Rain



How deep, should I chance it?   waves, trees down and still the wind blows .



Downtown Port Orchard, Washington in the  height of the storm .



Sand bags come in handy but everyone is singing "Rain, rain, go away. . . "

 The telephone conversations and the e mails and the Instant Messages have all been about whether my daughter Christine should venture out away from the comfort of her own home to have Thanksgiving Dinner with us here in Brookings, Oregon.   A long trip from one place to another.  Maybe a good eight hours usually enjoyed with a ride along the Oregon coast which is always relaxing and beautiful with wonderful little towns to stop at along the way.    Old worry wart mom doesn't like having her children on the road in winter weather and the predicted storm hit the entire coast from California to Washington and has had hurricane winds, some up to hundred and nineteen, although we on the coast stayed at about thirty-five.  The weather is warm, almost like spring, very unusual and puzzling.   The advice was, according to mom, stay put until the weather changes and then come down and we will celebrate our time together with left overs.  "Only if I have mince pie" was the response.    Then last evening these pictures came through from daughter Christine who said, "I think we got all your rain.";   I think she did.    We still have blowing and rain, sometimes teeming but so far we have had nothing like the flooding she is having.  

From what I understand the storm is due to stay until after Thanksgiving and then let up for a bit.   I am hoping she doesn't venture out until the storm passes.   She has a mopping job as some rain went into her basement doorway and left her a puddle or two.  She has to get that fixed unless she is on first name basis with the fellow with the sand bags.     Meanwhile granddaughter Erin made it up from San Francisco by driving up in the late hours in teeming rain and darkness.   A good thing as the storm was much heavier and wilder all day yesterday.   We didn't ride down to wave watch but we did go to the Pancho restaurant for fish enchaladas and enjoyed every bite.  Erin is having a birthday this week and we have to start the celebration early as there are several places she enjoys and then she does a little special cooking for us.  

I've been given my 'marching orders' and am invited to be a guest at my daughter Patricia's home this year.  She and her daughter Erin have decided that I should have my wish to be invited to one of my children's home for a Thanksgiving feast and I do not have to do anything . . . well, maybe an apple pie and a mince pie but it is not mandatory, maybe not to them, but I have a couple of neighbors who love mince pie and know I will bring them a piece.    Some traditions are hard to break and besides I really enjoy baking pies. I honestly do not mind cooking the entire dinner but I notice that the results are not as they used to be, but then the chief cook and bottle washer 'aint what she used to be' .    It is time to pass the baton of kitchen duties and it couldn't go to better hands.   

So today as you prepare for the Thanksgiving Feast, find reasons to be grateful for everything you have whether you are in a storm or not.    Count your blessings for their are many who are suffering in ways we have never seen or heard of before.    Our storms are becoming stronger sometimes in weather but sometimes from within.    Life is not 'fair' but then it is not supposed to be.    You get out of it what you put into it, no more, no less.    So decide what you want your life to be like and start working on making it special, just like you.    Take time to share especially the smiles and hugs that lift the spirit and remember what you give comes back a thousand fold.     Hugs to all.