August 26, 2005 - Miami, Florida

Sailing the trees

Katrina got this city while it wasn't looking. With only a day's notice to prepare for what was initially predicted to be a tropical storm that would make landfall north of us, many did not take her seriously. Even the weather people said there would only be some "rain damage". But Jim moved the boat into the mangroves the minute he heard she was coming. I'm so glad he did. Katrina had strengthened to a category 1 hurricane by the time she took a turn south after making landfall in Fort Lauderdale. We spent her visit gently rocking with the waves in a narrow channel and it felt like a nice summer sail out on a calm bay. Of course the occasional howling of the overhead wind along with one look through the portlights revealed that we were surrounded by mangroves. It was, if anything, a strange sensation, and for a good couple of hours I felt like I was sailing through the trees. But we got off easy on this one. Many people were not as lucky, and the damage in the anchorage as well as in the marina was bad. Lots of shredded canvas, lots of boats sunk or crashed or aground or a combination of those. Several lives were lost, and Katrina really hit home in Miami. Hopefully from now on, when the word "hurricane" is mentioned, it will be taken much more seriously - even if it's "only" a category 1.

posted by Mahi at 1:00 PM 0 comments
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August 13, 2005 - Miami, Florida

Surprised

There was a party last night on Pier 2. Nothing unusual really, there's always a party there on Friday night. I could see the balloons as we dinghied up to say hi to Bill, who had asked us to stop by before dinner. It was past eight and I was starving, but Jim would not skip the visit. When I stepped on the dock, a little boy walked up and put some beads around my neck. So it was my party. Of course nobody bothered to tell me about it. But I suppose that was the point - to catch me utterly off guard with all of this birthday kindness. There was great food and wine and beer and rum and Cuban tropical fruit cake and Cuban rum cake and Cuban rum cake with rum that wasn't Cuban. And there were a whole bunch of friends and chats and laughs and it was a wonderfully sneaky big fat surprise.

posted by Mahi at 1:16 PM 1 comments
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August 9, 2005 - Miami, Florida

Kitty karma

Pixie had to go back to her previous home as she insisted on using the comforter as an extension to the litterbox. I think this was a little kitty karma for me. I still miss my three mad kitties lots and I wish things were different, but Tony just wants to keep them. So I'm once again kittyless, but probably not for long - kitties are approaching me from all corners of everywhere. Today one came up to me in the boatyard, he was very friendly and just wanted me to love him (and also food), so I brought him cans and bowls filled with various stinky foods that cats really seem to enjoy and he ate for half an hour nonstop. But he didn't get along with the dog. At all. He wanted to kill the dog. And after seeing him pal around with the Cuban fishermen, I got the distinct feeling this little kitty was not starving as much as he just liked to eat a lot. So my quest continues...

posted by Mahi at 10:53 PM 0 comments
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