Porthole

August 28 -29

56 degrees and clear blue skies at 11:11. If it were always like this...

But it ain't! Got to market early. Got my cherry pastry. Got my yeller watermelon, my Sinful, my Buttercup.

I good.

Time to write my blogville blog and write some contest entries. If not now... never.

YCC: GaleForceWinds > Augustine V "Blog is def going Twilight Zone down below....legs....nails.....blocking.....troll....."

YCC: Wundindy > "My boys & husband were fishing at our camp in Dularge last weekend. Youngest was listening to updates and looked at me with the saddest eyes saying he wished he knew about Ida last week so they could’ve moved some stuff that could hurt the environment. My sweet 10 year old!! I told him “daddy does that every time y’all leave” and his eyes full of hold-back tears and he said “well, I really wish I could’ve just said goodbye just in case”. 💔 "

The dscussion about Ida is nitpicky. Someone is gonna git hit, some is gonna git hurt. If you're in the way... git out!

I do think that there's some bureaucratic insanity in NOLA... but that would not be news.

Prediction. Since everyone else gives their 2 cents. Cat 4 135 mph (tops), weakening. Larger TS windfield than now. MS and AL get rain and storm surge greater than expected as of now. About 100 fatalities. MS is immobilized like it was after K.

MO: there hasn't been enough attention to infrastructure upgrded to hurricane specks. Even the levees were not done properly. The Dutch went to 1,000 year odds after the storm of 1953. The Army Corp of Engineers? Typically American and cost-cutting. Hope and pray that the Nuclear Plant barely above sea-level isn't breached. Very short-sighted and very incompetant. Typically American. Build it fast. Make money. Leave town. Let others pay.

I wrote Sum1: "Is there any way that someone (who has the time) could look for newbies, especially black cases that post in a blog occasionally and entice them to join? Like contact them directly. "Hey, I see you have a blog and posted a few entries. Wanna join us?"

I don't think the Newsfeed is going to do it. Not every reads it and frankly, if it doesn't seem to pertain to them... Remember this site is full of introverts who even in the safety of their caves, hiding behind avatars, are still afraid (and yes I think fear is a factor) to post anything real or dare share an opinion.

I come from that background. I know that landscape very well. I even navigate it better than most of the shyest authors here! I hide behind my masks and people think that they know me? They don't... and yet they do... if they read my blogs.

I'm an odd duck.

I do think a personal invitation may be in order. I know all 9 participants. I know Dutchessbarbie least of all. Good to see Petra back (Wakeupandlive). 9... isn't enough. Only half make it through. In the past, some have had good intentions but gave up when they missed a few entries (I suspect their heart really wasn't into it) and because this is a contest (with prizes) rather than an open forum (like QotD or Express it in Eight), once they can't "win" they give up. 20 contestants to start is better as it ends with 10-12.

Good luck on encouraging folks to comment. It works... some of the time."

57 degrees / 33 AQI at 10:30 pm.

To Robert: "Oh, I mostly agree. This article may make valid arguments but it's... So f***in' Anglo! As if this has anything to do with anyone living outside the Anglo-American bubble!

Examples?

2009 - phone booths everywhere, no cell phones.
2011 - even young teenagers have cellphones.

There was an important change in those two years in Costa Rica.

The 1980s and Reagan? There was severe inflation and shortages of necessities in CR and teenagers went to work instead of school... CR lost a few years of educated population.

1963 Irazu explodes. Ash everywhere in CR. Meanwhile the USA was getting mired down in Viet Nam, a war that defined any male exposed to an involuntary military draft. However, this war did NOT define Africa or South America, or most of Europe or Asia. And it affected the early so-called US boomers who were sent away to die in ways that someone born at the end, who was 10, would never have to contemplate.

1948. CR transitioned from a warzone to not having an army. Black folks were allowed to visit the Highlands. Important, maybe?

Every country has similar dates of fundamental changes in society. The USA likes to think it's the only country out there and that somehow with 4.25% or so of the world's population that our history and culture... and the labels we use to define people... matter most. What silly hubris!

So basically "silent, boomer, gen-x, millenial, gen-z" labels only apply to Americans and even then they are mostly meaningless."

AUGUST 29

47 degrees, 14 AQI. Chilly morning.

Posted Ida... "An Ode to Ida ... as it lands"  Some response.

It's 3:40 in NOLA ... landfall was almost 4 hours ago. Ida is feeding off the marshlands and not weakening. Double eye wall, winds may still be over 140. Slowing down. Could be a long night in Louisiana, one of the longest they have ever had.

I never did write her/him a poem:



Write a story inspired by this sweet looking pony!

Ancestralhome บ้านบรรพบุรุษ

therewereflowers lotsofflowers มีดอกไม้ ดอกไม้มากมาย

andhay sweethay และหญ้าแห้ง หญ้าหวาน

wewanderedthroughthemeadowsbymoonlight vanishedamongtheflowersbyday

เราเดินผ่านทุ่งหญ้าด้วยแสงจันทร์ หายไปท่ามกลางดอกไม้ในตอนกลางวัน

therewereflowers มีดอกไม้

somanysweetflowers ดอกไม้หวานมากมาย

youpickedabouquetofgoldensunshine woveawreath placeditonmyheadlikeacrown

คุณเลือกช่อแสงแดดสีทอง สานพวงหรีด วางไว้บนศีรษะของฉันเหมือนมงกุฎ

iwashappy ฉันมีความสุข

but weallgrowup andnowyousayyoucannotseeme
แต่ เราทุกคนต่างก็เติบโตขึ้น ตอนนี้คุณบอกว่าคุณไม่เห็นฉัน

donotfrown อย่าทำหน้าบึ้ง

inyourdreamsyouwillknowmefromafar ในฝันของคุณคุณจะรู้ฉันจากฟาร์

iwanderamongthefallenpetals ฉันเดินเตร่ท่ามกลางกลีบดอกไม้ที่ร่วงหล่น
inthemeadowofgoldenstars ในทุ่งหญ้าพันดาว


KE [178.218]







Ida came to Louisiana looking for jewels. If she rained hard enough, blew hard enough, the security cameras would be blinded, soaked or smashed to pieces. Ida was a natural born gold-digger and thief. She took after her aunt on her father's side. You may have known her. Her name was Katrina Burglar. We called her Kat, but in public we just whispered, K. No reason to wake the undead. But Surgee, dear Surgee, kept an eye on Ida and listened to every wind lash and splashing wave. He recorded it all.

Taboobooboo: SUMMER BREAK summer holiday vacation family travel or any derivatives of these words

Unhappy endings

It was the smoke
choking the valley
the bacon burning
tar coating your lungs

I... I tried to breathe
sitting by the window
in front of the air-purifier
under the blast of the a/c.

But time is precious
when green turns to gold
and the end looms nigh
you coughing up blood.

two months to relax
dreaming of beaches
you in your bikini
me drowning in sorrows

I look forward to tomorrow
packing the suitcase
going back to school
relearning how to breathe

[178.219]


** Image ID #2255742 Unavailable **

the scream filled the air
coming out of nowhere
we looked here
we looked there
we never turned around

she stood rigid in place
mask on her face
arsenic and lace
grimace? just a trace
hands and feet tightly bound

did we know her name
did we share her shame
who did she blame
we never asked her game
but that unholy scream

and the shrieks
and the creaks
and the echoing peaks
memory of all that reeks
how her pleas pierced our dreams

4945