Good Bye October

What a month it has been! Hurricane Matthew really messed up the landscaping, beach, some homes, and businesses. The clean up will probably continue until the end of the year. The washed out section of A1A in Flagler Beach has been mandated to be rebuilt in 45 days. Neighborhoods that have brush and debris are still waiting for pick up, but this has been expedited with the help of a huge empty lot close by, where the trucks deposit the debris and it is immediately shredded into gigantic piles. The beach continues to be cleaned up but the high tides make it difficult.

There have been other ramifications following the storm including a backlog of appointments with businesses having to shut down for evacuation and clean up. I had to have another biopsy done on a skin area but it took an extra week and I am now writing this with about 10 sutures in my back that need to stay in for 2 weeks.

Then the stress of the hurricane really confused my mother and although we were already in the process of looking for help for her, this escalated the situation. Instead of sitting home, we thought it best for her to go into an assisted living facility where there is help, delicious food, and activities. Mom has resigned herself that this is best and although apprehensive about what to expect, she is actually excited to be around more people and do more things during the day. The paperwork, doctor visits, and formalities involved are pretty extensive, so we certainly have not been sitting around at the beach or pool all day. In fact I have been in the pool twice in the month I have been here to help out Mom, and once we stopped to take that photo above at the beach, got in the car and left.

Dave drove our friends' motorhome down about 10 days ago and he is due to fly out to Hope Town on November 1st. I will be staying until the 13th to get Mother settled into her new surroundings. My sister Sue will be flying in from New Hampshire also to help and oh, my poor brother Rick who lives down here, broke his ankle in 3 places when he tried to avoid running into his son Matthew and crashed while they were dirt bike riding last Sunday. Now that's being a good father (or as they kid Matthew, a bad son for slowing down)!

To top off this lovely month, Dave (who just turned 60!) has a huge infected cyst on his chest and is on strong antibiotics that make him nauseated. So good bye October, and I will try to return to regular blogging from Hope Town.