Myrtle Beach ... A Needed Getaway... To a Place I Love.... Hurricane Florence Long Gone.... Sunrise Sunset. Green Flash & Green Book Wins

Warning I may ramble...

..intoxicated by the beach and the sound of the surf.

Did I mention Sunset and Sunrise?

Keep reading...

This is your generic advertisement brochure for any beach, but in this case it's Myrtle Beach and it really looks like this often if you are lucky and on this trip down to South Carolina I got lucky. Okay I may have prayed also and a lot of prayers seem to have gotten answered. It's my 10th Wedding Anniversary weekend and a celebration of people I love being happy and it's also my daughter's birthday but more on that later. 

Last night's sunset at Broadway on the Beach.

2 things I love.. Broadway and the Beach.

I also had a Margarita ;)

at a Key West Restaurant near the water..

..after wandering through Margaritaville!

I'm writing this blog this morning from the 10th floor...

..listening to the sound of the ocean and the waves below.

Yes... 10th floor. It's the details that matter.

I literally woke up to this view.

The view from my bed out the sliding glass door.

That's venus shining in the sky...

...over a colorful display of beauty.

I got dressed fast.

Thankfully I put on leggings and my sweater.

I forgot to check the temperature out there.

Good thing too or I may not have gone down there.

View from the balcony stunning but....

...sometimes you gotta get up close and personal.

It was 43 degrees and "feels like 36"

Seagulls and sandpipers ....

...catching the moment the sun breaks the horizon.

The waves, the wind and the seafoam.

I had a beautiful nice last night in so many ways. Walked around Margaritaville listening to Jimmy Buffett songs thinking it's not like being in Key West but it's a pretty place to be. Decided to go over to the Key West Grill on the lagoon and get a Margarita that way I could say I was in both Myrtle Beach and Key West at once! Good margarita and a nice view of the sun setting over the lagoon at Broadway on the Beach. If you come to Myrtle Beach it's a must see like the Ferris Wheel and the Gay Dolphin and the Hurricane Myrtle at Myrtle Beach Margaritaville. My husband is over at Chabad House a few blocks from the hotel doing his morning prayers while I do my morning blog. You seriously didn't think I was going to not include a Hurricane in my Anniversary plans did you?

As always looking for that elusive green flash at sunrise.

Or was it sunset?

Anyway....

I wanted to go away and party and I wanted to wander around the beach and other places round these parts I love and I wanted to get some kosher lamb at the Food Lion here (seriously high on my list) and wanted to watch the Oscars. I had a somewhat vested interest in the Oscars this year and if my wishes came true (and they did) then Green Book would win the Oscar and I'd smile a lot and Green Book won the Oscar as did people involved and I smiled so much. There are things I say and things I allude to and only the guilty party gets all the innuendo but I'm fricking over the moon happy for my crazy friend and that wishes come true.

Green Book is an incredible movie with some great cars :)

That's what "he" said...

And he's always right.

In truth Green Book is a story that should be told and it's good to learn about a time in history that was different from today when we are blessed to have so many freedoms and opportunity to do what we love. Once upon a time the original deeds to my parent's house in Miami Beach had the clause that the property could not be sold to Blacks, Jews or Dogs. Why a dog would want to buy a house I have no idea but apparently in case it was possible the early bigoted, prejudice builders of Mid Beach near Arthur Godfrey Road wanted to make sure that blacks, jews and dogs stayed far away from true white privilege; know that Arthur Godfrey Road is now the center of the Orthodox Jewish community filled with Kosher restaurants, blacks are allowed to live there and dogs can be seen walking with their owners on their way to the beach and the boardwalk. That's irony. That's karma. Once upon a time Sammy Davis Jr was allowed to perform at the Fountainblue with the rest of the Rat Pack but he was expected to sleep in Overtown across beautiful Biscayne Bay in a place that was in the Green Book; the guide to where people of color were welcome. If you read his biography "Yes, I can" you will read all about that incident and others and as Sammy used to like to remind people he was the most handicapped person around as he was a one eyed, Negro Jew... oh that man could sing and dance but he still had to stay at the "right" hotel not the one he was singing and dancing in...  

https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-1990-sammy-davis-jr-dies-1.5242961

Miami Beach was beautiful always; early on the Jews were only allowed to stay south of 5th Street though that did change fast enough I will admit it's still a dark scar on Miami Jewish History that every Jewish Miami kid knows. My parent's lives on 37th and Sheridan in the 1970s so it seems Arthur Godfrey Jr did not get his wish. Sorry Charlie...    and have had some wonderful black neighbors over time so he must really be rolling in his grave. In fact there are Argentinians and Israelis and Canadians and Russians all mixed together into a beautiful Beach City that loves all creatures (even dogs) and it's a diverse, happy place. That's karma biting some people in the proverbial ass! It's also a great place to film a movie and it has so many picturesque film locations... 

So back to me and my crazy, sometimes upside down life. I loaded up my favorite makeup including my Kat Von D compact and my Huda Eyeshadow Palette and Stila stay on forever even after sipping a margarita lipstick and bought some Strawberry Creme cookies to nibble on while sipping some sort of alcoholic strawberry canned drink and watched the Oscars and wishes came true. And, I woke up in the morning, made a fast coffee in the room and went downstairs and collected shells and took pictures and videos and prayed to God thanking him for this beautiful day; okay my husband went to Chabad but to each his own. And to the person who wrote about me leaving Chabad in the Post.... that's rich irony as here I am still connected and still chasing sunrise and hurricanes and doing what I love.

What do you love? I love dancing and weather and music and make up and beaches and margaritas and best friends who have rocked my world.

My daughter gave us permission to get married on her birthday.

February 24th was always a good day for me.

It was also Rosh Chodesh Adar and Fat Tuesday.

Ps I had a Hurricane at Fat Tuesday last night ;)

Dina hoops.

She loves to hoop.

Apparently she has a mother who let her do what she loves.

That's my girl.

She's a character. Definitely my daughter.

https://www.instagram.com/dinadeehoops/

One of my daughters.

Some people love to watch satellite loops.

Yes I can almost feel the hurricane season in the wind.

Whispering... "don't forget me"

Dabuh loves beaches, surf and hurricanes.

He also loves hurricane people.

You don't get more hurricane people than PHIL.

Trust me I know.

Well maybe a few but.... he watches hurricanes.

And I mean all over from all over.

Phil could be in Switzerland and he'd be watching the Pacific.

Really...

I'm more an Atlantic girl ...

This girl Barbie lives in Key West.

Takes great pictures.

The beauty of the beach is it's always changing.

It's also always rearranging itself in odd ways.

Miami Beach is built on a Sandbar remember that!

Colors change, clouds come and go and then the sun comes out!

Enjoy those places you love.

Love the people you love.

Do what you love.

Do it with LOVE.

Indeed.... so true.

One thing I adore about Mike is...

...he does what he loves.

And we love him for it!

I'll be writing about the tropics more and more in the coming days.

Some hurricane history and hurricane tips.

Stay tuned...

Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on Instagram and Twitter

Ps... My son is a music producer. Ironic huh?

He does what he loves.

He produced this song and the CD.

Producers are awesome... 

..producing and oozing creativity :)

Back from Miami... Watching Weather, Earthquakes, History and Touching Base with BobbiStorm - 1111 Lincoln Road, Florence 2006.. A Look Back and a Look Forward.

I've been following weather only here and there was time permits while on vacation in Miami. I refuse to obsess about the slight possibility of any sort of frozen preceipt in North Carolina until next winter; if we get snow it will surprise me and I'll be silly and over the top excited. Watching models this past winter, after the surprise snow in November, has been like watching Lucy promise not to pull the football away from Charlie Brown and then she does it over and over again.


I'm more than halfway to the Hurricane Season and thinking of posts to write that would offer some historic and educational value here as we march into March of 2019. You can see the signs online that we are more there in our minds than the pages of the calendar are that are stuck on February 2019.

Nothing makes my heart race faster than...

..purple satellite images of the tropics.

https://www.instagram.com/dabuhsurf/

Yes I was hiding from the world in Miami Beach.

Standing on rooftops staring out at the lights below.

Wearing long sleeves because it was cold that night.

High on life and too many Nespressos.

https://1111lincolnrd.com/

My son's best friend's father helped design it.

You've seen it on the credits of Burn Notice.

It's next store and upstairs from Nespresso :)

And yes someone lives on the top of it ...

...it's true. My son explained it to me.

I believed him but here's the link...

There's a tropical palace on top of an iconic parking lot.

They paved paradise and built another paradise.

But from the street level....

...who would know what's on the top of the parking lot?

Miami is like that, always evolving.

Always rediscovering itself.

Always redefining itself.

Magical city indeed.

How it looks from down below.

There are secrets everywhere there.

And in life as well.

They paved paradise indeed...

..and put up a parking lot with a hidden mansion on top!

I'm home, back from my Myami vacation (that's how natives like to say it...though my Grandma Mary used to call it "MY-AM-MAH" with a deep Southern drawl that she called a real "FLAHR-da accent" and yes there was something awesome about my Grandma Mary... no one like her really. I found out on Ancestry that she was actually six years older than she told everyone and I'm not even sure she knew that as there was a lot of fussing with birthdates in her family. Shows you what a cute, short, youthful looking woman can get away with over time.... six years... but it explains some discrepancies in her stories she told often that seemed not to make total sense. For instance she told me once she walked in a parade in "Tampeh" (that's how she called it) with her father when she was little and he held her hand so tightly so she didn't get lost as there were so many people there celebrating the end of the Spanish American War. I asked her if she was sure about that because she told me she was born in 1900 and that's really young for her to be walking in 1898! She thought on it and said maybe it was some other parade but I always wondered on that. There was a rumor going around once she was born in 1898 but even then you can't walk in a parade when you are five or six months old...  But at five or six you would go to a parade with your father. See my point? The devil IS in the details. She was born when her mother was going on 40, my mother was born when she was also older... I had my last child when I was going on 40. Patterns exist in families. I do not lie about my age but I could get away with it if I wanted to...

This is an off the topic post tonight and I'll resume posts regularly soon, but if you haven't noticed there isn't anything tropical going on right now. I was looking back at some old posts from years gone by when I used to sit up obviously at night refusing to go to sleep and apparently writing in my sleep the oddest posts and people read them it seems. Confessions of a storm tracker out of her mind a times. Looking longingly for some wave that would spin and catch the attention of the men at the NHC who might write a real discussion and that would come close enough to flirt with Miami but not do any real damage. That is the dream you know of all Miami kids.... the thills, the flirting and the excitement but no roof tiles should fly off anyone's roof and no papaya trees lost to the storm and only some minor palm trees swaying and work cancelled so you can go to the beach and watch the waves.

2006.... the year Ernesto came flirting (and sent kickass roses I may add to the library) and Florence confounding the NHC as to why it wasn't doing what they thought it should be doing. What is in a name afterall? That name is now retired, gone with the tropical wind and that ship won't be sailing again in the Atlantic Basin.

http://hurricaneharbor.blogspot.com/2006/09/?m=0

What amazes me is that I wrote like that and no I was not high on any substance other than a love of hurricanes and obviously some of my closest friends who also love weather. More diary than blog except for when something was really going on in the weather world. Lots of menus and music and musing on going to Key West which I did regularly back then when I needed a more tropical place than Miami.  Oh what a time it was...

Apparently there was an earthquake in September of 2006 in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa (Tam-peh) and it's not that I didn't believe my blog but I Googled it just to be sure. How bout that, talk about a geological event disappearing in the tropical breeze.

Wonder what Dutchsinse would say on that one?

There was Florence in the Atlantic kind of...

...trying to find herself.

Confounding the forecasters.

Not much has changed huh?

Well the name has been retired.

Miami is a unique place.

Diverse and deceptive at times.

Raise the buildings.

Make a parking lot into public space.

And this weekend is the craziest weekend of the year.

The Boat Show meets the Coconut Grove Art Festival.

Miami in February is often an illusion.

And illusions sell.

So do the movies.

And if you are going to film in Miami...

...do it in February.

As for me I'm back in Carolina.

Debating what to do this week...

Wondering on the weekend.

It's the OSCARS in LA.

Far away but maybe I'll wear my Oscar necklace.

It's a real golden copy of an Oscar.

An Oscar charm!

My mother hated it.

She asked me if I had a St. Peter around my neck :(

I showed her it was a mini Oscar.

My ex husband got it for me in a jewelry store in Beverly Hills.

And then the next day they stopped selling them.

Apparently it's against the law to make a graven image of Oscar!

Even in 14K gold.

Beverly Hills was fun.

But it's not as beautiful as Miami Beach or Coral Gables.

Trees are budding in Carolina.

A few even have some flowers showing.

After this week of endless rain....

... maybe more will bud when the sun comes out.

It's quiet in February of 2019.

Looks like there's a party in Rio.

Sometimes I wish I could be as silly as I was in 2006.

I changed jobs that year.

I was probably out of my mind with fear.

I decided to take a job for Touro University.

On Miami Beach... paid to be on Miami Beach.

It changed my world in ways.

Change can be good.

It's good to stay fresh and be inspired.

So yes I went to my Tara.

I'll be back sooner rather than later.

Girls get married.

Babies are born.

Life goes on...

It's good to love where you live.

Nowhere is Key West.

Nowhere is Seattle.

There is a huge world in between.

I hope your world spins on the right axis.

And those you love make you smile and laugh.

And at the end of the day.

You say Amen and let's do it again!

Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on Twitter and Instagram

And everywhere else in between.

What's your dream?

What's your fantasy?

What would you like to create?

What a creation....

... 

Warmer Weather This Week. Rain Washing Away the Snow. Shades of Blue and Green Today and a Walk in the Woods.

Watching the rain fall in Raleigh and it's melting the last vestiges of snow that fell a week ago. That's Carolina weather. Much like a Yo Yo Dieter our temperatures go up and down on a weekly basis. Last night it was so warm here that I briefly put on the AC while waiting for any chance of severe weather that may or may not have passed through overnight. Many say if you hear thunder in the winter you see snow within ten days. Let's see how that plays out.

Add to the list of things that seemingly did not play out was the Tsunami fears on the West Coast from yet another strong Earthquake in our part of the world. Originally an earthquake in the 8.0 range downgraded (as they usually are) to 7.something .... 

It was an extremely strong earthquake. Nuff said and thankfully the Tsunami fears were over played in the middle of the night with the usual "better safe than sorry" terminology we here regarding Hurricanes and Tornado Warnings. I believe the proper response is "Thank God" and then to go on with life worrying about the flu and our regular daily fears. All us meteorology people are mesmerized by the other Earth Sciences and as I have said many times every meteorologist is a closet geologist and vice versa.

 

The world is such a beautiful place...

...from up above.

Winter is staying up where it belongs today.

Snow and Ice Up North.

Rain in the South.

How long can this last?

Currently a "Dry Cold Front" is on the move.

So not much happening here weather wise.

The NW as always this year is busy.

The flow from the Caribbean...

...continues to ooze up towards Florida.

Good thing it's not the Hurricane Season.

Check out that flow.

It's been a busy week here for me. My oldest daughter is in town for her annual winter vacation and we've been hanging out. She has a friend she met when she lived in Philly years back who she helped go through some positive major life changes and eventually ended up happily married in Houston. Sadly her friend's sister Melanie died last week from the Flu. Melanie seemed to be in perfect health having achieved her 50th birthday and even became a Life Coach who worked with Beach Body a popular fitness group. Suddenly in less than 3 days she passed away leaving a grieving husband and many siblings, relatives and friends. So I spent Sunday at a funeral in the woods and contemplating life. It's good to contemplate life sometimes as you appreciate it more that way. We gathered together a minyon to say Kaddish (you can Google that) and then walked on a small, narrow path around a lake deep into the woods where this woman who loved to go to St. John's was buried in a simple pine box surrounded by her friends all wearing cobalt blue as it was her favorite color. The sky was blue and blue birds began to sing as we walked away quietly lost in thought; the birds waking us from our deepest inner thoughts and we all smiled in amazement at the bright blue birds on the bare branches. I didn't know her personally, but I feel as if I did as I spent time with her loved ones and in her beautiful home decorated with cobalt blue vases on glass shelves installed in her windows so she could see the light reflecting off of them. 

I write about this not to be morbid but to impress upon everyone here not to take the flu this year flippantly and to totally appreciate life and the things and the people you love. It seems there was a man who loved the forest and he was losing his life slowly to a cruel disease. There's an award winning documentary involved that I'm linking to below. Everything that happens in life leads to learning something else about someone or something else. Well, unless we live in a self absorbed bubble only worrying on our own problems and we don't see the sunlight on the water or the light reflecting in the forest throwing shadows across the landscsape. 

Walking through the woods indeed.

In the summer it looks like this below.

Sunday it looked like this.

Melanie was Jewish but not deeply into her religion, her husband is not Jewish and is an atheist yet her older sister Shoshana is an Orthodox Jew. The rest of the family lies in various places in between but they all loved Melanie and they all love nature. They came together respecting each other and sharing grief yet most of all sharing happy memories through the sadness. 

http://www.awillforthewoods.com/about/

The seasons change fast in life as we move through our own issues (problems) and deal directly with them or hide from them. We all have our different ways of coping in life. Some people ignore the flu and figure what is meant to be is meant to be while others walk around with face masks obsessing over every new story they hear. And the news is filled with them as last night the lead story in Raleigh was of the death of a 7 year old little girl who also died in 3 days. I was raised my a neurotic mother who gave me a good measure of fear yet my stoic father taught me to do the best you can. Hand sanitizers have become my new friend. I'll let you know how it worked out hopefully in a few months... we can look back and laugh on it the way we did tsunami fears and false alerts for nuclear war in Hawaii.

If you see that new vase in a color you love and you can vaguely afford it please buy it. If you see a tie on clearance about the cost of a fast food lunch ditch the fast food lunch and buy the tie. It's the small pleasures in life that bring the most joy sometimes. My stoic father taught me that. He took off a few hours to go to a cheap movie theater he liked or ran into Jai Alai to watch a few games on the way home from work often. Later in the life when he became religious he'd run over to the Lubavitch Yeshiva on Alton Road grab a cup of coffee and sit and learn for 30 minutes and enjoy the social interaction as well as learning something new. He'd come home and tell me who he sat and learned with in the same way he'd tell me he saw a good movie. he wasn't a big talker but he knew how to share.

So here I am in the "off season" when there is nothing tropical going on in the Western Hemisphere musing with you online as I kind of promised I would do vs disappearing in October the way I used to do back on AOL. Now I surf online through the news (the Shut Down is over) and listen to my daughter talk about Ingress (it's a game Google it) and yesterday we went to Crabtree Mall and bought make up and had something to eat and spent some great quality time together. There were no shootings and the creek didn't rise so Crabtree Mall worked out good yesterday. I fell in love with a Tarte eye shadow I did not buy (yet) and bought her some Kat Von D eye shadow in the shade of green she has been wanting. Dessert may have been involved too...

There's a great book.

It's a rather common concept in parts of the world. In Chabad we call it Hashgacha Protis which basically translates to "it's karmic" and the book above walks you through many examples on how best to change your life. It's one of my favorite books. I read it shortly before I met my husband and moved to North Carolina. My daughter's friend Shoshana needed a friend this past week when her sister Melanie suddenly died. As fate would have it Shayna, my daughter, was here in town visiting me from Brooklyn at the same time Shoshana was flying in from Houston for her sister's funeral in Raleigh. Remember my daughter stuck on the bus in Richmond several days ago? She could have changed her mind and taken a bus back to NY vs waiting for the roads to open in NC and she could have changed her mind. But it seems Shayna was here for a reason larger than me buying her green eye shadow or having a nice quiet Shabbos meal together. Nothing in life is really a coincidence as everything happens for a reason. 

Last week I was in Miami giving my grandson Benjamin a pair of Mickey Mouse PJs. I learned a valuable lesson last week and that is it is very easy to find Minnie Mouse PJs on sale but not easy to find Micky Mouse PJs as they seem to sell out faster :( I bought Charlotte Minnie Mouse PJs for Chanukah but it wasn't so easy to find her brother Benjamin the PJs he wanted but I did and on sale. Luckily it was cold enough in Miami to wear them otherwise they would have had to turn down the AC to make it cold enough to wear winter PJs in Miami. Last year was a very warm winter and this year is not. Last year's flu was mild, this year's flu is not.  See even Drudge understands how this as it took Minnie much longer to get her star on Hollywood Blvd than it did Mickey. 

May life lift you up where you belong. May you take the time to appreciate the small things while struggling to pay the electric company and juggle your budget for a birthday dinner. May life keep you healthy enough to enjoy whatever wealth you have and share memories with those you love. My best friend Malka went to Ft. Benning last week when Shayna came here to be there for her son Sholom when he graduated from Bootcamp. Malka is all about enjoying life; we enjoyed some quality time last weekend when we stayed by her in Miami for Shabbos where we took long walks and had great talks. 

May winter weather stay up where it belongs this week and then may it find some time to creep down past the Mason Dixie Line again for one last kiss of winter. May the flu germs stay far away from you and if not go to the doctor sooner rather than later. May you enjoy each day of January and then February. The OSCAR movies have been announced and we move from the Holiday Season to the Oscar Season. In LA it's breaking news and people wake up at 5 AM to watch the announcements live. It's their season as much as fall foliage is a season in Maine. In case you are curious and into the movies these are the movies nominated. I may wear my OSCAR charm for the rest of the season. It's one of a kind as they shut down the store that was selling them in Beverly Center where my husband bought it for me in the 80s. The OSCARS have rules like the NFL has rules ya know...

Buy the cheap pretty roses and get the small delicious dessert. Watch FOX CNN or TWC if it's your thing. Enjoy the Super Bowl and enjoy the OSCARS. Maybe one day I'll take a trip to Ireland with Malka because her father loved Ireland so she's curious and wants to see it as he passed away last year. There are many things we cannot do as we don't have the money or the health or the time. If you can find the time... make the time to do the small things that make a difference. 

And, thanks for reading my blog in the off season. I wander about a bit using my words to weave a picture that tells the story of my life vs Hurricane Irma or Hurricane Katrina. I'm pretty sure the 2018 Hurricane Season will pull as many punches as 2017 if not more and there is plenty more tropical trouble in store for us this coming Hurricane Season.

Besos BobbiStorm

Ps... Don't say I didn't go out of my way to make you who knows who you are smile today!




;)