Hurricane Irma

As some of you may know, Hurricane Irma slammed into the Caribbean with a force never experienced before, and is still working her way through Florida.

All of my family on St. John, St. Thomas, and Puerto Rico are present and accounted for. I'm confident my cousins in Florida will be okay as they are on the east coast.

To say the area is devastated is an understatement. It will be 3 to 6 months before power is restored to everyone. It will take years to recover.

My sister, who lives on St. Thomas and I, were/and are mightily blessed to have had cell phone communication throughout. At the height of the storm we were talking and she said, in this very calm voice from the bathtub where she was huddled, "There goes the roof." Luckily it was "only" her porch rood which was picked up and hurled over the rest of the house and landed a good 40 feet on the hillside behind her house. Perhaps caused by one of those 200 plus mph gusts...

The trees and bushes have been blasted, branches twisted off, tossed aside and leaves stripped off. Many trees have had the bark stripped off them. One has to wonder how many trees will die.

If you have the stomach, a few random pictures with locations.

A section of our property on St. John. Most of the buildings survived in tact but have damage. The mahogany tree on the right will come back as will the tree on the left.

Cruz Bay, St. John

 Cruz Bay, St. John. That's three boats piled on the beach next to the ferry dock.

St. Thomas - The difference between a good roof and cheap roof. Cost-U-Less, a large bulk grocery store. In front, relatively untouched, the movie theater and shops. 

Boat yard - St. Thomas

 Disappearing road - St. Thomas

 Looking towards town - St. Thomas

Beautiful Magens Bay - St. Thomas

The Harbor and down town - St. Thomas

 Typical hillside - St. Thomas

Random damage - St. Thomas

The famous Bluebeard's Castle, St. Thomas

Interior of the hospital, St. Thomas. Despite a concrete roof the 3rd and 4th floors were destroyed. Patients have been evacuated to St. Croix and Puerto Rico.

A church on St. Thomas.

Good news, within three days the Navy arrived with a hospital ship along with the Marines. People in Puerto Rico, which wasn't nearly as affected is shuttling supplies and help back and forth from the eastern port of Fajardo. These private citizens are also taking people to PR who are in need of medical services. The Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean are sending ships to drop off supplies and pick up stranded people. All a body needs is have a passport if it can be found... Aid is coming from the 3 or more million Virgin Islanders, including Tim Duncan, who live across the U.S. The air strip is open (though the airport building was damaged) for relief and charter flights only.

Please keep my beautiful island home, and all those in the Caribbean affected by this storm, in your thoughts and prayers.

It is a bizarre and surreal experience to watch TV or open my fridge or sleep under a roof or drive unhindered to the grocery store or flip on a light switch or turn on a water tap, when I know my sister will not be able to do any of those things for a long time.

I will be off my blog for an indefinite period of time.

Being Thankful

I'm thankful all my family and friends are alive and okay.

IWSG, National Read a Book Day, an Award, and Being Thankful

First and foremost: Please keep my family, friends and all Virgin Islanders and Puerto Ricans in the your thoughts and prayers as they face down Hurricane Irma, the strongest Atlanatic storm ever recorded. Sustained winds are at 185 MPR with gusts of 200 or more. I doubt the islands will get the coverage that Texas did (and deserved). But I can tell you media coverage would be helpful. And it pisses me off that The Weather Channel and national news channels are just talking about when it will hit Florida. What about 3.8 million people in the VI and PR? I bet if a storm this size were to hit Hawaii they'd be all over it. Why don't the islands rate the same kind of coverage? Could it be because in cases like Irma, once they were to get there they wouldn't be able to leave? There is no place to go, no evacuation. It's the really deal. When Marilyn hit in 1995, the islands got little to no coverage. Heck, nobody in the states believed it was a cat 5 storm even though wind gauges broke at 200 MPR. Four out five buildings were damaged or destroyed. My family home's roof was ripped off. It was months before power was restored and about three years before the house was rebuilt. It was a terrible mess, debris everywhere, boats tossed onto shore like pieces of legos, cars flipped on their sides and roofs, vegetation stripped of leaves. You can view pictures HERE. Iram is as bad or worse... To say I'm concerned is an understatement. (I have to remember to breathe.)

Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts: Tyrean Martinson, Tara Tyler, Raimey Gallant, and Beverly Stowe McClure!

This month's question is: Have you ever surprised yourself with your writing? For example, by trying a new genre you didn't think you'd be comfortable in??

The answer to the first question is a resounding YES! I have some philosophical/spiritual stuff I wrote when I was in my late 20s early 30s that, when reread years later, totally blew me away. I wonder, "Who wrote that? Where did that come from? Where did that writer go and can I get her back?" 

I can answer YES to the second question, too. My current WIP is YA plus it's an historical fantasy that takes place in Tibet, all of which is totally out of my normal comfort zone.


It's National 
Read a Book Day! 

Pick a book, any book, find a nice comfy place and... ENJOY! 

(Dr.'s order!)

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An Award

Quite by surprise I have received an award from The Lair of the Silver Fox for my post called, The Real America, which you can read HERE. I am humbled and honored. Thank you Silver Fox!

The Silver Fox's THRUST HOME! Award

This is NOT an award I can pass on. It's something The Silver Fox gives to bloggers for a particular post that he deems worthy of recognition. Here's what he has to say about it.

One of my all-time favorite stories is Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac. Cyrano often used the expression "Thrust home!" when fatally piercing an opponent during a sword fight. I've appropriated that phrase for... "The Silver Fox's THRUST HOME Award! -- Given to the Author of a Single Outstanding Blog Post."

And my rules for the award -- and the rules for its recipients -- are:

• This award will be given by me, and no one else, and generally to only one recipient at a time.
• I'll only give the award to those whose posts have truly "thrust home" with me, so even my best friends on the net might never get one.
• The award will usually go to a post of what I deem to be of general import and interest, but that may be fudged once in a while to reflect my own biases. (My award, my stupid rules. Deal with it.)
• There will be no set frequency for the giving of the award.
• Theoretically, a recipient of "The Silver Fox's THRUST HOME Award!" may win once, twice... or forty-seven times! This is an award for individual blog posts, not for blogs!
• Recipients would be asked to mention their receipt of said award on their own sites, along with a corresponding link to my own. And a little blurb on your sidebar -- feel free to copy and paste the graphic, of course! -- would be greatly appreciated.
• Winners are not allowed to give this award to others.
• Other than that, awardees are not asked to do anything else. You've already done it!

***

Being Thankful 

Today I'm thankful for any and all prayers for the Virgin Islands and surrounding area.

What are you thankful for? Has your writing ever surprised you? Received an award lately?

A Yellow Dragon Tale for Labor Day and Being Thankful

Island Idylls: Stories of growing up in the Virgin Islands.
In honor of Labor Day, this is a re-post (with some editing) from 2012.

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About the first thing my parent's bought when we moved to St. John in 1955, was a Jeep. They got a 1948 CJ2 at Tropical Motors on St. Thomas and had it barged over to St. John.

The earliest picture of the Yellow 
Dragon, taken about 1957.

We called it The Yellow Dragon because Dad painted it a flashy yellow-orange and because it was indestructible.

We drove that jeep everywhere and it hauled everything from rocks to our boat. Once Dad even used The Yellow Dragon to rescue a bulldozer that had slipped off it's track!

Read about THAT adventure HERE.

 L to R: My sister, Erva, me, Dad, Nana (Dad's mom) Mom
and Pa's shadow. taken about 1960

Dad putting a new body on The Yellow Dragon, about 1960.

The Yellow Dragon hauling our boat, the F.D.O.
(which stood for Father's Day Off.)

Like a lot of people, we went to Coral Bay for the Labor Day Celebrations, which included donkey races, cricket matches, and lots of food. It was an all day excursion. One: because the roads were dirt and rocky and it took so long to drive there. 2: When we got there it was time to party, picnic, visit with people we didn't get to see very often, and go for a swim.

When it was time to leave we started up the road out of Coral Bay, which is a long, serpentine incline of approximately two miles, that rises from sea level to 1147 feet. We hadn't gotten far when The Yellow Dragon began to sputter and choke and eventually stalled out. We knew we had enough gas, so after coasting down hill Dad tried again. The beast started right up and off we went. Again, as soon as the way got steep, the engine sputtered and died. Several time we made the attempt, but each time we stalled out. In the process, however, Dad discovered if the engine was pointed down hill it started and everything was fine. It was only then the engine pointed up hill that it coughed and choked.

Something was obviously wrong with the fuel line.

To solve the problem Dad decided to back up hill. This helped push fuel from the gas tank (under the driver's seat) into the engine. All the way out of Coral Bay and up every hill we came to, he backed up the jeep. Whenever we came to a level place or a down hill stretch, he turned the jeep around. It was long, hard way to drive, craning his neck over his shoulder. A labor of love to get his family home.




Dad, being an ace mechanic (among other things) took the fuel system apart. Finally he found the cause of the blockage after he blew out all the lines. It was a cockroach! How it got in the tank and made its way through the lines remains a mystery.

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Being Thankful

Today I'm thankful for all the people I've seen out and about

 buying up items to help with the Harvey disaster relief.

What are you thankful for? Ever taken a ride in a REAL Jeep? Do you name your vehicles? If so, please share!