Hurricane Season

It is September 7. We're in the height of hurricane season and Hurricane Irma is possibly proving to be one of the worst storms on record. Right on the tail of Harvey, which we 'thought' was our worst storm.

Many of my friends are in Irma's uncertain path. Some friends have already seen their houses and precious island homes completely destroyed. St. Maarten (northeast Caribbean) and Tortola (British Virgin Islands) are both practically leveled with just about everyone homeless. Impossible to wrap my mind around. I struggle to find words to express my sadness to friends, only realizing there are no words for this.
Then there is Key West with a mandatory evacuation in place and still a handful of friends are staying. I worry for them but Key West has their stalwart residents. They will ride this out. Hopefully.
I have a few friends with places in Culebra, Puerto Rico. They're feeling helpless as they are here and their houses are in Puerto Rico.
One of my best friends who lives  in St Pete Beach drove to a safe place in Valdosta GA yesterday. A 10 1/2 hour drive that should've taken 4 hours. Many people trying to get ahead of the storm. Now coastal Georgia is evacuating. It's insane. My sister in Orlando is expected to get hit hard. I sleep with my iPad at night, watching Irma's track and holding onto hope for all those in Irma's path.
When I lived in Key West many years ago Jimmy Buffet was singing at the local bars. I remember he wrote a song, "Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season." None of us at that time in our young lives had ever witnessed a serious hurricane. A "hurricane warning" for us was just another  excuse for a party. I lived through many hurricanes with way too many parties. A few strong hurricanes that narrowly missed Key West changed the tone of our parties. All of a sudden many of us had evacuation plans. Parties were no longer in our hurricane repertoire. A hurricane was now a force to be reckoned with. And we began to take these storms seriously. Very seriously.
Today I am almost obsessed by tracking Irma. I am fascinated and humbled by weather. And afraid of this storm. Really afraid. How much more damage can it do?

I want to post photos today so decided to sift through photographs of the sea, the waves, storms...
Here's what I came up with.

Saturday, September 2.  Summer...still.

35 degrees this morning. Snug and cozy in my bed fast asleep at 5 a.m. Then my alarm went off. Oops. Forgot to turn off my cell phone last night. Gazing out my bedroom window I could see the outside world waking up. Because I love mornings, I made the decision to not turn over and go back to sleep. Well worth it. Gorgeous sunrise. Then I hauled in a few logs in my half sleepy state. Wood fire roaring now and house is wonderfully warm.

August 25

I love that I can see the sunrise from my bed when I wake in the early morning. Today's sunrise had me jumping out of bed to grab my camera. Gorgeous morning. Shades of autumn in the air but I'm okay with it. 

Got in two invigorating bike rides in the morning hours - one on the hills in my neighborhood (challenging!) and then another along the River Road in PA. No pics from the bike ride but I do have photos from the morning sunrise. Some days I love where I live! Today is one of those days.

August 22

Trying to post more frequently on my blog. Of course, that means I need a photo just about every day. I try to shoot pics daily, but sometimes I'm not inspired or it's raining too hard or... ah, there's a litany of excuses.

This was a quick shot this morning. I literally jumped out of my car and shot the reservoir in 2 seconds as I was running late for work.

This isn't one of my favorite shots, but I loved the fog.

Pepacton Reservoir, Downsville NY

and this - from yesterday morning

Morning Light

I noticed the early morning light yesterday from my living room window. Something about the mix of fog and sunlight. Ah, morning. My favorite time of day.

Summer's Harvest

Just finished making 2 more batches of pesto. Seems like a daily event for me this time of year with an overabundance of basil in my garden. At this point, I believe I have enough pesto for all of Wayne County, possibly Sullivan. My friends are growing tired of it. However, soon will come winter. Then will be a perfect time to pull the frozen pesto out of the freezer. Add a roaring fire and a bottle of fine red wine. We will fall in love with pesto all over again and maybe even winter.

For now, summer is upon us and well...it's beautiful.

Today almost felt like summer. The temperature hit 78 degrees, but still a lack of a serious summer feel with no humidity. I miss having a real summer.

Sunrise was a bit "dusty" this morning, a term I recently heard a  4-year old use at the lake when he walked out of the house on a super foggy morning. He looked around and stated, "It's SO dusty!" Loved it! My new word for fog. Yes, it can get quite dusty some mornings around here.

I'm rather obsessed with paddle boarding at the moment. Yep, my new passion. I don't want it to take over my photography but I doubt that I'll stop shooting photos. I believe the more you do the more you're able to do. I included a photo of me on the paddle board on my blog today - I never post pictures of me on my blog. An exception. Only for today. Taken by my dear friend Greg Adrian with my little point and shoot. 

Summer is beautiful despite the fact that it's not living up to its reputation. Come on summer!! Not much time left.

Another gorgeous sunset on Swago Pond

On Swago Pond - me.

sunrise -  a little dusty

Cow