The 19th day in the 8th month of the year of the Camellia

THANKS TO THE BIG GUY!

Wednesday night the sky looked and acted like a waterfall.  Throw in some mega bomb bursts of thunder and some incredibely close lightning and thats where I was.

In a the new old car (called Goldy)  driving around from lightning bolt to lightning bolt calling our lost dog.  She was lost because she had no idea where she was nor did I. 

If I had lost her on my watch-----well it would have been bad!  Found her after a two hour downpour absolutely soaked to the skin and really tired.  So tired in fact that she had to make a trip to the vet Wednesday just to make sure everything was still in place.  All is ok with that....Thank you Lord!

Yesterday, the weather was totally serene.

Then I had a tooth pulled and the storm and dogs were back in my head for about 12 hours.

Sometimes, I think it is easier to do portraits than all the rest of this stuff. 

Oh Lord!

What am I saying?

The 19th day of the 8th month of the year of the Camellia

SHE'S IN THE DOGHOUSE NOW!

Last night I spent two wonderful hours riding around in one of the most vicious lightning and rain storms I have seen in a while.  No time for photos as I was looking for Missy, one of our pets.  She had taken off after thunder!  It was raining cats.....no dogs to be found.

Here she is in better times!

This photo has actually published!

CHA-----CHING!

When I last saw her, last night, this was not the end I was looking at.  She has a habit of barking and chasing lightning and thunder.  Once her mind is set she's gone and dove out the front door in about a six inch space.  Headed west at about thirty mph.  Last I saw of her for two hours.  And in a metropolitan area.

Thanks to all the neighbors, the Cayce Neighborhood Association, the police, Animal Control, Aubrey, and Dave for all their efforts.  I found her, finally, soaked to the skin and almost totally exhausted from her jaunt.

She knew she was in the dog house when I got her home!

If the dog had been a "He" by the time I got him home, he would have been an "It"! 

But she's not even a "She". 

Just glad she's home!

And thanks to all who helped.

The 18th day of the 8th month of the year of the Camellia

CAPE STORM

There was a point in my life where the family travelled with some very close friends to vacate on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  We generally stayed in either Cisco or Hatteras village on or near the beach. 

This is the southern end of these barrier islands.  A little more rural than the northern end around Duck or Duck, Nags Head, or even Rodanthe.

 For those not fortunate enough to visit this place, all I can do is urge you to do so.  In the little town of Buxton, NC there lies the famous Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the equally notorious stick of land called by the locals as "Cape Point".  Simply enough because it is the point of the elbow of the outer banks.

Cape Point is one of the two most famous surf fishing sites in the country.  Montauk is the other.

When one arrives on the banks, the first thing to do is to take half of the air out of the tires on the four wheel drive vehicle.  You know the vacation is over when the tires get pumped back up and there is no more off roading on the beach.  A sad time.

This storm shows the extent of the point with an approaching storm in the distance.  This place may not be one of the seven wonders of the world, but it comes in a close eight.

The 17th day of the 8th month of the year of the Camellia....I think I got that right

INSPIRATIONAL

Psalm 62:11

One thing God has spoken,

two things have I heard:

that you, O God, are strong.

The 16th day of the 8th month of the year of the Camellia

WE GOT THROUGH LAST FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND

AND

A NEW DAY IS DAWNING

Sunrise at Assateague Island in Virginia

Sunrise at Old Cape Henry Lighthouse in Virginia

Let's go get um!

The 15th day of the 8th month of the year of the Camellia

FRIGGATRISKAIDELKAPHOBIA

Yep, that's why I haven't written in two days.  First day because of the event and another just to make sure.

As some of you know, I'm old and just a little slow with things anymore and when some outside, out of my control, unforeseen force is in the air................I listen!

That day started out with simple things that my hands have done for years.  Almost automatic.  No real thought as to process, but going through the motion not realizing the day in time was taking away not only part of the process but allot of the outcome.  First thing I did was cut a finger with a box cutter.

OK, not a big deal.  Clean cut!  Let it bleed out a bit.  A touch of neo-sporin, and a band aid or two.

Then things began dropping to the floor............obviously just so I would have to bend a 70 year old back to pick them up.  I mean you don't drop things on purpose.

And of course every time I would walk into a room, I would forget what I was doing in there.  Even the dogs were watching me with uncomprehending concern.  The bird just sat there as squawked everytime I passed.  After all, he has a brain the size of an overcooked pee! Sometimes I think that might not be a bad thing-----At least somebody takes care of his every need (Most of the time).  Well, we haven't given him a playmate and that might be a little stressful......or not!

Finally, on one of my trips to get something or other from another room......the guy on Fox News said with a huge, unusually bright toothed grin, "after all folks it is Friday the 13th".  Those people on TV......They're hair never moves.  Ever notice that.  And does their make-up go below their necklines?

And what happens to their skin after fourty years of that goo they put on?

  Hey this is important stuff here!

I have now gone through the next two years of calendar and marked each of those nasty days.  That was a precarious couple of hours and I even put big black circles around April 15th.  Now I know I have to do something on those days too.

And

 have since been tucked away in my cave until this thing passes over. 

That is the inside of a real cave taken some years ago in Barbados.

As it is now Sunday and soon we with be into Monday, I think that I can start being productive again without fear.

THE 12TH DAY OF THE 8TH MONTH OF THE YEAR OF THE CAMELLIA

HELLO FROM THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE SUN!

Going to be over a hundred today, so it feels as tho we are standing at the screen door to hell!

And scared somebody's going to open it.

Hot tar on the roads is soft to the touch and I can remember when we walked on the roads in bare feet and had to jump and run to get to the grass cause is was so cooler there.

And the grass felt like you were dancing on crunchy little spikes. 

Sometimes we had to wash our feet with a gasoline soaked rag to remove the tar.

(Old farmers trick)

Same way with the beaches, but fortunately our mothers were smarter and told us to wear our sneakers on the sand.

  Hated that sand in my shoes.

They don't call them sneakers anymore do they?

  Nor can you buy them in the supermarkets the way we used to. 

 They were cheaper there too.

 

And tar stuck to your bicycle wheels and made little squishy noises when you rode over it.

And when you looked down a long flat road or accross the field you could just see the heat shimmering on the land.

It's Summer Algore!

Just a couple of images to help with the momentary memory of cool.

The shade of a palm just before a cooling dip. (Barbados)

While it doesn't lower body temperatures, the mind perceives that it's cooler on the water.

(St. Michaels, MD)

Then there is the spot where the rubber really hits the road. 

 A hot offshore wind takes on the relentless march of tide and waves.  Combing the tops off the waves and just looking cooler.

(Outerbanks, NC)