We Will Never Forget

We Will Never Forget 
God bless the United States of America

Patriot's Day - September 11, 2011

The Anniversaries

On September 11th, here in America we will be commerating the 10th anniversary of 9/11 when our country was attacked by terrorists.  We lost over 3,000 people that day in a man-made disaster that changed my country forever. 

On the same day, Japan will commerate the six month anniversary of a natural disaster with a loss of 28,000+ people in a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.  Whether we speak of one life or many, grief invades our hearts and we remember. 

I sometimes wonder if two such disasters are in any way connected?  When hatred and violence stir in mens hearts and propel them toward war, could it also unleash the forces of nature wherein both innocent and guilty become victims?  I have no answers; I just wonder.  

The Strange Co-incidents of the Sister Storms

Today is the sixth anniversary of Katrina.  Six years ago, flood waters were rising in New Orleans; today in the nation's north, flood waters are rising in Connecticut.

Today, there are memorial services in New Orleans and Coast Guard helicopter rescues in the north. Comparing the storms, Katrina was much stronger, Irene much larger. 

Nearly two thousands lives were lost in Katrina, Irene's death toll, at present, is two dozen.  We have much to be thankful for and much to contemplate.

While there wasn't any earthquake that occurred before Katrina as there was with Irene, we had all watched the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami only 8 months earlier.  A MSNBC concentric circle image of the Mineral, VA, August 23rd earthquake shows the quake was felt in regions represented by the same states that would later be affected by hurricane Irene. Then, there are the warning of the animals. 

Both storms are now part of history, but perhaps we should be reading the signs more closely!

A prayer of peace for the victims of both hurricanes and a salute to America, land that we love.  

  

Sister Storms – Irene and Katrina?

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Hurricane Katrina reached Cat 3 intensity at 5:00 AM.  At 5:00 PM, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced a state of emergency and called for a voluntary evacuation.  He would only order a mandatory evacuation 30 hours before landfall, reportedly to avoid gridlock.  He did advise those living in low lying areas, such as Algiers and the 9^th Ward to get a head start.  He said he would open the Superdome as a shelter of last resort for evacuees with special needs.  President Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana and Max Mayfield, head of the National Hurricane Center briefed the president, Louisiana and Mississippi governors and Mayor Nagin on the status of Hurricane Katrina.  Katrina reached a Cat 4 short after midnight.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Evacuations have already been ordered in at least six states:  North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and New York. Hundreds of thousands have been advised to leave the areas.  New York hospitals and nursing homes in low-lying areas have been evacuated.  The New York transit system has been shut down which leaves the Big Apple, “the city that never sleeps,” totally immobile, but not asleep!    

The good news is, six years later, we’ve learned something!     

Animal Alert: Hurricanes and Earthquakes

The outer bands of Cat 2 Hurricane Irene are beginning to smack the North Carolina coastline.  The projected landfall is Cape Hatteras, N. C. on Saturday.  Irene is approximately the exact same size of Katrina.  Just as in the 2005 Gulf coast disaster, eastern coastal residents are fleeing the storm.  One of the benefits of Katrina is the absolute seriousness with which now view threatening hurricanes.     

Irene, understandably, has eclipsed the August 23^rd 5.8 Virginia earthquake. The earthquake was felt in major urban areas, Washington, D. C., New York and Boston. Broken glass and minor cracks were found in the 1857 castle of the famed Smithsonian Institute; pinnacles were toppled from the main tower of the National Cathedral, (said to have no insurance). and cracks were found in the top portion of the Washington Monument. The Monument was closed due to unanswered questions as to whether or not it was leaning.
http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/08/washington-monument-national-cathedral.html.

As a southern girl, living on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, I grew up with hurricanes.  I always considered us lucky as we knew when the storms were coming.  Tornados and earthquake sneak up on you!  Now, I’ve learned other ways to predict calamities on the way. “Inmates” at the Washington D. C. National Zoo had the word long before we did! Several of the animals “announced” an upcoming upset and an elephant let out a low-pitched growl to alert her family.  I’m not surprised; my novel, The Night the Elephants Cried is tells more of elephants remarkable abilities!       

The Hurricane Cheer

I was invited to a number of public and private schools to read my picture story book, Gullah, the Nawleans Cat Meets Katrina.  Children in the lower grades were too young to remember Katrina, but the older ones did, thanks to TV coverage. Kids, however, are never too young to educate about danger.  During my author visits, the kids and I, with appropriate hand gestures, would act out our Hurricane Cheer.

Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane! Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane!  

What to do?  What to do?  What to do?

Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane! Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane! 

Listen up.  Listen up.  Listen up.

Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane!  Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane!

Stock up.  Stock up.  Stock up.

Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane!  Hurry, Hurry, Hurricane!                          

 If you're told ... if you're told ... to evacuate ...?                                                                  

  GET OUT OF TOWN!  Go ... GO ... GO!                                                                           

 

Expect the Unpredictable – Enter Gullah

Irene is moving north, north-west at 13 mph.  And the nation is beginning to react.  Evacuations have been ordered from North Carolina’s barrier islands. Here in Florida, we feel relatively relieved.  However, seasoned Southerners know to expect the unpredictable

After Katrina’s frontal assault on the Gulf coast and just as New Orleans was exhaling, the real trouble began.  New Orleans has a levee and flood wall system to protect it from its low-lying areas.  While Katrina’s eye passed about 20 miles from the heart of the city, the powerful force of a storm, only hours before identified as a Cat 5, was able to cause the levees on four of the canals to fail.  The surge overtopped Lake Pontchartrain which poured into the city and flooded 80% of New Orleans.  An estimated one million  people had fled, but 20% of the population remained in a city clearly sinking.   

People took to their roofs, having hacked through ceilings with an axe.  The roof-tops were filled with screaming babies, frantic families, the elderly, the sick and their pets.  A popular journalist, Chris Rose, was later to write a book, the title taken from the post storm markings on front doors, One Dead in the Attic.  

Watching the aftermath of Katrina, everyday “in real time,” was an emotional experience.  One story in particular, that of a small boy carried sobbing onto an evacuation bus, was especially touching.  The bus driver refused to allow the boy’s small fuzzy dog, “Snowball,” onto the bus.  Snowball was left stranded by the wayside; two hearts were broken. Snowball was all the boy had left and now the beloved family pet was gone.  The story made national news; for me, it was the inspiration to write Gullah, the Nawleans Cat Meets Katrina.  

Are Hurricanes Always Female?

Hurricane Irene is approaching the Grand Turk islands as a Cat 2 with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph.  Six years ago today we were watching hurricane Katrina cross southern Florida as a Cat 1.  For now it appears Florida may escape the direct path of Irene, but we all know for sure that hurricanes are unpredictable.

Now some folks say that’s why they bear women’s names.  Ha!  Let’s dump that fable in the ditch post haste.  Her-a-cane?  Why not His-a-cane?  Let’s set the record straight.

The word originally came from Huakan, the male Mayan god, the “god-of-the-big-wind.”  The Caribbean Indians called him Hurican.  In Spanish the word became Huracan, in English, hurricane.  Giving hurricanes female names was just another example of man’s Garden of Eden goofs.  “It was the woman, Lord.  She did it.”

Nobody knows where the idea of naming storms came from; perhaps from Storm, a novel by George Stewart.  In George’s book, a junior meterologist had a personal habit of naming storms.  So, in 1953 weather officials began naming storms after women.  It took twenty-six years, until 1979 before the men got their names in the hat.  Now names are alternated, male, female, male, female.  And the fellas lost no time in distinguishing themselves.  Anybody ever hear of Gilbert, Hugo, or Andrew?

Rejoice Men.  You weather discrimination is at an end!

Hurricane Katrina and the Howling Banshees

When Katrina danced across the southern tip of Florida and punched Miami hard, she caused flooding and death.  Normally, hurricanes moving across land loose strength, but this not-nice Lady had a plan. Gathering up the unusually warm waters of the Gulf, she went from a Cat 3 to a Cat 5 and in just nine hours reached her peak strength.  On the morning of August 28^th, Katrina headed for her second attack, the "Big Easy."     

At the last moment, she swerved away from New Orleans proper (if ever it was!), and came ashore approximately 45 miles southeast of the charmed city with sustained winds of 125 mph.  As a Cat 3, her hurricane-force winds extended outward from the center for 120 miles.  

Katrina unleashed her forces at night, the worst time of all, I believe, for hurricanes and people to meet.  .  Like a thousand howling banshees, the wind wailed; the mammoth storm surge reached over twenty feet. Because it wasn’t a direct-hit, the fabled French-founded city felt it “had dodged the bullet,” and breathed a sign of relief.  Sadly, the worst was yet to come.

Katrina, still a Cat 3, still with winds at 120 mph, made a third land-fall near the Louisiana/Mississippi border. She didn’t loose strength until she was 150 miles inland, taking her last gasp near Clarksville, Tennessee.  

At the time, all one could do is sit in front of the TV and weep. Even stroking the little black cat we called Tara, for once, was small comfort. Tara, however, became the model for Gullah, a picture story book I was yet to write about Katrina. I wonder. Can writing about natural disasters make good books? 

Remembering - Retracing Hurricane Katrina – The Big One

August 23, 2005.  Six years ago, almost to the day.  The tropical storm which formed off the coast of the Bahamas was baptized Katrina as she strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane. Aiming for Miami, Katrina took a chunk off my son’s roof before she hustled on. We listened for the latest news, the track.

The Wicked Woman marched into the warm waters of the Gulf where she churned and growled taking command of the winds and seas, gaining strength and power. In the next six days, we watched in horror satellite images of Katrina as she swelled into a massive Category 5, the highest number on the Saffir-Simpson scale.  She packed winds of 175 mph.

As a native Floridian, I’m accustomed to hurricanes, just as Japanese living on the Pacific Ring of Fire, understand tsunamis.  But I’d never seen that gigantic, white whirling dervish “comma,” with its inevitable evil eye swallow the entire Gulf of Mexico and its coastland.     

For five days we kept vigil, glued to the media.  The tension was almost unbearable as we waited and watched, thought and prayed for our neighbors in western Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.  Although Katrina trimmed down to a Category 3 by the time she was due to make landfall, we knew the effects of this nautical Madam-Gone-Mad would be horrific. New Orleans was targeted as a direct hit.  Maybe, after all the rumored years, this was “the Big One.”  

Chang, the news says a hurricane may be heading to Florida.  Chang?  Chang?  I guess he found a Mudwrap after all and headed for the hills.  He must have sensed "Irene" before I heard of her.  

Tomorrow I’ll introduce you to Gullah, a fictitious little black cat that survived, but barely, Katrina.  And I’ll have a special surprise for my readers!

Ciao,

Nancy  

Thundershirts and Mudwraps

"Sawsadee.  Miss Nancy, have you heard about Thundershirts?”

”Chang, that’s undershirts not thundershirts.” 

“Nope, it’s definitely Thundershirts.  They’re strictly DCC; that’s Doggie Comfort Clothes. They’re for dogs that are afraid of storms and other loud frightening noises.  The shirts slip onto the dog and are fastened with Velcro and the dog is no longer afraid.”  A fellow in North Carolina got the idea of how to help his pooch who had a terrible time when he heard thunder. I know just how he felt."

“Well, I’m amazed!  And it really works?”

“Yes, they are selling them everywhere.  I wonder if they are all soft and squishy inside?”

“Chang, how do you hear about this stuff?”

“Silly girl.  I have a computer.  Now, I was just thinking … “

“Oh, no. Chang, don’t get me into this.”  

“You know the problem we elephants have with insects that love to come and farm our skin. They make it so itchy.  That’s why we delight to roll in muddy lakes. Mud baths are so soothing.  Now, if we had some ECC, like the dogs, wouldn’t that be nice.  Something sewn inside with lamb’s wool is what I have in mind. No Thai silks, this is everyday wear.”

“Chang, this is ridiculous.  Even if it were possible, do you know how BIG your clothes would have to be?”

“Ah, ha.  Now, you’re alluding to my size.” 

“Oh, Chang.”

“You ladies have mud packs, why can’t elephants have Mudwraps?

“Good night, Chang.”

“Sawsadee, Miss Nancy."

 
 

Chang and Petra Nemcova

“Sawsadee, Chang.  It’s August!”

“And that means?”

“It means in a few weeks schools will be starting.  Teachers are decorating their rooms with posters and charts, bringing in new books and arranging desks.  Students are out shopping and thinking about ipads, iphones, e-readers, computers and … “

“Yes, it’s an exciting time.  However, I’m thinking different thoughts.  What about places where the very schools have been lost?  Places like Thailand, Chili, Peru, Haiti, Japan.  Even in your country, deadly tornados took away schools this year.  But I have wonderful news.  Schools are being rebuilt.  You’ve heard of the world famous model, Miss Petra Nemcova?”

“Oh yes.  She was injured in the tsunami.  Then she recovered and established the Happy Hearts Fund to build schools in areas of the world afflicted by disasters.” 

"When she comes back to Thailand, I've love to give her a Royal Ride!"

"Why, Chang.  You're blushing!"

“Nevermind.  Have you seen her gallery of videos?”  This one is my favorite, Love from Thailand.”



“Chang. How great is that? I hope this year I can take the book …”

“You mean, our book?”

“Of course.  … take our book into the schools and tell them all what happened after the tsunami.”

“Right on, Lady Author.  Or as you say, Chow.” 

“No, Chang, it’s Ciao.”

“Ahhh….Americans!”

Sawsadee

Disaster Lit for Kids

“Chang, I have to tell them about the book.”

“You mean Disaster Lit for kids?”

“Chang!  Okay, so I have two books, one about a hurricane, Gullah, the other about a tsunami, The Night the Elephants Cried.  Natural disasters are horrific alright, but they are mega-news and hidden away there is a brighter side. C’mon, Chang.  No crisis, no plot, no conflict, no struggle.”   

“I get it.  Foreign adventure and heroism meet head-on in Thailand. So, how did you ‘hear’ about the elephants crying?  Was it a trunk call?”

“Not exactly.  Chang, teens today wouldn’t recognize the term “trunk calls,” which meant a call out of your local area.  You had to book it and wait to receive it which was exciting.  Tring …Tring …. Tring.

“But, to answer your question, I heard about the elephants on the internet, saw the tsunami on TV and did a whole heap of research.”

“I gotcha.  Apparently, folks like the books, they are buying them.  But you must remember, Lady Author Troubles, it’s the elephant’s story they’re after.”    

“Of course, Chang. 

Sawsadee.

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula

“Sawsadee, that means Hello or Good-by in Thai.  We Thai elephants are agreeably cordial.”

“Thank you, Chang.  Now, you know that this blog is about more than elephants right?  In fact it’s about books and ... "

“Stars?”

“Stars?”

“Remember what Beth, your editor said, ‘Shoot for the Moon.  Even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.’  Of course, we elephants are already there. Have you ever seen the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula?  A nebula is a collection of interstellar dust and gasses.  This nebula, with its dark tendrils, contains material for star formation.  You might say it’s a nursery for young stars.”

“Wow!”

“We’d have to ask Mr. Brian Lula for permission for his picture but you can view it on the Astronomy Picture of the Day site at:  http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap071018.html

“Chang, That's fabulous.  What a site!  And named after you!  Amazing!  You’re everywhere!"

"Sawsadee, ma cherie."  

Introducing ... The Author and the Elephant

“Sawsadee, I’m Chang, an Asian Elephant.”

“Chang, I was supposed to go first.  I’m the Author.”

"Oops…Sorry, Chief. But I’m excited; I love to to blog                                                              

“Well, okay.  But first, we better tell them about the book."

“Après, vous.”
“Chang, I didn’t know you spoke French.”

“Nancy, there’s lots you don’t know … ah ... about Elephants.”

"Cool move."

"Merci, until next time."