Hurricane Hermine and Granddaughter Clarissa

Both ladies arrived the night of September first.  Fortunately we were able to drive to the birthing center before the worse came that Hermine had to offer arrived.  The birth went easy (if one can say any birth comes easy) and about two hours after we came to the center, our granddaughter made her appearance.  She sobbed her heart out over the cruelty of the event, and has not cried that hard since.

 

Mother and baby are doing fine.  They were able to go home with Daddy ( Spencer), John and I by 1AM.  Despite storm warnings, John and I returned to our home.  Thought I would easily go to sleep and would have no problem staying asleep, but then Hurricane Hermine arrived.  Lightning flashed, a strong wind blew and our home shook all night.  We got little sleep.  Torrents of rain came down and when daylight came I opened our door to a watery world.  Despite the storm, our newspaper arrived!

During two days of the storm, Thursday and Friday, schools were called off and many shops were closed, but just like our U.S. mail, the newspapers still delivered!  Many local roads were flooded.

In those early morning hours after the storm blew through, flocks of water birds surrounded our home- herons, egrets, ibis and wood storks.  I could soon see large juicy worms hanging from their bills.  They were not the only ones who appreciated the rain, our grandson Nathan thought it quite important to scoop it up and water the grass.

Melissa asked me to find a copy of the Tampa Bay Times so she could show Clarissa the news of the day for September 1,2016.  Unfortunately the headlines for that day were: "Awful Arrival." ( in reference to Hurricane Hermine).  No question that the arrival of Clarissa was wonderful and a very blessed event!