Punta Gorda.......

I finally was able to get through to John & Dona's home phone & Dona answered. The damage to their house is extensive, but they are living in it & do have insurance, thank goodness. Like we thought, the pool house is gone, the Lenai & laundry room badly damaged, the A/C unit is gone but on its way it destroyed their carport, & the roof over their 2nd & newest bathroom is gone. The rest of the house is OK altho' one door won't shut (maybe walls a bit off?). Furniture thrown all around & John's new 'puter was soaked with rain (it was against the roofless bathroom wall in their livingroom)..they don't know if it will work again. Water just came on a day or so ago, but they can't use it even to wash with unless boiled & no electricity to boil it, so they are making do with bottled. The house across the street (they shared fruit with us) is gone as is the young lad's who came to chat with hubby whenever we stayed there--he had it up for sale last winter & we were hoping he'd sold it..he did but the sale hadn't completely gone through before Charley blew in. Dona says vacant land goes for over $100,000. @ lot so he won't be out of luck. Other homes on block damaged or gone....

Dona said John was thinking of riding out the storm at home but she insisted they go to the Centre...over 1000 there. The Centre was damaged..they lost their beautiful new theatre (John took us through it while they were building it & when done..was gorgeous). She said she was strong while the hurricane was on, but when they were allowed to come back into their neighbourhood, she just burst into tears when she saw their street & home.

John goes to work but Dona hasn't been to Pinch-a-Penny as the store is damaged. Wal-Mart's just south of it on #41 is more or less gone, next-door Publix badly damaged but hope to open again in a few days. I asked about Fishermen's Village, that huge mall where we eat in The Fish Market restaurant, but they haven't been in that area yet so don't know.

Dona said to please thank everyone who has been praying for Punta Gorda & Pt. Charlotte. I just wish we could all give them a ((group hug))

Starfire

The Lost Has Been Found.....

This week is finally nearly over & I won't be sorry to see it go. The one happy note is that our friends in Punta Gorda survived, Thank God. Dona phoned Thursday evening to say they were OK, but the house is a mess. We only talked a few seconds before their cell phone disconnected, so I don't know how badly the house is damaged, but the main thing is they weren't hurt. Now I can uncurl my toes. I will keep trying their home phone & perhaps next week write to them in care of John's place of work being I don't know if their mail box is still up or if they are living in their home.

Still saying prayers for them & all the other people whose lives have been turned upside down this week.

Starfire

Our Punta Gorda Friends....Where Are You?

This picture was taken last year in Fishermen's Village. We were celebrating with them their wedding anniversary. Sure hope we can do the same next winter......

Starfire

Happier Days...

Still No News.....

It is nearly five days since we last heard from our friends in Punta Gorda, FL. All my efforts to reach them have failed so far, but not giving up. Have been glued to CNN indepth reports, hoping to see them in the background or perhaps even being interviewed, but no luck there either. Have seen a RV park within 3 blocks of their home, pretty much destroyed but no fatalities there. We think they're OK, but do believe their home most likely gone. Thank goodness they do have family to come help.

Starfire

Before Charley.....

Bad Day........

This is not a good day......I am still afraid for our friends in Punta Gorda. There is no way to get in touch so I don't know if they survived....I pray they have. Their home has a chance of still being there, but I fear it didn't being so close to the canal & not that far from the harbour which seemed to be the centre of the hurricane. The hospitals are closed due to damage...so much damage.... It's being compared to Homestead & Hurricane Andrew of '92. Hubby & I visited Homestead the following winter as we had been there the winter of '92. Was a pretty town......horrible sight in '93. We ate in Wendy's that day which had been repaired. A couple from Homestead sat down with us. He was a building contractor & while their Homestead home survived without much damage, he was on the front line trying to help people get their lives together again. He said when it became too much for him to handle, he would drive outside of Homestead just a few miles where damage was non-existant, to calm himself to be able to continue. You could see the pain in his eyes even then.....

Please God, let us see our friends, alive & without the same pain in their eyes....please pray for Punta Gorda & Port Charlotte....

Starfire........

Storms....

Very worried today about good friends in Punta Gorda. Hurricane "Charley" seems to have his sights on FL's west coast. They live beside a canel which almost flooded their place when a tropical storm went through last year. Reading the news online about the area, it sure doesn't sound good. Hurricane "Bonnie" has struck land in the Panhandle, but she's weaker than "Charley" who may reach Catagory 3. I tried to reach our friends by phone this afternoon, but only was able to leave a message, so maybe they're out putting up plywood, buying supplies or have "gotten out of Dodge" to head inland. My prayers are with them & all in the path of these 2 storms.

Have only been in one Hurricane & that was Hazel back in 1954. On October 15, 1954 Hurricane Hazel had just destroyed much of Haiti and had blown across New York and Pennsylvania. This dying hurricane combined with an extreme low pressure system to create a major storm. The storm blew across the Great Lakes with winds of 70 miles an hour. In Southern Ontario, it produced high winds and incredibly strong rain. In Toronto, over 300 million tons of rain fell on already waterlogged ground. The hurricane produced the worst-ever floods in that area. It destroyed an entire street of houses, and turned a farming area into a lake. 81 people in the Toronto area perished, and many of the bridges into the city were destroyed. The storm remains Canada’s most remembered hurricane.

Fortunately my family & I lived further east. Damage was mainly fallen trees & the electricity out for several days. I can still remember sitting on my bed doing homework while the house & windows trembled. We had several hard Maple trees around our place, the nearest one being next to our front verandah. A huge limb did come down but it fell away from the house, instead onto it. If it had hit the house, it would have come into my parents' bedroom. Was a strange & spooky night.

Please let our friends & others be as lucky....

Starfire

Do Ya Think My Big Brother Would Like This One?

A cuzzie sent me this picture the other day & I fwd. it to big brother. I have a feeling he really wouldn't go anywhere in this RV either. Hubby pointed out that there is a wash tub so our clothes & us would stay clean, plus there's a stove inside & TV aerial....would be livin' high on the hog, I'd say.

Starfire

Dream RV For Sale

RVs........

In case you don't know what RV stands for, it's Recreational Vehicle, in other words it can be a trailer, motorhome, van with camping package, a truck camper or tent camper. We have a ClassB motorhome, aka van with camping package. Every winter hubby & I spend 3 months in it down in FL or every few years we head out to AZ/CA after a month in FL. After about a month on the West Coast, we head back to FL for another couple of weeks before striking for home up here in Ontario. We really don't plan ahead too much, vacation-wise that is, as the rest of the year is quite structured.

Our 1st camping trip was planned as we only had 2 weeks & we wanted to travel as far west in Canada as we could go on the small budget we were stuck with. Had never camped before, but we did do a trial run the weekend before we left, just to see if we were completely out of our minds. Hubby had spent the winter building a box to go on top of our station wagon. It was big enough to hold a 3/4 mattress with a foot or 2 left for our luggage. He then put canvas on the sides which was lifted up into a tripod shape. We slept "upstairs" while our 2 toddlers slept down inside the wagon. We all survived the trip & hungered for more.

We camped that way for several years, even after increasing our family by one. It worked quite well as long as the weather was good, but when it rained as only it can rain on vacations, especially camping vacations.....ooooooh boy! Finally we did buy a small trailer & tho' cramped, was a big improvement.

After the family was grown, hubby finally found the van he'd been searching for many years & off we went in a ClassB. Old & small, it took us for our 1st trip to FL. We had "Baby" for about 4 years when we found "M'Lady". I fell in love with her as the counter space was larger than our kitchen at home. Again she was used but she purred like a kitten. Our 1st trip to CA was with her.

The following winter we decided to go to FL, then to CA again. We had spent the night in Baton Rouge, LA & the next morning would continue west.....we didn't continue west as planned. Instead I was in a Burn Unit for 4 days, then we were air-lifted to Toronto where I stayed in a Burn Unit for nearly 5 weeks. Somehow when I went to light the propane stove to heat water for coffee, instead of a small flame, a large one rolled to the back of the stove, then over me to the front of the van. Thank heavens hubby was in the campground washroom, or he would have been injured also. The firemen couldn't figure out what happened, neither could we.

Anyway, M'Lady was gutted, my feathers more than a little singed...1st degree burns on arms & hands..but our insurance replaced everything, including a "new" ClassB. I had said to hubby a few hours after the accident to not let this stop us from camping as we both love it so very much. Now we have "Lady Blue", almost completely identical to M'Lady.

A few years after this happened, my big brother & wife were visiting us at our favourite park in FL. He & I happened to be alone, sitting in our chairs between our 2 ClassBs, his less than a year old..our's about 15 years old then. Chatting about travelling, he glanced over at Lady Blue & said "I wouldn't go anywhere in that.". I replied that if she broke down, I knew hubby could fix it as he is a good mechanic, thinking to myself that she was good enough for him & wife to ride in it most of the time they'd been visiting. Things were left at that & the next morning, Saturday at exactly 7:30 a.m. they left to travel slowly back home--they live about 25 miles away from us as I said in my last post.

We both have a do-dad, pocketmail, which lets us send/receive e-mails by holding it up to any telephone. That afternoon when I checked for my e-mails, there was one from them. It seems that about 3 hours after they left us, big brother decided to get gas--he hates to travel with less than 1/2 tank...we drive on fumes. When he tried to put the van in gear, it wouldn't go. Had to be towed to the nearest Dodge dealership. Being it was Saturday, no mechanic. It was Wednesday before the transmission was put back together so that they could head for home. So much for being brand-new.

Food for thought....any day you don't set the world on fire, including yourself is a good day......

Starfire

Sunday Dinner.....

Just waved goodby to big brother & sis-in-law who were heading back to The City about 25 miles from here. They were here for the afternoon & Sunday dinner. We visit each other about once a month, except when spouse & I are in FL for 3 months every winter. The meal turned out to be eatable, altho' at one point yesterday afternoon I did wonder if I was going to be able to pull it off. Had had a time trying to decide what to serve, wavering between meatballs & ham. First the meatballs were too much bother. Then the ham I looked at in the store last week stared back at me & didn't look particularly healthy. Think it was the green cast it seemed to have. Back to the meatballs...nah! Still too much diddly work & too hot for diddly. Luckily by this week a new shipment of ham came in, so ham it was. Whew! Then I decided to have fruit salad with bowl of cottage cheese in the middle of the plate, surrounded by the fruit & lettuce. Didn't want to pay extra for raisin bread to serve with it & being I love my breadmaker, thought I'd bake a loaf. No problem.

Everything seemed to be going hunky-dorey with the breadmaker yesterday & finally the buzzer went, indicating the loaf was baked. Smelled delicious. Carefully I opened the lid & using a tea towel to grab hold of the hot basket, I proceeded to unlock & pull the basket with the loaf inside, up & out. I said, I proceeded to unlock & pull the basket with the loaf inside, up & out! Hummmm...it is unlocked. Now why can't I pull the dad-blamed basket, hot I may add, out of the dad-blasted breadmaker!!!!???? Twist, pull, yank, twist, pull.......A-A-R-R-G-G-H-! What the Sam Hill is wrong with it?!

Well, this stand-off lasted several moments, the bread getting cooler.....me, not very cool. Then I decided to get a dinner knife & carefully loosen it along the sides, then very gently push with the knife & pull with my fingers. Did I mention the bread was still hot? Finally out came the loaf, just slightly lop-sided. I placed it on the wooden board to cool, blew on my fingers which were stinging a little & then tried to pull out the dratted basket. Still stuck! Peering down at the paddle in the centre of the basket, I could see a raisin was stuck beneath it. Also the paddle had a piece of the loaf wrapped around it which with the raisin was why the paddle wouldn't lift off & why the basket wouldn't either. Amazing how quickly the basket came loose once the paddle was cleared. Despite the rough treatment, the raisin bread seemed to be a hit. Was really glad the rest of the meal was more easily prepared. I think the next time I bake raisin bread (was my first), I will do with it what I do to make dinner rolls. Take out for the final rising & bake in the oven. Much easier on the nerves.

Starfire

Old Friends...

Today I went to a luncheon with former High School friends, over 70 of us. I guess you could call it a "giggle of old gals". Saw school mates I haven't seen in ...well, let's just say a l-o-o-o-n-g time. The food was great, the company superb. It was a blast.

It is too bad that we don't visit friends more often, but we're all busy (or at least we think we are) & we believe we'll get-together "one of these days", not realizing that perhaps we might never again see each other. We toasted those friends today, the ones we were always going to see but missed the chance.......

Old friends.....worth their weight in gold. Any day you can have a good laugh or cry with one is a good day....

Starfire

Another Month.....

First day of August has nearly bit the dust. Can't believe August is here which means the summer is starting to decline & fall is beginning to peek over the horizon. With the weather so wet & only a few days of decent warmth, summer sure hasn't felt like one. Oh well.....

Really haven't much to say tonight. Brain feels like cotton wool. Been working on my genealogy & gathering marriage data most of the day. Dates, dates.....dates. Actually been quite lucky in finding many new wedding dates, where couple were born, parents' names. Is online & from Ontario Marriages from 1860s to about 1924. The source is good & barring typos, etc., should be fairly accurate..as much as most.

Creek is up again, flooding part of the back field. It sure came down yesterday morning & we were wondering if we were going to have a repeat of what Peterborough, ON, went through a couple of weeks ago. They're still cleaning up. City really got whomped, millions of $$ damage.

Spouse is sound asleep so guess had better toddle off myself. Morning comes early here, but any morning you open your eyes & the ceiling hasn't fallen down....it's a good one.

Starfire