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August 16, 2012

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Weekly Photo Challenge : Wrong

Today’s submission dates back to June 2008, when a freak storm ripped through our former neighborhood with devastating results:

Microburst Damage June, 2008

A tree through the window!!?!! SO wrong!! 🙄

This photo was taken on the clear and beautiful morning after the previous night’s 10pm chaos!

See the ornamental porch peeking out beneath the tree?  Technically it wasn’t designed for “hanging out” but you can imagine how a spot slightly diagonal to her bedroom window appealed to Maggie and her teenage friends ➡ in the warm months, she’d climb over the gap (and railing) with deckchairs/cds/magazines and whoever happened to be visiting: instant summer fun. 🙂  I realize most parents would’ve put the kabosh on such things, but I LOVED hearing kid sounds trickle down whenever I’d sit on the “real” porch, below…..but I digress!

When I tell you how FAST this storm roared through, believe me!!! Every tree on the street went from 0 to 60 in an instant and the wind was so LOUD!  I ran into Mag’s room yelling “Get the chairs!! they’ll launch like missiles”  HA!  Wrong missiles to worry about!

Trees felled in Microburst, June 2008

Surveying the damage!  Immediately after the storm, June 2008

The storm we experienced is known as a microburst,  a column of sinking air that lasts only a few seconds but produces dangerous winds at the surface. They often do tornado-like damage at ground level and can knock planes from the sky at upper elevations.

Afterwards, what scared us most was the sequence of events. We barely struggled the porch furniture through the window (and backed away!!) before the tree sailed 4ft into the room….still attached to what you see outside!!!!!

They say timing is everything…what if we’d gotten it wrong?!

Until next time….

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11 thoughts on “Weekly Photo Challenge : Wrong”

  4. Yikes! That must have gotten your heart pounding and the adrenalin rushing! I’m glad no one was hurt. Those microbursts can do so much damage in so little time. And it seems like there’s never any warning!

    • Hi Stacey! Yes, that was a most exquisite house…5600sq ft AND a seperate Carriage House located at the end of the driveway after you passed under a portico….Victorians were remarkably built…pocket doors, thick, thick ornately carved woodwork and equally gorgeous fireplaces (4).
      The kids loved that house…I HATED it…the bills were insanely huge to keep it going. Within a year of moving into it, I ended up divorced somewhat unexpectedly and there was NEVER enough money to keep up with it. Fell further and further behind over a 15yr period and finally lost the place to foreclosure. But that was after the boys were grown and had moved out. Maggie and I were down here visiting my mother when the foreclosure happened, and while laying on the beach we suddenly looked at each other and said, Let’s make this permanent!!! It was as if it dawned on us, Hey!! we can MOVE AWAY!! From that moment, the plan was hatched and 6 mos later we were in the tiny little place we now call home, and Maggie was enrolled in Indian River State College, where she would soon meet a young man and begin a life that ONLY happens in fairy-tales—not only is he one of the kindest, most decent human beings you’d ever meet, he’s heir to some insanely vast old, old family fortune.
      Last year, they took a break from college to see the world…literally…They started in Ireland (where his mother now lives) and travelled through just about every country in Europe except Spain/Portugal, then on to Russia, China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Phillipines, Cambodia, Hong Kong (twice on the trip, because she loved the shopping!) and due to some wierd flight/visa snafu wound up in Guam (closest american soil) for an entire week waiting to get it sorted. To have such experiences, so young when they can REALLY be enjoyed with energy and gusto: this is what everyone wants for their children, yeah? Now they’re back, engaged, and finishing college before getting married.
      I’m mentioning this as anecdotal evidence that much good can grow from such bad, and people should NEVER be hopeless. While absolutely horrible, losing the beautiful house in these pictures set a new phase of life in motion for both of us. None of what I’ve just written could have happened otherwise!!
      I hope you don’t mind that my reply turned into an entire post…it just kind of happened! 🙂

      • Oh thank you for your beautiful story of “life”!!!!
        Life does throw us all curveballs, and if someone is running around claiming their life is all cotton candy and rainbows–they are most likely not being honest….
        We try to work hard, be honest, and be kind to people–and raise our children to do the same. And sometimes it isn’t enough!
        But always keeping hope and moving one foot in front of the other is a very good thing! 🙂 Stacey

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