I'm Sammie come lately with the blogpost this week guy, Sorry.   I kind of over-committed myself and honestly just didn't have time to post.  Oh I suppose I could have slap-dashed something together quick and sloppy, but I prefer to put some actual thought and effort into this project.  And maybe it's good that I had to wait because, oh me oh my, have I got a Photo Safari Report for you today!

After multiple weeks of unusually cold, wet, grey weather, we finally seem to have broken through to  the kind of Florida Winter Days that we are known for. That is today, gorgeous!  Not too hot, not too cold, sunny and beautiful!  Joy and I were so happy to be out tramping in the forest yesterday for the first time in a few weeks.  We weren't sure where we would end up but happened to drive by Sleeping Turtle Preserve, a place we haven't been in nearly a year do to various weather related issues that closed the place.  But we were delighted and surprised to see that it was open for business once again!    Woohoo!  In honour of the preserve itself I will call this one the Sleeping Turtle Re-Opened Hike!

The first thing we noticed right away was the beautiful early morning light. What a stunner.  It gave us scenery like this:

Wildlife abounded!  There were times when we just stood in one spot, admiring, pointing things out to each other and snapsnapsnapping for the longest time.  It was wonderful!  The trails go through the forest and along the river so the subject matter was apt to change but all of it was wonderful.   I guess I'll begin with birds.  So Many Birds!  And a wonderful variety of them as well. Including our first Robin this year. I guess Spring is right around the corner:

Whew! That was a lot of birds!  Next up we have the critters that are not birds.  In the non-bird file we have a new entry, a River Otter!   I'm no certain who was more surprised, the otter or me when he came around a curve in the trail, fish in mouth but we both froze and starred at each other for a moment before he dove into a nearby bush to hide. I didn't mean to frighten him but  I guess I did.  I took the photo anyway even though you have to look really hard to see him.  If it helps, he didn't fully fit behind the shrub so part of him is sticking out, he face it looking right at me though, through the leaves.  Let's see if you can find him:

Perhaps you would enjoy a couple of random mostly botanicals:

So there you have it, the best parts of the Sleeping Turtle Preserve Re-Opened Hike.  Hope you enjoyed it because next week Joy and I are heading there again, to hike the other side of it!  With any luck our photos will be even better next time!

Hope you enjoyed coming along!

You know this story, right, the Tortoise and the Hare, where in the end the message is that slow and steady wins the race?  And then the question arises, are you the tortoise or the hare?  Well I am both.  Or at least in my life I have been both.

Most of my life I was the hare.  I flew through my days, zip, zam, zowie and swoosh!  Always zooming, always racing, always flying trying to fit 48 hours worth of gotta-do's into a 24 hour period of time.   That expectation requires not just multi-tasking but a lot of fast moving.  There was a time when I worked in the Oncology department of a hospital. Even though I had an official desk, I never sat at it. I was on my feet and moving all day long.   One of the doctors once teased me about my "speed walking".  It's unsafe to run through a hospital corridor (though I've done it) so I found myself walking as fast as possible which ultimately is just shy of running.

As a mom with three kids I was, as all moms are, on the go at all times, trying to be all things to all people.  As an employee I was the one who always came in early, stayed late and worked through lunch attempting to do 3 people's work.  As a wife, daughter, sister, friends, I attempted to show up for people, to be there for them, all of them, all of the time, even when it was simply impossible.  I suspect that we all feel the same way. Every day was a blur.

Is it any wonder that the first 70 years of my life feel as if they have flown by?  That time is moving way too fast?  In years past, I never felt as if I had the time to really slow down and enjoy each moment.  It was always something I was going to get to ........  someday.  Zooooom and it's gone, never to return.  It's not like there are any do-overs. There is just this one life. As far as I know, that's all we get.

Well that was my hare phase.  It served me well.  But now I have entered my tortoise era. I don't move as fast.  I don't' try to crowd as much into every day. I generally try to do only one thing at a time instead of 12.  And I must say that while I am enjoying it, it doesn't seem like the world around me appreciates me enjoying it very much.

Frankly, it's taken me quite some time to adapt to it too, so I guess I understand.  I hear little comments tho, not very nice ones.  Not just to me, understand, but to other people like me who aren't moving so fast these days.  "Get out of the way, Granny",  "If you aren't going to move it, park it and put a fence around it"  "God, you are so slow, it's driving me crazy."   "This is taking forever, I don't have time for this!"  and the worst one I heard was, "I wish I hadn't brought you along, you are so worthless"  

Wow, that was really mean!  

Sometimes it's not the words, it's the huff and the facial expression.  The roll of the eyes as someone has to walk around me; the big sigh as they have to wait an extra 5 seconds for me in a line;  the impatient foot tap (hands on hip or arms crossed) as I make my way out of their way are just as clear a message as the mean words.

So here I am today, as a Public Service, to explain why us tortoises are as slow as we are.

On reason, is because we no longer have to rush. I'm retired!  I do not have to complete 16 hours of work in 8 hours any more.  I can take my time. I can relax.  I can take breaks during any task whenever I please, as long as I please.  I can give more thought to each decision. I can and therefore I do.  It's absolutely lovely to have that freedom. I try to be courteous to those around me.  I have my thoughts collected and I am concise and clear about my questions or needs when I approach a desk, be it doctor office, DMV or check out line.  I already have my debit card in one hand and whatever else is required in the other. I'm not rooting through my purse zero hour and wondering if I have my wallet with me.   But I'm also not racing through the transaction.  I take the time to smile and be pleasant as I go.  

Some people in the line behind me have no time for me being pleasant!  Be pleasant on your own time, they seem to say, I have things to do!  sigh.

Another reason is because we making it a point, at long last in our lives, to smell the roses as they say, to live in the moment, to notice the world around us.  And those sorts of things absolutely force you to slow down.  But if I'm having and nice leisurely walk and living in the moment and smelling roses along the way, the person behind me is often so irritated they cannot help but remark on how very slow I am.  " I apologize, I am so very sorry", I say as I move over the half inch left on the sidewalk and they give me a dirty look as they plow right down the center of the pavement, huffing all the while.  sigh.

I think I personally move a little slow because I just do not have the energy level that I used to.  I will get wherever I need to be, just I need to conserve the energy I do have. I find that if I pick a pace that is comfortable for me and stick to it, I can walk for hours.  But if I try to walk too fast or trot a bit, I wear out far more quickly.  I don't know if it's an age thing or a Sam thing, but it's a true thing.  And that slower pace has some people literally shoving past me, muttering under their breathe about how useless old people are.  I may not be as tiny as I once was, but I'm also not the size of a mac truck.  There is room to go around me without snarky remarks.  Just go around.  I find this happening most often on the bike/hike trails and mostly by bicyclers. This is not an accusation, it's just a statement of fact.  sigh.

The last reason I can think of that I move slower than I used to is fear of falling.  I break now. I don't bounce like I used to.    I want to be certain that I'm not going to slip, trip or stumble.  I find that I tend to look down more, on the lookout for large sidewalk cracks, errant tree roots or other obstacles such as children and dog leashes.  Not joking about the leashes. Those retractable leashes can be a menace.  How often have I seen someone walking their dog on the sidewalk, the owner of the dog on one side of the sidewalk and the dog sniffing shrubbery on the other side with the oh so very trippable leash line between them. Not good. sigh.

Yeah, I know there are folks my age and older that are still running marathons or corporations but most of us older people are not.  Most of us have finally (it took me almost 9 years!) embraced a slightly slower pace of life and are enjoying it.

And to those of you who sneer and roll your eyes and huff and puff at us, the ones who say mean and unnecessary things, I have a few thought for you.

One day, this too will be you.  Keep that in mind.  If you are lucky enough and healthy enough to reach your august years, you too will, most likely, also slow down a bit.  And also, yes we do walk a little more slowly and carefully but it's not because we want to annoy you.  Usually it's because we are aware that we are a bit more fragile than we used to be.  And that doesn't mean we have no value any longer and should be discarded like an archaic piece of technology or electronics that is more costly to repair than to replace.

Instead it means that we are more valuable than ever.  Think Fabergé Egg rather than boiled egg, fine crystal instead of a plastic tumbler.  As the last generation to be able to read and write cursive, which at this point has become a dead language, the final group to be able do math in our heads and read analog clocks, body language and facial expressions, I can only say, we should be declared a protected species and appreciated as opposed to deprecated.

Just my thoughts. 

This is the current view out our front door. It's a chilly, grey, windy, rainy day here in Venice today.  Not what a person normally thinks of when they think of Florida.    At times it's just more drizzle than anything else and then it'll kick into high gear and absolutely pour down rain for a bit, then back off again.  Not a typical beach day for sure.  Usually, even in the winter, or perhaps especially in the dreary winter, Florida is the sunshiney respite from despicable winter days elsewhere.

Not today.

But I really should not complain. At least here it's merely rain.  There are parts of Florida that, today and tomorrow are getting the real deal winter weather.  I am absolutely serious. The current weather forecast is for some parts of Florida to have snow, sleet and ice!  Oh My Stars and Garters as my Nana would have said.  That is not just crazy, it's insane!    Florida doesn't have snow removal equipment. We have plenty of sand, come to think of it, but I'm not certain they have a way to spread it on the icey roads.  Or drivers that know how to navigate safely on said icey roads. 

However bad it actually is, it won't last long. But that will be cold comfort, literally, for those folks who live in homes with insulation not intended for true winter weather.  Did you know that some of the older homes in Florida do not have central heat?  They didn't think they would ever need it I suppose.  I mean if you were here in August, you would never imagine ever needing to put on a sweater let alone turn on the heat in your home. I get it.

I saw on the news this morning, that some adorable little town in Louisiana, somewhere west of New Orleans, had snowthis morning. Real snow. Accumulating snow!  I'm sure it's very exciting!  But equally sure that most of those Louisiana residents have doubts about their ability to drive on snow covered roads.

  Historically,  (I checked of course) the coldest weather EVER in recorded history in the entire state of Florida was minus 2 degrees!  That was in Tallahassee in 1899.  wow!  Back in 1954, Milton Florida experienced it's biggest snowfall of 4 entire inches!   I know that in snowy places, 4 inches is the same as no inches at all. But down here in the sunshine state, we believe that would be as strange as the state of Maine suddenly having thriving palm trees where all of their pine trees used to stand.  And we will categorize that under "Highly Unlikely"

I'm all wrapped up in a big oversized sweatshirt that was previously Tim's but has since mysteriously moved over to my side of the closet, with long pants, socks and closed toed shoes while I consume copious amount of hot water to stay warm.   Tim has split the difference.  He is wearing shorts but with a long-sleeved shirt, and is barefoot, crazy man that he is.

The kittyboys are split.  Wyatt loves the cooler air. I think he was a Norwegian Forest Cat in a previous life.  He will stare at me and tap at windows until I give in and open one for a short time.  He then hops up and sits in the open window with rain pelting him and the wind ruffling his fur with his head up, his eyes closed and his nose twitching, smelling all those good outside smells.  Brysco on the other hand, moves from cozy warm nest to cozy warm nest through the day.  We make sure that there are enough places for him with soft blankets that he can burrow into and we drop by occasionally to give a pet or two as he closes his eyes in toasty warm bliss.

Obviously, we won't be doing the noonwalk today.  I have no problem taking off my hearing aids and having a nice stroll through a gentle warm spring rain, but this rain is neither warm nor gentle. So I have to fill my day with inside things like the ironing - the pile is currently on the kitchen table where I cannot ignore it. I suppose I could just curl up and read all day. Or alternately read and nap, that's a winner idea!  Or maybe bake something first so I can read, munch AND nap.  That sounds like the best idea so far.

I made oatmeal for Tim's breakfast today. A nice healthy hearty hot breakfast, was my thought.  It was the slow cooking, constantly stirring on the stove top type of oatmeal that takes about a half hour. Despite the fact that I stirred until I thought my arm was going to fall off, the milk still scorched a bit and afterwards I had to look up how to get milk scorch off a pan.  (it worked by the way). All of which took longer than I anticipated.   I should have finished this post a few hours ago and be half way through the ironing by now! At first I was kind of annoyed by being "behind" and then I remembered that I'm retired! I don't have deadlines anymore!!  teehee  

Anyway, whatever the weather is where you are, hope you are safe, hope you are happy, hope you are healthy

I'm going to decide what sort of cookie to bake, just in case the spirit moves me in that direction.  Then I'll roast a chicken.  Somewhere in between the two, maybe my nap :)

I believe in making the best use of a situation.  I think I've got this rainy day thing down.

That's me, geared up and ready to hike yesterday.  Please note the layers and the sweat jacket.  it's chilly here right now.  Nothing compared to other parts of the country, I understand that for sure. But cooler than normal for us. So I decided that layers would be the best way to go. I thought I was so smart. Hah!  

I was right about layers but wrong about the number of them.  Joy was dressed similarly, clearly having the same general idea.  We were still cold.  It wasn't just the temperature, it was about the cold damp wind blowing across the water and straight through our bones.  It was a struggle sometimes to get a good photo because the wind was pushing me around and sometimes because my hands were shivering too much to hold the camera steady.  

Still we persevered, took multiple shots of the same thing with the desperate hope that at least one would come out good and ultimately, it was a pretty awesome hike in spite of it all.  Resulting, I hope, in a decent Photo Safari Report which I'm going to call the Shivery Fingers Hike because they were a tremblin' with cold!

The first category of pictures will be of wild creatures eating because I've never before gotten this many of that sort of thing.  Now remember, nature does what nature does and sometimes nature isn't pretty.  That whole "circle of life" thing sometimes is kind of sad from the prey's perspective.  You can skip this section if you are too tender hearted. I completely understand.

​

How about some wildlife that isn't dining?

Or maybe you would prefer some scenery and botanicals?  I have a few:

It was very grey and gloomy, cold and shivery, damp and dark but a great return to our weekly hikes after about a month off. Our cheeks were pink, our noses runny and our fingers achy with the cold, but we would do it again in a heartbeat.  In fact, we will most likely be back at it again next week though the weather report is not much different.  We will make an effort to dress warmer tho.  

Hope you enjoyed the Shivery Fingers Hike. We are glad to be back at it and hope to have some even better photos for you next time!

​Have a terrific weekend!

This is what we are left with out of a dish set that was either six or eight place settings.  It was purchased so long ago, I honestly do not remember. I do know that it was very inexpensive.   At the end of my first marriage, when I started over with nothing except me and the kids, I was always looking for a really good deal to set up our new home.  This set of dishes, which I found at a store called Caldor (similar to a Walmart) certainly qualified.   I do not remember what the price tag was, but I know it was cheap.  I found them on an endcap.  I believe it was the last box, they were on sale and while they are probably the most boring dishes every created on the planet, I did not care.  They could have been pink with orange dots and I still would have bought them.

But that was thirty something years ago (please don't make me do the math  - I think it was 35) so I suppose it's not surprising that there are a few chips, some discoloration here and there and a few less dishes than we started out with.   All right, to be fair, it's more than a few less dishes.  We are down to 2 bowls, 4 small plates and 5 large ones.   And I am the one responsible.  

I don't mean "I" as in I declare myself responsible in a kindly intended way of accepting responsibility for what my children may have done.  Mostly because they absolutely did not do it.  I mean "I" because literally I am the one who broke every dang dish that is no longer in this set.

And recently in less than 24 hours, I broke two more.  Dang it all.  

One broke very cleanly in two separate pieces as if it were two perfect puzzle pieces  that were supposed to do that.  It was a bowl. And all I did was take it out of the cupboard and put it on the counter. Seriously, that's all I did.  I didn't slam it on the counter, I didn't throw it on the counter, I didn't even set it heavily on the counter with force.  I merely, opened the door, removed the bowl and gently set it on the counter whereupon I watched as it broke into two even pieces.  One side fell to the left, one side fell to the right as I watched. What the actual hell was that about?  And now we are down to two bowls.

The other dish I broke in far more spectacular fashion.  I was putting dishes away rather than taking them out to begin with.  I had two small plates, one in each hand,  I put the dish in  my left hand on top of the stack first, then went to put the dish in my right hand on the stack and, and, well I don't actually know what happened.  First it was in my hand and then it wasn't. I suppose I dropped it, but I don't remember dropping it.  Just in my hand and then not in my hand.

The plate, again a very small plate only 7 inches across, hit the tile and exploded with a sound that, in a cowboy movie would have caused at least half the town residents to have expired violently.  Tim immediately called out from the other room, "Are you ok?"  'Yes" I answered with a  bit of a snarl, "I'm fine". And then I muttered under my breath, "the dish, not so much".  I was just so annoyed with myself. But I had to set that aside because the kitties were showing great interest and that isn't a good combo.

I'm not sure what it is about crockery or glass, but when it breaks usually, there were bits and pieces far beyond where logic dictates.  I begin to understand why aliens build their space craft in the shape of saucers.  Apparently, it is the most aerodynamic shape possible.  I found bits of that dish not just in the immediate area, but in places that make no sense whatsoever.

There were so very many pieces and in so many different shapes and sizes that it began to seem as though, if I were to painstakingly reconstruct that dish from those bits, the dish would end up much larger than it originally was.  Which is, of course, impossible.

I started, as one does, with the biggest pieces, then the smaller ones that were in my immediate vicinity. One disposed of, I got a broom and began sweeping the area. Over and over I swept the exact same area and with each go ' round, picked up more teensy shards. Then I got a spray bottle of cleaner and some paper towels to be certain I got every little bitty crumb.  Eventually it seemed as if I had gotten it all.  HAH!  

As soon as I put away the spray cleaner and broom, I saw more small pieces under the kitchen table. Sigh.  I got everything back out and cleaned some more.  Then I spied a few tiny bits near the kittyboys food and water dishes.  Ratz.  Fearing that eensy microbits of ceramics may have jumped into their dishes, I dumped them, washed, dried and refilled them.  And while I was at it, completely swept and washed that general area. I did not want them to accidentally ingest any of it. That would be very bad.  But finally, I thought, finally it's done. I put away the broom and the cleaning stuff.  Surely, this time, I was truly done.  Silly me.

As I walked away, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a doggone piece of broken dish in the front hall.  How?  How?  I hauled all of the cleaning paraphernalia  back out and cleaned more.  I swept, I sprayed, I washed, I wiped.  Once finished, I stood, hands on hips and surveyed the area.  First by the sink where I initially bobbled the dish, then the area around the table, next the kitty food area, and lastly the front hall.  At last, "Finished". I said to myself out loud, feeling quite accomplished.  Hilarious.

I put everything away once more and then walked to the bathroom where I found yet more pieces!  ARGH!  Is there a wormhole in my kitchen somewhere that scoots things into other places in the house?  How does a dish dropped in the kitchen by the sink end up with pieces around corners?  It's a small house but it's not THAT small. The bathroom and the entry are in two completely different hallways!

Well of course I cleaned it up. But this time before I put things away, I prowled through the entire house starring at the floor looking for evidence of yet more breakage.  It took two rounds of peering intensely at the floor as I slowly walked through before I was satisfied that I had, most likely, gotten all of it.  And even so warned Tim went he walked in barefoot as always, to be careful.

And as far as the rapidly diminishing number of bowls and plates in the house,  right now, we'll just keep living with it. As long as there are dishes enough for us, we are good.  And when there aren't enough?  Well I suppose at that point we will have to actually do something about it.  and I promise you, that when the day finally does come that the dishes are replaced, I will be looking for something less breakable.  Perhaps something made of steel?  Concrete?  Plastic? Paper? I understand that diamonds are very sturdy.....

It's very likely that you already saw this photo of me that was taken at Joy and Bob's wedding last month.  It is a rare thing: a photo of me that I actually like.  I admit that it is exceptionally flattering.  I don't know if the photographer did some clever editing or if it was just exceptional lighting or a particularly good angle or some combination of all of those elements but it's a decent picture.

The thing you really do not see in this picture tho is how dang grey/silver/white my hair is finally getting!  It's been quite some time since I did a hair update so perhaps today shall be the day!

I'd say that the best description of the current colour of most of my hair would be brown, specifically mouse brown. Very ordinary, very boring.  Not a pretty colour really but my hair is healthy so I suppose that's something. For now it's enough. 

Especially since, as every day passes, I see more and more, of the pretty grey/silver/white all the time.  Well grey isn't pretty. It really isn't. It's a flat, dull cold colour. Bah.  The silver and white, however is gorgeous, shiny, bright and light reflecting!  I love it and am eager for it to completely take over.  Seriously, I am so excited thinking ahead to the day when I am sporting a full head of silvery white disco ball hair!  My hair however, seems to have other plans.

Here, you can see what I mean:  (these photos were taken yesterday)

There is most definitely some salt and pepper going on at the top but mostly it's just boring rodent brown, ho hum.   It 's not all that much different than the last time I posted a hair update.  Or at least that's what it seems at first glance.

But if you look underneath my hair, if I part it differently,  an entirely different story emerges . Especially on the right half of my scalp. Check this out:

Isn't that gorgeous?  Shiny, silky sparkly silver and white!!!  It's looks like Christmas Decorations!  Tinsel Hair!  I honestly love it!  I try now and again, to specifically part my hair so that this is what shows, but my hair resists. My head insists upon a center part and gives me tremendous pushback when I try to do anything else.

The left side of my head, underneath, is not as pretty. And isn't that strange that the right side and the left side would be different?  Gosh I'm strange! Here is the underneath part of the left side by comparison:

The sparklies are in there, you can see them quite clearly, but it's not nearly as densely populated as the right side.  Bizarre.  Is that normal?  Is that how it works for everybody?  I don't know much about hair.

I do know that as my hair becomes more grey/silver/white, some colours no longer suit me.  There was a time, specifically when I was very blonde, that very dark colours such a black, burgandy, grey and navy blue were dynamite on me.  A huge portion of my wardrobe were these sort of wintry dark colours, particularly navy and black.  Of course I really struggle to see the difference between the two colours anyway so to me, it's pretty much the same thing. Black absolutely washes me out, makes me look grey.  Grey makes me look nearly invisible. Which on occasion suits me, to be fair.

All of this leaves me starting over at my advanced age, trying to find out what colours do look good on me now.  It's certainly not the old jewel toned colour palate.  Yikes!  This is gonna take some time and some trial and error.  I will refer to it as research and I think I am going to have to do a great deal of it to figure it all out. I suppose we are never too old to learn new things, try new things, change things up!

Still, for me anyway, there is a certain lack of confidence while clothes shopping now.  Before, for a zillion or so years, I could practically sleepwalk through a shopping trip.  I knew the shape, the general size (women's clothes are woefully inconsistent size-wise) and absofreakinlutely knew the colours to grab.  Nowadays, nope.  The colour thing has me stymied.

I know that lighter and brighter serves me better now but it's the specific shade of lighter and brighter.  For example, I was never really a "pink" girlie but now I find that certain shades of pink do  seem to flatter me.  But not every shade of pink. And unfortunately the one that is most common out there, the Barbie sort of pink, is not a good one.

But I'll  keep looking and trying and learning and hopefully, by the time my hair is completely silver/white I will have figured it out.  In the meantime, of course I am still wearing the clothes I already have. I'm far too practical to get rid of perfectly good clothes that fit just because the colour is no longer flattering on me.  Hopefully by the time the hair is completely turned, I will have worn those old clothes out entirely and I can start fresh.

Something else to look forward to.  It's good to have a goal.

​In the meantime, have a great weekend everybody!

I don't know where every single one of you lives but it seems as if most of the country right now is dealing with some serious wintery weather!  Snow!  Ice!  Plunging temperatures!  All of that super fun winter weather stuff. It's even happening here in Florida.  And yes I am well aware that other states are really being whammed and having lived in very snowy/wintery places before, I sympathize sincerely. We are lucky that, by comparison, our measly temperature drop is nothing at all.

Still, it's not our norm.   People travel here, intentionally, this time of year to get away from the cold. To warm up, lay on the beach in the sun, put on sunscreen, wear shorts and sandals without turning blue with cold in January, is a dream.  But that dream isn't quite as dreamy as our visitors hoped just now.  When Tim and I did our noonwalk yesterday, we couldn't help but notice that there was almost nobody on the beach and the few who braved the chilly wind were hunkered down and wrapped in sweatshirts. I could almost hear their teeth chattering.

I feel badly for them, our guests,  the people that signed on for a nice hot sunny Florida vacation and were kind of duped by Mother Nature.  but weather is like that.  Anyone who vacations anywhere, anytime ever, has to be able to roll with the punches.  Life is like that and vacations even more so.

The locals are not big fans of the chill either, just so you know.  And because those of us who live Florida life 24/365 are more accustomed to hothothot, any significant drop in temperature will create those funny (but very real) memes of people on beaches in puffy coats, hats and mittens.  It's a real thing.  I've been hearing a lot of weather related complaints. As if I were in charge. LOL .  That's hilarious.  If I were in charge there would never ever be another hurricane anywhere.  Clearly I have no power.

But unlike so many of my other fellow Florida Residents, I kind of like this little season of Brisk weather.  It's a very nice change of pace.  I am enjoying having the opportunity to remember how to dress in lightweight layers for maximum toastiness.  I delighted in hauling out long pants and sweaters - it's a whole other and rarely worn wardrobe!  Wearing Socks is like wearing warm hugs!  I had forgotten that.

When Tim and I returned from our chilly walk yesterday, I had rosy cheeks!  Weather created rosy cheeks I should say and quite honestly, it looked good on me. We will not, however, discuss my windswept hair.  Yikes!  That took awhile to comb out.

I find that I sleep a little better on a night when the air around me is cold but I'm snug and warm in my little blanket nest. The kittyboys snuggle with us in the evening on the sofa instead of romping through the house like lunatics.

I cook differently too.  I made a batch of chili on Monday and look forward to having yet another bowl of it for dinner tonight.  It's hearty and hot and fills every crevice - especially when served with corn bread. Yumm.  I never make chili in summer. it would be too hot, too heavy, too wintery.  Stews, Roasts, casseroles and maybe one day soon some home made bread.  Lots of baking happens in colder weather too. Everybody around here is a fan of that!

I even like being on the beach when it's inclement and everyone else is steering clear. For one thing, I'm usually there alone or nearly so, and that is always a treat.  But the beach is different, the water is different, even the air is different when it's cold too.  Cold weather photos almost  always come out crystal clear.  

As it so happens, right this moment it's 66 degrees inside with no windows open and it's 47 degrees outside and a tiny bit breezy.  The breeze is filled with cold damp ocean air which makes it feel even cooler and today's high is predicted to be 57.  I know that's very comfortable compared to the places that are battling single digit temps and even negative numbers, but for us, that's not chilly, that's flat out cold.  And even if you were a visitor to Florida from a more wintery place, you probably only brought summer clothes which are just not sufficient at the moment.  So what you gonna do?

I'll tell you what most people do, they either make an emergency trip to Walmart for cheapo throw-away-able clothes or they visit the shops on the Avenue for better quality, more expensive, more weather appropriate clothes that they can take back home and continue to wear.  Only a very few, super hearty and stubborn souls, wear their summery vacation clothes anyway and walk around all goose bumpy with their hands in their pockets, half folded into themselves and shivering but denying that they are doing so all the while.  Visitors and locals alike are doing their best to stay inside where it's hopefully warmer.

I, on the other hand, am not avoiding being outside.  I bundle up, wear my layers, and walk around in the windy chill, nose running a little bit, cheeks pinkening, eyes watering, trying to absorb every nuance, every element, every miniscule detail so that I can replay it in August when I am so hot that I fear that I will spontaneously burst into flames.  In fact, the only thing I do not especially enjoy about our unusual and colder days lately is stepping out of a nice hot shower or a cozy warm bed barefoot onto a freezing cold tile floor.  Few things are colder than a Florida tile floor on a cold day.   But other than that, I'm good to go.

According to the ten-day forecast, I guess it's going to be cooler than normal around here for awhile longer.   Excellent, I say as I sit here drinking endless cups of hot water to warm me up from the outside in.  I relish the uniqueness and look forward to Joy's and my planned photo safari hike tomorrow which will be teeth chatteringly, shiveringly, cold but fun.  

Here's to the unexpected!  It's good to shake things up a bit once in awhile.  Thanks Mother Nature for a few weeks of cold to remind us how lucky we are to usually have warm.

Howdy do and welcome to 2025.  How's it working out for you so far?

That's Tim and I in the photo by the way

I've packed away 2024 along with the Christmas tree and all of the decorations already.  well, almost all the decorations.  The lights are still up outside because I need help taking them down and since most  of those are either not working at all anymore or flickering in an ominous sort of fashion, once down they will go directly into the trash. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. Which is a shame because they are expensive to replace and two hundred bucks would be kind of nice right about now.  Hoping to find a good after Christmas sale to replace them for next year.

My original plan was to de-Christmasify the house on New Year's Day but I rethought that plan since Tim had the day off and I absolutely didn't want to waste it with chores!  It was an absolutely gorgeously perfect Florida January Day.  Warm, sunny and not humid.  Perfection!  Definitely needed to spend the day outside!  But where?

After tossing a few ideas around we decided to find somewhere photo-worthy but not local.  I'm at those all the time anyway.  So we headed to Sarasota. 

The first stop was BayFront Park which is, as the name suggests, right on Sarasota Bay.  There is still some hurricane season damage that they need to deal with such as the adorable little Tiki Restaurant that is current closed due to storm damage, part of which includes a large sailboat in isn't where it's supposed to be:

A shame :(

But you know what?  The birds aren't bothered a bit by human problems.  There were plenty of birdies to be seen:

This particular park is nestled right alongside a marina and one of my favourite things to do there is to walk around reading the names of boats.  Not sure why but I find it tremendously amusing. Some boat owners are very clever with their name choices. I say "boats' generically.  There are sea going vessels of all shapes and sizes in this marina, including some yachts that are so big they look like floating villages.  The photo at the top of the page, by the way, was of our reflection in the window of one of the gigantic yachts that we saw there!!!

I took a few boats pictures that were rather hohum ultimately but my favourite shots by far was of some boat dogs!  Their owner was hosing off the salt water off them and they were digging it!!

Their absolute unfettered joy was so contagious that Tim and I were both laughing out loud watching!  It would be impossible to have a bad time with those guys!

This first stop gave us the idea to check out some other Sarasota Parks.  We tried to find one that was unfamiliar to us just for the fun of discovery.  Ultimately ended up at one we had never even heard of before called, Payne Park.  Turns out it is 60 acres of skate parks, disc golf, a giant circus themed children's playscape area, ponds, green area and beautiful tree lined paths nestled into the city tucked in beside a church whose bells began to ring as soon as we arrived.  Talk about a welcoming!

We spent some time watching the kiddos with their skate boards, bikes and scooters at the skate park area, and then were content to just wander through the rest of the park walking along those lovely paths.  One of my favourite moments there was watching a little girl on her scooter (not in the skate park but on the sidewalks) wearing a full length, super sparkly blue dress with sneakers and a ball cap.  Over and over she would walk her scooter to the top of a hill and the hitch up her long dress to step onto the scooter and push off before 'flying' down the hill.  She was pretty awesome.

Some random photos from the park:

We had a lovely time visiting these parks, both the old and the new and now have a plan to discover more parks that are new to us, not just in Sarasota but everywhere else we go!  Why haven't we done this before?  It was a great way to spend New Year's Day and a great start to the new year!

Hope yours was absolutely wonderful too!

​Have a terrific weekend!