Two Faces of Oklahoma - Winter on the Plains

This article should be titled Oklahoma Alias Oklahoma!

That part of the country we know and love has two faces my friend. In the Spring it is a storm chasers dream. Wide open country where you can see the horizon on all sides for miles. Watching and waiting for a funnel cloud to form or dangle down out of a massive wall cloud. The dark, deep purple sky hanging low just above a river of grass that looks lime green in the awkward sunshine. It's an image we expect to see when we think of Oklahoma and it's neighboring great plain states.



But, Toto..this isn't Kansas.. neither is it Oklahoma or Arkansas this morning.



It is a countryside gone winter, white crazy. Covered in snow and ice and there is more coming down. Look at all the blues and pinks on the radar imagery in the link below. Ice, sleet and snow .. oh my!

http://newsok.com/weather

Hard to imagine from where I sit in my bed in Miami staring out at blue skies, green palm fronds and listening to some lost parrot sing a morning squawk. Wearing sandals and short sleeves this morning and drinking Iced Coffee for a change.

But the ice on the trees in Oklahoma tells a different story.

This is an ice storm.. up close and personal:



Somewhere ... deep inside that little frozen, icy twig beats a heart that is still alive and will blossom forth in the Spring and turn green and sing..

You're doing fine Oklahoma.. Oklahoma... Okay!



:)

What did you expect? Hello Dolly?


Stay warm and safe out there on the plains today.. or in New York or in Ottawa or Padukah or in any old place you may be reading this even on a schooner anchored snugly in some hurricane hole in the Caribbean.

Besos Bobbi



(Yeah, I liked it ;) smiling)

Cold Toes in Miami

No..not cold feet.. just toes.. the sky is deep blue and there is a sparkling sunshine here but in the evening it gets suddenly really cold!

How am I going to do up north in the winter I wonder..and then remember I will have someone to warm my toes ;)

And.. you dress warmer (I'm still stubbornly in tank top here) and there is a fireplace and heat and no jalousie windows!

Been watching debates in tropical circles on off season topics while cyclones named Fanele dance far away on the other side of the world. I wanted to post a bit on that but seems I had to go look for a dress. I would rather ride out a Category 3 Hurricane than have to go to the Mall shopping! Storm chasing is EASY compared to that trust me. Noise, so much noise and not talking about the roar of the wind but rather music wafting in at you from 20 different stores, some incessant beeping that sounds like the whole Mall is going to explode or take off for Mars any minute! Dresses in evening wear made for women not from this planet I am sure (does anyone really want to wear silver taffeta with strange collars and buckles on a dress? I don't think so. Lots of black dresses.. lots of red ones and when did green become the big color? I missed that one. Celery. Lime. Asparagus. Olive. And, there are a lot of eggplant shade gowns on sale as well. It feels like you are trying to build a salad rather than find elegant evening wear. I did try on a pretty white prom gown that made me look like a dance hall bride out west and needed too many alterations.. such as adding a top..sleeves...

Anyways... suffice it to say.. my toes are cold in Miami and ain't no one here to warm them :(

Enjoy the song.. great pics someone put together from their life.. not my life but someone's life.




Gotta go.. seems I need cream colored chiffon from Little Havana!

Besos Bobbi

Freeze Possible In South Florida.. Actic Cold On The Way

No one seems to be sure how cold it will get but with wind chills it will possibly be in the 20s. That for anywhere is cold, but for South Florida that is frigid.

Tuesday Night is calling for winds 25 to 30 mph as a cold front blows through, an Artic Cold front.

Crystal Lake, Minnesota is having temps of 22 degrees tomorrow. That is not much colder than Wednesday morning will be when the sun comes up, the cold sets in and the winds create a wind chill effect.

I'm hoping for snow flakes personally but they are not in the forecast (duh) but well.. hope springs eternal I say and it would be a sign.. perfect someone if we had snow flakes in Florida.

Here is the current forecast from the NWS. Take your plants in, stay warm, bundle up and wear layers.. or your suede boots if you have them ;)

"THE COLDEST AIR TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT AS
WINDS BECOME CALM WHILE A HIGH OF ARCTIC ORIGIN RIDGES INTO THE
AREA FROM THE NORTHWEST. THIS WILL SET THE STAGE FOR A BETTER
POSSIBILITY OF FREEZING TEMPERATURES ACROSS A LARGE PORTION OF
INTERIOR SOUTH FLORIDA WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY THURSDAY
MORNING. LOWS BY EARLY THURSDAY MORNING ARE FORECAST TO FALL INTO
THE LOWER 30S INTERIOR...MID TO UPPER 30S ELSEWHERE...EXCEPT LOWER
40S SOUTHEAST COAST."

As for me I have been busy this past week and not around for numerous reasons but one of those reasons is that a close friend of my family died. He was 19, just 19. We have been friends with his parents, his siblings and him for ages..way before he was born. I got married the same year as his mother and father, we got divorced around the same time.. we had kids the same age so that multiple children were best friends with multiple siblings or close friends. We have witnessed each other's lives and now sadly we have witnessed death was well.

He was a vibrant, strong, funny, deep, soulful and a kid... a fun kid who suddenly became ill, didn't feel good. Went to ER with an inability to breathe well.. was tested, was released, was told to rest and stay in bed, got a high fever, went back to the hospital, was put in ICU for FOUR days while they tried to figure out what was wrong with him. On the day he died it became pretty apparent it was Acute Leukemia of some kind. His body simply shut down, his blood unable to work properly, he went on a respirator, his kidneys failed, we prayed.. oh I prayed so much. I am so close with his older brother who is like one of my kids and I didn't want to see my friend lose her son, his brother lose him... my kids and all the kids who loved him go through and yet... they did. He didn't make it. Anyone I asked to say prayers for him I thank you from the bottom of my heart. And, I ask you to do some good deed in his memory .. give charity to the charity of your choice, help someone you know needs help, go visit an older relative in a nursing home or just go visit nice older people in a nursing home. Volunteer your time to some organization that needs people to help on a walk or a rally or in a soup kitchen. Do some good deed in Eli's memory please. No, it won't bring him back but it will be something he can't do as he is no longer here and someone, somewhere needs help.. so help out. Please.

We had a funeral, my kids and friends have been making Shiva calls and just sitting around remembering Eli, celebrating life and trying to move on.

I've been a little too numb to post, to think or to function in a normal enough way as to post a post on my blog. But, I didn't want anyone to think I ran off to Raleigh and am no longer around because I am engaged. Nope. Am here.. somewhere, just getting back to the every day rhythm of life and I really want to thank all those who have helped in their own way.

The rhythm of life is an amazing thing.... we live, we love, we die, we fade away or we burn out like a meteor crashing through the atmosphere or slowly like the embers of the fire in the campfire that he and his brother and my kids make in the back yard. Little embers, sparking up.. glowing, fading away.

Enjoy life... enjoy those you love and who love you. Love is always good. Love endures.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43538739300&ref=ts

This is a site for Eli made on facebook... shows a little of who he was and his legacy.

As for me... I am working on my wedding plans. I registered..more on that another day. I have a date. I have a place. Now I need invitations. It will be late February so we won't have to worry about it being delayed by an impending hurricane. Years ago, after Hurricane Andrew.. Eli's brother Moshe was having his bar mitzvah in August of 1992. The Omni Hotel called up his mother who is the caterer of caterers and told her that they had an unexpected guest coming to his bar mitzvah.. one she couldn't simply feed with extra food like she usually does. The whole thing was put off, food was lost, power was out... it was a BIG bar mitzvah. His bris had been put off by some weather event as well..have a baby in the hurricane season ya know? So, the first time we left Miami Beach at night during the curfew was to travel across the Bay, past the police barricade, show our ID and have a delayed bar mitzvah. People were thrilled... was the first time any of us had real food in over a week, we danced, we laughed.. was sort of almost Gatsby like crazy to have such a party while much of South Florida was still digging out. Eli was a baby running around, his mother announced she had so many delayed events for Moshe that when he got married she would wait until just before and call everyone. It's one of my most vivid after Andrew memories was that party at the Omni.. a few weeks late and then driving back across the Venetian Causeway, showing our ID and back to Miami Beach exhausted but happy to be back at the rhythm of life. And, I remember a few years back when we went to the Deauville Hotel and danced at Eli's Bar Mitzvah.

Memories made with friends over time marking the special moments of our lives.

Telling you all now.. enjoy life, be happy...dance like no one is watching (or is watching) and like there is no tomorrow..and do acts of loving kindness!

Love my friends... they help make me who I am and help put smiles on my face such as I had today ;)

Thanks.. Besos Bobbi
Ps... Raleigh is going to get 4 inches of snow and I am here not there.. not fair!

Red Moon Rising Over Hollywood Beach..

Saw a beautiful moon rise tonight over Hollywood Beach. Hard to explain how beautiful it was as my camera doesn't take good pics at night :( BUT...you get the idea.



Checked out what time it was and we went over there to watch it rise over Hollywood Beach through the palm trees. It never occurred to me it would be red.. golden, orange, yellow but not red. And, there were no clouds.. it just rose quietly out of the water the color of a dusty rose and rested itself for a few minutes on the horizon before moving slowly higher in the sky and turning golden.

Was awesome.

Took a long walk down the boardwalk.. past the old hotel that was the old Florida Bible College that is now a hotel again and watched a Peruvian Jazz band play at the bandstand on the boardwalk while the moon rose higher and people took turns looking through telescopes that the South Florida Astronomy Association set up along the boardwalk as Venus in the west stared down on the show.

So.. the red blur is the moon lol but you get the idea.

As for me... going back to work tomorrow, working my way through wedding plans and enjoying the tropical, balmy night in Miami.

Be well and hope the moon is shining bright where ever you are tonight... ..

Bobbi
http://www.sfaaa.com/

Weather , Wind and Weddings

That's what I've got on my mind. Seems we "got weather" as Sharon says all the time. Lots of weather. Yesterday was a rain warning, this morning a wind warning. I woke up and it was like 2mph.. winds are now out of the SSW at 25 mph and amazing the barometer is really low at 29.32 and Falling. I never see it that low in Miami without some tropical storm being near by. I guess the barometer does drop before a weather change .. haha.

Seriously, spent a good part of the day looking through books and magazines at Books A Million ..great book store. Occurs to me this is my wedding and I do not have to argue with my mother or watch my ex-husband argue with my mother or the strange little Austrian printer who got into a fight with my ex-husband over the wording his mother demanded and the printer never saw and he refused to put on HIS invitations lol. Giggling. This should have been the first clue ..huh? And, if I want a purple bouquet or pink or a lollipop bouquet I could have it. Or white. In some ways, it's fun to get married when you are older... all the things the mothers want are no longer "shoulds" and "have tos" and you can pretty much do what you want within reason and budget and time allowing. So.. hits me, this could be fun. Also, quiet time weather wise in Miami so not like I have to worry on hurricanes or afternoon thunderstorms!

Great magazine...



Anyways, I'm in Raleigh and it's really windy outside so I have to go. Also, have appointments at the local high school with my daughter to check it out so we can see it up close and personal.. in bad weather lol.

Yesterday was a minor fast day so it was a long day, long, gray, cool day. Enjoyed breaking the fast with good friends and had an incredible blintz souffle with fresh, dark red strawberries and great coffee and chocolate kokosh cake. Yum!! Got amazing blackberries at Fresh Market for .98 cents a basket that are calling my name for breakfast!

Be well.. be patient and I'll be in touch.

Besos Bobbi

Hello From NC... Still in Hurricane Country :)

See... trading states but still going to be living in Hurricane Country ;)






In North Carolina visiting and making some possible arrangements regarding schools and wanted to say hello from up here to everyone out there. Everything in my life at the moment seems a bit in limbo and flux and I have always hated living in limbo and yet at the moment I am trying to take time to just relax, enjoy it.. smell the roses or the perfume or the beautiful lavender scented pillow my daughter-in-law gave me for my birthday.

I am trying to imagine what it will be like in a few months in the Spring as I was up here last year and fell in love with it all back then. Did I mention I love the big magnolia trees ;) and the white pear blossoms and other things like gladiolas planted IN the ground...how funny not in the grocery store. Well, Spring or Summer but definitely plan on spending the 2009 hurricane season in North Carolina.

And, everywhere you go there are signs here for the Carolina Hurricanes complete with the hurricane symbol! So.. that's good.

Went out last night for dinner with my best friend from high school and his wife who live in Durham (like the movie with the Durham Bulls) and then we went back to their house and made a little ice cream party with friends to celebrate our engagement. I get temporary custody in his house of his Coral Park High School mug :)

Funny being far from home and yet feeling at home at the same time.

Watching the news, watching the weather and watching the rain fall down through the pine forest out the window. Sounds pretty, looks like winter :)



Have a great day..will be back in Miami by the end of the week, back to blue skies, sunshine and parrots fooling around in the palm trees!

Besos Bobbi

Go Rams!

Happy 2009!

So this is what most of us woke up to this morning... when we went on the computer to check the news, check our mail, check up on our world after a late night of watching the ball drop and the "2009" light up and decree that we have turned the page on one more year of our life!

So...before I google too many things this morning ..such as a recipe for a cake I want to make for tonight let me say...

Happy New Year!

May it beautiful and productive for all of you. May your dreams be realized into action and may you look back 365 days from now and welcome in 2010 with a smile and think what a good year 09 was :)

As for me and my fiance ;) lol (getting used to this) we went to my brother's house and sat with some friends he had over and talked and snacked and had pina coladas that my sister in law made and watched the ball drop. Went for a little walk outside together, looked at the stars... the glittering holiday lights down the block and enjoyed the beautiful, balmy and breezy Miami tropical night.

Tonight we are having a big open house sort of engagement party called a L'Chaim :)

Lots of cakes and drinks and stuff like that..

You know posting it yesterday made it seem very real for me. But, my daughter put it up on a bunch of sites and texted me to go online.. and there it was on the various Lubavitch sites we check out daily for news and information and there we were.. on Shmais and I sat at work on the computer and giggled and thought how great my kids are that they are so happy for us and how they do love to party and enjoy life and how "oh my goodness.. it was on Shmais.." Smiling..and Crownheights.info and col and onlysimchas and I think Shayna may have looked into a billboard in Times Square but it was too late in the day to get them to go out there and change one!



So... very official and am very happy and gee.. I really will have to figure out slosh charts and learn historical tracks for North Carolina Hurricanes because sometime later in the year I will be moving. Up north, to the very southern city of Raleigh. Rahleeee as they say. And, I will be that much closer to my kids in New York and close to one of my best, best friends in the world who already moved there the year before and how lucky can one girl get to have her husband and best friend from high school in the same place and they STILL have hurricanes and the seasons :)

They call them Inbetweeners.. something about people from New York who moved to Miami and then move back in between half way or... South Floridians who want to leave the hustle and bustle of Miami but who don't want to leave the South. Hmnnn well, we'll see.

For the meantime.. I am here, posting in blog land and enjoying the balmy, beautiful weather and the parrots flying about outside flying from the palm tree to the ficus trees!

Have a wonderful 2009!

Be happy, enjoy life and live your dreams!

Besos and Blessings..Bobbi
ps.. it is my Hebrew Birthday the 5th of Teves so.. am in party mode ;)