Remember the Foxglove Distribution Campaign? Well, I've been making great headway. I took two trays of seedlings to school this week and gave them away to fellow teachers and staff members. (NOT to kids -- they are poisonous plants, after all!) I have one and a half trays left -- about 50-60 seedlings. Some of those we'll keep for our own garden, and some I'm saving for specific people. I'll probably take another half tray to school, and when those are gone I'll have found them all homes.
Dear God. This is the downside of growing seeds. SO many plants!
I've been hearing from my family in Florida about Hurricane Dorian, which is perched on their doorstep, trying to decide whether or not it wants to come in. My mother has been evacuated from her senior living community on the Jacksonville waterfront -- she has been moved temporarily to a sister community in Tallahassee. My brother was planning to drive from Jacksonville down to Tampa with his family, but I haven't heard whether or not he's actually gone. It's so hard to say what's going to happen -- it looks unlikely that Dorian will score a direct hit on the Florida coast, but it's so close that it could rake it with a lot of wind and water.
I've been wondering whether this will affect the timing of my mom's move to another unit in her retirement center later this month. I'm flying to Florida to help, so I hope the timetable stays the same, or I'll need to reshuffle my own plans, if that's even possible.
Which of course is nothing amid the devastation wrought by Dorian, especially in the Bahamas. I've never seen a storm just sit and roll around on a particular locale the way Dorian did on Grand Bahama.
Despite growing up in Florida, I've never been in a hurricane -- not a direct hit. The parts of central and west Florida where I lived weren't struck at all from the mid-1960s to about 2000, when I lived there. (The one storm that came the closest, Elena in 1985, caused some flooding in Tampa, but it stayed in the Gulf and it occurred when I happened to be out of town!) It was an extraordinary dry spell. In the years since that area has experienced several storms. I'm not complaining -- if I get to the end of my life without directly experiencing a hurricane I'll be perfectly happy. Although with climate change, who knows -- we could get one in England!
(Photo: A pedestrian tunnel near King's Cross, early last month.)
We forget the human costs these massive storms cause
ReplyDeleteAs foxgloves are poisonous, you should have given seedlings to any schoolkids who have pissed you off with regard to chargers and overdue library books. Sending an entire tray to PM Johnson might have also been a good idea. You could have attached a note saying they were exotic salad leaves.
ReplyDeleteWhen you make travel plans to Florida anytime from September to November, you have to consider that any date you travel is "between hurricanes". I'm heading to Fort Myers next week, which looks like very good timing. No storms, just 90 degrees and plenty of rain.
ReplyDeleteI follow several Cozumel FB pages and I always laugh when someone writes to ask what the weather is like this time of year. Often six or more months in advance!
ReplyDeleteHurricanes can wreck your travel plans and also kill you.
I'm glad your mother is safe but yes, that's going to possibly mess up her move. But who knows? Maybe not.
Wait and see. That's all that can be done.
As usual, YP makes me laugh.
ReplyDeleteMy niece is in Miami training with her competitive cheer team. She got freaked out & her mom let her fly home for a few days. Then she went BACK this past Sunday. What the heck. She didn't want to miss practice. Fortunately it ended up missing Miami.
I'm happy to hear your mother has been taken to Tallahassee ahead of the storm. Jacksonville is going to see some weather, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteIt must be a big worry for you about your relatives and the storm. Not knowing is an added worry.
ReplyDeleteThat storm has to be worrying when you have family in harms way. The devastation in the Bahamas is unreal and the descriptions of how the storm just hung there is so strange. These storms are getting worse and worse. Sounds like the foxglove project is going well.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your mom has been evacuated. Even if Florida doesn't get a direct hit, it's going to be quite a storm front. I was in one hurricane in New Jersey in the early 1960s. We were let out of school early that day. My neighbor's mom came to get us. We sat in her car and waited while other neighbor kids came for the ride home. That car rocked and rolled like it was dancing in the wind. That's what I remember.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad your mom was moved to a safe place. It looks like Dorian is going to take in the whole east coast here with heavy rains and wind. That means a lot of flooding and wind damage. It would be nice if this storm would turn and go out to sea. These hurricanes are getting so much worse now. Hopefully, your mom will still be able to make her move into new quarters. You have a wonderful day, hugs, Edna B.
ReplyDeleteMy stepdaughter and her guy have gone to New Orleans and Cancun more than twice during hurricane season and have just left for home ahead of storms. I think they need a new travel agent.
ReplyDeleteGood to know that your mum is safe. That would keep me from sleep.
ReplyDeleteI have never been in any weather remotely dangerous to humans - flooded basements are just a messy incinvenience - and it's so hard to watch the news.
Would you consider sneaking out in the dark and planting some of the foxglove seedlings on those negöected green shoulders or other yuk looking city areas? Not seed bombing but seedling bombing. Mind you, there's too many cameras in the UK watching.
Dorian is so fickle, can not decide , shall I go north? maybe , should I go a bit more inland, I am having so much fun just tearing it up! Evacuation is a hassle but not as much as drowning I suppose, Glad your Mother is OK!
ReplyDeleteyeah, my sister loves to see if she can get seeds to sprout and then she has all these plants she doesn't want and she tried to foist them off on me. I take one or two but I've got plenty of plants of my own.
ReplyDeleteI remember one storm that flooded the entire city of Houston...downtown, the medical center, all the bayous. it was unprecedented and it wasn't even a hurricane, just a tropical storm that sat in place for over a week and dumped 30" of rain in two days and then kept raining.
Sending Vibes Brother
ReplyDeleteAlso, Your 'More Miscellaneous Photos' Were Fantastic!! That Leaf, Unreal. Bugs Bunny, Kinda Sad But Pretty Cool As Well.
Be Well & Travel On,
Cheers
I hope your mom and her community are ok. That photo is spectacular.
ReplyDeleteI hope things go as planned with your mom, and therefore with your travel as well. The toll on the Bahamas is very sad.
ReplyDelete