Hi, I hope this letter finds you happy and healthy. Life has served us a few ups and downs over the past few months.
My last post was short. My gallery on Sanibel Island (Hiride Girdie Gallery) is temporarily closed because of the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Ian September 28th. More on that later…
Hurrican Ian
We were in North Carolina with our friends, Tim and Natasha, when the hurricane hit. I couldn’t believe my eyes when neighbors were posting pictures of the rising waters around our house. Palm trees in our neighborhood were whipping sideways, and I was trying to think of what things I had left below in my studio, and wondering if my car in the garage would make it.
As the news stations, and Facebook users started sharing images of the devastation, I began wondering how many lives were either lost or displaced by the hurricane.
We reached out to some neighbors, to learn what they needed most in the aftermath. We left our horse with some friends in Georgia (thank you Sally and Mike!), then loaded up our truck with supplies, which included fans, a pressure washer, water, food, gasoline, and a generator.
As we headed south, just two days after the hurricane, we were part of a convoy of rescue vehicles from all over the country. It was amazing. Some in the brigade were bearing the fluttering American flag! There were FEMA trucks, pulling trailers with living quarters and bathrooms for the rescue workers. There was the National Guard, pulling giant generators. There were tree service companies from everywhere. After passing Tampa, we began to see signs of the disaster. The interstate had flooded ahead, according to the information we had, so we took a detour through Arcadia. I was shocked by the devastation. The train tracks, in some places, had completely eroded out underneath, with spaces high enough to walk under. RV parks were littered with campers and RV’s laying on their sides, with lakes of water around them. We passed a huge field with cars that were destroyed by the hurricane, brought there by the Copart tractor trailers.
As we got closer to home, things looked even worse. Trees, signs, and fences were flattened. Along I-75, near Northport, there were cars pulled over by the fence, home and business owners trying to get to their properties. After exiting in North Fort Myers, traffic lights were out, and almost every road sign was either twisted or flattened. My eyes were like saucers as I saw this unfamiliar, yet somehow familiar landscape unfold before me.
It really came home to me when we drove down the last few streets to our home. People were dragging their mattresses, sofas, everything out of their homes. As I said before, the traffic lights were out, and we had to be very careful at crossings. Lines were forming at the gas stations, way out onto the street.
Already, there were stations of supplies being set up in parking lots with food and water for the victims. It was truly amazing how fast assistance had come.
Our home had 28 inches of water. My art studio was flooded, but fortunately my finished paintings were safe upstairs. I lost art supplies, books, some family photos, holiday decorations, my air condtioner for the studio, and my car. The mud was sticky, slimy, and stuck to everything like glue. We spent 3 days working, dragging things out to dry in the sun, and salvaged what we could. All of our neighbors were in the same boat, and there were piles of stuff outside of each house. We used kerosene lanterns at night, and were blessed by cooler weather that week, when it normally would be sweltering. Neighbors shared their meats that had thawed from their freezer, and we ate a lot of barbeque on the grill! My hat is off especially to our neighbors Scott and Rhonda, who even served pancakes and sausage from their grill to the neighborhood.
This post has gotten long enough – I will share more later. There is still the story to tell of my artwork that was left on Sanibel Island at the Hirdie Girdie Gallery. It’s a good one too! Hey, if I don’t get another post out before Christmas, have a great holiday! Reach out to me of you liked this post, I love to get feedback!
Hugs from Marc and I!
