Took The Day Off..

Library closed...again...though they will be open tomorrow.

Got some food for the house.

Went away for the day with my brother who had jobs down in South Dade to do and so we could talk.

Very nice day. Left cell phone at his house by accident so really had a day off.. out of touch.

Saw so much damage in Coral Gablels, The Grove, West Miami..Kendall.. Kendale Lakes it is mindboggling. So many trees... NOT tornado damage. I do believe winds were higher than reported officially...definitely too much damage and way past 75mph.. maybe 85.. I mean there was an eye.. I was in it. Wasn't a CDO..was a clear, calm eye..high white clouds and sat outside by front step before all hell broke loose on backside.

Saw trees down in the Gables..house to house on houses.. that only saw before in Cleo.

Drove around my old neighborhoods.

Yes.. its small damage compared to what is going on elsewhere but they did suffer a hurricane. They don't have power..still. There are houses where rich people don't live.. maybe single mothers or old retirees that have 2 and 3 massive trees down they need to get off their front door..back door and roof. One house..small old original Gables house covered in 2 huge ficus trees..didn't even see the house. House was not fancy and will cost a pretty penny to get it off, cut up and fix the roof and or whatever else it ruined.

Everything is a matter of perspective...

When you look at footage from the Gulf..it is nothing.

Had there not been the second landfall.. people here would feel like they just had a hurricane. Many people are tired, suffering the pain emotionally of watching their favorite trees go down, being without money, businessess suffered losses.. being scared.. stuck home with kids.. spent money for supplies they didnt have..but needed. Any kind of Cane is stressful yet they dont feel they can complain because anytime anyone says anything someone glares at them and says BE HAPPY YOU DONT LIVE IN NEW ORLEANS.

Well that is true..100% .. we are all happy but have to tell you .. you want to beat the crap out of someone who has no compassion or feelings that can tell someone who has lost days of work, stock, product.. landscaping, rooftiles.. broken windows and gone through a Cane.. "oh it could be worse" Yes..they know that. But.. you have to let people feel.. process.

Trust me.. people all over Miami are thinking now.. what if the next one is like Katrina but a four or five?

What if we have a Cane before we clean up the 4 ft pile of debris in front of my house.. before FPL takes away the caution sign and tape next to my house telling people not to go there because they still have not fixed that transformer down the block.

People in Florida.. Miami.. the Keys... NW Florida had mild damage and yet..everyone including the Federal Govt wants to slam them with "it could be worse" and not give them money they deserve or would get in any other year. Tell someone who lost all their stock from flooding for their business. All their crops were destroyed in farmilng areas in South Dade.. "sorry, not this year... other places got a cat 5.. cat 1 no longer is enough to get aid.. help"

Humbled and in awe of the job that is going on in New Orleans. Tired of trying to explain to my kids...why they are not helping small chldren or picking up dead bodies.

We all are..but for those of us not living in denial... we are wondering what we would do.. if next week, next month Miami gets taken out by a Cat 5.. If Savannah who is way overdue gets hit by Katrina's little sister to come along soon. People in Tampa are staring and wondering what would happen...were Tampa Bay to fill up with a storm surge like Gulfport got..

And..we all want to help.

I took the day off... went down to my own home. Saw a park I love called Schenley Park look like a bomb blast went off in the middle of it.. or like 100 lightning stikes hit those beautiful trees in the Park where I have so many memories.. and tried not to be upst, they are trees..they will grow back. Drove along places where friends lived growing up of of Red Road and Ludlum... and off of 8th Street..saw some Pines down.. remembered how cute boys looked swimming in th canal there.. I know it will all grow back. Unlike people who have died, unlike people who change.. unlike the past we cant get back.. or do over.. it will all grow back.

And.. with time.. New Orleans will be rebuilt and I hope to go with someone down the road and dance..listen to jazz....see the beauty of the Garden District restored and .. love Highway 90 more than almost any stretch of highway.. even mor maybe than Pacific Coast Highway.. not as much as the Overseas Highway... but I love it..and pray for all those people whose lives need to be rebuilt..

God send them mercy..money and faith.

Bobbi
Night..