My Favorite Gustav

We are deep into summer here in Florida and hurricanes are stacked up over the South Atlantic like 747s coming into La Guardia. Weather forecasting has become so sophisticated we know instantly when one of these swirling dervishes spins out of Africa. I can't decide if long term forecasts are a good thing or another opportunity for high anxiety.

Perhaps early homesteaders had it right after all. When they saw their pigs sailing through the air, they knew it was time to go. And going was probably easier back then; hitch up the wagon, load the family in and head out. With the population nearing two million, evacuating from the Tampa Bay region would not be so easy today.

I'm putting my faith in the fact that this area hasn't had a direct hurricane hit since 1921. While ruminating on all of this, I thought of another Gustav, a kinder, more gentle one, Gustav Holst, the English composer of The Planets. As Hurricane Gustav raced up the Gulf, 400 miles to the east, I drew a picture of the composer.