procedure.

9. “WEAK MOMENTS”  Know that you may “chicken out” after holding out until the 24 hour mark….especially if Mother Nature decides to deliver a surprise or two-like making a right hand turn straight into the coast, or slowing down until it’s a monster storm large enough to cover Florida coast to coast on the radar!  It’s ok to panic, but only for a moment (you must NOT appear as an unprepared Florida resident a.k.a. stupid). Just pack the dog and cat and RUN if not too late.  Try not to ride out the storm in the road gridlock or at the 7-11 where the line to the bathroom is 28 and one wheelchair deep!  Also remember your fellow evacuees will not be in a pleasant mood, may be hungry or may be regretting their decision to place their lives in the path of a fickle storm-be prepared for glares, lane blocking, horn blowing and……

In conclusion, there’s not a perfect “10 steps for Hurricane Safety” in this post, just an apology from this humble writer that she couldn’t come up with 10, and a reminder that there is no “perfect, tidy” fool-proof plan. Just go back to Steps 4 and 6 and go by that-take it from this storm veteran and be Safe, Smart, and Senile-no not senile!   but you get the idea!

Just be prepared-visit with friends in the grocery store-have a plan and plywood-and know if you live in Florida long enough you will see some kind of storm in your lifetime.

Blessings and in Sincerity, Pam

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