Sunday, September 14, 2008

Stream

Last weekend our marina community was frantically securing boats in preparation for a possible visit from Hurricane Ike.....this weekend we watched in pain as our neighbors in Texas faced the full force of the storm, and we searched the TV for small victories behind the weather channel reporters...the boat still at anchor in a storm tossed harbor, the sloop in the flooded parking lot with its rigging intact, boats upright on the hard in a debris-strewn marina.....

Four days ago it looked like I'd be able to stay here in the Keys through Christmas....three days ago the depositions were rescheduled and now it looks like I'll be out of here and in Orlando by Halloween....

I went sailing with a friend on Moon recently, the hull scattering crisp white sheets of foam across the tops of the swells as we slipped along over and under the crystal blue, and she told me it was fun to be sailing on a small boat for a change....

Blood on the highway has an unreal but unmistakable color, like fluid spilled from a leaky transmission, only transmission fluid soaks into the pavement a whole lot faster....

Iggy the Iguana, a ancient but healthy five-footer with an impressive beard, perched himself high on a mangrove limb and watched with obvious amusement as I clambered through the tangle, wrapping chain around the trunks and prop roots to secure our boats to the only really secure part of our little island home....

We went sailing on my friend's boat today and now I understand what she meant about the difference between a big boat and a small one.....She Breeze soaked up the ocean swells with an easy grace and massive patience....

We put the initial budget together for the new job last week....hundreds of millions of dollars that right now are just numbers on a page, numbers that will soon be transformed into three years of sweat and dust and then, in a day, when the first kid walks in for help, a hospital.....

A person can be entirely oblivious to the effects of a lifetime of unfortunate choices and hard circumstances until one day when a chance encounter reveals a beautiful bright world of previously unknown possibilities. Give someone you don't know some Wendell Berry or Sharon Olds, and don't look back to see what happens. You probably don't want to get involved.

Katy's snoring on the couch....I've got to leave the house at 3 am for a 6 am flight out of Ft. Lauderdale in the morning, and she's the one sleeping. Learn to learn from the good examples in your life, brothers and sisters, because they are all around out there...we just take need to take the time to look.

I love you. Good night.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Storms & Excitement


Wow - it has been a fun and exciting couple of weeks here with the turbulent tropical weather we've had, and although it looks like we may get some more excitement the next few days we're likely to dodge the bullet again...Fay and Hanna gave the upper keys a glancing blow, and Ike's probably going to stay well south of our little island home as well, which is good for us but really bad news for the poor folks down in Cuba. I hope the mountains there knock the energy out of it and they are spared a full hit. Here in Key Largo the forecast is for tropical storm force winds Tuesday and Wednesday and a 2-4 foot surge if Ike stays on the projected track. We've gotten the boats in the marina secured as well as we can....thanks in large part to the patience and expertise of the seasoned members of the marina community. I'm leaving everyone here to ride out the storm, and heading out for Orlando tomorrow with Katy because I've got meetings there all week (work, work, work, work, work.....). It sucks to have to leave.

I'll check in later after the storm's passed with pictures and stories from the tie-up process.....