Sandra Heska King

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10 Things I Learned in November

December 1, 2016 By Sandra Heska King

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1. Another name for US 1 in the Florida Keys, from Miami to Key West, is the “Overseas Highway.” It crosses the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Strait. Route 1 runs 2,369 miles from Fort Kent, Maine to Key West, Florida, and it’s the longest north-south road in the United States.

 

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2. Roosters (and their ladies) run rampant in Key West. Pioneers and Cuban refugees brought their poultry with them, but when it became easier to go to the market than raise them, many families turned them loose. Some roosters were freed when cockfighting was outlawed. The now feral fowl pretty much own the highways and byways in spite of occasional “Chicken Wars.”

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3. I often see non-vested dogs in Publix. After loving on one in the check-out line, I asked an employee if they really were are allowed. She explained there were so many tourists, and I surmised it was too hot to make them sit in cars while their people shopped. But apparently it is against state law, and employees are simply looking the other way–when they aren’t loving on the animals themselves. Who wants to get into a discussion over who might need their dog for an invisible issue. We also often see pups lapping from restaurant-served bowls of water in outdoor dining areas.

4. Always take drawbridges into account when you travel. Some go up on a schedule. Some as needed.

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5. Always take traffic lights into account when you travel. They aren’t necessarily timed, and a red light stays red for a. long. time.

6. Hills in Florida usually mean one thing. Camouflaged crud, i.e., garbage.

 

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7. The mortgage approval process these days is a nightmare. ‘Nuff said.

8. Our new house (well, hopefully it will be our house within a couple of weeks) is only 20 minutes from the entrance to the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge in the northern portion of the Everglades. Yay! And less than half an hour from the beach. Yay again!

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9. There are a whole passel of poets I never heard of who have been persecuted for refusing to be stilled. Read about them here at Tweetspeak Poetry.

10. For the first year since I can remember, we were not able to go north for Thanksgiving. We spent it here in Florida with our son’s family while our daughter headed for my sister’s. But my niece is more creative than I’ve given her credit for. Though things may have gotten a little out of control, she may have instituted a new tradition–family on a stick.

coffee time

 

Washing Dishes

 

littlest grands

 

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family and sticks

 

d and dental floss

 

Farewell

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Comments

  1. Sissy says

    December 1, 2016 at 11:53 pm

    Hmmm… You left out all your wine drinking pics. 🙂

    • Sandra Heska King says

      December 2, 2016 at 8:36 am

      Ha! I’m cutting down. ?

  2. Martha Orlando says

    December 2, 2016 at 10:37 am

    What you shared here, Sandra, was all new to me, so I learned some things, too. Glad you seem to be enjoying your new locale and the new opportunities it provides.
    Blessings for a happy Advent!

  3. Michelle says

    December 2, 2016 at 11:28 am

    What a success! I hope December brings more new for you! ?

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I tossed and turned all night. And then the storm I tossed and turned all night. And then the storm started. I finally got up about 5ish and sat outside to watch. Until a couple mosquitoes found me. Also, the jasmine hadn’t gone to bed yet and smelled heavenly.
Sunday evening. That is all. Sunday evening. That is all.
“The news is not and never has been, because it “The news is not and never has been, because it doesn’t talk about the small moments. Moments that matter to individuals, whatever they do or do not do in the grand scheme of things. And it is in those individual moments that belong to people, that deserve to be faced and remembered as much as every big, world-changing disaster. And nature, because it exists in the details, is too easy to elide, even when trying to talk about it.” ~ Sara Barkat in her introduction to Earth Song: A Nature Poems Experience
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I had to look up “elide.” It’s not a typo. 😊
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Sara goes on to write, “The structure of this book is that of a piece of music. The poems are to be read in order…”
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The first poem she includes is Sara Teasdale’s “Lost Things” that starts, “”Oh, I could let the world go by / It’s loud new wonders and it’s wars / But how will I give up the sky…”
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Good morning sky. Good morning moon. Good morning little bird flying to the moon. Good morning red bottlebrushes nodding in the breeze. It’s good to emerge from this Covid fog. Day 10.
“Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to “Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to be understood. . . Let me keep company always with those who say “Look!” and laugh in astonishment and bow their heads.” ~ Mary Oliver in “Mysteries, Yes”
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No way could anyone ever convince me that this world in all its beauty and creativity and mysteries is here by accident.
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@tamiheim @tonibirdsong 
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My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the str My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion.” Psalm 73:26 (ESV)
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I’d almost forgotten what quiet mornings on the patio were like. (Quiet except for the birds and the sound of the neighbor’s AC.)
So yesterday I saw my cardiologist. It was the fir So yesterday I saw my cardiologist. It was the first time he wanted to see me in 6 months instead of a year. He said my aortic stenosis had gotten worse. Like on the cusp of moderate to severe. 😬

So the first thing he asks me is, "How's you daughter?" Wait. Isn't this supposed to be about ME?

Then he asks if I've had any symptoms. "Well, I don't know. Maybe. I felt a little dizzy out of the blue a couple times. And felt like I couldn't catch my breath. I wouldn't have paid any attention if I didn't know I was supposed to be watching for symptoms. I DID walk all over Israel and up a bunch of steep hills, even all the way up to the Golan Heights--against the wind--without anything but normal fatigue.

He laughs. "I created a monster." Ummm, yeah.

"Have you been exercising?" 

"Well, yeah. We walk a couple miles a day. I'm back on my Nordictrack Strider." I didn't tell him I'd been lifting some light weights and some very heavy boxes and other items during this renovation, though I was told in December not to.

So he listens to the beating of my heart. Then he says, "Well, I don't think the valve is ripe yet. I don't expect you to have symptoms for three or four years. You don't need to come back for a year."

Wait! So you ask if I have symptoms. But you don't expect symptoms--yet. And when I do have symptoms, someone is gonna do something. And then I'll be older and maybe weaker. Or what if I have some sudden and silent symptom and boom! And now I have to worry about that. 

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If not, take a peek at @mlivenews .

My great-nephew, not quite 12, had just gotten home from school when the EF-3 came down the street and left its mark on every home. My niece frantically tried to find her way from work through debris and blocked roads. My sister was 30 miles away visiting my dad in rehab. I don't want to know how fast my brother-in-law drove. 

The house and yard took a hit, worse than some, not as bad as others. A mobile home park was demolished--two deaths there. I heard one person is still missing. So many injured. So much awful. But the town is coming together for each other. Pray for them.

We plan to fly up Thursday--already planned to celebrate my dad's 95th birthday. 

Also, if anyone feels led to help, the Otsego Community Foundation and Otsego County United Way are accepting donations. Note “Tornado Relief.” Beware of any other fundraising requests.
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"This memorial commemorates the Jewish communities destroyed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, and the few which suffered but survived in the shadow of the Holocaust."
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"It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen everywhere.” ~ Primo Levi

From a post I wrote for @tspoetry after a visit to the @holocaustcenter.

https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2016/07/27/regional-tour-holocaust-memorial-center-farmington-hills-michigan/
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Many wonder if this tomb, which lies just a few yards west of Golgotha could be the place where Jesus lay and rose. I wish we could have lingered longer here in this garden and in the tomb itself. It was easier for me to imagine the events of that weekend happening here than in the heavily incensed, decorated, dark and crowded Church of the Holy Sepulchre… though my hairdresser said her old boyfriend “got chills”’when he entered that tomb. We did not go inside that one because the line was way too long. 

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HAPPY EASTER!
#Israel2022 #GardenTomb #Easter
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