Cycles

I think after today, my blog posts are changing directions-

hopefully a little lighter

But along the same lines as the last few days,

I want to visit RECOVERY.

We stopped in Galveston for lunch

on our way home from Louisiana

Houses and shops had fresh paint

Most everything was clean and new

We ate at the highly recommended Mosquito Cafe

(sorry - no mosquitoes on the menu!)

And at the door was an 8 ft line marking

the Hurricane Ike (2008) high water mark

Galveston has a history of hurricane survival

The worst was 1900 when an estimated 8,000 were killed

(The deadliest natural disaster ever to hit the U.S. -

My grandma said that we had a relative

who survived in an attic with a goat)

The next was Hurricane Carla in 1961

(500,000 people were evacuated and only 43 lives lost but it caused $2 billion in damages) 

I remember seeing that devastation on a family trip

We get a little magazine, Texas Co-op Power, from our electric company.

This month's edition had an article about Galveston.

(and a picture of the Mosquito Cafe high water mark)

I love this quote from the article:

"Longtime residents know well the stages of life

on their beloved island:

growth and prosperity

devastation and despair

determination and renewal...

No one would wish for a hurricane,

but with hurricanes come a cleansing

and each cleansing brings new ideas

and new development."

Can I say this?

That'll preach!

So it is with life.

I've had a few of my own life cycles.

The cycles just have different names

We read and discussed Ecclesiastes 3

on the deck Sunday morning:

 There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

 ² a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 ³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
 ⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 ⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 ⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 ⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 ⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.

The Galveston article says:

"And the cycle spins anew"