Blog Friends,

An update on my absence from my blog.

For the past week, we had been getting warnings of an impending hurricane.

Naturally, I began to prepare for it. I had gone through a hurricane in August of 2004. Although we were spared damage to our home, it was devastating for my daughter who lost her home. Recovery to our town took years. Florida is known for their hurricanes. It’s a way of life for us. Many homes are capable of tolerating hurricanes but there are still old Florida Crackers houses that are destroyed each time there’s a storm.

Fortunately, our home can manage the storms but it cannot withstand water. They’re predicting this storm to be of huge magnitude. Hurricane Charlie sustained winds of 165 miles per hour. This storm is sustaining 185 mile per hour winds with storm sugres of 225 miles. It is a BIG ONE.

It has pummeled many of the islands in its path during the past few days. The images are devastating. Warnings are being issued for residents of the Florida Keys, Miami and many areas on the east coast of Florida to evacuate. We are in the west coast of Florida but a hurricane can change from moment to moment. We are in the Sarasota area which is one hour south of Tampa. They predict we will be getting high winds and major flooding.

Our plan is to wait out the storm in our home. The exits roads are packed. The possibility of being on the road during the storm is high; plus, the slow traffic uses more fuel which our state is running out of already. We have prepared for days without electricity and water. We were without water and electric with Hurricane Charlie for 7 days. Our hurricane preparations are water, canned food, peanut butter, candles, battery radio, first-aid kit, medications, toiletries and our cat needs. We are preapring for evacution by packing a backpack with two day of clothing and personal necessities. Our home has been secured as best as we could secure it.

Please pray and sends your good thoughts to all who are being effected by this hurricane.

May Hurricane Irma pass quickly so that we may return to our beautiful tropical paradise.

Blessings to all,

Isadora 🙏🏻