life in "paradise"

Balmy, oceanfront breezes and sunny, unpolluted skies bring droves of 'snowbirds' here every year--some of whom decide to make the Caribbean their home. But I wonder how much consideration they give to the down-side of things. Part of tropical weather is the stormy season that comes with it year after year from June through November.




Dean kicked off the official hurricane season to a smashing start [God knows, no pun intended], and meteorologists are only predicting that they will get more and more intense. Having been land-locked in Atlanta for a few years slightly clouded my memories of hurricanes past, and all of the "joy" involved in preparing--monitoring weather alerts, shopping for canned goods, stocking-up candles, matches, batteries, etc., securing all glass entryways and fixtures in the house--every time a tropical depression [that one I just couldn't resist] rolled of the west coast of Africa.

Meteorologic science notwithstanding, local folklore suggests that the hurricanes' paths mirror that used by "cargo" ships in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the storms are conjured by the anguished souls of those who perished in the Middle Passage...