my family....

.....all 12 of them,

Having a hurricane Irma party at the Mexican restaurant.

Love those chips and salsa.

Nobody else in the place but us.

Everybody else was evacuating.

How can one woman be so blessed as me?

Every one of them is a gift from God.

❤

i always find beauty....

....down at the beach.

First day of Fall.

Tybee Island ~ Tybee Beach.

Sun going down.

Lights everything up with a glow.

Chasing daylight with my Lu.

Night comes quickly now.

Indian Summer.

Pool time.

Lu is...

Princess of the pool.

Not many others in the water.

Getting to cold for me to go in.

Cold water doesn't bother Lu.

Endless...

Dives,

jumps,

cannon balls,

Grammy look at this,

Grammy throw these goggles in so that I can go to the bottom of the pool and find them.

Grammy do we have to go now?

Thank you Gram, that was so much fun.

One more glimpse of beauty just before we left.

Once that big red sun hit the horizon,

it was gone like a flash.

Don't go summer!!

I love the light!

speaking of trees and fall and such

I am constantly on the lookout for beautiful things....

things that God made and placed here for our pleasure.

As I pulled up for yet another appointment yesterday,

I was confronted with this tree.

The bark drew my eye,

I said, "That is so beautiful!"

So I hear that today is the first day of Fall.

I have to accept that by faith

because it sure doesn't feel like fall.

Still very hot and humid!

Speaking of trees.....

This is the tree that Irma blew over.

Last weekend my grands "huffed and puffed" and stood it back up.

It has since toppled back over.

I appreciate their effort though.....it never hurts to try!

....even though it is "hot as blue blazes."

it's not funny but it is

Just study this picture all of you introverts out there.

The only thing different for me would be the TV.

I wouldn't need that at all.

I would turn that room into my office

with a desk for my computer

 so that I could write my little heart out.

I particularly love the glass dome for star gazing.

Now wouldn't that be a dream!!

❤

things left behind

We finally got to the beach at the end of last week.

We saw this boat alongside Highway 80 

as we approached Tybee Island.

There was a red boat on further down the road

 being raised by a crane.

Also, we saw a part of someone's dock just lying there.

"Not good," we said, 

remembering the harrowing times after 

Hurricane Matthew last October.

Continuing on, 

we made the descent onto the island from the bridge over the Lazaretto.

Not knowing what to expect, but hopeful, 

we turned into the condo.

No damage...none!

So very, very thankful!!

We stayed awhile...enjoying the deck,

listening to the waves,

reading the sweet comments in the guest book. 

Feeling a rest coming on, I layed down on the foot of the bed.

"Bubba, would you turn on the overhead fan for me?"

As soon as "the juice hit the fan" it exploded and sent out sparks of fire.

Still don't know why that happened,

but sure glad it  happened to us instead of our guests.

We had it checked out and replaced the fan.

I guess you could say that was our only damage from Hurricane Irma

who visited Savannah one week ago today.

The sand dunes along the beach  are virtually destroyed...

the high tides and winds of both hurricanes

have greatly eroded them.

The dunes at our condo are gone.

I know we were granted funds for another renourishment program,

but we might as well wait until this season of storms is over.

Everyone is keeping a watchful eye on Maria.

One just never knows what these storms will do.

🌀

happy birthday harry b

Yesterday Harry turned 10...double digits.

He chose...

Broccoli-Chicken Casserole,

Granddaddy's famous rice,

Corn On The cob,

and my famous Coca Cola Cake

for his birthday meal celebration.

This boy and all of us love the meal he chose.

These are the games we played.

This is a colored pencil sketch of the kids playing the games.

The money is in the glass dome.

The amount was $4.76.

Harry came the closest with a guess of $5.30.

David wanted to know when the big pot of money for the adult guessing game was coming out.

Here is the Birthday Cake.

The theme of the party was Ninjado,

 hence the paper dragon decorations.

Harry is in the fourth grade.

He is very interested in

 rocks, 

frogs and lizards,

 building anything,

 Legos, 

Star Wars,

my Snow Village houses and assessories,

running,

and so much more.

This birthday he asked for a new pillow

like the ones I have here on all of the beds.

He ended up getting a whole new set up for his bed.

From feather bed mattress cover,

 to soft duvet,

 to a duvet cover and two shams,

he is set to have the most comfortable bed 

of any ten year old I know.

Happy Birthday Harry.

Grammy and Granddaddy love you to the moon and back.

I'm so glad God brought you to us!!

same swing....

.....during Irma,

......and before.

Not many words needed!

The ocean.

Nature's fury.

Awesome!

Powerful!

Beautiful!

God controls the waves!!!

Photo of the swing during the storm...

Malcom Tully.

Photo of the swing...

cathyc

we survived hurricane irma

She started blowing before we got up.....

early yesterday morning.

She came before dawn and stayed most all of the day.

I had hoped this storm would be during daylight hours and she didn't disappoint.

She was nothing like Matthew though.

Someone yelled out in the mid-morning...

"TREE Down!!"

We all rushed to the back window.

Sure enough, as Amanda called it, our Easter tree had leaned over.

This was the tree that several people had searched for the golden egg back at our Easter Egg Hunt.

This was the high point and the extent of our damage.

Needless to say, we were blessed.

We still don't know about the condo at Tybee.

There was a lot of flooding.

Butler Avenue was covered at one point.

We haven't been able to get on the island yet.

Norman, the Hollingsworth's cat, was a little unsettled by his first storm.

He kept walking around the house looking out of the windows.

He, as well as the humans, weathered it well though.

After a low country shrimp boil,

Mark and Amanda, with Jake, Eli, and Norman in tow,

departed for a late night trip back to their home in Florida.

I thought it was a risky move,

but they made it back with only one scare....

No place open to get gas.

Amazingly, an oasis in the night appeared, with power and gasoline,

and they cruised into their driveway before midnight.

All praise and thanksgiving goes to our great God

for His provision and protection during the storm named Irma.

Thank you for Your constant care!

still waiting for irma....

Amanda and Mark left their home in Florida on Wednesday night at 8:30 pm.

They arrived on our doorstep at 5:00 am the next morning.

We have been waiting for Hurricane Irma ever since.

As of a couple of hours ago she finally made landfall in the Keys.

We are hopeful that their home will still be intact 

when she has spent her fury and moved on.

As for our time here...

Well, we have had plenty of fun being all together.

Yesterday morning,

Amanda and I took the boys down to River Street which was deserted.

Yesterday afternoon,

we had barbeque and ball games.

This morning I made fresh from scratch blueberrry muffins.

The boys have been making movies....

We play Uno, of course!

Today,

 Amanda and I are doing all of the things we want to do

 before the power goes out,

 if it does.

My big tub is full of water,

We have plenty of food to last until Tuesday,

Bubba and Mark have moved my beautiful geraniums inside,

The condo is as secure as it can get.

This is all eerily similar to Hurricane Matthew

which ravaged us last year in October.

God controls the storms.

Our stuff is not that important.

Our lives are all that really matter.

Our souls are safe in Christ.

We are safe in Him!!!

irma evacuation

Amanda put this picture on her facebook page yesterday.

The star represents the Hollingsworth home.

Needless to say, they are evacuating to Georgia..

Basically, they don't have much choice.

Irma is a monster storm

and it is bearing down on that star.

Bubba is out trying to find gas for my car.

For now we will be the evacuation site.

It may be as this progresses 

that we too will have to seek shelter elsewhere.

Here is a picture of Mark putting up their storm shutters

This is quite a hard job!

The whole house becomes very dark.

Still watching and waiting 

as Irma slowly moves up to the United States.

Can only imagine the damage and suffering on those tiny islands in the Caribbean.

God have mercy!!

happy labor day!

Just across the river is the beautiful Harbor Town, on Hilton Head Island.

I love this "shot from above"

 on the Sea Pines Resort facebook page this morning.

We can see Hilton Head from the balcony of our condo on Tybee Island.

 Here in Savannah and down in South Florida

all of our eyes are on Hurricane Irma.

Trying to make plans...

who should go where?

There is no certainty, only speculation.

After Matthew last October

and watching the horrors of Harvey in Texas just last week,

tensions are running high.

Bubba prayed at dinner just now

 that God would steer that big mighty hurricane

 out into the open Atlantic Ocean.

He can do that you know!!

"And they came to Jesus and awoke Him, saying,

"Master, Master,

We are perishing!"

Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water.

And they ceased and there was a calm."

Luke 8:24

Well, we'll know in a couple of days where Irma is going.

In the meantime we will watch and wait to see what happens.