The heat is on....

Not referring to the basketball team but the actual temperature.  Day 5? or is it 7? of above 70 up to 90 (feels like 100 with heat index) 24/7.  Yeah, you read that right.  Meaning I go outside and it is above 70 usually closer to 80 at sunrise.  Not the typical April weather.  Not that it is stopping the weather disaster predictions of a massive hurricane on horizon.  They said the same thing last year and there wasn't anything. 

No, I did not get up at 4 am to watch the royals mucking about in pomp and tiaras.  I'm half Irish so to me it's a tad upsetting to know how the royals climbed over the back of working Irish to pad the pockets of the monarchy.  I took Irish Literature in college and had even more explained than my family had told me as a kid.  Hearing that every bit of food was literally taken from mouths of starving....anyways....you get the idea.

But I do like my brother-in-law who is English.  He's taken great care of my sister and their two kids.  He even helped with her other four.  I'll check in on them this weekend and see if their latest mishap is fixed.  Last week right before Easter they had a flood from the second floor that pretty much took out most of their house.  I heard they spent Easter in a hotel.  My folks are supposed to be out there in two weeks so my sister is naturally a bit worried (note understatement).

Weekend plans are to laze in the pool unless the promised thunderstorms arrive then I will laze in the house.

80 degrees at daybreak

I can honestly say it's a bit warm.

Tropical Colors

Vivid reds and plum shades dance in the sunlight

Often deep into the night

The winds blow from the East

Africa soil dusting my car

Humidity giving my skin a sheen

Moisture thick in the air

Green parrots aloft dipping in the sky

Pelicans charting their flight into the sea

A cardinal spotted flying under the drawbridge

While the currents swirl through the waterways

Iguanas sunning on the docks

Spring is ever changing with the tides

Waves cresting and falling flat

The Gulf Stream pulling against the current

Fins and flippers flashing briefly

Lightning ripping across the horizon

As rain spatters here and there

Time keeps going on and on

Such are the sights and sounds

Of the Southern path

I find myself on.

27 April 2011

Tired but here

I so didn't want to get out of bed this morning.  There's a series of storms playing around with the edges of my world and nothing actually happening but pressure building up.  I took some pictures around dawn yesterday morning but didn't download them (upload them??) yet.  My one neighbor goes to work between 6 and 6:45 am.  I call him my back up alarm.  His van faces my bedroom window and he starts the van and the headlights find any available crack and illuminate my world. 

Reluctantly I rose and saw on the news scattered showers possible today.  I got going and found that it had rained on the car last night but little more.  There definitely is a storm front in the East from the ocean trying to make landfall.  Much like Sand, my sinuses do NOT like this sort of occurrence.  There's a disturbance in the force, Obi Wan.  I could have called off but just being tired is a crappy ass excuse and I like to rise above that sort of useless reason.  Give me a good rainy day and I can sleep undisturbed and I would have been more tempted. 

Finished up my 20K for April Fools writing challenge (self imposed numbers) so that's pretty cool.  One story "Good Morning" is over 11K right now and not even near done to my satisfaction.  I think I have two more weeks on that one so it should shape up fine.  Will try to get more pictures for the posts. Here's yard lizards looking at each other.

Spring has sprung

Some rain has taken to falling in drips and drabbles some days and torrential down pours on others.  Nothing like last year so naturally the word 'drought' is being liberally spattered across the airwaves. 

Easter Sunday was gorgeous and there was a nice breeze so I didn't over cook for a change.  Sat by the pool and had a good time chatting and swimming when the mood struck me.  Of course I did the cooking bit.  Brown Sugar Ham, scalloped potatoes, bean casserole, creamed corn and a tossed salad.  Deviled eggs for nosh and choice of cupcakes or Peach Betty with whipped cream for dessert.  Chardonnay for beverage along with liberal doses of water.  I picked up Pat, the 87 year old I mentioned earlier, from Century Village (yes the joke is you need to be about a century old to live there).  She's having trouble sleeping since her mugging and one of my other friends took her home.  She had a great time telling tales about her days in World War II.  She and I discussed death - since her son-in-law just passed and she recalled how angry she was when her husband died.  She worries about how her daughter is holding up since John died and her daughter is coming in tomorrow so she'll get to see.  They are supposed to scatter his ashes somewhere down here and have a bit of time to talk. 

I didn't do half as much writing as I wanted (nothing unusual on holiday weekends) but I liked what I did get down.  Not too much more.  I drive by Trump Tower in Boca at least three or four times a week (one of the routes with less traffic) and when I get caught by THAT bridge I snap a pic of the fountain, palm trees and pink building. 

Good Friday and Earth Day

I watched the sunset as I drove into work and didn't get ambushed by the drawbridge troll.  I did run into one of the trains because I stopped off at my PO Box and collected stamps and mail.  Yes, I am one of those sorts who still writes real letters AND has a PO Box.  None of the pesky mail at the curb nonsense.  Too many folks are hurting for money and unfortunately a mailbox is a delightful sorce of free information for those of a less than honest nature. I never am awake enough to snap those shots.  I'll have to work on it.

The three nasties from yesterday were it.  Woohoo!  I am still very sore and have a huge bruise on my left upper thigh but if that's the worse of what happened yesterday I am fine.  It is supposed to be lovely weather all weekend and I am baking a ham, scalloped potatoes, bean casserole and corn to feed the Lost Boys.  I know of at least four that are planning on just happening by on Sunday.  I am trying to see if I can tempt any of the girls to come over and play so I am not hiding inside.  I want to head to the beach at least one morning and look for shells.  I need to find out the tides.

Not too much else in brain right now.  Coffee hasn't kicked in.  Happy Easter for all those celebrating.

New Pirates Movie!

Okay, have to say "Wow".  See if it works for you.  I got the download from Disney and was totally ready to go see the movie.  Need to wait a month before it opens. 

http://disney.go.com/pirates/#/characters/jack-sparrow/

How much more needs be said?  Jack Sparrow!

Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed

At 1:30 am when everything went dead still I should have known it was the start of a challenging day.  The power kicked back on eventually but not before it grew stale and dead in the house. I've been getting up to mid 70's weather so the a/c running all night is not a luxury but pretty much necessity since it's still in high 80's at 9 pm.  I knew that all the clocks were wrong but I rarely use them other than passing glances.  Not needed to set an alarm I didn't get up and reconfigure the clock but eventually fell back to a fitful sleep.

Living on a barrier island has it's down sides.  One is that in order to get there you need to cross one of the three drawbridges or swim in from the Atlantic Ocean or the Intracoastal waterways (both of which have sharks and stupid boat folks).  The main drawbridge is a block from my place and is supposed to go up on the half hour and hour...ONLY.  This morning's brain trust in charge of the bridge hits the lights just as I am ready to go across so I stopped steaming at 6:51 am....and there I was stuck for five more minutes while the rich dude with the too tall boat puttered through.  Naturally I snapped picture of the clock on my dash and the bridge up (to be posted later) just cause I was fuming.  See that sets my time back and makes me ripe to get caught by not one but two trains. 

I show up to work.  Clock in and then walk down the stairs to get ice for my breakfast diet dr. pepper (not coffee too warm).  Then wanting to dodge the talkative security guard in the lobby I go the the staircase near the cafeteria.  I badge in the door and am halfway up one flight when I see the door didn't close all the way.  Sighing I tromp back down and pull door shut.  There's still an alarm blaring.  I quicken my pace and prompty trip UP the stairs (takes a certain grace and lack of talent).  My left thigh meets one concrete step and left shin another while I figure I am about to take out my face so I lunge a bit off center and twist my left shoulder and wrist.

Grace and elegance all before 8:15 am.  Can't wait for the rest of this day.  Sigh.