Everybody Knows!?

This story blowing through the summer, French doors, on a hot “cloudy”, August day is about a song, the philosophy, bad reviews and what that says about you, ancient wisdom, customer service, hurricanes, and otherworldly intuition with eternal tuition. No forbearance in sight or to speak of and only a few puffy clouds to fly through and by-way of lightning ether and thunderous turbulence. Everybody knows; “Keep your head, hands, arms, legs, and feet inside the “story” at all times. It’s important to keep all body parts inside the “vessel” while it’s moving. If you want to put your hands in the air, like you just don’t care, for that first drop, go ahead!

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” Robert Louis Stevenson’s extraordinary “seed” of wisdom planted long ago and for today you might as well head to Green Acres and plant along with; “Late-summer to fall color choice perennials for late-season color in Northern California’s lower elevations include aster, chrysanthemum, coreopsis, daylily, gaillardia, Japanese anemone, lavatera, rudbeckia, Russian sage, sage (wards off bad spirits), summer phlox, and verbena.” Source Sunset.com and years of planting with my dear Gram and mum. Go get those gardening gloves, pruning shears, watering can, and who knows what we’ll uncover in the soil. Avoid creepy crawlers, pesticides, and my righteous fear of anything that slithers.

Mums were the word, back then, and in this beautiful, luscious, quaint and glorious corner-of-the-its-a-small-world garden of not Eden. Just heavenly appearances only, if you catch my drift. Whispering by; “Shade trees for cooling your house, plant a tree on the structure’s southwest side, where it will provide the most-needed shade. Use a deciduous tree for summer shade and winter sun.” Now, this August has been “acting” peculiar, weather-wise and everything in between that has “ears” and there’s “talk” about La Nina in the atmosphere; here, there, and online everywhere.

“Grow bearded irises for a striking display in spring, plant saffron that’s a pricey spice coming from easy-to-grow saffron crocus (Crocus sativus). Plant corms late this month or next, then harvest the saffron about five weeks later by plucking the three orangey red stigmas from each lilac-purple flower. Start root vegetables and sow seeds for fall and winter harvest.” There’s a million more things to-do, “Pumpkin” and my honey-do-list is growing fast like a giant peach! Yum! Gotta run, weeding for days, more ways than one.

Not sure how he predicted the coming plague, but pertaining to this story’s purposes, an exquisitely composed haunting song, the first version that captivated me, sonically speaking, then philosophically spellbinding, was performed by Concrete Blonde, later making my way, two-stepping it, back to Leonard Cohen. “And everybody knows that the plague is coming; Everybody knows that it’s moving fast.” “Everybody Knows” was first released on Cohen’s album I’m Your Man, in February 1988.

“Five minutes, 37 seconds in duration, “Everybody Knows” is known for its somber tone and repetition of the title at the beginning of most lines. Featuring phrases such as “Everybody knows that the dice are loaded” and “Everybody knows that the good guys lost”, “Everybody Knows” has been variously described by critics as “bitterly pessimistic” yet funny (?), or, more strongly, a “bleak prophecy about the end of the world as we know it”. “

“Leonard Norman Cohen CC GOQ was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Cohen pursued a career as a poet and novelist during the 1950s and early 1960s and did not begin a music career until 1967. Cohen’s most famous song, “Hallelujah”, was released on his seventh album, Various Positions (1984).” And Hallelujah we’ve reached our destination of one magnanimous voice, works, and human!

So haunting and cryptic, yet a tiny bit hypnotic. Is that my intuition or did I get us turned around again? Are we entranced, bewitched to no end? “The lyrics include references to AIDS, social problems, and relationship and religious issues.” (Source Wikipedia, Wendy, Joey’s, and poetic tragic brunettes with out-of-this-world voices of glory, and never forget, hindsight, wearing Christian Dior Montaigne Couture sunglasses. Today free shipping and only $580, maybe a coupon code can be applied along with accounting sense, 50% off)

For whatever reason, I’ve been “hearing” this song lately, the amplified overtones, and yes, the eighties are coming back to haunt us! “Concrete Blonde was an alternative rock band from Hollywood, California. They were active from 1982 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, reunited in 2010, and split up again in 2012. (Sounds and runs tandem with my hairstyles and fashion sense.) They were best known for their album Bloodletting (1990), their top 20 single ” Joey “, and Johnette Napolitano ‘s distinctive vocal style.” I know a ghost when I see one (kinda, mostly “bluff”) and we better get back to the story, but you already knew that.

Many harvest and sturgeon moons ago, I worked “insurance” and “Flo” was a just-born sister from a different mister. Never met the hilarious spokeswoman in person (days still young), but love her zest for insuring one’s property, like life itself. She’s not even “tempted” by Jon Hamm, and I can get distracted by madmen, music, and whelp anything and everything, and on a sunny Monday thru Sunday afternoon, but I stay away from ham and digress.

Not to deviate, but I truly was as gullible as Pollyanna and oblivious to boot. One hellacious and historical hurricane was rumbling offshore and headed for mainland and essentially my “front door”. Natural disasters, catastrophes, and definitely histrionics, not my thing or strong suit, but learning, applying, assessing, and assuredly praying more my speed!

I trained solidly for 6 months straight on laws from here to every one of our 50 states. Essentially, one doesn’t have to memorize all 50 states laws, or 1500 plus web pages, but navigate source sites that can instantaneously help answer any question a “human” has pertaining to their property, coverage, and lack thereof, oh, and when is that bill due. I have had the extraordinary opportunity to speak with everyday people from all over the world and some stories that you wouldn’t believe me, even if you were right in front of me, and while looking through a double way mirror, listening on mute with a two-way phone. Can you say “tapped” that?

The best being Thanksgiving, but that’s another day of writing about Turkey, domestic disputes, “agencies”, broken relationships and their policies, mirrors and mirror vision, call-centers, symbology, stale air, “gobbles” and gobblers, parades, divine mashed potatoes with gravy, football, mysterious casseroles, questionable family members and get-togethers, and sweet potato pie all night long, “tethered” to a telephone pole.

Most asked if I was a robot and at times, felt as robotic as they come. Not the empire strikes back type drones, but more Rosie from The Jetson’s, just didn’t “feel” as rosy as one should. Premonitions of stormy skies personally, metaphorically, spiritually, and atmospherically.

We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto, and stepping off my newfound skills and licensed ambitions, got swooped up into strong, “whipping” winds and flooded hopes and washed away dreams. Hurricane Katrina was her name and New Orleans was her gain. I received calls from individuals who had lost everything: family, pets, livestock, vehicles in trees, wiped-out homes, collapsed places of business, washed away entire streets and towns, childhoods, “savings”, and future manifestations.

The world watched the unnatural calamity, mother nature’s wrath, pelt, destroy, and “beat-up” New Orleans. Its history, folklore, and peoples being tested, judged, and evaluated from miles away, far as above and so below. The whispering judging eyes, watching from the safety side-lines of afar, and misquoting the bible by tongue and translation, alluding to the sinful ways of some. Never pointing the finger elsewhere and closer to their own homes.

“Hurricane Katrina was a large and destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the costliest tropical cyclone on record and is now tied with 2017’s Hurricane Harvey. The storm was the twelfth tropical cyclone, the fifth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record to make landfall in the contiguous United States.” Not to be confused with litigious, contiguous means sharing a common border. (Source Wikipedia, claims, trains, and automobiles, oh, and lest I forget, the name of one of my brother’s ex-girlfriends.)

“At a news conference at 10 a.m. EDT on August 28, shortly after Katrina (The storm not the ex-girlfriend) was upgraded to Category 5, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin ordered the first-ever mandatory evacuation of the city, calling Katrina “a storm that most of us have long feared.” The city government also established several “refuges of last resort” for citizens who could not leave the city, including the massive Louisiana Superdome, which sheltered approximately 26,000 people and provided them with food and water for several days as the storm came ashore. Some estimates claimed that 80% of the 1.3 million residents of the greater New Orleans metropolitan area evacuated.”

I was that voice on the other end of the “line”, for those who couldn’t or didn’t make it out and for many, their very first call. Speaking candidly and truth be told, one human soul to another, my only concern was to help. However, I could.

“And everybody knows that you’re in trouble
Everybody knows what you’ve been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it’s coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows”

“Hurricane Katrina displaced over one million people from the central Gulf coast to elsewhere across the United States, becoming the largest diaspora in the history of the United States. Katrina also had a profound impact on the environment. The storm caused oil spills from 44 facilities throughout southeastern Louisiana, which resulted in over 7 million US gallons (26,000 m3) of oil being leaked. Some disaster relief response to Katrina began before the storm, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) preparations that ranged from logistical supply deployments to a mortuary team with refrigerated trucks. A network of volunteers began rendering assistance to local residents and residents emerging from New Orleans and surrounding parishes as soon as the storm made landfall (even though many were directed to not enter the area) and continued for more than six months after the storm.”

“Of the 60,000 people stranded in New Orleans, the (Awesome) Coast Guard rescued more than 33,500. Over seventy countries pledged monetary donations or other assistance (God Bless). Cuba and Venezuela (both considered as hostile to US government interest) were the first countries to offer assistance, pledging over $1 million, several mobile hospitals, water treatment plants, canned food, bottled water, heating oil, 1,100 doctors and 26.4 metric tons of medicine, though this aid was rejected by the U.S. government. Many private corporations also contributed to relief efforts. On September 13, 2005, it was reported that corporate donations amounted to $409 million, and were expected to exceed $1 billion.”

“Because of the large death toll and destruction of property along the Gulf Coast, the name Katrina was officially retired on April 6, 2006, by the World Meteorological Organization at the request of the U.S. government. The name will never again be used for another North Atlantic hurricane. It was replaced by Katia on List III of the Atlantic hurricane naming lists, which was used in the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season.”

As we storm on, have we learned from the past or doomed to repeat the same rain dance? “Every girl should use what Mother Nature gave her before Father Time takes it away.” Agreed Laurence J. Peter and Father Time’s tickin’, ever advancing, just like this season’s greetings, but will they be pleasing. Are we still “mad” at mother nature or is mother nature still “mad” at us? Who can tell and who drank the poison instead of the “Kool-Aid”?

I’ve said before, I’m obsessed with the weather and the-end-all-be-all would be learning the abilities of channeling it. Now, I’m very aware of ancient history, wrath, wizards, karma, droughts, floods, and how that affects the “weather”. I can also see why civilizations were terrified of Mother Nature and the forces from beyond, but clearly some displaced anger has been transpiring.

“Anger originates mainly from four sources: fear, frustration, doubt and guilt. Anger doesn’t resolve any of these. What it does do is give them a dangerous outlet,” a metaphoric, rock-you-like-a-hurricane cyclone of emotions. (Source exploringyourmind.com, rock bands, metal everything, first-hand and first semester’s, mono y mono language, and “agro” micro-expressions to weed through).

My bet is on Earth and I’m not a bettin’ woman. I took statistics! Still, I understand why we look to religion, spirituality, and ancient wisdom. A hurricane has sustained winds of at least 74mph and stronger gusts. Impacts and issues; during the past two centuries, tropical cyclones have directly killed at least two million people. Those who survive a cyclone are not necessarily free of danger.

And just as the years have “stacked-up”, I worked, countless hours, on emergency management teams and catastrophe drills to ensure procedures and steps were in place to ultimately save lives and property damage claims. Knowledge is power? Not cheap! So, they say. A natural disaster or “logically” any tragedy takes time, energy, and resources to “recover”, and we’re headed straight for another hurricane season.

“During and after a hurricane, you may need supplies to keep your family safe and healthy. Remember that a hurricane could cut off your power and water supply. You also may not be able to drive because of damage to your car. Roads may be flooded or blocked. That’s why it’s best to be prepared, stock up on everything you might need now. Know the following:”

An emergency food and water supply.
An emergency medicine supply.
Emergency power sources such as flashlights (don’t forget extra batteries).
Safety and personal items.
Important documents, including medical documents, wills, passports, and personal identification.
A fire extinguisher. Make sure your family knows where to find it and how to use it!
Fill your car’s gas tank.
Move cars and trucks into your garage or under cover.
Always keep an emergency kit in your car.
Go over your emergency plan with your family.
Keep checking for updates about the storm. Watch TV, listen to the radio, or check online.
Call the hospital, public health department, or the police about special needs. If you or a loved one is older or disabled and won’t be able to leave quickly, get advice on what to do.
Put pets and farm animals in a safe place.
Get your home ready. There’s an extensive list, but necessary.
Be ready to evacuate or stay at home.
(Source cdc.gov)

“And everybody knows that it’s now or never; Everybody knows that it’s me or you.” Ironically, brother’s ex-girlfriend Katrina, was also my husband’s very first girl-movie-date. That’s another day about double features; Oh God, You Devil and Supergirl! It’s such a small world and it’s been a pleasure spending time with you in the bedazzling gardens of yore and their blustery stories and lore. Thank you for visiting another fly-by through the stormy past of some cloudy, sentimental, fragrant and some flagrant memories. Godspeed, safe and sound, to you and yours!