The FUTURE of America

The Rogue Speaks:

It's time once again for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday, and our letter this week is "F."  Summer in coastal Georgia always comes with houseguests.  The first group to visit the McEwen Plantation/Bed and Breakfast left last Friday.  Our youngest grandchildren, Keillor and Emaline, were here for two weeks along with their parents.  These two are among the brightest and most engaging four-year-olds that one could ever hope to meet.

Toe-headed Keillor

 

The enchanting Miss Em

 

They played in the surf with their parents, and built sand castles, but even the beach can get a little tiring when it's so hot, so one day Emaline wanted to go to the Museumof Science and History in Jacksonville.

 



Joey, Emaline, and Keillor at M.O.S.H in Jacksonville

The Human Body exhibit at M.O.S.H

Keillor and Emaline have very smart, wonderful, loving parents who have taught their children from the beginning to be polite and helpful.  They always say "Please" and "Thank you," and "I'm sorry" when they misbehave.  They know how to set the table for meals, how to clear their dishes when they have eaten, and even know how to put a fresh roll on the toilet paper holder without even being asked.  These children are the future of our country in the best sort of way.  They are bright, energetic, and loving.  These are definitely not spoiled, lazy kids.

 

They left for home on June 21st, and the next houseguest arrived the following day.  Today is June 27th.

 

 

A fresh roll of toilet paper has been sitting on the toilet tank for two days now.  I have no intention of installing it on the holder.  Someone else should have taught that lesson a long time ago.  It's not rocket science.  It's very, very sad. 

 

E is for Edible

The Rogue Speaks:

"E is for Edible"

I am one day late with my offering for Alphabe-Thursday.  Joey and I took the kids to the Museum of Science and History in Jacksonville. They are leaving today, so it was our last field-trip.

"...and for our next selection..."  The twins at M.O.S.H. in Jacksonville

  Another houseguest  comes in tomorrow, and the day trips will be entirely different.  We may go to the Okeefenokee Swamp, or maybe Cumberland Island.  We shall see!!

Joey and the carrot

The Rogue Speaks:

C is for Coastal

"Eye of the Storm"              Judie McEwen
Acryllic ink on Yupo paper
 

The Rogue Speaks:


When one lives on the coast, hurricanes are always a serious threat.  Today, tropical storm Andrea (aptly named, for all who know me) is passing through Florida and southern Georgia.  Since we have only lived here for less than a year, I am grateful that this is only a "tropical storm."

I left home today at 12:45 p.m. to go to a meeting.  After the meeting, a friend and I ran some errands, after which I went for a much needed haircut.  The tropical storm was slowly moving up Florida into coastal Georgia, and by the time I finished my errands and arrived at the hair stylist, the rains were quite heavy.  When I left the salon, the rain had become blinding, and I drove home going about 25-35 miles per hour on a road where the speed limit is 60.  I followed the yellow line on the left-hand side of the road.

I am grateful to be home safely.  There are many situations over which we have control in our lives, but weather is not one of them,  When one is at the mercy of the elements, anything can happen. 

I have lived through a tornado that came out of nowhere on a lovely Sunday afternoon on Lake Allatoona outside Atlanta.  It tore across the lake with such force that the coast guard just could not get out to rescue the boaters.  Our mast was snapped like a dry twig.  The twister came ashore and tossed dry-docked boats high in the air, then deposited them back to earth, smashed and twisted.  Fortunately, there were no fatal injuries.  I would not get back in a boat for 15 years.

Now I have lived through a tropical depression.  I am grateful that it was not a full-blown hurricane.  But the season is young, and even though there has not been a major hurricane to hit Jekyll Island in 114 years,  it could happen.  In fact, the laws of probability tell me that it will happen.  I won't be here, though.  We will pack up and take ourselves and our dog children to safety, and hope that when we return, our home is still standing.

Life can throw all sorts of stuff at us.  Sometimes we think we just cannot go on.  Sometimes we become so overwhelmed, that the rainbow at the end of the storm is not something that we can even comprehend.  Last June, I was standing on a boardwalk at Jekyll with my son, Jeff.  There had been squalls all around us earlier in the afternoon that had sent us scurrying from the beach, back to the safety of the house.  As we looked far out to sea, out to the horizon, a rainbow appeared--then another, and yet another, AND five more after that!  One after another, they popped up.  There were more rainbows together than I have ever seen in my life.  I think the final count was nine.

I wish my poor, feeble mind could remember those rainbows every day.

This post was written on Thursday, for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday.  I had to put it aside because we were getting ready for the arrival of Aimee and the twins.  They are here now, and we are heading off to Jekyll to build sand castles.  I checked the radar twice this morning, just to be sure no storms were heading in.  We're safe.

June

The Rogue Speaks:

If a June night could talk, it would tell you the story of a young woman in a long, blue gingham nightgown, sleeveless, with a delicate trim of white eyelet at the neck.  It would tell you of a young man so hopelessly in love that it made his teeth ache, and of how that love began.

But nights can’t talk.  There is only the sound of the crickets, or of two owls calling softly to each other in the twilight.  Perhaps there is the sound of the water lapping the shoreline of the lake, and the sound of our sighs in the dark, in June.

 

 

This is my offering for Jenny's Saturday Centus.  The prompt is in bold type, and Jenny has given us 100 words plus the prompt with which to create a vignette, a flash fiction.  If you are not yet a Centusian, I hope you will join us!!