Ivan the Terrible
As some of you may know, I live close enough to the Gulf of Mexico to be concerned about the presence of any hurricane that makes it this far. Ivan is a bother. Without being too specific, I will say I am currently west of the strike zone, but not sufficiently west to ignore the need for necessary precaution. Our parish was issued a voluntary evacuation order about 1:30 this afternoon. Parts of the parish are now under mandatory evacuation – mostly those living in low-lying areas or in mobile homes.
Neither of those describes me. I feel relatively secure, well out of the danger of flooding, but there are windows to be boarded up and patio furniture to be stored in the garage and potted plants to removed to a safer haven. Garbage cans must be put away and all items that one might usually have in one’s garden or patio area that can become dangerous as flying objects have to be stored somewhere out of the direct path of the wind that is predicted.
So, I was more than a bit miffed when our school officials insisted on a full day of school today. I could think of nothing more than how much work I had to do before the rain begins. Because once it begins, it will not stop for at least 24 hours. And mucking about in the rain is not my idea of a great time.
I was doubly miffed when I left school to go to the bank for cash in case of emergencies and discovered my bank had closed at noon today – with no warning! Now, that’s a heck of a thing, since they know full well that many people will need cash to get out of town. By that time today, all hotels in Louisiana were full and folks were having to make reservations as far away as Dallas, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee. Fortunately, I’m not planning on going anywhere. I have a couple of friends coming to stay who are more than a little skittish over the storm. But I would still like to have more than nine dollars in my wallet. Bless the checks and the credit cards!
(I know – I should move on to ATMs, but to tell you the truth, ATM machines seem unsafe to me. They make me a little skittish!)
So, here I sit, in my self-constructed cave, eating pasta and drinking Chardonnay and listening to Nora Jones and Andrea Bocelli and wondering at the pleasures of simple things – of living not with wealth but with the richness of finding joy in the moment.
Even moments such as these.
I will be recoding periodic updates, for those who wish to check back from time to time. Pictures will be forthcoming, for those who’ve never seen sandbags and boards. And for as long as I am able, I will photograph trees swaying in the breeze from the shelter of my front porch.
Neither of those describes me. I feel relatively secure, well out of the danger of flooding, but there are windows to be boarded up and patio furniture to be stored in the garage and potted plants to removed to a safer haven. Garbage cans must be put away and all items that one might usually have in one’s garden or patio area that can become dangerous as flying objects have to be stored somewhere out of the direct path of the wind that is predicted.
So, I was more than a bit miffed when our school officials insisted on a full day of school today. I could think of nothing more than how much work I had to do before the rain begins. Because once it begins, it will not stop for at least 24 hours. And mucking about in the rain is not my idea of a great time.
I was doubly miffed when I left school to go to the bank for cash in case of emergencies and discovered my bank had closed at noon today – with no warning! Now, that’s a heck of a thing, since they know full well that many people will need cash to get out of town. By that time today, all hotels in Louisiana were full and folks were having to make reservations as far away as Dallas, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee. Fortunately, I’m not planning on going anywhere. I have a couple of friends coming to stay who are more than a little skittish over the storm. But I would still like to have more than nine dollars in my wallet. Bless the checks and the credit cards!
(I know – I should move on to ATMs, but to tell you the truth, ATM machines seem unsafe to me. They make me a little skittish!)
So, here I sit, in my self-constructed cave, eating pasta and drinking Chardonnay and listening to Nora Jones and Andrea Bocelli and wondering at the pleasures of simple things – of living not with wealth but with the richness of finding joy in the moment.
Even moments such as these.
I will be recoding periodic updates, for those who wish to check back from time to time. Pictures will be forthcoming, for those who’ve never seen sandbags and boards. And for as long as I am able, I will photograph trees swaying in the breeze from the shelter of my front porch.
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