Sometimes, It All Comes Together
My friend called me on Sunday, asking if we still needed help with our tree problem. “Yes,” I said; we sure did. She needed work done, had a team that did a great job, and asked if I wanted to meet them. “Yes!” I said, with enthusiasm, and they came over, talked with my husband, and made a deal.
A deal isn’t a deal until it’s done, as I see it. Lots of guys make promises and don’t show up. These guys showed up. They showed up with the right equipment and the right skill sets and experience.
I wasn’t there to watch. I had a commitment at a local elementary school where I volunteer, but AdventureMan kept sending pictures. He was pumped! These guys knew what they were doing. Most of the photos here are his.
While two guys went to work putting ropes on the BIG problem, our tree that ended up horizontal twenty feet off the ground over two fences and three back yards, one man went to work on the heritage pine tree in front, with a dislodged bough that never fell. He made short work of getting it down, and trimmed off a couple others that he thought might prevent a future problem.
Then, he tackled the Holly Tree which has leaned over the years until it was pointing directly at our house.
Finally, the BIG Problem. The tree over three yards. The good news is that our three backyards have large gates, so we could access all three yards. They brought in heavy machinery, and while they worked on different parts of the tree, the machine lifted it and held it up. The fences were undamaged, except for the one we were already preparing to replace before the storm because it was old and rotted.
When the loggers had finished, they saw one more long bough which was damaged, and likely to come down in the next serious wind, so they took that down, too.
These guys were amazing, and the job didn’t even take a full day. They were gone by early afternoon. They cleaned up, stacked all the logs, piled the boughs and blew the patios and drives clear. We were grateful, and impressed.
It wasn’t cheap. It was reasonable. The Pensacola News Journal had run a story on avoiding scammers, and gougers, and listed price ranges for work that were within a reasonable range; ours was right in the center, and they did a lot of extra work and all the clean up. We are so relieved to have the dangerous trees gone, and so relieved to have this great team to help us.
We are also grateful for the help from friends and neighbors, helping us with resources, good recommendations, good information and support as we went through this hurricane.
“I’ve Got This”
So this is a wooo wooo post. Non-believers, this is not required reading.
The other day my granddaughter and I were talking, and she asked my opinion on someone, and I responded frankly. Then I asked her what she thought of me. “You are calm,” she said, and stopped.
I didn’t push her further. She has had her own sense of discretion, and I respect that.
And mostly, I am calm. I suffer occasional bouts of anxiety, you know, climbing on that endless hamster wheel that goes nowhere. I swim, I walk, and the good chemicals help wash it away. And I listen to the voice in my head that I think of as God speaking to me. He’s very repetitive. He says, “I’ve got this.”
I have discovered that anxiety gets me nowhere, and listening to that voice, letting go, has empirical value – it works for me.
Post-Hurricane Isaias there is SO much to do. Big expensive tasks that cannot be left undone. Dangerous things, like the big hanging tree, and a treacherous jungle area.
Friday, one pool friend mentioned casually that her son had some experience and could help us with the jungle. We met him, were impressed, and he is coming Monday to tackle the jungle. Yesterday, a church friend called me, asking if I needed a tree service that was insured and certified and had an arborist. Yes, that was exactly what I needed. Exactly that team had finished at her house, and she wanted to know if we would like to meet with them for an estimate. I could hear her relief and happiness with the work this team had done.
We met with the team this morning, and they will schedule us for this week, saying that, indeed, our situation with the hanging tree is dangerous. Our neighbor, in whose yard the top third of the tree is resting, was home and approved access through his gate. We are thankful for good neighbors.
Our family is coming with chili for tonight’s dinner. AdventureMan is making cornbread. I have made guacamole and a cheese dip.
The hamster wheel sits silent, unused in a corner of my mind.
Not So Fast
It is a humbling experience (she says wryly) to be experiencing a sharply upward learning curve at a point in my life when I am supposed to be wise, by virtue of age and experience.
Yes, I have been through one prior full-blown hurricane, and many tropical storms, sandstorms, more than one earthquake, and even a flood. No two have been the same. I’ve lived a life full of challenges, and thrived. I’ve learned to think fast, to solve problems. I’m good at it.
So now, I am learning one of life’s less glamorous skills – patience. We have cleaned up. By the Grace of God, we have a person willing to help us clear the last spot needing clearing in our yard, a young man, experienced in tree work, the son of a friend. God truly works in wonderful ways.
We still have a big tree problem, this huge fallen tree in three backyards, hanging over us like the Sword of Damocles. I listen to my more experienced friends; they are all pragmatic. They say a variety of different words, all of which mean “Patience. This will take time.”
Finally, a disaster has been declared in our county. It took a week. FEMA, an organization which at one time was a shining light in our governmental policies, able to respond quickly and efficiently to disasters, is now hamstrung by cutbacks in personnel, funding and political machinations. Who and how they can help has changed. It hurts my heart that aid and lucrative contracts seem to be easily come by, while hands on help to those who need it most desperately, is very slow.
People talk about the blue tarps. In earlier years, almost immediately, trucks would go around giving out free blue tarps to homes with roof damage, to prevent more damage until the roofs could be repaired. We would fly into Pensacola and see entire areas with blue tarp roofs. I have seen a lot of roof damage inflicted by Hurricane Isaias; I have yet to see even one blue tarp. Such a simple necessity that can prevent so much more expense. Where are the tarps?
Neighbors are helping neighbors. Our neighbors who share our hanging tree are being wonderful. Everyone (except me) seems to understand that it will be fixed, and that it will take time. We are not a high priority. Intellectually, I can understand that. Emotionally . . . I am practicing patience. I am learning to practice to be patient. In some areas, I am a slow learner.
I have a small white sock on my buffet; it is a remnant of the load of wash I did for my granddaughter. They will be here for dinner tomorrow night and she can pick it up then. We are also working on a quilted holder for her Bedazzled work; I don’t know who is having more fun, her in eagerness for the container or me, in the design and making of it.
As soon as they got their electricity back, we lost our water, for hours, and when it came back, it was all brown. Finally, it ran clear, but it came also with a “Boil water” notice from our utility. I am reminded of Tunis, and Jordan back in the day, when boiling water was a normal part of life, and we had a big water purifyer called a Puro that we filled with boiling water and it filtered it all through large chalk filters.
Yesterday, after six days of sunshine and no wind, another smaller storm moved in and we waited for the other shoe to drop.
A lot of clean-up has been done. We are waiting for the disposal teams to come by and pick up debris. Meanwhile, the trees, grids, and water system still have invisible damage; changes in weather are likely to bring more unanticipated consequences.
Shrimp or Clam Salad
This is the salad we are taking today. As a new bride, my far more exprienced upstairs neighbor, Sarah, was always sharing her best recipes with me. More than fifty years later, I still think of her with gratitude when I use one of her recipes.
Today, I intended to do a clam salad, only to discover I had no clam juice! I did, however, have a big package of frozen jumbo shrimp, so I boiled some water, threw it over the shrimp, strained the water after letting the shrimp cook maybe two minutes, and had a tasty shrimp broth to use for the rice.
Sarah, I am blessing you in my heart; we love this salad as much today as the many years ago you shared it with us.
Shrimp or Clam Rice Salad
3 cups freshly cooked hot rice
3 -4 Tablespoons Mayonnaise
2 Tbls cocktail sauce
2 -3 chopped green onions
1 stalk chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped sweet pickle
12 – 16 oz cooked frozen shrimp
or
2 cans whole clams, drained
Cook rice; add solid ingredients (no need to thaw shrimp if rice is hot). Add sauces and very little pepper to the rice. Stir, cover, and refrigerate until cold. Serve on lettuce. Great hot-weather salad; can be used as a main meal.
Soused Apple Cake for the Fish Fry
It’s a three-day weekend, but I have things I need to do, so I am up at my normal time to bake while the day is still – well, not cool, but not so hot as later in the day. I need to make a salad; I need to bake a cake. We are invited to a fish fry – one of our favorite invitations. The host and his wife fry up a “mess” of fish, really good fish, and the rest of us are allowed to bring sides.
This cake, Soused Apple Cake, is easy, except for remembering to slice the apples a day before and soak the slices overnight in brandy. I could be like those famous cooks who tell you, “use a very good (olive oil, brandy, etc),” but honestly, here it would be a waste of good brandy because the brandy is a supporting actor and will be competing with cinnamon and nutmeg, so just use something you would use for cooking, not drinking.
It is also a very sweet cake. I have tried over the many years I’ve been making it, to make it healthier. It just isn’t the same. Today, I followed the original “can’t stop eating this cake” recipe.
Soused Apple Cake
4 cups sliced apples
brandy
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup salad oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans
Peel, core, and finely slice apples; put into bowl and cover with brandy. Let sit overnight.
Combine sugar, salad oil and eggs. Set aside. Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add to oil mixture. Drain apples, mix in, adding chopped pecans. Mix well (it will be thick) and pour into a greased and floured 9”x13” baking dish. Cook at 330°F for 1 hour.
Let stand ten minutes while you prepare topping.
Pecan topping
1 stick butter
2 Tablespoons milk
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cups chopped pecans
Combine butter, milk, and sugar in a saucepan; bring to a boil, then boil for one minute. Add pecans, mix well, and spoon over apple cake while it is still hot.
The original recipe invites you to serve with whipped cream, but I find it to be overkill.
Shampoo Ginger
When we had a bathroom renovated, our contract manager became our friend. Hugo was a great gardener and loved the variety we had planted in our backyard. We shared cuttings and rootings, and he introduced us to Shampoo Ginger, also known as Zingiber zerumbet, pine cone ginger, and pine cone lily.
Our first winter, we thought we had lost the plant entirely to the cold, even though we had wrapped and sheltered it. Late in summer, we began to see signs of life, and by winter, it was fully growing again. By last Spring, we had so many sprouts that we divided the bulbs and shared them with numerous friends. This year, I can see that we will again have plenty to share next Spring. This is a lush, productive plant! We keep ours in big pots because it is a bamboo like plant, will spread out of control if not contained. It loves reproducing!
A bee came by as I was grabbing the photo!
The information below is from our local Extension Office, a part of the University of Florida:
Shampoo Ginger
Shampoo ginger (aka pine cone lily or pine cone ginger) adds a tropical flair to the landscape and can be used in the shower. Its foliage looks comparable to other gingers, but the inflorescence is where it gets interesting. In the fall, the flowers appear within bracts that resemble red pine cones. As the name implies, squeezing these cones causes them to release a clear liquid that can be bottled and used as shampoo!
Characteristics
Shampoo ginger (Zingiber zerumbet) is semi-evergreen and grows in large clumps that are up to seven feet tall and six feet wide. It thrives in zones 9 through 11 and will die back in the winter. The leaves are 8 to 12 inches long and lanceolate in shape. Foliage appears in the spring, and it can be either solid green or variegated depending on the variety. ‘Darceyi’ is particularly showy with green and white foliage.
In the fall, three- to five-inch-long inflorescences resembling pinecones appear on stalks that are just under a foot tall. They start out green with white flowers, then ripen to scarlet and fill with liquid. The cones have a sweet fragrance and are highly favored for floral arrangements. They will persist for weeks if left on the plant.
Planting and Care
Photo courtesy of Forest & Kim Starr.
Shampoo ginger can be planted year-round. It works as a specimen plant, border, or accent plant. You can also plant it in containers indoors or outdoors.
The ideal planting site is in partial shade to partial sun, with moist, fertile soil. Shampoo ginger is moderately salt and drought tolerant. Pests and diseases are rarely an issue, but you may encounter mites. Shampoo ginger makes an excellent passalong plant since it is propagated by division.
Once your cones have turned red, they’re ready to harvest! To collect the “shampoo” liquid from the cones, gently squeeze them over a container. They will refill by the next day if they aren’t squeezed too hard. You can also harvest the cones and then firmly squeeze them over a container to harvest all the liquid. Just keep in mind that the cones will be spent after this method. If you’re harvesting in advance, you can freeze the shampoo liquid for later.
Here There and Insanity
I have a group of buddies who gather early in the morning to swim. Everyone needs a group that can help keep them sane, and this is the group for me. We share news updates. We share reactions. We share our own ups and downs. Some of us are elders; we share our aches and pains. And at all of this – we laugh. Thanks be to God; we help each other keep things in perspective and keep a sense of humor about ourselves.
AdventureMan tells me I have a special smile for when I am in Alaska, or when I am on a boat. Both sing to my soul. It’s hard coming off a great vacation, and even harder when a heat dome covers Pensacola and there is barely a whiff of fresh breeze, even by the shore.
I thank God, too, for the life I was given, my time in Alaska, and my time with my husband living in so many different countries in service to our own country. You know, old fashioned things like building alliances, learning foreign cultures and languages, building relationships.
So forgive me if I rant now and then about the craziness I see in our current situation. Sometimes I feel like the blog name should be Here There and Insanity; as Paul says to the Romans, we are doing the things we ought not to do and not doing the good we ought to be doing.
What to do?
Here is what I wish for you – a strong partner, and a loving family. A group, or two or three, of buddies who can help you laugh when insanity happens in the world, and a belief system that can keep you grounded when moral values are topsy-turvy, shaken and tossed out.
“There are places I’ll remember all my life – though some have changed . . . Some forever, not for better, some have gone, and some remained . . . All these places have their moments with lovers and friends I still can recall, Some are dead and some are living – in my life, I’ve loved them all.”
Alaska 2026: Turnagain, Again
More about what True Love looks like. For fourteen years, I have talked about a blueberry pancake I ate in Homer, and how I wanted to eat there again. I couldn’t find it. AdventureMan didn’t give up, he followed all the clues, and he found it. We packed up and as we were leaving, he suggested we stop at this place, Duncan House, for breakfast.
It was in the right location. It had the right feel. AdventureMan found the exact place, and I was able to order the exact pancake, an order known as Bear 1-1-1 because it has one piece of bacon, one egg and one bear pancake with blueberries or chocolate chips. Again, I chose blueberries.
In the Duncan House lot, a new customer drives up . . .
The four-hour trip to Anchorage was all on roads we’ve traveled before, but it didn’t lessen their impact – Alaska is full of stunning beauty. A new perspective, different weather, we see different things.
We had leftover pizza from last night’s dinner at Fat Olive’s, so we stopped along Turnagain Sound for a small picnic en route to Anchorage.
We arrived a little ahead of schedule, but our room at the Alaska House of Jade, an independent B&B, was ready for us, and our welcome was warm and gracious. It is another beautiful, clean, very quiet, and private place to stay. The hosts, Linda and Greg, keep it spotless and in good repair, and have fresh cookies ready on arrival.
Tonight is a special night. We are invited for dinner at the home of a pair of Alaskan doctors, one of whom I graduated high school with 60 years ago. (How can that be??)
We found their house easily, following their instructions. While my friend poached a fresh salmon, his wife showed us her show-stopper garden, full of a huge variety of edible berries and fruits and beautiful flowers.
with the salmon, we had special coated potatos and a Caesar salad. For dessert, his wife made persimmons in yoghurt with a sprinkle of brown sugar. The dinner was delicious, and the conversation was even better. When the evening ended, we had trouble saying goodbye; there was still too much to learn about one another’s lives. The conversation was as delicious as the dinner.
We left with three jars of Alaskan-made jam, made by our friends; we can’t wait to try them and to share them with our family.
These heroes, Bill and Jane, spent their careers in Bethel, Alaska, running a hospital treating mainly indigenous Alaskans, far from anywhere. These are people who believe in public service and have lived their beliefs, serving others.
This is a perfect photo of Mt. Denali which Bill took during one of the rare days when the mountain was not shrouded in clouds.
How Do We Celebrate the 4th of July?
Today’s Lectionary provided a prayer for today, along with today’s saint, Saint Moses the Black:
PRAYER (contemporary language)
Almighty God, whose blessed Son guides our footsteps in the way of peace: Deliver us from paths of hatred and violence, that we, following the example of your servant Moses, may serve you with singleness of heart and attain to the tranquility of the world to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
It brought to mind a troubling conversation in a meeting with a group of women I greatly admire. One said “I’m having a problem with knowing how to celebrate the 4th of July without compromising my belief that our nation is on a very wrong path.”
In a brief discussion, we agreed that no one party owns the flag, or fireworks, that those are the influence-free celebrations of our freedoms, but that gatherings that involve political speeches and practices that support beliefs we find repugnant are contrary to our well-being.
I think we all came away from that discussion with a troubled sadness.
My family has a history of service to our nation. Much of what we have built, and what we have worked so hard to accomplish, has been wrecked. I love our nation, I love the American dream, I love the Statue of Liberty welcoming those who arrive with little but hope, and a desire to live free in a land of opportunity. I love our freedom to disagree with leadership and for the tools to fight unjust practices. I love that we have lived a life of service: serving our country, building alliances, and building a network that fights the evils of tyranny.
This morning, I put out our flags.
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Early Voting in Florida
