Up next we have catastrophic Hurricane Michael slamming into Florida, the Gulf states, on up through Georgia and the Carolinas, which haven’t recovered from their last devastating hurricane.  This one is setting new historic records.  It’s not looking good for the future of the southeast coast, in fact the east coast in general.

Meanwhile, safely (for now) inland, we await the rains on the edge of the storm.  My son dropped by today to work and hang out, as he plans to make a quick visit to the kids in Florida this weekend.  He may need a seaplane for that.

Here are flowers and trees anticipating welcome rain.

Another major hurricane, Michael, is about to slam the Gulf Coast and Florida, so that probably means some rain for us later in the week.  They’ve already called some states of emergency and evacuations down there.

I feel for people who can’t afford to move away from that area, because at this rate it will soon no longer exist as we know it.  Nature is no respecter of humans, including climate change deniers.

Further inland, the season continues to just sidle along, in typical southern fashion.  Change is slow to come here.

Casting about for photo subjects of interest this time of year can be challenging, especially living in what amounts to a stark open field.

Still, if you look a little closer, there are subtle colors and enchanting textures to be found everywhere.  It just remains to capture them with what barely counts as a camera, and add a little editing here and there.

I call it–wait for it–trick or tweak!  (Apologies to you pun-haters…you know who you are.)

I guess if there’s a moral or point to this, it’s this: scrape away the human layer of complicated crap, and what you always have left is beautiful, reliable, complex yet simple… nature.  It’s therapeutic, when the world is going mad around you.

It feels like a humid 90° in October.  Most of the trees are still green, and flowers are going strong.  The forecast says mid-week temps will suddenly drop like a roller coaster to 60s/40s, with no gradual transition.  So this is Fall in Tennessee.  Huh.  On the plus side, winter here is almost balmy compared to the north, so there is that.

Here are yet more flowers, cat selfies, some yummy cookies by E, and the only fall leaves to be found in our yard, and they started turning in summer.

I’m purposely not commenting on the travesty that is our current repug government, it’s just too distressing. It’s easy to just get resigned and hopeless, but make sure you vote these fools out, is all I can say.

The last two days were so productive, I didn’t have time to post.  Also we had another fun first–my son slept over.

Here he is doing his improv workout in our yard, using a chair, a tree, and some impossibly heavy objects that we helpfully provided!  Just watching made us exhausted, but he takes it in stride.

Then we just chilled and binge-watched stuff all evening, and he spent the night.  I’m happy he feels welcome and at home with us.

The next morning (yesterday), we all headed over to his house for a work day.  E and A worked on plumbing and other fixture repairs and replacements throughout the house, while I continued the yard cleanup, from which I gratefully obtained more trees and plants for our yard.

We took a break and got amazing burgers and fries at Five Guys, then adjourned with them to Round 6 Brewing for some excellent beers.  Then we did a Lowes run to pick up some more supplies.

Back at the house, we continued the work, then stayed for D and V’s wonderful Chicago pizza, even down to the homemade crust, and watched RiffTrax.  It was a good couple of days.

October in E. TN is hot as hell!  It seems hotter and more humid than all summer.  I can only work in spurts out there, then I have to take a break.  Who needs Florida?!  But the flowers are going strong, I’ll give it that.

It’s erev, so my son is here working and hanging, always a pleasure.  He has so many worries on his mind, I’m glad if we can provide a conducive, neutral but familiar space to get stuff done or just think out loud.  The future looks even more unpredictable than it was, so I’m sticking with the present.

It’s hard to keep a straight face around this cat character.  If there were such thing as a prone comedian, she’d be it.

Also we must have flowers, even dead ones.  Note the yellow butterfly.

I’ve come to the conclusion Life-the-Universe-and-Everything will always be unfathomable and mystifying.

Some events are clearly consequences of our actions, but many more are just random and undeserved.  There’s no rhyme or reason.  One person enjoys a relatively uneventful, routine life; another gets relentlessly hit with disasters, unrelated to anything they’ve done or not done.  There is no reliable way to safeguard against random acts of crap.

That’s our human condition, nothing new there, but it still sucks.  You’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

So, while waiting, I’m appreciative of these non-eventful moments in time, in which flowers continue to amaze, and cats are simply cats.  The future can be too bleak and unpredictable to contemplate, so you seize upon simple wonders of right now, while you have them.  It’s a tricky skill to learn, but it’s reassuring that the little things dependably persist, despite us.

The rickety boat dock is history.  It was hard work, mostly for E, but I helped a little.  Now it’s ready to slowly transform into a sunroom.

I’m always aware, as I post these boring, mundane scenes, that people dear to me, and fellow humans all around me, are going through hell on earth every day.  I feel helpless and inadequate to help, so I just keep on posting humble, ordinary things which I do not take for granted, which remain.

Each of us is always one step away from catastrophic disaster; no one is charmed or immune.  I’m very thankful for noneventfulness and stability–gods know I spent decades evading them somehow!  People close to me have had trauma, hardship, and upheaval for much of their lives, and crave normalcy and peace.  I bear this in mind as I record these humble efforts to live peaceably and understand others’ struggles.

And now back to mundane trivia.  Here we have cat turf wars; guess who wins every time?

And here is your daily dose of the plant (and fungus) world.  I’m especially grateful for the conifers and other saplings my son allowed me to transplant to our beginnings of a tree screen.  Hopefully long after we’re gone, they will stand and mature and enhance their environment.  I wish the same for their donor.