Icewind's Ramblings

Tropical Storm Irma started in the Atlantic Ocean on August 30, 2017 in the mid-Atlantic Ocean close to the Cape Verde islands?  By September 5, 2017 it had grown into a Category 5 hurricane. Over the next several days it began touching land along several islands (Barbuda, St. Maarten, & Tortola) before making landfall in Cuba.  It then turned slightly north/northwest and hit the United States in the Florida Keys, crossing these islands at Cudjoe Key while continuing north to make landfall at Marco island as a Category 4 storm driving inland northward to Naples up to the east of Tampa roughly following interstate highway 75 through southern Georgia decreasing   strength to a Tropical Storm with sustained winds just below hurricane strength. Part of my family lives in Jacksonville Beach Florida and having evacuated last year when another hurricane hit their area and St. Augustine decided to once again heed the State’s warnings and comply with the mandator...

In my generation, which was several generations ago, the question was repeatedly asked, "Where were you when President Kennedy was shot?" For my generation in that time, there are too many questions with fewer answers. The United States changed directions and suddenly we were in a war called Viet Nam and the loss of this country’s young men’s innocence. Tragedies and calamities abounded in our collective memories. But as with the saying “time heals all wounds” and we proceeded for many years along a course with unclear direction.  Then new violence cropped up with names like Taliban and Al-Qaeda.  Multiple bombings and acts of violence were happening all over the world giving us a false sense of security while their zealots were infiltrating our country waiting for a time to strike. The final innocence of America was taken on September 11, 2001, but seems to have somewhat faded now as the one question that will be asked again ...