Thursday, August 1, 2013

Wind

Who has seen the wind?~~~~Neither I nor you:~~~~But when the leaves hang trembling,~~~~ The wind is passing through.~~~~~~~~Who has seen the wind?~~~~Neither you nor I:~~~~ But when the trees bow down their heads,~~~~The wind is passing by.~~~Christina Rossetti~~~~ There is nothing like the wind - an invisible force of nature. Rather it be the slightest breeze or a hurricane force. Something we can feel but not see. Pretty amazing when you think about it.

76 comments:

cube said...

Mariah?

sue hanes said...


Cube - You can call it that if you like. But you still can't see it.

The only thing I don't like about Mariah is when it messes up my hair. Not that it looks that good normally - but I just don't like it. But over all I do like it when the wind blows.

cube said...

I don't call the wind Mariah. That's from a silly song that I never liked.

I can't see the wind anymore than anyone else can, but I do love the feel of it. We have a lot of humidity in Florida and we welcome the wind when we're lucky enough to get it.

sue hanes said...


Cube - There is nothing worse than a lot of humidity. The breeze is nice to relieve that.

I'm on my way out the door. Have a great weekend.

cube said...

Florida is very humid. But I love the feeling of vapor when I open my door in the morning because I'm a bit of a tropical flower myself so it doesn't bother me.

Hope you have a good less-humid weekend.

sue hanes said...


Cube - I'm afraid I don't like humidity at all. Maybe you are just used to it.

We had a beautiful humid-less weekend. All went well and it is good to be home again.

sue hanes said...


Cube - Humid here today. : ]

cube said...

We've gotten a lot of rain here lately and it smells like the jungles of Vietnam. The frogs and toads have been having parties every night.

sue hanes said...


Cube - Our rain has gone away for a while. Do the frogs and toads sing a lot - especially at night?

That reminds me of rain forests. I think they would be wonderful but I would never go into one because of the closeness of bugs and especially spiders.

cube said...

Last evening we got a thunderstorm that brought such driving rain that it looked like the rain was coming in sideways. As a result, the toads and frogs sang all night long.

As you know, I never sleep very well, but last night my insomnia was coupled with worries about my youngest daughter who had had her wisdom teeth extracted that morning. I was checking on her most of the night and the toads and frogs were very loud.

Often you can see large toads on the carport at night. In the morning, you see their poop.

I can't imagine walking through a rain forest either. I live in a place that's close enough to one for my comfort.


sue hanes said...


I hope your daughter is doing ok.
That can be a big thing if it doesn't heal right.

I love a hard driving rain - but I know it can be a problem with flash flooding and I don't like to drive in it.

Before we moved here we lived in a place that had a pond nearby and we loved to walk to it in the early evening and as we walked around it the frogs would leap in the pond one by one as we approached - giving the 'ribbit' sound as we went. I got a big kick out of that.

cube said...

My daughter is doing well, thank you. With her pain medications, she slept more soundly than I did, which was fine by me. You know how it is to be a mom.

Yesterday morning, she was instructed to take a Valium one hour before the extraction, which she did. Her sister called me into her bedroom to tell me that she was acting "loopy". She was dressing our male cat in a scarf and calling him Mother Teresa. Better living through chemistry :-)

I love the rain, too, as long as I don't have to go anywhere and can lie in bed and listen to it. We just had so much this season, we're ready for a bit of a dry spell.

Your home by the pond sounds wonderful. We don't get as many frog 'ribbits' as we do toad 'croaks'.




sue hanes said...


Cube - I'm glad your daughter is doing well. That is so funny about the Mother Teresa cat.
They gave me a valium before my cataract surgery but I was just lying there and I couldn't feel the effect on me. For the surgery they put me out for a short time. I don't remember anything. Fine with me.

sue hanes said...


Cube - Talk about rain. As we left our friends' house last night it was pouring down. For the fifteen minute ride home it was so bad you could hardly see the road. Water was on the road at times. Then as we pulled onto our street it stopped. Strange.

cube said...

We thought the Mother Teresa bit was funny, too. Wait until you see the photo I posted. It is a hoot. Poor Felix. We call him Fee, so I guess that makes him Mother Feeresa ;-)

I have driven dentists crazy all my life because of the amount of novacaine I need to get numb. For a thin person, I require lots of meds to feel the intended effect.

sue hanes said...


Cube - That is a daring picture of Felix.

So you really soak up the novacaine when you go to the dentist. They must be used to you by now. I like to have plenty of novacaine too - but I hate the feeling until it wears off.

cube said...

My mother teases me about causing a fatal heart attack in a dentist I saw once. I kept complaining of pain despite numerous shots. He was visible angry with me and finally banished me to the waiting room while he took care of another patient. It was an awful experience.

I heard that he died a week or so after my visit.

That was an extreme case, but other dentists I've had the same problem with give me more novacaine and wait patiently until it takes effect.

sue hanes said...


Cube - Oh my gosh - that is really weird that he died after having that experience with you!

Have you ever been put out for surgery and had the same problem?

cube said...

He was weird. I've never gone to a ruder, more impatient dentist and I wasn't about to let his overbearing attitude cow me into suffering. I guess he wasn't used to people standing up to him.

No, I've gone out easily for the few surgeries I've had. I did stay awake and watch my C-section, but the epidural was very effective. That day, my problem didn't start until after the C-section when the effects wore off long before they should have and I was in pain until I was able to get the nurses to get the doctor to ramp up the medication.

It's always something.

sue hanes said...


Cube - I have to hand it to you for wathcing your C-section - something I could never do. You have a lot of nerve to do that.

Did you have a C-section for both of the girls?

I've never heard of such a rude dentist. Usually they have a good bedside manner. No wonder he had a heart attack.

cube said...

It wasn't nerve, it was more curiosity. I wasn't in pain and couldn't help but want to see my baby's birth.

The only reason I had a C-section was because my daughter was a breech-birth. You can't imagine the gymnastics I tried to get her to turn around before her birth, but it didn't work.

I gave birth to my second daughter via VBAC, vaginal birth after C-section, and it was a normal vaginal birth. BTW they don't do that technique anymore, but I haven't had any problems as a result of the procedure.

Yeah, I agree that the dentist's own temperament had much to do with his MI... unlike what my mom loves to bring up every now and then to tease me.

sue hanes said...


Cube - That is great that you have that memory of your daughter's birth.

How could you get her to turn around on your own?

cube said...

The doctors suggested that if I went upside down it might make her turn. I tried it right up until the birth, but my obstinate baby wouldn't comply.

sue hanes said...


Cube - I've never heard of that. Do you mean like standing on your head?

cube said...

I can stand on my head (yoga), but it was too scary when I was so pregnant. Basically it was more like lying on the couch and putting my butt up in the air and hoping the baby would turn around. I tried it every day, but it didn't work.

sue hanes said...


Cube - The important thing is that it all worked out in the end.(pun)

You have that memory of your daughter being born and it all ended up ok. I still think that you were brave to watch it. I wouldn't have done it.

cube said...

I'm not brave when it comes to pain, but I wasn't feeling anything from the chest down, so I was OK.

I'm very good during an emergency (I saved my eldest daughter from choking once), but afterwards I have been known to shake a little bit when I realize what's been averted.

sue hanes said...


Cube - Even if I were numb from the chest down I know I couldn't have watched that. So I call you brave.

That's what counts in an emergency - act when it's necessary and shake afterwards.
Choking is so scary - and you have to act fast.

cube said...

Funny you would call me brave when I think I'm the biggest chicken in the room.

I was the office manager in an internist's office and learned quickly to keep my emotions at bay during an emergency. It was good practice for the rest of my life, including when my rambunctious girls got into trouble.

sue hanes said...


Cube - You killed that big spider -didn't you? :]

I'm sure that experience in the internist's office did help you.
My younger daughter had heart surgery when she was born. I had to deal with that - and I did it because I had to. The strength seems to just come to you when you need it.

I'm sure you are not a big chicken.
I'm a bigger one.

cube said...

I killed that spider because not killing it and knowing it was running around my house would've been infinitely worse. The heebie jeebie factor would've been out of this world. Usually I call my husband to do one of his husbandly duties and kill big bugs for me.

I think you're brave for dealing with heart surgery for your newborn. I'm glad I didn't have to deal with that horrible experience especially after child birth which is nerve-wracking enough by itself.

Yikes. How did you deal with it?

I guess strength does come when we need it. Thank goodness.

OK, instead of arguing over who is the biggest chicken, let's agree we're both chickens ;-)




sue hanes said...


Cube - I'll agree to being a big chicken if you do.

And I agree that seeing a spider and then losing track of it - wondering where it is in the house - is worse than killing it.
Spiders are pretty tricky. The small ones I have gone after pretend they are dead and then run away.

As far as my daughter's surgery - I think you are right that you have strength when you need it. Plus she continued to just get better after the surgery - so that helped.

cube said...

BOK BOK! ;-)

I hate spiders and bugs. They freak me out. I guess Florida isn't the best place to live, eh?

You were strong when you needed to be for your daughter and that's all that matters.

sue hanes said...


Cube - I hate spiders more than I hate bugs.

We are having a week of marvelous weather. Around 80 and no rain. But this is the time of year that the rain lets up. Not like early spring or fall.

There must be a lot of reasons to live in Florida besides having bugs and sinkholes. Mostly Indiana has tornadoes. And winter.

cube said...

I differentiate between spiders and bugs this way. If spiders stay on their webs and eat bugs, I don't go out of my way to kill them. If they come around me, then I kill them. Same for bugs who don't know their boundaries.

Glad you're having good weather. We're still getting rain.

I tease about life in Florida being crazy, but it's really not that bad. There are tons of beautiful things about living here. Heck, where else can you get gators in your back yard?

sue hanes said...


Cube - Are you trying to tell me that you have had gators in your backyard?

I'm afraid that no spider is welcome in my house. I don't kill them if they are outside. But I don't allow them inside. Fortunately we don't have many bugs inside. But I kill the ones we do have. My policy is that I don't go into their house so they should not come here.

I'm sure that life in Florida is great and that you are just teasing about the bad parts of living there.

I've been to Florida and I'll never forget the time we drove down to Sanibel Island. It was winter here and we stopped at a gas station and it was so nice out.
I was able to leave my coat off.
Unfortunately it was having after effects of a hurrican and it was windy the whole time. We had our infant daughter with us so we had to take turns lying in the sun and staying inside with her. She caught a cold anyway.

cube said...

I personally have never had a gator in my backyard, but there are many accounts of folks who have including gators coming inside their house through their doggie doors.

Life in Florida is great. I love it, but it does have its drawbacks.

Sanibel Island is a wonderful place to unwind. I'm sorry your baby was in the way. Babies tend to do that.

sue hanes said...


Cube - I can't imagine a gator coming in a doggy door. They are such fierce looking animals.

We never thought of our baby being in the way. We were new parents. I remember calling home and my dad answering the phone and I was so excited to tell him that she was getting her first tooth. I also remember his reaction - sort of a ho hum. New parents are funny that way.

We laugh now about how my daughter sent us a video of her first baby and the camera just focused on her for minutes on end when she was just lying there doing nothing. It's funny now.

cube said...

I didn't mean that the baby was in the way in a bad way. Just that in my head the beach connotes behavior that doesn't include diapers and bottles. But that's just me.

We had our baby moments, too. My husband and I used to watch our newborn daughter sleep and we'd gently touch her to make sure she was alive.

I didn't have a lot of baby experience when I gave birth. The nurse at the hospital taught me how to change my first diaper. It's a good thing I'm a fast learner.

sue hanes said...


Cube - I think all new parents go through that when you make sure the baby is still breathing. I remember being torn between going in the room to make sure she was breathing and risking waking her up - or just letting it go.

Being a new mother is like learning to cook - you do it through experience. I had done some babysitting - so that helped.

Thinking back upon our first one though - it is hilarious.

Some friends volunteered to watch her while we went to dinner. They had a child of their own. But we could hardly keep our mind on our night out because we kept talking about whether or not they would be taking good care of her.

It's a lot different with the second one - don't you think?

Same when our first one went on a date. We were all over her when she was a few minutes past curfew.
Not true of the second one.

cube said...

It is true about the firsts. What's that old saying, "the pioneer takes the arrows." We were much more relaxed about the second babies. Dates are still tough for me, though. I remember being their ages. Yikes!

sue hanes said...


Cube - You are still in the dating phase - while we are in the grandchildren phase. In fact - our oldest grandchild is a teenager and we will be facing dating and driving before too long. Of course it won't be the same since we are not the parents.

I've never heard the saying 'the pioneer takes the arrows.' What does that mean? Is it just that the pioneer is the first one there and has to face the Indians?

cube said...

Yes, the dating phase is hard. My daughters are 19 and 23 and asking lots of questions about our past as they embark on their own experiences. I don't know what they've heard on their social media haunts, but it occurred to them that I was dating in the 70's and they looked horrified.

Your conclusion is correct about the pioneer. The first person to arrive on the scene somewhere gets the arrows, figuratively and literally.

sue hanes said...


Cube - My brother said that the dating phase was harder in high school than in college - for him.
In high school he knew what his daughter was doing - at least he knew when she was out - but in college he didn't know when and where she was.

cube said...

From my experience, they're going to get into mischief in high school and college whether we parents like it or not.

My youngest spent her first college year in Alabama, and we'd get dramatic phone calls that would tear our hearts out. The next day, she'd be fine. I think your brother is right... it's best not to know the details.

sue hanes said...


Cube - It made me smile when you mentioned the dramatic phone calls and then she was ok the next day.

When I was a freshman in college I got homesick and was crying so my parents said I could take the bus home for the weekend. When they met me at the station I was all smiles and I think they were surprised that I had recovered so quickly. I can still remember that.

cube said...

That's exactly what we put up with except buses are cheaper than airlines and then a one and half hour car ride from the Birmingham airport to Tuscaloosa. It was expensive.

We are so glad she transferred to USF starting in the fall. Her father and I both have degrees from there and now she's going to be a baby Bull. No more Roll Tide.

sue hanes said...


Cube - Yesterday was moving in day for the freshmen here. Traffic was heavy and as you drove past the dorms you could see the kids with all their stuff trying to get inside. I don't know how they got everything inside of those small rooms.

It was so nice with the studends gone. Now back to the restaurants being full and the sidewalks crowded with them. Until Christmas break - that is.

cube said...

My niece just went to a dorm and it looked like a closet. My daughter's dorm in Bamalama was bigger. I guess it depends on where you choose to go to school.

It's fun when your kids get home and you have two or three of everything... vacuum cleaners, ironing boards, etc.

sue hanes said...


Cube - Mr. Sue and I were talking about this just this morning and remarked how we never had all of this stuff when we went to college as freshmen. Now they have everything.

You are right. Some of the rooms are bigger than others. Some of the dorms now have suites.

And it wasn't until after my time that they had coed dorms. Even mixed sex roommates.

cube said...

We did make do with less back in the day, didn't we? I think coed dorms lead to trouble. I got into enough mischief without them.

sue hanes said...


Cube - Never did I wish that I could live in a coed dorm.

I was dating my husband all through college so my mind was just on him. Of course that's not to say that I didn't get into mischief. His fraternity had these really fun parties - if you know what I mean.

cube said...

I know. Enough said about the mischief. I don't want to get into trouble with Mr. Cube.

sue hanes said...


Cube - Enough said. But college remains one of the happiest times of my life. Not just the party times - but the campus here is beautiful and I loved the academic atmosphere. Now the college kids look like high school age to me.
They just got back from summer break and they are swarming all over the place.

cube said...

I know what you mean. I stopped growing at 5'4" and have always been on the thin side. Both of my younger sisters outgrew me and so did my girls. Even the eighth graders at my daughters' graduations looked big to me.

cube said...

I've always felt like a shrimp.

Sorry about the double post, but I hit publish too soon.

sue hanes said...


Cube - Man - you are a shrimp. I'm bigger than you are.

James Madison - our fourth president is about your size. : ]

cube said...

:-p

sue hanes said...


Cube - You should be honored. Even though Madison was small - he was brilliant. And he married well.

cube said...

I should be honored to be a pipsqueak that so happened to be the same size as one of our beloved Presidents...

NO

I still want to be taller.

cube said...

BTW I really like the fact that you know so much about our Presidents. I'm lacking in that regard.

sue hanes said...


Cube - I've been studying the presidents for most of my adult life. Mostly triva stuff but other parts of them rubbed off on me.
They are really interesting and I've enjoyed it. I am still finding out things about them - even now.

I'm lacking in science - so that makes us even.


cube said...

Even Steven. We all have our strong points.

sue hanes said...


Cube - We all have our strong points - that's a good thing to remember. I tend to look on my weaknesses too much. I need to give myself more credit for what I am. I forget to do that.

Do you give yourself much credit?

cube said...

It's always good to remember that we all have our 'specialness'... that's not even a word, but it should be.

Do I give myself much credit? I don't think so. I've been called arrogant and accused of thinking I was smarter than others, but I don't think these people really knew me, because if they did, they wouldn't feel that way.

sue hanes said...


Cube - I also think that 'specialness should be a word.

It's easy to judge someone when you don't even know them that well.
Being arrogant is something that we label someone - it can be mistaken for something else. I don't think you seem arrogant. I like you - because you seem interested in me - and I'm sure you are in other people too.

I'm going to try to give myself more credit now. Try to see what my 'specialness' is.

cube said...

I don't think I'm arrogant either, but I have been called so by more than one person. Then again, I'm not one to linger on the opinions of those people who don't give me an honest shot. They're not worth it.

I like talking to you, Sue. I think you're a very nice person. I don't know if you know how special you are, but you will.

sue hanes said...


Cube - I missed the comment where you said you want to be taller.
That's not possible - you know.
The only thing you can do it to be be taller in character and I know you can do that.

I also don't know what you mean when you say that 'I will' know that I'm special. But it sounds good to me.

I enjoy our 'conversations.'

Right now I'm wondering what good it will do to attack Syria since the chemical warfare has already done the damage. Just wonder what you think about that.

cube said...

Taller in character might help, but I'd love to be taller in person. Vanity, yes.

The longer you remain in the blogosphere, the more I think you will gain in your personal life. It's just statistics, right?

I enjoy your conversations, too.

Me, I'm not going to second guess this hideous president's mind about anything. Sorry, can't go there.

sue hanes said...


Cube - Sorry I brought the subject up. I should have known better.

I guess we all have 'vanity' issues. Not satisfied with what we were given -but not much we can do about it, is there.

We are having a hot spell. Today it's 93 and will stay up there in the nineties for the rest of the week. I'm going to a football game tomorrow evening. Should be nice and hot for that.

cube said...

Don't worry about bringing up Obama and Syria... just because I can't deal with how poorly the president has handled the situation, doesn't mean you should have to tip toe around the issue with me.

We all have our 'vanity' issues and never satisfied with what we were born.

As a toddler, I broke my nose and it was never fixed. There's a bump on the bridge of my nose and, I've thought about getting it fixed, but then I think about people like Barbra Streisand and character and I think I would rather avoid the pain.

I'm a tropical flower. I can't complain about the heat. It sounds good to me.

sue hanes said...


Cube - I think that a broken nose that wasn't fixed gives a person character.

I really can't complain much about the heat either. I'm inside most of the time with a/c.

The question is - how hot will it be at the football game. It is in the evening and sometimes 5 o'clock is the hottest time of day. The game is at 7 so it should start cooling off about then. I'm mostly going to please Mr. Sue.

cube said...

Then I have character. The bump on my nose proves it ;-

As far as the heat goes, it should not be so bad by 7PM. I hope Mr. Sue appreciates your attendance. My husband would ask me if I wanted a brass band.

sue hanes said...


Cube - You were right. The heat was not too bad by 7 pm. But it helped that our seats were in the shade. Mr. Sue was not too happy with me because I didn't like to walk the long distance to and from the car. I said I wouldn't go the next time. I did really enjoy the game - but not the long walk. We'll see what develops for the next game.

Another super hot day. Soon it should cool down a little.

cube said...

Walking is great for your health. How long was the distance? Was it insanely long?


sue hanes said...


Cube - In my opinion it was insanely long. On the way to the stadium it was in the hot sun. After the game I was just tired.
It was a healthy walk - that's for sure.