There's one more goodbye to be said

I have been trying to get news of our friend View for a few weeks. I sent emails that went unanswered, which worried me. After a lot of detective work, I found his friend Arturo on Facebook and sent him a message asking about View. Today he replied, unfortunately with sad news. Eduardo passed away on September 3. I can't simply close the blog without paying tribute to our gentle friend, Edward Whitcomb. I will forever remember his love of animals, his birds, his adopted family, all the lovely, interesting videos he forwarded from his YouTube account, with the handle of Edward Feliz. Yes, he was a happy man, fond of a good joke and excruciating puns. Goodbye, Ed, we'll miss you.

                         Ed Whitcomb - View_From_Here (March 18, 1937 - September 3, 2017)

"Just because" party

GrannyJ and QoS are hosting a party today just because life is still good and we still enjoy our friends despite natural, political and any other disasters. As promised, I provided the room and some silly cakes. Big thanks to the two enterprising, generous ladies. Have fun!

Charming trios

View sent me these photos aaaages ago. I hope he'll give us an update about his health some time soon. We miss him...

Books you can't read...

You can't read them because this bookcase is in fact a quilt! I spy an all time favourite among the "books." 84 Charing Cross Road was made into a gem of a movie, starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. 

[All the people we know in Florida are safe, including GrannyJ's incredibly stubborn nephew...]

Shoo, Irma! Go away!

I haven't been posting anything lately because I've been preoccupied with this blasted hurricane that's heading to Florida. 

Dora is in Brazil and was due back on the 10th (not gonna happen!). My niece Laurita wet to Orlando with her hubby and children last night. It took them seven hours to get there...

Lolô and Silvia had all the storm shutters fitted, including on Dora's windows. They're going to stay together in Lolô's house as it's the safest, being a bungalow.

 

They have a generator, loads of food, water, and also gas for cooking. They live in a good neighbourhood, away from the evacuation zones. It's going to be an adventure for Silvia's girls, who are 8 and 10. Lolô's daughter is 19. They'll play games and have fun stuff going on to pass the time.

Our CC is heading to a safe area, to a house with storm shutters, outside the evacuation zone. The only person we're still worried about is GrannyJ's nephew, who lives in some kind of shack in the middle of nowhere a bit north of Orlando. Still, if despite of damage to property on the islands there weren't too many casualties, considering the violence of the storm, people in the States should be a tad safer... Fingers crossed.

On a lighter note, Peter and I have been going to parties to celebrate our friend Hilary's birthday. Tuesday we had dinner at the lake: 

Yesterday we gathered in a friend's garden. Hilary looks happy:

Very rainy day at the races in Pompadour

We had a good day despite the very heavy rain. Peter and I made some money, had a picnic with friends, and watched a girl do some lovely stunts between races. The last picture is of Woody, a prince of a dog, he couldn't be nicer! Please note his asymmetric "hairstyle." A ferocious dog bit half of his ear off three weeks ago in London.

Another spectacular photo from SSB

Shapeshifterbelly lives in a beautiful place and takes some breathtaking photos!

Come and sit here next to me

Where's Amy?