A First Birthday Visit

 

We arrived in Michigan reeling from a quick evacuation due to Hurricane Milton, but ready to enjoy time with friends and family and worry about clean up we return.  Of course the main event and the reason for the trip, was our Granddaughter’s first birthday party.  We were feeling fortunate to be there for the party and to spend time with her.  She is so much fun and a happy girl.  The party was filled with “One-toberfest” details including giant pretzels with beer cheese dip, bratwurst, cider and german beer.  Audrey loved her smash cake, made with love by our daughter and she thoroughly enjoyed all the attention.

After the excitement of the party, we relaxed and played with Audrey, but also did all the fall things.  We walked amongst the pretty fall trees and went to an apple orchard for hot cider and doughnuts.  On her actual birthday, Audrey had her first taste of ice cream and that was a big hit.

To round out the visit, we spent some time on Michigan State’s pretty fall campus, attended a wine tasting dinner and our former dinner club with good friends and golfed and had a wonderful dinner at the newlywed’s country club.

We made it home to a devastated city with trees down, fences down, roofs damaged, beaches closed and so many plants and trees completely brown from salt spray and windburn. A lot of work is ahead, but I am trimming, planting and cleaning with so much motivation to get back to normal - and thankful in the midst of so much uncertainty and stress, we can also count our blessings. 

Milton Evacuation from Venice

 

Now that Milton has left the state of Florida and unfortunately left so much damage, I am focused enough to give a recap of the week.  Also, I want to thank all the readers who were kind enough to leave comments on Instagram as I updated that I was safe.

As the forecast and track became more and more dire, we had to make a decision on Sunday whether to stay and miss a planned trip, or evacuate early to get out in time and safely.  It is not an easy decision to evacuate and face the traffic on the highways, gas shortages and just leaving your house not knowing what you will come back to.  Luckily I live in a newly constructed cinder block house that is built for a category 5 hurricane and it already withstood Ian fine.  Right when we left, an evacuation order was issued for our zone due to flooding concerns too.

We packed the car, grabbed the dog because you can’t leave a dog in a kennel that will lose power and drove 13 hours in the middle of the night on Monday.  We made it to Atlanta (usually a 6 hour drive), found gas at one lone pump and went to bed early after a long day at the hotel I had reserved in advance.  Watching the hurricane hit from afar is not a great feeling and seeing the eye pass over Venice is surreal.  

We did not lose power, completely (just flickers off and on), so by watching our cameras, we could see that screens and a support from our pool cage are down and there was definitely a power surge because the dining room light somehow turned on.  We feel lucky about this for sure, because for many in Venice it was much worse, especially the beach areas that were already damaged from the Helene storm surge.

We now spend time with family and friends in Michigan before we head back to clean up our place and also help our community with ongoing cleanup.  

Please pray for recovery for all our favorite spots in Venice, Sarasota and Siesta Key.  Floridians have got this, but will need help, even if it is good thoughts across the miles.  

Post Helene Clean Up

 

Florida just keeps taking the hits this hurricane season and Helene left so much damage in my little corner of the gulf coast.  When locals say run from the water, hide from the wind, this storm was a perfect example. The power of the surge was not something you would want to be caught up in.  Many rescues were needed, beachfront homes flooded and belongings were tossed around.  Sand was deposited like snow drifts.  For my city it was primarily a beach event that will take some time to recover. Both the Venice Jetty and the Venice Pier are closed awaiting repair.  The beaches have been cleaned, but are still closed to facilitate clean up efforts.

And, that is what I helped with this week.  My volunteer group spent Thursday morning cleaning the beach pavilion area by picking up debris and palm fronds.  Also, while the deep sand has been removed from sidewalks and parking areas, there remains a layer of mud/sand that needed to be scraped off.  

You want to help where you can, and we are lucky to have first responders and emergency crews to make things safe for the willing hands to start the clean up.  Florida knows how to do this well and after one week, it shows.  But, as we learned with Hurricane Ian two years ago it, takes time. 

Finally, the damage in North Carolina is on another level.  It will require so many resources coming together to build back infrastructure, homes and put back together people’s whole lives.  So many lost and so much suffering.  But, Americans are strong and we help each other.  All will be well.