Orange Beach, Nov 3-9

Sunday, Nov 3

Our beach sabbatical began yesterday.  We packed the X-Terra on Saturday and were on the road before 9 am.  We drove to Evergreen for an overnight at our usual Sleep Inn.  Sunday morning we were in no rush.  We stopped at Joe Patti's in Pensacola to stock up on some seafood, at the Perdido Seafood Shop for some Gambino french bread and at Winn-Dixie where we bought a rack of ribs. We had a lunch at Fisherman's Corner, also in Perdido.  I had fried gumbo salad and Bill had fried shrimp.  

Friend Gumbo Salad

Fortunately we were able to check in early at Phoenix East II, 2061.  After unloading, we went to the Walmart to stock up on supplies. The 3 BR unit is very nice.  The weather is very blustery, so I didn't venture out to the beach. Supper was ribs and salad.

First of many sunsets in this beautiful place

Monday, Nov 4,  Wedding Anniversary #52

The wind blew strongly all day.  Nevertheless, I ventured out for a morning walk.  The clouds came and went during the 30 minutes, making for a variable experience.   The surf has carved a steep cliff of sand, making access to the water line difficult.  Later, Bill joined me in a short version of our Yoga practice. 

We had a perfect anniversary dinner at Lousiana Lagniappe, a favorite restaurant across the highway on the bay.  We had a table overlooking the small San Roc Marina. Bill ordered fried shrimp and I had grouper , blackened and topped with lobster and crabmeat.  And of course, we had our traditional bottle of Friexenet Brut to commemorate the day.

Tues Nov 5, Election Day: New Year, Day 1

The election this year is momentus and I spent some time reflecting of what it might mean. For my Election Day reflections, go to: https://flowersandfeathers.blogspot.com/2024/11/election-day-tuesday-nov-5-new-year-day.html

We stayed in most of the day, enjoying a quiet morning, reading and watching some TV news talk.  Later we did a yoga routine. The high winds kept us mostly indoors, but we did make a short foray to the grocery store.  Supper was an amalgum of left-overs from Sunday and Monday. I didn't take any pictures today.

Wednesday Nov 6 (NY2)

For my post-elections reflections, go to :

Today's weather was dreary and drizzly, fitting with the mood of the day. Like so many hopeful and optimistic progressives, I am in shock that Trump not only won the election, but did so decisively.  We are now in the Trump/MAGA era, Day 2 of a New Year. (NY2). I started a jigzaw puzzle today.  I don't know if it is mindless activity or a meditative activity. I managed just one photo from the balcony.  Cooking is entertainment for me. so I made a delicious supper of red snapper fillet baked and basted in lemon-butter and topped with 3 crab cakes.  The fillet was large enough that have one piece left over. We had asparagus as our side (and plenty of wine!) I didn't remember to take a picture. 

Thursday, Nov 7 (NY3)

We were greeted by another damp and dreary morning. And the internet in our unit is not working.  So the morning went: breakfast, shower, calling about the internet and spending time with tech support, working on the jigsaw puzzle (I'm starting to see progress), no morning walk, tech support comes and replaces the router, Yoga, with Bill doing level 2 with me today, lunch.  After lunch, we went to Walmart for supplies (and something to do.)

It may take me the whole month to finish this one.

The weather improved as the afternoon progressed, so we went for a sunset walk.  The pictures tell the story.  

From the boardwalk

At the jetty

A pair of pelicans going to roost

Majesty

I made seafood alfredo using the left-over snapper and crabcake. I added some sauted shrimp and served over pasta with a green salad on the side.  Yummy left-overs!

Left-over snapper topped with crabcake in lemon-butter

Seafood Alfredo

Friday, Nov 8 

Surf's up again today.   Bill was encouraged yesterday. He got some shrimp for surf-fishing but it conditions were not conducive.  He has his rods ready though if it ever clears up.  Hurrican Raphael churning far out into the gulf will not directly impact us, but is indirectly causing the high surf.  Despite the wind, I ventured out for a walk on the beach. I am trying to avoid watching the news.  The Senate has flipped to a slight Republican majority but the House is still undecided.

About 4 foot surf

For the actual sunset, we have to lean out of the balcony and peek around the building next door.

Saturday, Nov 9 (NY5)

The world is not getting any better.  I am enjoying my priviledge.  I have been saying I would walk on the beach, then get in the hot tub and then swim.  Today I actually did it!. Bill and I had a good long walk this morning. We sat for a while and watched the surfers.  We may not like the high surf, but lots of fellows do.  Rip currents are strong, so no one else is in the water, but lots of people on the beach.  Lots of people is relative here because it is not crowded at all, as the pictures show.  

One of many

Into the wind

I decided to make gumbo today so I needed a few more ingredients.  We made our almost daily trip to the grocery.  I made some progress on the jigsaw before starting the gumbo process - first peeling the shrimp to make shrimp stock.  Once the stock was done, I made the roux.  Next is cooking down the Trinity in the roux, finally, adding the stock to the roux.  Let that simmer a good long time.  Add shrimp and crabmeat at the end.  Rice, bread and a salad completed the meal.  It was a feast for the ball-game.  Tennessee played Miss State - great game and great win for Tennessee.

NY3: Thursday, November 7

 Thursday, November 7, 3:30 pm

The sun set and the sun came up again. The earth has not tilted on its axis.  One pleasure of a south-facing beach view is being able to both sunrise and sunset. (If it not overcast as it is again today.) All the democratic commentators are wringing their hands and I can't watch.

NY2: Post Election, November 6

Wednesday, Nov 6: New Year Day 2. 2:30 pm

We went to bed last night uncertain of the the election outcome - too close to call. We woke up to our worst fear, Trump is the President-elect. He won not only the electoral college but the popular vote as well.  No Republican candidate has done that since 2004, George W Bush. If there is a silver lining, it is that there will not be a controversary about the outcome.  Votes are still being tabulated, but we have intentionally left the TV off and avoided scrolling on-line media.

The weather is dreary, rain and clouds and the east wind is still blowing. It fits our mood - depressed. We will intentionally avoid despair.  We will hope the worst of his plans will not materialize. We will hope our basic institutions hold. But we recognize that we are living into uncertain and troubling times. It is hard to reconcile that a little more than half of our fellow Americans deem him fit to be president of the United States of American (or don't even have a concept of what that means.)

Yesterday my thoughts were about how the country would manage the chaos if he lost. Today, I worry about how we will avoid slipping into a fascist autocracy.

I have read a few uplifting posts and shared them. I talked to Anna S to encourage her. I have spent several hours working on a hard jugsaw puzzle (until I got a crick in my neck.) I have watched the surf and I keep saying - keep calm and pray on.

I pray that this will not be an existential crisis - but it is.  I pray that our democracy will endure, that my grand-children will experience peace and prosperity.

I am encouraged that in all but one state where reproductive rights were on the ballot, the rights of women were affirmed, even in states like Missouri that Trump won by big margins. The ballot measure did not pass in Florida because a 60% majority was required and it got 57%. 

I am discouraged that the Senate and probably the House will be controlled by Republicans with very slim majorities.  I predict that the Senate will abolish the filibuster at some point in the next two years. 

I will keep on keeping on.  My take-away from today's Daily Discipline (Psalm 127:1-5) is this: "It is not our role to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders."

at 6:00 pm November 6: 

The Dow Jones Average closed at 43,492; the annual inflation rate is 2.2% and unemployment is 4.1%

  

 

NY1: Election Day, Tuesday Nov 5

 Tues Nov 5, Election Day: Day 1, 2:30 pm

There are many ways to start a new year. January 1 is the start of our western calendar year. Chinese New Year fall later in January or February. For some, spring solstice signals a new year for the cycle of new growth and birth. July 4 is celebrated in the USA as the beginning of our nation. For students and teachers a new new begins in late August or early September. Easter in the spring celebrates a beginning for Christians but the Christian calendar starts anew every year at the beginning of Advent, about four weeks before Christmas, the birth of Jesus. 

When I pick up my log book to begin again after a long absence, it feels like the start of a new year.  I began many years ago to record our vacations.  Initially I started by writing a haiku to commemorate each day.  This week, on Sunday, November 3, Bill and I began what I refer to as a sabbatical, a time away from our regular routines, a time at the beach, a time for rest and reflection.  So it is time for me to pick up my pen again. (To see my vacation blog for this week, go to:  https://flowersandfeathers.blogspot.com/2024/11/orange-beach-nov-3-9.html

Today is election day. The choice for president presents the most stark contrast of personality, vision, character and competence in my lifetime. The outcome of today's vote will determine what kind of nation we want to be, what kind of nation we will become.  Polling has not produced a predicted winner. So it may seem counterintuitive to declare today to be the beginning of a new year.  In fact, I believe it may be days before the results are fully complete and we know who the next president will be.  And Trump will surely contest the results if he is not the winner. 

The next weeks and months may be turbulent.  It is not clear how our nation can be reconciled, one citizen to another. I believe that if Harris wins, the majority of those who cast their vote for Trump will shrug their shoulders and accept the result.  A loud and potentially violent minority may not.

But what is Trump wins.  Will we meekly fall into a Fascist disctatorship? Will we go the way of Humgary into an autocracy or keptocracy? Or are the fears of progressives exaggerated? 

Today is a watershed moment, but we don't know which way history will flow.

I believe that "my side" is right and the "other side" is wrong.  Of course! I don't believe my side is perfector or that the other side is evil.  I do believe that there is a "heart of darkness' guiding the other side; that relentless repetition of lies and "othering" have created great divisions among fellow citizens; that those who are providing guidance to this movement seek chaos/anarchy for their own benefit (although I don't know what that benefit might be). I believe that most of my fellow American, my brothers and sisters and friends and colleagues who cast their vote for Trump simply do not believe what he says out loud. Likely many do not have an apprciation of history. The MAGA movement has played on their fears, insecurities and selfishness.

I pray that we as a nation, individually and collectively, can hold on and hold together, that we can continue to bring into reality our national vision of e pluribus unum.

A Garden Journey - 2024

 I am sharing a google album of my garden beginning March 3, 2024 and ending October 22, 2024.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qUjHcJHykVkAbSsG8

June 15

Solar Eclipse 2024 - April 5-9

On Friday, April 5, Bill and I travelled in the RV to Cape Girardeau to spend a long weekend with the Missouri Whitakers and watch the solar eclipse on Monday.  Owen, Evangeline and Laura have April birthdays, so we will celebrate them as well. It always takes us longer than we expect, almost 8 hours on the road.  I was excited to see the kids and they were excited to see us.  We spent most of the day Saturday around the house, just playing and hanging out.  Our only excursion was a trip to Walmart with all four kids in tow to buy groceries for the weekend. I bought a pork butt and got in in the crock pot for BBQ later Laura and Mike arrived later in the afternoon.  It was a nice day so we had burgers and hot dogs on the grill.  More games and March Madness on TV.  These two were peas in a pod watching the game:

Grandad and Owen

Sunday morning the Whitaker family went to church.  I shredded the pork and cleaned up the mess.  We will have a baked potato bar for supper with pulled pork for those who want it. For lunch, I made bacon and pancakes. We had a fun afternoon which included watching more March Madness.  After supper, we shared birthday gifts with Owen, Evangeline and Laura.

Home from church

Pancake brunch

Fun and games

John doing his own thing

Spectating

Owen's cardboard box creation, a ring toss game.  This was part of his birthday party activities.

Monday, April 8 - Eclipse Day.  

We were invited to the farm of a friend of David's who was hosting an eclipse viewing party.  They had a beautiful place just outside of town, a perfect setting.  We arrived early enough to set up and have our picnic lunch. The eclipse was amazing (but my pictures are not.)  

A beautiful setting

Getting ready

Friends and family gathered to share this awesome event

Progressing

We were surprised that event with just a crescent of sun, we still had lots of light.

Totality

Sunset effect

When the eclipse was finally over, Bill, Laura, Mike and I drove downtown and walked out to the riverfront. 

Downtown  Cape Girardeau

Looking upstream toward Cape Rock

Back at home, we had another pleasant afternoon on the deck and playing in the yard.  There was a selection of left-overs for supper and one final March Madness game.  

Snowed In! - Jan 14 - 24

January 14: Temperatures dropped all day and it started snowing after dark.  

10:30 pm

January 15:  Low 25, High 31; snowed all day.

By noon, 

By 2:15 pm there was about 5 inches

By 6:45 we had almost 9 inches and still snowing

January 16: Snow has finally stopped falling but the temperatures kept falling, from 24 down to 9 in the afternoon.

We ended up with almost a foot of snow!

January 17, 3 pm, I finally ventured out and walked a down to the corner.

January 19: Highs are still barely above freezing at 34 and overnight low was 11.  Not much progress melting, despite the sun.

The pond is still completely snowed under.

Chili time!

Day 4 and the snow is still deep and we aren't going anywhere!

January 20: We are finally seeing some melt from the sun, but temperatures remain below freezing, down to 7 last night.

January 23:  Yesterday and today the afternoons have warmed, today to 56.  We were able to get the KIA out yesterday, but the 2nd driveway is still too slick to risk the RV.  We were scheduled to leave for our Florida trip yesterday.  Maybe tomorrow!

January 24: On the 12th day the ice and snow finally began to melt but we still didn't feel like it was safe to get the RV down one driveway and up the other. Instead we spent the day finishing our packing and preparations in anticipation of a Thursday morning departure.