Warmer Weather This Week. Rain Washing Away the Snow. Shades of Blue and Green Today and a Walk in the Woods.

Watching the rain fall in Raleigh and it's melting the last vestiges of snow that fell a week ago. That's Carolina weather. Much like a Yo Yo Dieter our temperatures go up and down on a weekly basis. Last night it was so warm here that I briefly put on the AC while waiting for any chance of severe weather that may or may not have passed through overnight. Many say if you hear thunder in the winter you see snow within ten days. Let's see how that plays out.

Add to the list of things that seemingly did not play out was the Tsunami fears on the West Coast from yet another strong Earthquake in our part of the world. Originally an earthquake in the 8.0 range downgraded (as they usually are) to 7.something .... 

It was an extremely strong earthquake. Nuff said and thankfully the Tsunami fears were over played in the middle of the night with the usual "better safe than sorry" terminology we here regarding Hurricanes and Tornado Warnings. I believe the proper response is "Thank God" and then to go on with life worrying about the flu and our regular daily fears. All us meteorology people are mesmerized by the other Earth Sciences and as I have said many times every meteorologist is a closet geologist and vice versa.

 

The world is such a beautiful place...

...from up above.

Winter is staying up where it belongs today.

Snow and Ice Up North.

Rain in the South.

How long can this last?

Currently a "Dry Cold Front" is on the move.

So not much happening here weather wise.

The NW as always this year is busy.

The flow from the Caribbean...

...continues to ooze up towards Florida.

Good thing it's not the Hurricane Season.

Check out that flow.

It's been a busy week here for me. My oldest daughter is in town for her annual winter vacation and we've been hanging out. She has a friend she met when she lived in Philly years back who she helped go through some positive major life changes and eventually ended up happily married in Houston. Sadly her friend's sister Melanie died last week from the Flu. Melanie seemed to be in perfect health having achieved her 50th birthday and even became a Life Coach who worked with Beach Body a popular fitness group. Suddenly in less than 3 days she passed away leaving a grieving husband and many siblings, relatives and friends. So I spent Sunday at a funeral in the woods and contemplating life. It's good to contemplate life sometimes as you appreciate it more that way. We gathered together a minyon to say Kaddish (you can Google that) and then walked on a small, narrow path around a lake deep into the woods where this woman who loved to go to St. John's was buried in a simple pine box surrounded by her friends all wearing cobalt blue as it was her favorite color. The sky was blue and blue birds began to sing as we walked away quietly lost in thought; the birds waking us from our deepest inner thoughts and we all smiled in amazement at the bright blue birds on the bare branches. I didn't know her personally, but I feel as if I did as I spent time with her loved ones and in her beautiful home decorated with cobalt blue vases on glass shelves installed in her windows so she could see the light reflecting off of them. 

I write about this not to be morbid but to impress upon everyone here not to take the flu this year flippantly and to totally appreciate life and the things and the people you love. It seems there was a man who loved the forest and he was losing his life slowly to a cruel disease. There's an award winning documentary involved that I'm linking to below. Everything that happens in life leads to learning something else about someone or something else. Well, unless we live in a self absorbed bubble only worrying on our own problems and we don't see the sunlight on the water or the light reflecting in the forest throwing shadows across the landscsape. 

Walking through the woods indeed.

In the summer it looks like this below.

Sunday it looked like this.

Melanie was Jewish but not deeply into her religion, her husband is not Jewish and is an atheist yet her older sister Shoshana is an Orthodox Jew. The rest of the family lies in various places in between but they all loved Melanie and they all love nature. They came together respecting each other and sharing grief yet most of all sharing happy memories through the sadness. 

http://www.awillforthewoods.com/about/

The seasons change fast in life as we move through our own issues (problems) and deal directly with them or hide from them. We all have our different ways of coping in life. Some people ignore the flu and figure what is meant to be is meant to be while others walk around with face masks obsessing over every new story they hear. And the news is filled with them as last night the lead story in Raleigh was of the death of a 7 year old little girl who also died in 3 days. I was raised my a neurotic mother who gave me a good measure of fear yet my stoic father taught me to do the best you can. Hand sanitizers have become my new friend. I'll let you know how it worked out hopefully in a few months... we can look back and laugh on it the way we did tsunami fears and false alerts for nuclear war in Hawaii.

If you see that new vase in a color you love and you can vaguely afford it please buy it. If you see a tie on clearance about the cost of a fast food lunch ditch the fast food lunch and buy the tie. It's the small pleasures in life that bring the most joy sometimes. My stoic father taught me that. He took off a few hours to go to a cheap movie theater he liked or ran into Jai Alai to watch a few games on the way home from work often. Later in the life when he became religious he'd run over to the Lubavitch Yeshiva on Alton Road grab a cup of coffee and sit and learn for 30 minutes and enjoy the social interaction as well as learning something new. He'd come home and tell me who he sat and learned with in the same way he'd tell me he saw a good movie. he wasn't a big talker but he knew how to share.

So here I am in the "off season" when there is nothing tropical going on in the Western Hemisphere musing with you online as I kind of promised I would do vs disappearing in October the way I used to do back on AOL. Now I surf online through the news (the Shut Down is over) and listen to my daughter talk about Ingress (it's a game Google it) and yesterday we went to Crabtree Mall and bought make up and had something to eat and spent some great quality time together. There were no shootings and the creek didn't rise so Crabtree Mall worked out good yesterday. I fell in love with a Tarte eye shadow I did not buy (yet) and bought her some Kat Von D eye shadow in the shade of green she has been wanting. Dessert may have been involved too...

There's a great book.

It's a rather common concept in parts of the world. In Chabad we call it Hashgacha Protis which basically translates to "it's karmic" and the book above walks you through many examples on how best to change your life. It's one of my favorite books. I read it shortly before I met my husband and moved to North Carolina. My daughter's friend Shoshana needed a friend this past week when her sister Melanie suddenly died. As fate would have it Shayna, my daughter, was here in town visiting me from Brooklyn at the same time Shoshana was flying in from Houston for her sister's funeral in Raleigh. Remember my daughter stuck on the bus in Richmond several days ago? She could have changed her mind and taken a bus back to NY vs waiting for the roads to open in NC and she could have changed her mind. But it seems Shayna was here for a reason larger than me buying her green eye shadow or having a nice quiet Shabbos meal together. Nothing in life is really a coincidence as everything happens for a reason. 

Last week I was in Miami giving my grandson Benjamin a pair of Mickey Mouse PJs. I learned a valuable lesson last week and that is it is very easy to find Minnie Mouse PJs on sale but not easy to find Micky Mouse PJs as they seem to sell out faster :( I bought Charlotte Minnie Mouse PJs for Chanukah but it wasn't so easy to find her brother Benjamin the PJs he wanted but I did and on sale. Luckily it was cold enough in Miami to wear them otherwise they would have had to turn down the AC to make it cold enough to wear winter PJs in Miami. Last year was a very warm winter and this year is not. Last year's flu was mild, this year's flu is not.  See even Drudge understands how this as it took Minnie much longer to get her star on Hollywood Blvd than it did Mickey. 

May life lift you up where you belong. May you take the time to appreciate the small things while struggling to pay the electric company and juggle your budget for a birthday dinner. May life keep you healthy enough to enjoy whatever wealth you have and share memories with those you love. My best friend Malka went to Ft. Benning last week when Shayna came here to be there for her son Sholom when he graduated from Bootcamp. Malka is all about enjoying life; we enjoyed some quality time last weekend when we stayed by her in Miami for Shabbos where we took long walks and had great talks. 

May winter weather stay up where it belongs this week and then may it find some time to creep down past the Mason Dixie Line again for one last kiss of winter. May the flu germs stay far away from you and if not go to the doctor sooner rather than later. May you enjoy each day of January and then February. The OSCAR movies have been announced and we move from the Holiday Season to the Oscar Season. In LA it's breaking news and people wake up at 5 AM to watch the announcements live. It's their season as much as fall foliage is a season in Maine. In case you are curious and into the movies these are the movies nominated. I may wear my OSCAR charm for the rest of the season. It's one of a kind as they shut down the store that was selling them in Beverly Center where my husband bought it for me in the 80s. The OSCARS have rules like the NFL has rules ya know...

Buy the cheap pretty roses and get the small delicious dessert. Watch FOX CNN or TWC if it's your thing. Enjoy the Super Bowl and enjoy the OSCARS. Maybe one day I'll take a trip to Ireland with Malka because her father loved Ireland so she's curious and wants to see it as he passed away last year. There are many things we cannot do as we don't have the money or the health or the time. If you can find the time... make the time to do the small things that make a difference. 

And, thanks for reading my blog in the off season. I wander about a bit using my words to weave a picture that tells the story of my life vs Hurricane Irma or Hurricane Katrina. I'm pretty sure the 2018 Hurricane Season will pull as many punches as 2017 if not more and there is plenty more tropical trouble in store for us this coming Hurricane Season.

Besos BobbiStorm

Ps... Don't say I didn't go out of my way to make you who knows who you are smile today!




;)