2024 was an adventure-filled year here at Hurricane Central.
We began the year with our second cruise to Antarctica. We met up in Buenos Aires with Dan Bauer who long ago was a student in a Historical Geology laboratory I taught in graduate school. He and his wife Diane, and their friends Sue and Warren spent two weeks on the Norwegian Star enjoying the crushing beauty of Antarctica and southern South America
Three days after our return, Cathy had surgery to correct the expanding Dupuytren’s Contracture in her hand. Two days later I took another magic carpet ride on Propofol and Fentanyl and had my right knee replaced. We were pretty much immobile here for a couple months as our various appendages healed. At least now with two new knees I don't have to worry about arthritic pain - until something else needs to be replaced.
In late June we flew to Iceland for the start of a 12-day cruise from Reykjavik to New York City. Highlights of the trip were a one-day stop in Greenland (country 134 on my life list), a visit to Saint Pierre et Miquelon, the last vestige of the once-vast French empire in North America, and a couple days in Maritime Canada.
After being hassled by Customs in New York we boarded AMTRAK’s Northeast Regional train in Manhattan and rode it to Rhode Island to spend time with Cathy’s high school friend Sidney Goode and his wife Susan. Then it was back on AMTRAK to Boston and a bus to Maine where, after driving to the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of a craft brewery in Saco, Maine.
In late September we sat tight as humongous Hurricane Helene roared by us headed for landfall as a strong Category 4 storm near Florida’s Redneck Riviera. Not to be outdone, two weeks later Hurricane Milton, once a Category 5, made landfall on Siesta Key, 6 miles from us, as a potent Category 3 hurricane. I stood on the front porch watching the storm as it came ashore. The eyewall wasn’t bad but an hour later when the back side of the eyewall roared over us I was beginning to think that Wisconsin blizzards aren’t so bad after all. The rapid intensification of Helene and Milton (and Beryl earlier in the year) certainly make me happy that Global Warming is just a Chinese hoax designed to destroy America’s economy.
We rounded out the year with our 4th transatlantic cruise, this time from Miami to Europe in early November. With stops in the Azores (our third time there), A Coruna, Spain, Zeebrugge, Belgium and La Havre, France, we made landfall at Southampton, England from which the Titanic set sail 110 years earlier. Cathy added two new countries to her growing country life list and off the coast of the Azores, I added one new seabird to my world list.
We spent two days in London and wanted to have tea and crumpets with King Chuck and consort Cam but they never responded to our phone calls. Sadly, the one full day we wanted to spend in downtown London began, peaked, and ended with seemingly endless rain. Oh well, the bar on the 14th floor of the Hilton Garden Inn at London Heathrow was a great place to watch planes land and rain to never end.
Cathy’s grandson Channing spent almost every other weekend with us, at least when we weren’t on a trip or recovering from the most recent surgery. He is in the 2nd grade and will be 8 in February. I enjoy annoying him by asking how he likes 1st grade and when will you be 7. He and I discovered a favorite lake for fishing not far from home and his skills as a fisher are improving. After all he now has two fishing poles and his own tackle box!
Channing also discovered
the movie “Ghostbusters” and we watched it two or three times every weekend he
was here. To get into proper Ghostbuster
mode we ate Twinkies at the appropriate scene in the movie and gobbled down
marshmallows until Cathy told us to stop because we were eating too much sugar!
Like 75 million others we were gut punched on November 5 when the Convicted Felon and adjudicated sex offender was elected to spiral America into fascism. Accordingly, not knowing if we will have Medicare, health insurance, Social Security, or a Federal annuity in a year our plans for doing almost anything in 2025 have come to a screeching halt.
So, if you find yourself in Florida let us know. At this point it looks like we won’t be traveling. At least we have a roof over our heads – until the next hurricane comes along.
