MATTHEW AND BEYOND

Hello blog friends, many of you commented on my FB photos taken during Hurricane Matthew last week.  It was a harrowing experience, we haven't had a brush so close to our coast in many years.  We had a direct hit in 1964 with Dora when I was a small child.  I remember being in the dark so much and not understanding why there was water in the tub but I couldn't get in.  Same thing this year - water in the tub, water in the washing machine - yep - that was for flushing the commode and washing a few dishes and washing hands etc.  We decided at the last minute to evacuate to my folks house which is about 30 miles more inland than our house and I'm sure as heck glad we did.  Their power was only out about 24 hours and ours was out 4 days.

Here is our view from my folks porch during the storm.  Surfable waves on the lake and just a bit down from them  - waves were crashing over the bulkheads.  Trees bending and yep - my dad forgot to take down the bird feeders but they came thru just fine.

This photo was take from mom's dining room on Friday afternoon at the height of the storm.

I am so thankful for all our safety.

We did have a near miss at our house.  Just look how close this 60 ft Laurel oak tree came to hitting our house and it scraped that other 60ft oak all the way down but didn't seem to hurt it.  It was too big for my DH and DD to try and remove so I had to pay a tree surgeon to come and saw it up and haul to the curb.  That's my DH in the background surveying the damage on Saturday when we headed into town to see what damage we might have had.  I am just so thankful we left - it would have been horrifying to be there when that tree fell.  Our neighbors all around us said it shook the ground and rattled their windows when it fell.  Part of the appeal of our area was the beautiful old oaks but they can be so very dangerous.  There is utter devastation all our NE FL from these trees falling on houses.  We were very blessed that day to not be affected in any way.

Most of the time at the lake I was too nervous to stitch and there wasn't enough light after the power went out so I just mostly knitted.  This is a beautiful beaded shawlette called Knit Night.  My first time using beads in knitting and it's fun !  I'm doing a KAL on this one with DF Henri.  The yarn is Vivacious 4py by Fyberspates in the UK and I loved it so much I've ordered more from England.

 Here's a parting shot of what the lake looked like two days after Matthew's departure.  Lovely and tranquil like we like it.  I feel for all the people who were affected by Matthew and whose lives have changed forever thru their loss of property and loss of lives.  God be with them all.  We were very blessed to be spared and life is pretty much back to normal for us just one week later.

 

I'll be back again soon with some fall and Halloween decorating around my house.  I hope you are all having fun with Fall .  Thanks for coming and visiting and please do leave a comment, I sometimes wonder if people are reading blogs any more.