Friday, August 25, 2006

Friday

This morning I am sipping Private Selection's Kona Blend and feeling happy it is Friday. Hubby is on the way home from Amarillo. It is the end of the second week of school for son. Life is moving along.

I see on the internet that Maynard Ferguson has passed away. Pity. He was a jazz trumpeter extraordinare and most famous to the general public, probably, for his "Gonna Fly Now" from the "Rocky" movies. Hubby and I were fortunate enough to go to a concert of his in Bloomington, Indiana in the mid 1980's. His back up band was known as the Thundering Herd and he put on a great show. We were in a private club, a gay bar actually, on invitation from one of the owners whom I worked with on our day jobs for a national college textbook company. As I have said before, I definately prefer the smaller venues for concerts and performances, for the intimacy of the experience. We sat at small bistro style tables and sipped cocktails while listening to some great jazz, live, from a legend. Doesn't get much better than that.

Yesterday was the 14th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew. Andrew used to be the reference point to a devastating hurricane until Katrina came along. We lived in Lafayette, LA for Andrew and didn't evacuate. It struck Homestead and southern Florida then went back out into the Gulf of Mexico and came up the Vermilion Bay to the southern Louisiana area. Communities to the south of Lafayette, like New Iberia where Tabasco sauce is made, were hit really hard. Lafayette survived fairly well, all things considered. Our neighbors across the street had a tree uprooted and downed in their front yard. That was scary. We had a large picture window in the front room of the house and I was nervous about that from all the high winds we endured. Our son, a 2 1/2 year old little guy, sleep through the storm all night. Amazing. We were lucky that we had no damage to our property but we did lose power for 5 days. Five days in south Louisiana in the end of August with no power is not pleasant. But we were prepared ahead of time, as all folks living in hurricane country have to be during the season, and though it was a nasty experience I don't remember people screaming for FEMA or blaming the president for a natural disaster. Ah, those were the days.

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss

3 comments:

Beverly said...

I remember Andrew well, in that it did not hit us here on the west coast of Florida. We were supposed to start school that day, but because of the impending hurricane, opening was postponed a day. We didn't even get a breeze.

Friends of mine hwo had lived through hurricanes in Haiti and were living in Miami at the time said that they had never experienced anything like Andrew in Haiti.

Your quotes are wonderful. I love the Dr. Seuss one that you cite today.

srp said...

And now we watch Ernesto. The water of the Gulf has not been disturbed this season, it has been really hot; all the makings for a strong one.

I don't remember anyone screaming about our ten days without power and two weeks without phones when straight line winds hammered Columbus, MS in 2001. Oh, well, I guess we weren't big enough to matter much.

Jennifer said...

Living in WV at the time, and before the advent of in your face constantly news, Andrew was just a blip on my radar of things to notice. Now that I'm in NC, and now that I've seen 'round the clock coverage of what a hurricane is all about, it's a whole different perspective. I hope I never have the opportunity to witness one up close and personal.