The news is all good.

Good morning from not so sunny Florida.

All is good here.  Although Hurricane Dorian will go down in history as very distructive, it did not do very much damage at the Hyde house.  We have one poor palm that was knocked over but not even a drop of water made its way inside the house.  Yea us!

During the evening last night I was a bit worried, but I think I just let the news people get to me. My oldest daughter who lives in Jacksonville, ASJ told me she was not even watching the news for this storm.

Unfortunately the storm is headed her way but she assures me she is buttoned up and secure.

During the evening the winds were coming from the north.

Early in the evening, it wobbled and turned east. I could hear all our family and friends singing, Turn! Turn! Turn!

Friends of ours were returning from Virginia and sent us this picture of heave evacuation traffic as they entered Florida.

For dinner, Hubby D fired up the grill. We opened a bottle of bubbly wine and had our own little hurricane party.

This morning when I got up, the wind had shifted and now it is coming from the west. We still hear howling as it comes in through our screens on our lanai, but the wind is not severe.

Our condo in Vero Beach looked like it might have significant damage. The hurricane came very close to that area before it turned east. The Weather Channel was broadcasting from in front of our condo buildings for a long time. 

Our condo is located in the tall building seen over his right shoulder.

It appears the worst is just some damage to the board walk and erosion of the sand.

I want to thank all of our friends and family that sang along with the Byrds, Turn! Turn! Turn!  It definitely worked and we dodged the worst of the storm. Hopefully this will be the end of the 2019 hurricane season.

Cheers,
Brenda

Hurricane Dorian is at our door step

STORM WAS A CATEGORY ONE.

On Wednesday they designated Tropical Storm Dorian as a hurricane. And, unfortunately it looked like it was heading for the coast of Florida. The first projections had it coming ashore directly at Melbourne Florida, where we live, as a category 3 hurricane. I started to get nervous.

I put together our hurricane kit (water, food, batteries) and starting shopping for gas cans. No luck. I kicked myself for not making sure we had gas cans for the generator fuel. Finally I went online and ordered them from Amazon. They should arrive on Tuesday but right now the storm is projected to arrive on Sunday so they may be too late. I am going to have to improvise….



---- Thursday
It is really weird here right now. The atmosphere is sort of like right before a big snowstorm in Virginia. The shelves in the grocery store are empty. No bread, no milk, no eggs, and definitely no water. There are lines at the gas stations and people all look completely freaked out.

But the storm is several days away. In fact, they have revised all the projections for it to arrive on Tuesday or later. I started making sure all my orchids are protected and planning how we will move the other outside furniture to inside the house. I felt somewhat under control.

But then I saw a live picture on the weather channel of Vero Beach where we own a condo and our condo building was in the background. This really brought it home. 



STORM WAS A CATEGORY 1.

---- Friday
It is not looking good. Daughter BSB texted that if we take a direct hit and the winds hit 140 mph, our windows will be gone. I am starting to believe that we might have a problem.

Ever since the last big hurricane I have tried to get bids for putting hurricane windows in our foyer and family room where we have some very tall windows. We almost selected one company, but we were not satisfied with their solution to the way they would install them. Looking back, maybe we should have just done it and worked out the details as we progressed with the installation. I am very upset with myself.

Today I made one more trip to the grocery store and Wal-Mart for more survival materials. I picked up a few sand bags and one more waterproof crate for our important papers.

STORM WAS A CATEGORY 2.

---- Saturday
The storm has now been projected to move right up the middle of Florida. Winds have reached 175 mph and the storm was designated a category 4. Our area has never seen a storm that strong since 1935. We canceled our golf game and spent the day getting the house boarded up.

In these projections, we would have had a direct hit.

Middle daughter MSB emailed that she was sending good thoughts our way about our windows. Hubby D said she should hum the tune to the song by the Byrds, Turn! Turn! Turn!

We are starting to hear from friends and family. Everyone wants to know if we will evacuate. Hubby D says he is riding it out.

And, I would like to point out that most areas do not evacuate for wind. They evacuate for the surge and flooding. Fortunately we don’t have to worry about that. We are far enough away from the shore that surge will not be an issue for us. I wish I could say the same for many of our friends.

We invited our grandkids over to help put up the boards on some of our windows. Unfortunately putting boards up high on the main windows is not an option.

LW is airing up the tires on our dolly.

After our work was done, we had a break for some fun in the pool.

Then their parents, BHB and RB came over and we grilled hamburgers and chicken. Great food and lots of fun but we were still nervous.



STORM WAS A CATEGORY 5.

---- Sunday
When we woke up this morning we had a big surprise, the projected course of the hurricane was off shore. This changed everything.  Although the winds might be very strong and still the strongest ever felt by our area, they were not going to be as strong as projected so there was a chance we could survive.

Our gas cans that were ordered on Amazon arrived early by reliable UPS and Hubby D headed to the gas station to fill them up. Our regular station was out of gas but he found some right down the street. Now we had fuel for the generator and both cars fully gassed up.

Gas, check. Sand bags, check. Generator, check. 

If this window blows out in the garage, we are in trouble. 

We spent the day trimming palm trees, cleaning off our pool deck and moving very large potted plants to protected areas stopping only to watch the latest projections on the weather channel.  I went around the house and took photos of everything – just in case.

I even documented the golf cart and clubs. After all, we can't get by without them!

Our rugs we purchased in the Middle East are very valuable to us and on Monday we will be rolling them up and moving them to higher ground. In case you are wondering, the round rug in this picture is the new rug from Egypt that just arrived on Wednesday. YEA!

I made one more run to the grocery store. The clerk at the grocery store made a very insightful comment. She said the storm has been drawn out for so long by the news stations that people are starting to return to the grocery store for more food because they have eaten everything they bought the first time they thought they would be stranded by the hurricane. LOL

At the end of the day we treated ourselves to a nice dinner out at a local Italian restaurant. The place was packed. I am sure we weren’t the only ones concerned we might not be out again any time soon.

Hurricane Dorian was now known as one of the most powerful storms ever seen in the Atlantic. And, starting tomorrow it should be at our doorstep or at least a few miles from our doorstep – hopefully many miles away.

STORM WAS A CATEGORY 5.

---- Monday
I was up early this morning as the wind had started and I just could not sleep. However I was pleasantly surprised when I checked the news online. The projected course has moved even further off shore. My fingers are crossed.

Here is what the Orlando Sentinel had to say about Dorian.
"The storm has grown in size over the past day, putting a wider area at risk. Hurricane winds extend 45 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds reach 140 miles from the center.

“It just takes a little wiggle, a little movement, a little jog, and then all of a sudden you’re a little closer to the coast,” National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham said in a Facebook Live broadcast.

He explained that atmospheric conditions could change the direction of what has been an unpredictable storm. Dorian now ranks as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricane landfalls on record, tied with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, authorities said.

The only recorded storm that was more powerful was Hurricane Allen in 1980, with 190 mph winds. But that storm did not make landfall at that strength."

An image taken by Lieutenant Garret Black after his weather plane broke through to the centre of the storm captured a phenomenon known as the “stadium effect.” It was posted on twitter. AMAZING 

However, as I started writing this blog, waves of rain and wind are starting to pass through. My office has patio doors out on to a small courtyard and I can hear the water and then the palms hitting the side of the house.  Here it comes!

I think if we all start humming together, we can push it further off shore. . . .
Turn! Turn! Turn!

Wish us luck.
Cheers,
Brenda

Does your golf ball go further in the mountains?

When we started planning our most recent adventure a good friend of mine asked me if golf balls go further at higher altitudes. I promised I would try to find out. We were headed to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (up in the mountains) to visit some new friends.

During our recent trip to Egypt we met JD and her husband PD. Although they were long time residents of Chicago, they also own a home in San Miguel and have been visiting or living there for over 15 years. If you are a reader of my blog, you might remember that they appeared in my story about our last day in Cairo when we visited Tahrir Square.

After we returned to Florida from Egypt, we invited them to visit us in Florida. They have been considering a move back to the States and specifically Florida. They came to visit us in March and we had a really, really lovely visit. We played a little golf, watched sunsets sipping drinks on our pool deck, went out to eat and showed them around Viera. We also introduced them to our friends at Suntree Country Club. But as hard as we tried, they went on to visit friends in Sarasota and made the decision when they move (after selling their home in San Miguel) they will move to Sarasota.

Oh well, at least they will be close enough we will see them often.

After they were in Florida, they invited us to visit them in San Miguel and we decided August might just be the perfect time. We were so correct – while our home in Florida was experiencing closed golf courses and rain, rain and more rain, San Miguel was BEAUTIFUL!!!

San Miguel de Allende is the principal city in the municipality of San Miguel de Allende, located in the far eastern part of Guanajuato, Mexico. A part of the Bajío region, the city is 170 miles from Mexico City.

The city's name was taken from two people: 16th-century friar Juan de San Miguel, and a martyr of Mexican Independence, Ignacio Allende, who was born in a house facing the city's central plaza.

The city is a destination for people from around the world and a weekend getaway for many wealthy people living in Mexico City. There is a very strong Expat community that started after the Second World War when the G.I. Bill allowed U.S soldiers to study art at the Instituto Allende, one of many art and cultural institutes in the town. This growing enrollment at the schools began to build the town’s cultural reputation.

The many Baroque/Neoclassical colonial structures give the town a very quaint yet exotic appeal as well.

We arrived at their beautiful villa in mid afternoon just in time to enjoy the view from their rooftop terrace. To say the view was stunning would be an understatement. It was just fabulously stunning.

A very unusual storm came up and before long hail rained down on the terrace.

PD had prepared guacamole and corn chips to go along with our cocktails. It was the best guacamole I have ever eaten AND trust me, I have eaten a lot of guacamole.

And, very quickly the storm passed and we were treated to an amazing sunset.

The next morning we were awakened to the sound of church bells and birds chirping in the beautiful fountain courtyard just outside our bedroom.

We went upstairs to the terrace off the kitchen for big mugs of wonderful coffee and fresh yogurt with berries for breakfast. JD even served fresh orange juice from Florida (LOL). Hubby D and I both agreed the coffee reminded us of Bahrain as it had a wonderful froth on top. YUMMY!

Out over the city, we could see a hot air balloon rising over the cathedral. JD told us they drift over the golf course while she is playing. After our wonderful breakfast we ventured out for golf.

Seeing the balloon rise over the city really surprised me. 

Malanquin Golf Club was a mountain course - very steep and  challenging!

Very few of the fairways were flat and strait.

To answer my question in the subject line of this blog, yes, golf balls do go further at high altitudes: The air is less dense, so there is less friction to slow the orb's forward motion. There are even web sites to help you calculate your yardage to figure what club to use adjusting for the altitude. And, you might ask if I experienced this (ha ha). No.  Please, don't ask any more questions. LOL It was a very, very difficult course.

After a full day of “mountain” golf, we enjoyed a superb evening meal in downtown San Miguel and came home to enjoy the night view of the town.

Sitting on their terrace was a fantastic treat. In fact, their entire 4-story home was a treat. Around every corner was something whimsical as well as beautiful artwork.

This was the terrace off the living room and kitchen on the third level. We had meals out here often. it was WONDERFUL!

This is the fire pit on the fourth level terrace. The view from here was just amazing!

This bird was made entirely of newspaper - Asian newspaper!

This metal scuplture was at the front entrance. I just thought it was amazing.

There were several paintings by this artist throughout the house.

The front doorbell was an antique bell and chain. 

JD had these cabinet doors custom carved locally. They were truly unique.

Vases of flowers filled the house.

The fountain courtyard on the main level of the house is surrounded by a tall flower covered wall. On the other side of the wall is another lot that PD and JD have purchased so that no one can build a tall villa and block their view. These are really smart people!  After all, the view is everything.

The wall at the far back is the other side of the wall of the courtyard garden at PD and JD's villa.

This gate leads into the flower filled lot from the other street. 

All of the gardens were full of the most beautiful flowers. I had so much fun taking photos and editing for this blog. I just love flowers!

These blossoms were trailing down in front of the coral wall at the back of the courtyard. I thought it made for a dramatic photograph.

Bougainvilleas were my favorites.

The private courtyard off the master bedroom was covered with flowers.

On the Saturday evening of our visit, PD and JD threw a party. It was a very special and enjoyable evening for us. It was clear that PD and JD have a strong social network of great (and extremely interesting) people in San Miguel.

This was the view looking down to the courtyard from the 3rd level terrace. There were over 40 people at the party - what a treat!

One of the appetizers served was fried squash blossoms. I had tried to cook these once when we lived in Northern Virginia but could never find blossoms. Here in San Miguel they sell them in the markets by the basketful. They are so delicious! I might search again in Florida to see if any market carries the blossoms.

There were baskets of fresh blossoms in the market.

JD grows these beautiful limes on her terrace. They were delicious.

Several times during our visit we walked around the town and enjoyed seeing the stores and historic sites. There was a myriad of restaurants with every kind of cuisine imaginable.

This giant bride is used to lead parades through the town after a wedding.  There was a giant groom with her but he ran off when we approached.  LOL 

This is a typical street. They are all made of stones. AND, there are no stop signs just bumps in the  road or roundabouts to slow down traffic.

The morning of our last full day in San Miguel, we had an authentic Mexican breakfast at a local restaurant within walking distance. It was a real taste treat for me, as I love Mexican cuisine.

On our stroll home we wound our way through the neighborhoods. I was obsessed with the doorknockers.

 

The hand shaped knocker was very popular. We found these for sale at a local market.

That night after an early dinner of enchiladas and fajitas at one of PD and JD’s favorite local restaurants we had a different experience. We attended a concert by Lady Zen. What a hoot!

Lacy Zen specializes in singing Aretha Franklin songs and she was amazing. The San Miguel Theatre was a very interesting space and the people in attendance were obviously big fans of Lady Zen.

After the performance we wound our way back to PD and JD’s lovely home down the narrow stone streets of San Miguel. It was so fun to pass the restaurants and stores in the evening light. Many small stores opened their doors and had cooking stations set up near the street. It was a delight for the eyes and nose.

Back at the house, we climbed up to the roof top terrace and once again took in the night view of San Miguel. Fireworks were going off all around as we enjoyed the last moments of a great trip to get to know PD and JD better and visit San Miguel for the first time.

The book with the most stories should be your passport. United Airlines

This quote was plastered all over the walls as Hubby D and I walked through passport control in Houston on our way home. Our trip to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico to visit PD and JD will definitely be one stamp in our passports we will remember fondly.

Cheers,
Brenda