Yeah, I'm homesick. I just completed a trip to Minneapolis with my wife. All her family lives there. I Also was up in New England in July with my family as well.
What is homesickness? I've got that feeling in my gut that tells me I yearn for home, whether it be my in-laws or my own family. A feeling of love & commitment that makes a person lonesome for the folks at "home."
We've been fortunate to visit our homes every one or two years. It had been two years for New England & one for Minneapolis. The time just flies by - it's never enough when you're visiting. The question of moving back home seems to come up - but which location would we choose? We tell people that our home is in the south now, but one never knows what end of life choices will bring.
Living in Pensacola, Florida Has been a wonderful choice for us the last 16 years. During that time we've had a chance to travel around the entire United States, but never found a better venue for what we need & want from our home.
Also, the issue that would have driven our decision is no longer with us. My parents have been gone for many years now, but my wife's folks have passed away recently. There is a bit of regret that we didn't move to Minneapolis sooner, but we had important retirement considerations that kept us here.
Also, it is nice to get family & friends to visit us where we live - a chance to share some Southern hospitality.
The homesickness will last a day or two & I've experienced it before. Living a lifetime away from those you love brings a case of it on now & then. As I age I get more sentimental, & I sometimes lament that it's only life's big events that bring us together - weddings & funerals among those.
So, my illness today will be brief & happy - I look forward to my next case!
Showing posts with label Pensacola. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pensacola. Show all posts
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Old Friends in the South
My wife & I have friends from our Navy days that live in Norfolk, VA, Jacksonville, FL, Birmingham, AL, Shreveport, LA & Dallas, Texas. We stay in touch with each other, & try to visit together as frequently as possible.
Not including our families who live "up North," we have established more connections in the generation of time we've been in the South, both new & old, than we ever had done before. In a recent blog post entitled "Native Transplant," I mentioned that I had put down roots in the South that had become well nourished. I also said that home for us now is in the Deep South.
The connections with old & new friends alike make a place become a home with all the warmth & closeness that leaves one comfortable & well satisfied.
Meeting in Tallahassee with our friends from Jacksonville, we stayed at a bed & breakfast in the quaint town of Thomasville, Georgia. Sharing these moments with them as we talked & toured the town heightened our experience of seeing new places, & deepened our bonds with people & place. In addition, they have come to Pensacola, Florida to be with us, & we with them at their home.
It's a full days drive to Dallas from Pensacola, & we have been up there several times over the years, but our friends there generally come our way on an annual basis mainly because they have family living close by in Alabama. These visits are always welcome because we hear about their extended family, all of whom are good friends as well. These folks were northerners too, coming from Wisconsin & Ohio respectively.
Our friend in Shreveport, a retired Public Affairs Officer, has lived in a number of places around the country, but decided to settle in her girlhood home to be close to her family. My wife & I feel that this is important, but unfortunately for us, it is not possible. We know Shreveport well. The city has grown & now boasts a vibrant river front.
Norfolk & Virginia Beach are among our favorite places, & we considered relocating there in our retirement years. We met our friends who live there almost forty years ago when we were stationed together at Pearl Harbor. Also originally from Louisiana, they decided that the Norfolk area provided everything they needed to be active & comfortable. We've had the chance to visit with them several times over the years in Virginia Beach.
Visiting for us makes those important connections that really says you care about the people in your life. This gesture deepens the bond & adds an important depth to the relationship. There's nothing like quality face time!
Also from our time in Hawaii are our friends in Birmingham, & although we have seen them since that time, we regret that we haven't visited them at their home. Birmingham is a lovely city & an easy day's drive from Pensacola. We mean to take a few days to explore Northern Alabama, as well as having an overdue reunion.
Time is always of the essence, & making plans to include good friends in our travels enriches the experience even more.
I feel a wonderful sense of connection with the South, & for the most part this is due to the folks that we know & love.
Not including our families who live "up North," we have established more connections in the generation of time we've been in the South, both new & old, than we ever had done before. In a recent blog post entitled "Native Transplant," I mentioned that I had put down roots in the South that had become well nourished. I also said that home for us now is in the Deep South.
The connections with old & new friends alike make a place become a home with all the warmth & closeness that leaves one comfortable & well satisfied.
Meeting in Tallahassee with our friends from Jacksonville, we stayed at a bed & breakfast in the quaint town of Thomasville, Georgia. Sharing these moments with them as we talked & toured the town heightened our experience of seeing new places, & deepened our bonds with people & place. In addition, they have come to Pensacola, Florida to be with us, & we with them at their home.
It's a full days drive to Dallas from Pensacola, & we have been up there several times over the years, but our friends there generally come our way on an annual basis mainly because they have family living close by in Alabama. These visits are always welcome because we hear about their extended family, all of whom are good friends as well. These folks were northerners too, coming from Wisconsin & Ohio respectively.
Our friend in Shreveport, a retired Public Affairs Officer, has lived in a number of places around the country, but decided to settle in her girlhood home to be close to her family. My wife & I feel that this is important, but unfortunately for us, it is not possible. We know Shreveport well. The city has grown & now boasts a vibrant river front.
Norfolk & Virginia Beach are among our favorite places, & we considered relocating there in our retirement years. We met our friends who live there almost forty years ago when we were stationed together at Pearl Harbor. Also originally from Louisiana, they decided that the Norfolk area provided everything they needed to be active & comfortable. We've had the chance to visit with them several times over the years in Virginia Beach.
Visiting for us makes those important connections that really says you care about the people in your life. This gesture deepens the bond & adds an important depth to the relationship. There's nothing like quality face time!
Also from our time in Hawaii are our friends in Birmingham, & although we have seen them since that time, we regret that we haven't visited them at their home. Birmingham is a lovely city & an easy day's drive from Pensacola. We mean to take a few days to explore Northern Alabama, as well as having an overdue reunion.
Time is always of the essence, & making plans to include good friends in our travels enriches the experience even more.
I feel a wonderful sense of connection with the South, & for the most part this is due to the folks that we know & love.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Storm in the Gulf
The news of a storm forming in or near the Gulf of Mexico is never good for folks who live on its coast. Every season, it seems, a hurricane hits somewhere on the Gulf Coast, now we have two more weather systems developing to contend with.
And contend we have. Since Hurricane Andrew hit Florida just south of Miami in 1992, sweeping across the peninsula & raging into the Gulf to make landfall again near Morgan City, Louisiana, we have had four category 3 or higher storms approach, make landfall & punish the Emerald Coast of Florida. Katrina, the monster hurricane that devastated New Orleans in the summer of 2005, threatened the entire region, giving Pensacola, Florida just a bit of clouds, wind & rain.
Unnamed as yet, the current systems, as of 7AM CDT 7/22/10, have a 70% & 50% chance respectively of developing into tropical cyclones(http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/).
Direct hits on any particular location along the Gulf Coast is, at best, a crap shoot, though tracking technology has improved tremendously even in the last five years. The last hurricanes to make land fall in Pensacola were Ivan in the fall of 2004 & Dennis the following summer. A double whammy, as both storms were a strong category 3.
Living 30 miles north of the Gulf, our home did not bear the brunt of either storm, however hurricane force winds in excess of 80 mph were recorded in our area for both. On our property five large trees were felled, roof shingles ripped off, the patio screened enclosure torn apart, but thankfully, because we are not prone to flooding, we had no water damage.
It's the howl of the wind that is most frightening. Windows & doors rattle, storm driven rain drums constantly on the panes of glass & the threat of accompanying tornados is ongoing.
Ongoing, as well, in the storms aftermath is the clean up. Months go by then years before the last vestiges of storm damage are removed or repaired & even then evidence of the storms lingers. Boats lie abandoned in the marshes to this day. Derelict commercial & residential properties remain fallow. Broken or leaning trees are visible. Two of our 50 foot high long leaf pines lean to the northwest at a 60 degree angle!
The sight of downed utility poles & power lines, fallen trees littering yards & streets alike, the distinctive whiz of chain saws filling the still air, electric company trucks & crews from around the region clogging the streets & huge piles of debris and mulch accumulating are etched into our memories.
In the mix this season is the recent Gulf oil disaster. What will a storm do with the oil? Right now clean up is halted. Boat crews have to scurry ashore, resuming their important work only when the sea is calm.
A hurricane is an environmental disaster in its own right as is the oil crisis. Put the two together & the combined impact would be unprecedented.
When & where will the next storm go? How serious will its impact be? How will the region survive, & at what expense?
As a society we must learn & live on, doing what we can to protect our precious wildlife resources & most important, muster the courage to build anew, better, stronger, safer & sustainable.
And contend we have. Since Hurricane Andrew hit Florida just south of Miami in 1992, sweeping across the peninsula & raging into the Gulf to make landfall again near Morgan City, Louisiana, we have had four category 3 or higher storms approach, make landfall & punish the Emerald Coast of Florida. Katrina, the monster hurricane that devastated New Orleans in the summer of 2005, threatened the entire region, giving Pensacola, Florida just a bit of clouds, wind & rain.
Unnamed as yet, the current systems, as of 7AM CDT 7/22/10, have a 70% & 50% chance respectively of developing into tropical cyclones(http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/).
Direct hits on any particular location along the Gulf Coast is, at best, a crap shoot, though tracking technology has improved tremendously even in the last five years. The last hurricanes to make land fall in Pensacola were Ivan in the fall of 2004 & Dennis the following summer. A double whammy, as both storms were a strong category 3.
Living 30 miles north of the Gulf, our home did not bear the brunt of either storm, however hurricane force winds in excess of 80 mph were recorded in our area for both. On our property five large trees were felled, roof shingles ripped off, the patio screened enclosure torn apart, but thankfully, because we are not prone to flooding, we had no water damage.
It's the howl of the wind that is most frightening. Windows & doors rattle, storm driven rain drums constantly on the panes of glass & the threat of accompanying tornados is ongoing.
Ongoing, as well, in the storms aftermath is the clean up. Months go by then years before the last vestiges of storm damage are removed or repaired & even then evidence of the storms lingers. Boats lie abandoned in the marshes to this day. Derelict commercial & residential properties remain fallow. Broken or leaning trees are visible. Two of our 50 foot high long leaf pines lean to the northwest at a 60 degree angle!
The sight of downed utility poles & power lines, fallen trees littering yards & streets alike, the distinctive whiz of chain saws filling the still air, electric company trucks & crews from around the region clogging the streets & huge piles of debris and mulch accumulating are etched into our memories.
In the mix this season is the recent Gulf oil disaster. What will a storm do with the oil? Right now clean up is halted. Boat crews have to scurry ashore, resuming their important work only when the sea is calm.
A hurricane is an environmental disaster in its own right as is the oil crisis. Put the two together & the combined impact would be unprecedented.
When & where will the next storm go? How serious will its impact be? How will the region survive, & at what expense?
As a society we must learn & live on, doing what we can to protect our precious wildlife resources & most important, muster the courage to build anew, better, stronger, safer & sustainable.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Song of the South
As you approach Mulate's in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana you will hear zydeco music drift across the parking lot. As you pass into the restaurant the smell of steaming crawfish will greet your nose. Your eyes will watch while pounds of the succulent crustacean are piled in the center of the table on a paper bag. Feel the warmth with your fingers when you break the tail off & taste the spicy yet mild sweetness of this Cajun favorite. Breaux Bridge, east of Lafayette, is the crawfish capitol!
The song of the South impinges on all the senses. I've had the privilege & pleasure to travel throughout the Deep South, from Myrtle Beach, S.C. to Macon, GA, Tuscaloosa, AL, Yazoo City, MS, Alexandria, LA, Port Arthur, TX, places in between & back home to Pensacola, Florida. The notes of the song change as do the seasons, location & people, but the pervasive melody is as constant as a compass needle.
Indianola, Mississippi is to catfish as Breaux Bridge is to crawfish. Here the ponds are plentiful & the processing plants huge. Farm raised catfish is a staple of the South along with sweet tea.
In my travels from New Orleans to Morgan City, Louisiana, I would see folks fishing in the bayous & swamp lands, some with long cane poles, their bobbers laying still on the placid water in anticipation of a bite. The flesh of wild caught catfish, like many fresh water fish, tastes like the environs from which it came. There is a difference between seafood & what I call swamp food. Catfish & crawfish(never crawdads, sometimes "mud bugs") are in this category, along with alligators if eaten.
Pecan groves are plentiful in the South. Some groves are irrigated, others not. In dry years the trees benefit from the extra water. The nut heavy limbs bow under the weight & the yields are good. Last to leaf out in the spring & first to shed in the fall, the pecan is a bellwether for season's change in the South.
The piney woods of Northwest Florida & an abundance of Naval Live Oak trees, gave way to the building of wooden ships. The oak's gnarly limbs were perfect for framing a vessel, while the tall, straight long leaf pine was ideal for masts & spars. Thirty miles north of the Gulf of Mexico, we are now surrounded by pine trees - when the wind blows through them, a soft, low pitch whistle or whine is issued, a song of the weather's change perhaps.
Perhaps also, the Gulf Coast has a song of its own. Pensacola is very much a part of the Deep South, its palette of flavors determined by the sea as well as land. This port city dates back to 1559, our Nation's first European settlement.
Southern cooking best describes the region. Soul food is comfort food here. Grits, biscuits & gravy, greens, hush puppies, soft shell crab & New Orleans po boys are ubiquitous.
New Orleans, a food mecca known world wide, adds more than a few stanzas or verses to the song of the South: music is The Crescent City, The Big Easy. The Mississippi River is an historical conduit for music flowing upstream and down. Bourbon Street, often teeming with people, is considered the birthplace of jazz. Here the song is fine tuned from a cacophony of sights, sounds, smells, tastes & feelings into a flavorful medley.
I've listened to the song of the South for many years now, but I'm still learning the tune.
The song of the South impinges on all the senses. I've had the privilege & pleasure to travel throughout the Deep South, from Myrtle Beach, S.C. to Macon, GA, Tuscaloosa, AL, Yazoo City, MS, Alexandria, LA, Port Arthur, TX, places in between & back home to Pensacola, Florida. The notes of the song change as do the seasons, location & people, but the pervasive melody is as constant as a compass needle.
Indianola, Mississippi is to catfish as Breaux Bridge is to crawfish. Here the ponds are plentiful & the processing plants huge. Farm raised catfish is a staple of the South along with sweet tea.
In my travels from New Orleans to Morgan City, Louisiana, I would see folks fishing in the bayous & swamp lands, some with long cane poles, their bobbers laying still on the placid water in anticipation of a bite. The flesh of wild caught catfish, like many fresh water fish, tastes like the environs from which it came. There is a difference between seafood & what I call swamp food. Catfish & crawfish(never crawdads, sometimes "mud bugs") are in this category, along with alligators if eaten.
Pecan groves are plentiful in the South. Some groves are irrigated, others not. In dry years the trees benefit from the extra water. The nut heavy limbs bow under the weight & the yields are good. Last to leaf out in the spring & first to shed in the fall, the pecan is a bellwether for season's change in the South.
The piney woods of Northwest Florida & an abundance of Naval Live Oak trees, gave way to the building of wooden ships. The oak's gnarly limbs were perfect for framing a vessel, while the tall, straight long leaf pine was ideal for masts & spars. Thirty miles north of the Gulf of Mexico, we are now surrounded by pine trees - when the wind blows through them, a soft, low pitch whistle or whine is issued, a song of the weather's change perhaps.
Perhaps also, the Gulf Coast has a song of its own. Pensacola is very much a part of the Deep South, its palette of flavors determined by the sea as well as land. This port city dates back to 1559, our Nation's first European settlement.
Southern cooking best describes the region. Soul food is comfort food here. Grits, biscuits & gravy, greens, hush puppies, soft shell crab & New Orleans po boys are ubiquitous.
New Orleans, a food mecca known world wide, adds more than a few stanzas or verses to the song of the South: music is The Crescent City, The Big Easy. The Mississippi River is an historical conduit for music flowing upstream and down. Bourbon Street, often teeming with people, is considered the birthplace of jazz. Here the song is fine tuned from a cacophony of sights, sounds, smells, tastes & feelings into a flavorful medley.
I've listened to the song of the South for many years now, but I'm still learning the tune.
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