full circle

There was a period when my family dynamic wasn't so dynamic. When we as a family left Siesta Key and moved closer to town, to 1632 Floyd Street. It lasted for about 2 years, from 1957 through 1958. 

On Floyd, my father eventually walked away from my mother, from all of us - and about the same time, my mother began to drink. 

This past month, due to being washed away by Helene & Milton, Sandy and I have done the same. We left the island, but this time permanently. For me having been there some seventy years, all told, now had found Floyd Street quite by circumstance once again. We took an annual lease on an unfurnished cottage now just a few houses down from a mostly forgotten early memory. 

Luckily today, I still have a few of those family photos saved (thankfully) that I had previously copied. Most of those early albums were lost during the two, recent big floods. Today Sandy and I signed onto our new lease. And now 66 years later, with me being the last of my family, I'm back living on Floyd.

 

My mother looking not so happy, she wasn't. 1957

 

 

 

My next-door neighbor A.J. and I, selling lemonade on the corner of Floyd & Orange Ave. 1957

 

I loved costumes and outfits. A bull outfit my mother made for me for a school play. 1957

 

As the family divided, my older sister Caren, soon was sent off to boarding school. While my mother and I, later would move back to Siesta Key - just the two of us. (My sister and I at Floyd Street in late 1958).

All Souls Day

November 2nd;

Weeks after two multiple disasters, Hurricane Helene and Milton, hundreds of black, unmarked "double-haulers" have been noticed roaming about town - presumably collecting all those lost forgotten souls. All Souls Day - a day as a reminder to celebrate and honor the past.

Big Cypress Reservation

Seminole Tribe of Florida

Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki   "A place to learn, A place to remember"

Middle school student from the Ahfachkee (translated; 'happy'), K thru 12 school. 

(Forgot her name, lost my notes)

 

 

 

Ada "Tater", (Bird Clan, matriarchal).

The red handpaint, painted across the mouth, is a symbol that is used in solidarity with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement (MMIW).

 

 

 

 

Dawn's early light

In that morning's Netherworld, looking for answers.

 

 

Hurricane Milton

Been in the dark for a week now.

Milton took down the old growth, and stripped the leaves from the trees. Siesta Key became the center of the storm, coming in at a Category 3 with 120mph sustained winds. When a hurricane "eye" passes over, during that short period of calm, some old-timers would say, "Good time to walk the dog."  And we did.

National radar map highlighting the heavy precipitation north of the 'eye' with Sarasota (blue dot) being at the center as the 'eye' rapidly passed over. A way for it to all end.

October 9th, 2024

Hurricane Helene

Thursday, September 26th; Massive flooding out on the barrier islands from a historic storm surge.

"It may seem irrational to see some people stay with their homes to defend them, but consider coming home to a damaged house that an insurance company may never compensate you for." Jeff VanderMeer, NYT, Sept. 27th, 2024.

Finding the couches not in their right place, the beds and furniture, the books, or the family photo albums, the odd objects all tossed about, having all been floating the night before, upon returning home, found overturned or scattered across the floor, was at the least - bizarre, distressing.

One of a few items that was actually meant to float, I found perfectly upright the following morning. 

 

Interesting photo

 

For myself, it was an intense wind-filled night spent mostly holding a flashlight in hand in near chest-deep water. 

In the darkness from the outside, a four to five foot high Gulf surge had lifted our deck and thrown it up against the house trapping the outside exist of the sliding doors. By 8:00 pm a whirling brackish water ran (swam) through-out the home's interior. Prompted by a social media post, luckily, a down the street neighbor came by kayak and rescued me.

The day after, a lost view looked out towards the lagoon where a Hurricane Helene had left a devastated garden. Where inside, a black muddy stench created by a toxic environment of contaminated sea water left behind evidence of growing mildew and mold.

The property will have to be cleared and our home pulled down, leaving its last few remaining reminders permanently gone.

 

 

Downtown; Hotel Voco.  (Evening of the following day).

My wife's jewelry, my old Stetson, and Lolly's reaching paw, from my first attempt at retrieving those small carriable items after that return back home. Many more days to come. Thirty more years worth.

 

 

 

Another one, and they just keep comin' ....

Tropical storms, hurricanes, storm surge & flooding. Mandatory evacuations declared today for all Level A areas, our designated Siesta Key island flood zone.

Now approaching Hurricane Helene. And it’s only been 6 weeks since the last flood (Debbie). We're all gettin' a little worn out, tired.