Hurricane Matthew didn’t make it to my side of Florida. I woke up a couple of times, and looked outside. The air was still, the streets were dry. This morning, when I got up, I could see that it’s a little breezy but nothing that would make you think there’s a hurricane nearby.

It seems that the hurricane stayed a bit farther offshore than they thought. Winds seem, from the reports, not to have exceeded 100 mph on shore. That’s strong, very damaging, but certainly not as bad as the 140 mph they predicted. They have been referring to it as a Cat 3, not Cat 4. Thankfully.

Still, I lived though Hurricane Gloria in CT, which was a Cat 2, and the devastation was enormous.  So many trees up there, they fall, and they always take power lines with them.  We were without power for a week then.  I’m not trying to minimize the danger of this hurricane.  It’s devastating.

But I guess we dodged the bullet over here. I’m very grateful for that. I am considering going down to the pier, but am not sure I want to go. It won’t be beautiful, nor will the water be dramatic. I’ll probably just stay here this morning.

My son texted me in the middle of the night, and I’d just happened to wake up needing a drink of water. He was a little worried, though I’d pretty much told him there was not going to be a problem here. He still asked me to text him in the morning. What a good kid. God, I miss him.

Praying for all my friends in the Carolinas. Hope it bears east, away from land.

I haven’t seen an updated forecast, but just hope that if this hurricane does what the reports last night said, that it doesn’t hit us on the loop around. Enough already. I’m really tired of my life being turned upside down. As if it wasn’t upside down enough, without a totaled car and a hurricane threat.

Sometime this weekend, I want to go to my sisters, do my laundry, hang out by her pool, and relax. I need a day of respite from this. It feels chaotic, even though I am safe. My friend Beth was urging me to fill my bathtub, and take a million other precautions. I just couldn’t get into the worry. I just was incapable of getting too upset about it.

Tonight we’re going to the local art/gallery walk. There will be live music at the cafe where we were going to go last night. Then Saturday night there’s a larger one in St. Pete, where the trolleys take you from gallery to gallery, and the galleries all serve wine and cheese. One or two of them display Pat’s paintings. That should be fun.

Glad I have some fun things to do this weekend. A friend may come spend the weekend too. She’s kind of stranded here, for a few days, so I told her to come here.

My handyman is coming this weekend to fix my fence. Pretty excited about that. It really needs replacing but at the moment, I just want to get it so it’s standing up, and not leaning into the pad where I need to put a shed. Later on I can decide what I want to do with it. Then I think I’ll have him put the vent in for my dryer, so I can go buy it and get it delivered.

All is well here. Thoughts and prayers for all those who are in harms way.

Love and light.