Yesterday was a nail-biter.
With family and friends scattered throughout Florida literally top to bottom from Fort Lauderdale to Live Oaks and across the State as well, spent a great deal of the day/night glued to CBS Live Update.
Miami/Ft.Lauderdale (Shirley and Chuck) dodged a huge bullet as there was not a direct hit. A wobble sent it 20-30 miles offshore. A lot of wind, a lot of rain and a lot of palm fronds down. It could have been disasterous.
Claudia in Seminole was grateful that 20 miles difference meant not being flattened.
Jeff and Lori are fine, as well.
Vicki H weathering her first hurricane since moving to the area sought refuge inland with her son and fared well. They are waiting for Florida Power...but have a back up gennie...Vicki reported The Keurig was working this morning. So it's all good.
It skirted past WPB as well...where Diane and Sal and the rest of the family hunkered down...and except for much debris in the pool area escaped unscathed. (...and who's going to clean up this mess????) The pool vac survived, as well! A bonus. Brenda will be pleased.
For quite some time it appeared that Vicki and Mark...a transplanted mid-westerner also weathering his first hurricane (Port Lucie) were directly in the cross-hairs...but another wobble and they were grazed a glancing side-blow. A lot of rain, a lot of wind, a collection of tree frogs squirming for shelter beneath the storm shutters, but very very lucky.
Julie and Matt in Live Oaks are pretty much mid-state across from Jacksonville. Getting torrential rain this afternoon...and high winds. But overall good and on higher ground.
Christie, Mark and Sheri, and of course, Lennon are way over on the Gulf side...so they are just getting wind and rain backwash. Christie is probably loving the way it blows her hair (think fashion shoot). Anyway, They always need the rain on the Gulf side. In a week or so there will be grass. For a while. Then the ersatz lawn will be sand, again.
"It always does", sighs Lennon.
Watching now as it crawls toward the eastern seaboard and is projected to return to sea before reaching MA.
Let's hope so!
Loved fixing Chicken Alfredo with Broccoli and Fresh Parm, Garlic Cheese Bread and Apple Mini-Crostini with Raisins and Walnuts (drizzled with soft caramel and a side of whipped cream) with (Erik's) Donna on Tuesday for Coffee, Chat and Brunch.
She is on her way to Tennessee to enjoy Clinch Mountain, Dollywood and a Fresh Case of South Mouth. She has promised to document the entire affair and brought Pumpkin-Spiced Chips to share with Chris and a container of Strawberry Fluff (...which is now, regrettably, gone...)
I am actually enjoying the short break from virtual travel...catching up on several good books and movies I have been neglecting.
Including
Sully (excellent in a very understated way...Hanks is Brilliant)
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (eh..meh...not drama...not comedy...just meh)
The Magnificent Seven (remake, worth the watch...Denzel is very good in a Western...who knew?)
The Good Neighbor (fair...Caan has definitely played better roles)
Storks (definitely a grand's film...but enough throw-aways to keep Grandma interested)
and most recently
Star Trek Beyond (very good with a really nice nod to Leonard Nimoy toward the end)
Also spent a bit of time with my always growing TBR pile
Finished
Cooking for Picasso (excellent piece of historical fiction...well worth the read)
Mad Enchantment (fair...okay...meh...but I gleaned a great idea for a painting from a photograph of Monet and the Water Gardens within...so it wasn't a total loss)
and an October released novel
Results May Vary
(chick book aside, I found by the end I really enjoyed this relatively new author and her book...and want to find her début book now)
Hoping to finish my Mediterranean Seascape painting over the weekend and have an idea Spurred by an artist (whose name escapes me), and the recent photo of Monet I discovered while reading A Mad Enchantment.
(one I had never seen before)
The artist in question did paintings of everyday settings with transparent "ghost-like" people dressed in their period costumes and inserted throughout the otherwise colour-painted scene.
(...okay...that was just weird...woke in the middle of the night and remembered his name. Charles Peterson is the artist. Here is an example of his work)
I really love this.
When I saw this portrait of Monet
I immediately could envision a similar approach with the brightly coloured water lily gardens in the background and the "ghost" of Monet (in a white wash) beside his beloved water lilies. And it would go wonderfully with the two light studies I completed last year ala Waterlilies.
"Morning Light" and "4:30"
Not at all sure I can pull it off...but well worth the try! And, I have the best part of a month to play around with it.
More Anon...
