Aftermath of Hurricane Sally -

They said this would be a busy hurricane year, and it looks like they are correct.

 My thoughts are with the people hit hardest by this latest storm. The damage looks terrible and, as always, recovery will take so long, and so many lives already impacted by living during a pandemic will now be even worse.

As always with natural disasters, we question so much and nobody really has the answers.

"Coastal Alabama and the Florida Panhandle face a daunting recovery Thursday, as ponds of floodwater and chunks of debris surround homes and businesses. Rivers also have spilled over their banks there, and Sally's remnants still threaten more flooding Thursday as they push into Georgia and the Carolinas" 

 . . . . via CNN today

So, although we have nothing going on such as in the atmospheric

 painting above. . . . . . 

. . . . . . here, "in the Carolinas" I'm sitting out in the gazebo, rain constant

 on the roof, pleasant cool at last air, but no wind thankfully, however things

 will get worse later with 100% rain falling steadily for perhaps another 24 hours!

As you can see, our back garden is a disaster. The guy who planned to

aerate and reseed the lawn area, bring in topsoil, bailed on us - he found

 another job.  

Also, we haven't found a landscaper yet who can give us an affordable

 plan to address the water draining from the property behind us, 

which in heavy rains like we're having again, cause substantial back yard 

 flooding for us. This means also the back bed along the fence, although 

cleared of ivy etc., still can't be built back up and new shrubs planted.

The gazebo, with me in it, might just float away by tomorrow!

SOS - send a boat please!

Southern sounds and Autumn colors -

I told you recently about these noisy insects - and today I can

 actually share a photo I managed to take of a '17 year cicada' hanging

 out on the back deck. If you touch one of these guys - about 2" long - their

 shriek is quite startling!

Along with donning face masks, some North Carolinians may also be wearing

 ear plugs! 

After nearly two decades underground, a wave of periodical cicadas

 emerged this summer and they are a noisy bunch! 

Last spotted in 2003, hoards of 17-year cicadas, referred to as Brood IX,

 have arisen from the soil and they are deafening. When one whizzes by your

 ear you are startled at the noise it makes. 

Then, when several thousand start 'singing' together in the trees

in the early evening, you really could use ear plugs!

With evenings now starting to cool a little, at the weekend we enjoyed

 grilling outside, then eating supper in the gazebo. . . . . .serenaded by

these creatures!

Sunday, before the heat set in, time was well spent doing a lot of front garden

 late summer chores.  These consisted mostly of working with pots of annuals,

 herbs etc. all of which had seen better days. I've kept a couple of pots of basil

going for a bit longer - just have to have fresh basil outside the door while the

 good tomatoes are still coming!

At Home Depot I picked up a couple of pots of asters for some much needed

 color outside the front door - chrysanthemums will be added a little later,

still too hot for them.

Bees and butterflies found the asters immediately. 

Noticed today Blogger is playing with us yet again regarding font

 and photo sizing - have you noticed? 

Getting the type sized to match in each row of a paragraph is often a pain.

I must say though I do like being able to do a final resize of photos by 

dragging the corners. Do you like this new feature? I wonder if it will

remain. I hope so.

A Day to Remember. . . . . always.

I wasn't here on my front porch early on the evening of September 10, 2001. Perhaps the Peace roses were blooming and the moon shining above the house, I can't recall. Perhaps it was a fair night, cooling off somewhat after still hot days, typical here in the South at this rather lovely time of year.  Suspended between the torrid afternoons of Summer and the soon to be crisp mornings of Autumn, September can be almost perfect.

I flew into Raleigh very late on that quiet night with Bob and granddaughter Jasmin. We had enjoyed a visit to Florida with several days at Disney World, that perfect world of vibrant colors, smiling faces, kindness, and make believe.  We fell into our beds, exhausted but happy after such a wonderful trip.

While getting Jasmin ready for pre-school the following morning of September 11, the phone rang. Our son told us to turn on the TV but not to let little Jasmin view it.....................the picture appeared just as the second plane hit the second tower of the World Trade Center.
  
The rest of this story doesn't have to be told here.  It is a memory we each share.  It is a day we will never erase from our memories. We will never forget.

The roses are named PEACE and the same plant blooms still on 

hot summer days in front of the porch.

 A sign, a memory, that hopefully we will never see such a day

 as 9/11/2001 ever again.