Wednesday, September 28, 2022

We Are Perfectly Okay Here


As southwest Florida was just beginning to be pummeled, this is what was going on in my yard in Lloyd. My beautiful banana bloom. There are eleven bananas on the stalk and they look as healthy and fat as any bananas I've ever personally grown. 


And here are two confederate roses, high up in the tree with buds of more to come. 

We've gotten nothing more here today than a good stiff breeze now and then. Probably the slightest and most distant of wind bands from Ian. Meanwhile, the footage coming in from the coast south of Tampa looks horrifying. The water in Tampa Bay got sucked out and will return- perhaps with terrible swiftness. 

I talked with Lis this morning. They are far more in the path than we are, more in the center of the state not far from Gainesville. She said they are "buttoned up" with windows boarded and everything tied down that can be. They have food, a small generator, water and liquor. I offered for them to come stay with us but she said no, they were going to be fine and I said, "Well, if your house blows away come live with us."
Their house will be fine. 
Many will not be.
I can't tell you how scared so much of Florida is right now. Once a hurricane has hit your area, there is nothing to do but wait it out the best you can. There is no leaving in the middle of a hurricane. Rescue crews cannot get to you. Phones may not work. You are out of contact with the rest of the world. Walls may not stand, windows may be broken by pressure or debris. Doors can be torn from hinges. Yards can flood and houses can fill with water. 
This is the reality of it. People who joke about hurricane parties have never truly been in a bad hurricane. It ain't no party. It's nothing like a party. It is hang on and don't let go.

The relief guilt has been overwhelming today. And besides that, even if we are not being physically affected by the storm, there is what I can only call a disturbance in the air. Last night's eerie sunset was a perfect illustration for the feeling of there being a sort of beauty, a sort of stillness, a sort of unnatural calm and color. 
I have been anxious all day for no apparent reason. It was my Levon and August pick-up day and Mr. Moon decided to go with me to hang out with his boys. We had a good time with them and they were surprised and delighted to see their Boppy. We took Levon to lunch at Chow Time where he ate a few bites of pineapple and cantaloupe and a small bowl of three kinds of ice cream. Oh well. He'd already eaten his lunch at school. 


"We are so proud to be taking you to lunch," I told him. He was a very, very good boy. Of course. 

Cherry is growing fast now, and wants to play all the time. 


I can't believe that I am sitting here writing this as if nothing was going on and nothing IS going on here except those occasional tiny wind gusts that flutter the leaves and stir the branches. 


Boys eat peanuts while hens hope for a dropped nut. 


The men look at footage from the trail cam. 

I am about to heat up leftovers and tomorrow I will be getting ready for a little gathering here on Saturday for birthdays. Mr. Moon will be leaving on Friday for Tennessee. 
All so normal. So oddly, weirdly, unbelievably normal. 
We may not even get any rain. 

Thank all of you for your good wishes and hopes for our safety. We are fine. Absolutely, no doubt, completely fine. 
How I wish everyone was so lucky tonight. 

Love...Ms. Moon





20 comments:

  1. I thought of you all day and am greatly relieved to hear all is well. My heart aches for the many, many people who's lives will be full of pain, loss and heartache.....and there will likely be SO many. I lift my glass to all of them tonight and think of them
    Susan M.

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  2. I agree with everything Susan has said ... it has been a worry for everyone today! ❤

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  3. I've been checking on everyone I can get news of in Florida, so relieved about people with good news, so nervous about people I can't reach.

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  4. I am so, so happy. Not fun to think about.

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  5. Well, that's a relief. Don't feel guilty, luck of the draw. I've not been in a hurricane but i can imagine the dread coming and going. And then picking up the pieces.

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  6. I was happy to see your area would be fine when I checked online earlier today. So unsettling for all. Here in the Midwest we have tornado threats so I guess it's always something. I've tried to think of a perfect place to live and I don't believe there is one.

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  7. I am so pleased you are ok. Don't feel guilty - it's the luck of the draw and I know you will be the first to jump in and help if it's needed.

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  8. So thankful that you and your neck of the woods is escaping unscathed. So worried about those in harm's way, old Florida friends and strangers alike.

    Chris from Boise

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  9. WHEW!!! That is a relief! AND your banana flower is astonishing- exotic dancer! Your family as lovely as ever, and safe..Is GOOD!

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  10. I thought about you all day and am grateful you’re fine. The devastation looks terrible.

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  11. For some reason, I’m anonymous. It’s Elizabeth in LA. 🤔

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  12. I am so glad you are all fine, sorry for those who aren't of course, but I don't know anyone in that part of Florida. I only know you and your family. Is that Lucky waiting for a peanut? He got so big!

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  13. I was in touch with my friend in Polk County near Orlando yesterday and she told me that they were getting out of there. After what they went through with Hurricane Charlie there was no way they were staying. I do hope everyone is ok!

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  14. The first thing I did when I woke up this morning ( Thursday) was to check on the hurricane. I was so pleased to see that it was missing you, but the stories ( CNN) of the damage it has done in other parts was upsetting.

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  15. You even have sunshine! That's amazing.

    When I used to live in Tampa people told stories about how hurricanes sucked the water out of the bay, and I always thought it was an old wives' tale or an exaggeration. But no. (We were never hit by a hurricane in my time there.)

    A friend posted some devastating photos of damage in Venice, where I used to live and work. The community theater there has collapsed.

    Scary.

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  16. I'm thankful that you and yours are safe and sound. I contacted my cousin down in Wellington to make sure she was okay and she was. The weather is changing. This one was twice the size of Hurricane Andrew. What happens in a few years when there is another hurricane twice the size of Ian? Hurricane Fiona destroyed Port aux Basques in Newfoundland and parts of PEI. It's getting worse.
    Sending hugs to you and have a lovely birthday celebration on Saturday.

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  17. Good old Ian! He dodged the Tallahassee area. Are you sure those fellows are looking at trail cam footage and not a game of Tetris?

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  18. Aside from about a dozen small tornadoes, we really dodged a bullet in south Florida. The survivor guilt is strong, sending a donation to world central kitchen. They always seem to be first at the scene of all disasters.
    Hoping your friends in Tampa and dear e are ok. My friends in St. Pete are ok, no damage but no power. So grateful yet sad at the suffering that’s surely happening.
    Xoxo
    Barbara

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  19. I've just been looking at videos and photos of the devastation. OMG.

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  20. 37paddington—I’m glad you’re all fine.

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