Yesterday evening we attended an event that we heard about through our local library, about the book "A Land Remembered."  Memaw came too, and got her book signed, but our book is still with a friend, we have loaned it out so many times, that I almost another copy.  Britt and Ruth came too.  The show had tons of video clips by the author Patrick Smith who passed away 6 years ago, and was given by his son, Rick Smith (Patrick Jr.).  I have read the book aloud many times for Gary, especially on road trips, and the kids have heard bits and pieces of it over the years.  We would highly recommend it.  Afterward, there were refreshments downstairs in the art gallery and we enjoyed looking at the Florida themed art as well.  Ruth and I found a picture that we decided Gary could get for us, for only $1700.  Needless to say, I don't expect to ever own any real art.  For this week's blog post I wanted to get the two of them together to share their thoughts about the show.


Momma:  What was your favorite part of the show yesterday?
Britt:  The video of the alligator eating a water buffalo.  It was about a part of the book where they lose a bunch of cows to gators.
Ruth:  I think some of my favorite part, was his (Rick's) imagination, with the tour bus, plane, and semis to take this show on the road.  He said, the semi's are parked outside with my tour bus, and I whispered to Britt, in his imagination.

Momma:  Share one thing you learned about Florida history yesterday.
Ruth:   I learned that in Mississippi there were lakes and stuff for you to swim in, but in Florida you couldn't swim in lakes because alligators might eat you.  Patrick at 13 for the first time in Florida he saw an actual swimming pool made of concrete in 1940.
Britt:  People from Florida were originally called Florida crackers from the sound of a cattle whip.  It is not an insult here.  The man teaching yesterday, was no good with a whip, we saw a video that was funny.

Momma:  Do you think you would have liked coming to the Florida wilderness during the Civil War and starting a life just using the tools you brought?
Britt:  Yes.  It would be a fun adventure and I like the woods.  It would have been worth the hardships, a near starvation for two years.  Beside I could always eat Ruth. hahahahahaha
Ruth:  I like living out in the country, wilderness with the animals.  But it is also really hard, there is not much food, and it would be a long journey, but if it was actually peaceful it would be fun.  Not like during the Civil War.

Momma:  What would life be like if you had never meet another kid and rarely saw another adult until you were 18 years old, because you lived in such an isolated place?
Ruth:  It would be hard and lonely, but you could also see things differently than other people.
Britt:  Easy and fun, because I wouldn't have to worry about anyone messing up my cabin while hunting and other things.

Momma:  What did you think about the part of the book, where he said, that this is God's land, and we are just tenets for a little while, and that he must surely be angry with what we have done in developing Miami?
Britt:  The woods were gone forever, and that makes me sad.  But I am happy because I like restaurants, and baseball fields, and being able to run to Walmart.
Ruth:  It makes me feel sad in ways, because all the animals are gone.  There is no wildlife or forest to explore.  Or take a vacation out in the country like what we read about in Rascal.  But, it makes me happy that we have Walmart and roads, and towns to live in.  I like having friends nearby, but I like living in the country and the olden days sounds kinda fun.  Where it was free almost and no one was there.  Life is easier by far, but sometimes it's a little too easy.

Sept 22nd was the first day of Fall.  What do you think of when you think of fall?

I think about going to Ahna and Grump's house, where Grumps makes a gianormous pile of leaves and us jumping in.  I think about eating a big, giant piece of turkey.  I think of having fun at Ahna and Grumps' house with Neela.  And that's pretty much it.  Yes, I like fall.  Why wouldn't I?  The leaves are all different kinds of colors, we get to go to Ahna and Grump's house.  Everything is great about fall.  I really like getting to see all the pretty colors of the leaves.  It kinda reminds me of a rainbow, but not in that order.  There is red and orange and yellow and sometimes that really dark purply color.  It's my second favorite part of the year, after Christmas.

Here in our neck of the woods, we went from forecast of little impact as we would be on the west side of the storm, to mandatory evacuations in case of storm surge since the eye would pass directly over us, to ultimately having the storm pass so far east, that sustained winds here only reached 90 mph (of course there were gust here and there that registered higher).















We had portions of 5 trees down in our yard, plus a whole host of branches.  Our two massive banyan trees in the front yard, had the tops break out of them.  We have two palm trees completely down in the back. And the top of our nearly dead mulberry tree broke out, but it's not in the yard, so we don't know where it went.  We also have 5 Norfolk Pines next to the house, some of which are missing half their branches or more.  Gary warned me that they resembled telephone poles, but it's not quite that drastic.  Our neighbor to the east also has small trees and bushes planted down his property line, and several of those either broke off or completely came down along our yard.  It's strange now we can actually see neighbors on both side of us, that we couldn't before.  And, there are so many leaves down we can't see mulch stone, or even some of the low plants in the kids' garden spaces.  We also had two small leaks, one in our bedroom over my desk, and another in the back porch.

Before

After

It's straight up miraculous though that none of the trees fell on the house.  I'm not sure that there is 2 yards between the Norfolk Pines which are apparently very brittle trees and Britt's bedroom wall.  Those massive Banyan trees could have EASILY ended up on the girls' bedroom, and gone through the roof.  After the initial reports we expected to lose our shed and the carport, but everything was fine.  It was shocking to see all the trees down though.  The yard's going to look really different.  I suppose it might speed up when we get the tree work down that we've been talking about doing since January.



This year has been one of those weather cycles, for big Hurricanes.  They expect to have 19 named storms this year that would put us up to the letter S.  Harvey, Irma, and now Maria have been strong storms, one a rain maker, the other a wind maker, and Maria and strong fast developing storm.  We have friends who have been affected by all three.  I especially feel for those on the Caribbean islands.  Many of the houses aren't built to the requirements that homes in Florida are built for, and being barely above sea level they have trouble with storm surge, that we don't have inland here.  But most of all they are on the path for storm after storm.

 Ever since I can remember, Daddy has loved astronomy.  He woke us up in the middle of the night to see comets, taught us the constellations, showed us how to find the planets, and always shared his amazement at this distant part of God's creation.  We have always had telescopes and star charts.  He always got an Astronomy magazine in the mail.  Because star gazing in North Alabama is best in the winter, we often had on pajamas and winter coats trying to stay warm to see the space station fly over, or hope to make it long enough to see a meteor shower.  However, one thing I have never seen (and Daddy either for that matter) was a solar eclipse.




Yesterday we all met in Smyrna Tennessee, with plans to drive up to Cedars of Lebannon state park this morning.  It worked out marvelous.  Britt who is always complaining that we never do nature walks in the woods anymore (kinda hard in S. Florida where there are no woods), got to take a long hour or so meander down several trails with me and Rebecca.  The kids played with some velcro balls, like we kids and cousins use to use hanging out all day for the balloon races.  We pulled out a frisbee which Ruth lost in the woods and a kickball, that Neela liked playing with as much as the kids.  Katherine napped on a blanket much of the time.  And ever so often we checked in on the status of the eclipse watching it get closer and closer to complete.


I've read about solar eclipses, watched videos, seen pictures.  But it didn't REMOTELY compare to seeing one in person. In the roughly hour leading up to totality.  You could gradually feel the temp drop, and tell that the sun wasn't as bright as usual.  The shadows began to have a sharper contrast like near sunset, but they don't lengthen any.  As more time passed we saw Venus appear high in the sky.  In the last minute or so before totality, it goes from daylight to twilight almost immediately.  MUCH faster than any of us expected.  As you look around at the horizon it is a redish purplish color like at the very end of day, but it's on all sides not only in the west.  The crickets came alive, and then we saw Jupiter and Arcturus in the sky.  But the most amazing part was seeing the Sun's corona.  It wasn't at all as expected.  The sky was a deep rich navy, and it was the faintest feathery white.  It appeared to move almost like a flare or almost like a white sheer curtain moving in a breeze.  It doesn't really move, it's only the way the light passes through the atmosphere, but it was stunning.  It was an unbelievable view of a portion of God's handiwork that is impossible to view at any other time.

Capture Your Grief - Day 31 - Sunset Reflection

Again we've come to the end of the month of October, and the end of these daily post.  I appreciate all those who took the time to read them, or share them with someone you know who has had a loss.  I hope they help others to remember that grief doesn't magically end, and gives you some insight or ability to better deal with others in your life in a similar situation.

Reflecting back, I'm in such a different place this year than last.  Doesn't mean that I don't miss her, and this new pregnancy is drudging up all kinds of feelings and stresses and worries.  It's not quite the raw and searing pain it was before, at least it's not that way as often.  The story of grief being like waves, has really held true for me.  At first they are one on top of each other and they are 90 feet high, and over time they get more spaced out, and eventually aren't as big.  Though from time to time a massive one will still come along and sweep you under for a little while.

A year both has both been a blessing and a curse. The grief and longing usually isn't as intense, but it's also depressing, in that I get ever further away from her.  I can't see her as clearly in my mind anymore, and our pictures weren't taken right away, and little details had already begun to fade.  Her blanket, I noticed as I folded it up to box up the other night, doesn't smell like her at all anymore.  It's been more than a year since I held her, and I suspect it will be many, many more years till I see her again.  The entire road so often feels bitter or sweet.  And sometimes it's both at the same time.

Gary snapped me a sunset photo from the farm tonight.

Describe your favorite season.

My favorite season is the beginning of fall.  Because you get to jump in a pile of leaves.  And I like raking with Grumpsy with the pink rake.  In Pennsylvania I use to jump off the picnic table into a big pile of leaves.  I like the different colors of the leaves.  I don't have a favorite leaf color, but I like them all together.  I also like the warm fall clothes, especially my clothes with the squirels.  They are my favorite.  I like when it starts to get cold at fall.  It's super fun, sometimes if it gets cold enough it might snow, and it's fun when it snows at fall.  The leaves falling on the snow.  I like Halloween.  It's my favorite time of fall.  Because we get to trick or treat and get candy for free.  And we get to dress up.  This year, me and Britt and Rebecca and Momma are all going to be Indians. (Now she is making the sound effects.)  And sometimes if you go to a special place you get to trade out candy for toys.

Halloween