Spirited and Lively Older Women Thread

BarbaraA

Watching, waiting and praying. Well, I am off to the last day of torture. Fortunately, it is only a half day but then the 7.5 hours of traveling h$ll begins. You can't get here from anywhere without at least one stop. I have TWO! I leave at 2 and get home at 10. Ugh. Well, it really is 7 hours since 2 here is three at home.

Hauntie

3 jays - I don't know how old you are, but my mom was pregnant with me during the summer of 1954 when Hurricane Carol hit. My parents were renting a cottage in Wareham. They had my 3 older brothers with them. My uncle owned a cottage right on the water in Wareham and several other extended family members were renting cottages nearby. The women and children were evacuated by boat to a building further inland. My father and uncles were out in the storm trying to find out where their families had been taken. The story that was told - and is still told whenever there is even a threat of a hurricane in the area was about the cottage my parents were renting. During the storm, the cottage lifted off its slab (no basement) turned completely around and landed in another part of the yard. My mother had a carton of a dozen eggs on top of the refridgerator and not a single egg broke. The house remained where it landed and the owners built a new set of steps. The old steps and slab remained where they were on the other side of the yard. I'm not sure if the house is still there, but during all my childhood vacations, at my uncle's cottage, we would go by and admire the house and hear the story about the dozen eggs that survived the hurricane.

duckyb1

Hauntie............I have a home in Cape May Beach...........no basement.....a crawl space.I'm having a visual of mine ending up at another location........then I have a home in Pa.  right outside of Philly, and we are going to take a huge hit here too .............I left the shore about the 17th of August with plans to go this weekend.......................so much for those plans ..................what is that saying ....................."want to see God laugh....make a plan"..................that statement was never truer then right now...............oh well.............lets hope for the best............not a damn thing we can do about it anyway .................right..........hugs to you all, and especially the ladies on the East Coast......................

Hauntie

Ducky - My apartment is 3 miles from the ocean, so hopefully that won't be a problem. My concen is the rain. I live in a basement apartment and so far I've never had a problem with flooding. I've asked my land lady's son to keep checking the drains in front of my front and back doors.

Actually, my biggest concern is my mother's magnolia tree. My brother and I bought it for her, for Mother's Day, when I was about 7 and he was 10. We paid for it with dollar bills and change we had saved. I remember we didn't have quite enough money, but the garden center owner, who was a family friend, gave it to us for whatever we could pay. It grew into the most beatifully shaped tree. It was absolutely gorgeous when it bloomed in May. It took quite a hit from one of the storms this winter. We thought we were going to lose it, but we hired an arborist and he managed to save it. I don't think it will ever return to it's former glory, but it has come back and did bloom this past May. Other than the kitchen, it's the thing that makes me feel closest to my mother at my parent's house. I'd be devasted (and so would all my brothers) if we lost it.

duckyb1

Hauntie.......I can understand...........I am a very sentimental person myself, and have difficulty parting with things...........at my home down the shore I have the original mailbox that looks like a little house............my husband who died 20 years ago bought it, and painted our name and address numbers on it.......for years it stayed in our shed.........last year my son-in- law (a carpenter), made an adorable wooden shelf for it in the corner of my yard, on the fence...........it overlooks the inground pool, and when we left we did not anticipate this 10 days ago, so it is sitting on the shelf on the fence............I just hope it doesn't blow away, but I'm sure it will..........100mph winds how could I be naieve enough to think it will survive...........I know that isn't a tree, but its the things that mean so much to you that matter..........good luck, and hugs

Dilly

Sending best wishes to all who are experiencing Irene and her side effects.. stay safe. I hope for the best, that Irene veers away and fizzles out.

BarbaraA

Prayers up for all in the path!

marlegal

ducky, I totally under\stand the sentimental feeling over that sign/mailbox. we have a bird feeder in our yard down the shore that i really love, someone made it for us, and that's what i'm most concerned about losing.  like you said, we didn't know.  we were down there last weekend and Irene was jsut a rumor in the bahamas - not something we even thought about for ourselcves.  we have chairs, grills, etc, etc. outside and couldn't go back today/tomorrow to make them safe, so it'll be what it'll be. let's hope and pray for minimal damage, and for your treasure to be spared.

BarbaraA

Melissa posted on FB that a tree fell on her house so she threw a slicker on over her nightie and grabbed a chainsaw and out she went into the pouring rain. The tree is gone and she is back inside. Whew. It isn't even up to where she lives yet.

BarbaraA

Praying for all those in the path of Irene. Melissa made it through fine. They didn't even lose power.

GramE

All ok here in Alexandria, Virginia.    power was off 2 hours or so while I slept thru it all.   I can see one big tree across the street that was uprooted, but no damage as it fell into the little dog park, not into the street.    Still some rain, mild winds.   I will have to get a " I survived Irene " shirt ....

 Hugs, Nancy 

barbe1958

Hoping to hear from more of our east coast gals...glad to hear all is okay Nancy!! Everyone is still in my prayers...I'm holding my breath, so hurry and post!!!

Dilly

Please keep the all clear updates coming! Glad to get each "ok here" message... we are all worried about you-all.

BarbA, thanks for the update on the irrepressible SV.

No word from AJ?  Ducky?...

Stay safe.

Hauntie

Joyce - DB and SIL live in Hudson. I live in Revere, MA about 3 miles from the ocean. Nothing to report hear. Probably some flooding on the streets closer to the beach.  I just woke up from a 3 + hour nap and am still catching up on local news reports. Cape got rain, heavy winds and surf - news reports are showing numerous idiots taking to the ocean, for a swim, down there. Must all be tourists. They're still expecting a storm surge there.

Alyson

Pleased to here the storm wasn't as severe as predicted. Hope all those in the east are well and not affected by the flooding. Have seen some incredible pictures of people trying to surf etc. You have similar idiots to us.

Have had a great weekend. It was our 39th wedding anniversary on Friday so took ourselves up to a lovely little restaurant for dinner. we often go there for tapas and it is my coffee house. Saturday was a beautiful early spring day  and we tidied up the garden  and even had lunch outside. Did the same on Sunday when we had friends around but by evening it was really cold again.

I have to get a lot of things sorted in the next couple of days for the bathroom as we are going to Australia on Thursday. Luckily my sister will be here and thankgoodness for mobile phones. Have to get things like lights and towel rail today.

Big hugs to all.

BarbaraA

Oh Aly, happy anniversary!



I just talked to SV and she said power went out last night but is now on. Big damage in Duck but her house is OK. Whew. She's calling me later with details.

marlegal

Sooo happy the storm wasn't as bad as feared in our area. Lots of wind and rain, but no damage and no loss of power.

Happy Anniv'y Aly

3jaysmom

happy anniversary alyson!!! I'm so glad to hear so many of you made it thru Irene ok!!! SV is nuts! a nightgown and a chainsaw!!! not something i think i could do, thats for sure...

  all our family in Philly are ok. i was worried about chrissys trip: but it looks like it'll be fine for her.......3jays

BarbaraA

SV posted on FB that her house survived but she posted pix of Duck and they had a lot of damage. One pic was of rocks that used to line the sound now being in the middle of the road. A lot of cleanup will be needed.

SoCalLisa

Today I am spirited but not lively...the weekend of driving to Ontario CA and back then babysitting for my grandkids and tennis this morning wiped me out...time for a siesta, my DH went out for a while, so a nice quiet time around here...yes maam

SoCalLisa

Oh I forgot we were on the LA freeways and blocked by an accident for the longest time..no alernate routes available..finally the highway patrol and fire trucks got by us to sort it all out....I just can't do this anymore!!!

BarbaraA

Traffic sucks. Take a snooze, Lisa.

BarbaraA

Hey, SV is supposed to be phone interviewed on CNN live at 5 about the pictures she filed with them of the storm. Turn it on and watch!

QCA

Shoot, I missed the interview.  Hope it will be shown on headline news later.  I'm so glad all of you in the path of Irene are okay, hopefully without too much damage to your property. Irene certainly acted atypically to say the least, and here in my part of NC there was no rain, wind, etc at all. I did see on the news this am that the main (rather the only) hwy in the Outer Banks is pretty much destroyed and those who stayed are isolated from the mainland, except by helicopter.  Don't know how long it will take to be repaired.

Happy anniversary, Alyson!  Hope it's a great one!

Kathy

SoCalLisa

Did anyone download the SV interview?

Alyson

I wasn't around at the right time.

This being a 'spirited ' thread. I just picked up a bottle to refill my glas but got the red instead of the white and so am drinking pino gris and pino noir.Oh well.

BarbaraA

Well, Aly, your are now drinking a pinot blend. I bet it tastes great!

Hauntie

Cheers Alyson

Elisimo

Hey everyone, We did not get any damage at our place just some high winds and lots of much needed rain. We actually had more bad weather last night that was worse than what Irene did.

I just got some good news from my onco a few minutes ago - my tumor marker count is down to 1!!!!!! That is NORMAL !!!!!!!! That was the best news ever so now he is scheduling a MRI just to check and see what all is going on and if we can be sure there is no progression in the liver, bones or lungs. Treatment is about over so catch you all later.

barbe1958

Congrats all around Amy Jo!!! Fabulous news!!!!