My journal of big words and pretty pictures
Winds howl, oceans surge Angry and wild, tempests churn Offspring nom de plumes The 2014 Atlantic Hurricane Season opens this Sunday, June 1. The unsurprising weekend forecast for my stretch of the Florida Gulf Coast is rain, and thunderstorms, through at least Tuesday. At the beginning of the 2013 season, Tropical Storm Andrea tracked from June … Continue reading Just a little rain
The Atlantic Hurricane season opens next month, June 1. Over the past several years, the Florida Gulf Coast has been fortunate in that no major storms have made landfall on our shores. We have experienced the effects of a few tropical storms - rain, wind, floods, storm surges - but nothing like our northern East … Continue reading Wave riders
I received a sweet email this week from my friend Kir, she was concerned for my safety since news reports were forecasting a Tropical Storm in the Gulf. First I heard of it, but initially it kind of worried me. A little over 18 years ago, only three weeks after we moved into our home, … Continue reading Beach Break: Tropical Storm Karen
First responders splinter locked front doors with sledge hammers while searching for survivors, but find more victims instead. Wooden jambs swollen from filthy flood waters keep out rescuers more efficiently than steel bolts dissuade looters. Going house to house, the quiet is ominous. Where sounds of laughing children and barking dogs were once block music, … Continue reading Fading scars
Twin red flags whipped furiously in the driving rain. The banner corners, frayed by the frantic urgency of the storm, cracked like wet, twisted towels with every wind direction change. Rangers patrolling the beach on ATVs yelled out warnings to those flirting with rip tides and undertow, cautioning that they would be better off on … Continue reading Hell and hallelujah
Tropical Storm Isaac is tracking west, away from the Florida Panhandle, but aiming directly at New Orleans. With an uncanny, if not cruel, sense of timing, the storm is expected to make landfall seven years to the day after Hurricane Katrina. I'm worried for my NOLA friends. They don't need another storm hit. The good … Continue reading The hurricane that wasn’t
Thin spiral notebook 