The weather man said if you lived in Zone A, prepare to evacuate. Living in Zone A, a block away from the Caloosahatchee River, I heard the warnings and stayed. During Hurricane Ian in 2022 the floodwaters reached my back door, but went no further so I wasn't worried much this time. But many houses only a block away were completely lifted off of their foundations due to Ian. One of our neighbors, who had a place directly on the Caloosahatchee river, was completely washed out. He said that when he returned home the following day, he discovered that furniture from other properties had replaced his original furnishings.
But now Hurricane Milton was coming. Water was sold out at many stores, including Walmart. Check out lines winded down aisles. It was a 2-hour wait before I could pay for my shit and get out of there. All grocery stores would be closed at 3:00 PM on Tuesday, the day before the storm. Before the big day, I stopped by the craft store to get some beading supplies.
I borrowed two beading books from the Art Center. One was Beading for the First Time by Ann Benson and the other was How To Do Bead Work by Mary White. These helped me get started.
My nephew, arriving late at 10 PM, installed my hurricane shutters. He and his friends made over $3000 installing shutters for others across the city, racing the clock to prepare for the storm. Their hustle was impressive.
Tool played in the background while I watched the weather channel. 7empest, Ænema and Vicarious were appropriate songs for my playlist. I lost power several times. The Caloosahatchee threatened, but once again, my condo stood above the waterline. Minimal roof damage. We lost our rain gutter and some shingles.
To pass the time and calm my mind during the storm, I started weaving on the bead loom I had picked up in northern Michigan near an Indian reservation. I made anklets—one for myself, my sister, and my niece, as little hurricane talismans. The beads I used were size 8/0.
My own anklet made me think of storm surge. Woven with stepped-fret Xicalcoliuhqui pattern in blue and white glass beads and strung multicolor fringe ending with wood beads. For my sister, I tried a pyramid pattern, an ode to her African roots. She selected white, turquoise, coral, and magenta colored beads. My niece’s anklet was tribal goth—something contemporary, something bold. Green, black, and sand-brown beads in a diagonal striped pattern, as per her request.
Learning to bead wasn't as difficult as I expected but the beading books didn't really contain enough information. Each project's instructions began with "to string your loom, follow the guide that came with your bead loom". The only problem was... my bead loom did not include a guide! I searched the internet for videos (which was helpful until we lost the internet). This is the tutorial I followed for the toggles though the video is in Spanish:
Hurricane Milton came and went. The storm wasn't as severe as Ian had been, but if you saw the Reddit threads during the days leading up to the storm, you'd think we were about to live through the Great Tribulation. Redditors are fatalists. I found it interesting that a significant number of users believed that you deserve the worst possible outcome if you rode out the storm in an area with evacuation orders. Comments ranging from "you should be forced to pay for your own rescue" to "you deserve death". As a nihilist, this sort of thinking is absurd, pointless and yet also amusing. Take my advice: learn to bead.
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