Joyful Temps

You know it is going to be a fun day to be working outside when it is 80F (heat index 85F) and 97% humidity and it is only 7:30 AM. Highs are expected to be around 97F (heat index 108F). I was planning to take water bottles, but I think I’ll take some towels as well!

Beautiful Ice

On our way home from my parents' house, our flight plan took us across the tip of Canada. As far as we could tell, these are just small icebergs floating in the northern Atlantic. Our neighbors in the aisle seats were leaning over our shoulders to watch the view for a while. Isn't it gorgeous?

   

   

Warm in the South? Not always.

I really do enjoy fall's cooler temps and pretty scenery. It doesn't get as colorful here as it does further up north, but it's a little more color than typically seen down where I grew up. (Let's just forget about all the leaf-raking that accompanies this glorious display. No, this isn't my yard, it's just in the area; my trees just turn brown. *pout*)


Although it can get remarkably cold here, it very rarely snows and when it does, you have to see it while it comes down because it melts within seconds of landing. Imagine our surprise this week to see the school's practice field one morning. We saw a few residential yards with a similar "decoration". We are thinking it was probably ice rather than snow, but still... it was fun to see! And it wasn't on the roads to worry about driving in it.

The prettiest art

comes from the Master Artist. Look at the gorgeous sunset we had on Saturday.

beach photos

After promising pictures, I was then quite remiss in not actually posting them. Sorry!

Here comes the storm...

Best.Jumping.Waves.Ever.

Rain bouncing off neighbor's roof:

After the storm:

Starfish found by Morgan and Valerie:

Full moon reflected off the water:

We found this jellyfish on the beach when someone accidentally stepped on it (and was thankfully not stung). It was too dark to even see it so I literally "took a shot in the dark". It came out pretty nicely, I think.

Generators finally powered the island:

The ducks are swimming in the street

I had a chance to go by one of our downtown park areas on Monday afternoon. It's normally this pretty little lake with a gazebo, a walking path around it, and some charming little cottages that house some small, local businesses. Unfortunately, that's not quite how it looks now.

When I drove by, I first noticed that the water was inches away from running into a major downtown street. I pulled off the road to get a better look, and was amazed. You can hardly even see the park benches peeking out of the water.

I really did have to laugh, though, when I saw the ducks swimming in the water that had flooded a side street. What an excellent example of how to deal with the difficult twists and turns that sometimes pop up in life. The ducks weren't complaining that their home had changed, or that things weren't how the ducks thought they should be. No sirree, they just swam around to see what was different and to joyfully explore their changed circumstances. Matthew 6:26 came to mind: Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Fay's all gone

Well, we got a ton of much-needed rain, but she's moved on now. In my neighborhood, it wasn't all that big a deal. The power flickered a few times, but never even went out, which is quite unusual for my area. (I'm starting to think that them clearing out all those trees in the woods behind my house in order to build new houses might have removed whatever used to cause our electrical problems every time the wind would blow.) There are a few branches down here and there, but nothing of much notice. It was just a heavy rain storm with a little extra wind. We had fun watching the rain during the spurts of torrential pours.

I have seen and heard of quite a bit of flooding in other areas of town, however. It took my boss almost 2 hours to get to work today instead of the usual 30 minutes because he kept having to take detours around flooded areas and downed trees. So I guess I should be thankful! The paper reported an electrican was killed while trying to restore power to other homes, which was sad. But everything's otherwise back to normal again now. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!

Tropical Storm Fay

Apparently the next 48 hours are going to bring some interesting weather. We've been told to expect 6-12" of rain. School is cancelled for tomorrow: "All information available at this time indicates the possibility of heavy rainfall and wind gusts for our area, which can provide great difficulty in transporting our students safely. Safety is our district's number one priority; this decision is made in the best interest of our students and employees." Even that year we had the marathon of hurricanes, our schools didn't close.

Personally, I'm not expecting any problems, I'm just letting you know the potential for loss of electricity. If you try to reach me and I'm unavailable, then I'm probably outside, playing in the puddles!