Holy Weather!

This was some ominous-looking sky, let me tell you. Just after this particular nastiness blew off to the northeast, we drove to Orlando to deliver my brother Doug to the airport - flights were being delayed, but still taking off (he arrived in PHL safely only an hour late). These storms rolled in off the Gulf one after another, and we were hit with intense rain and wind on our way home about one mile from our house - quite scarey, really. Power was out for a couple hours. Two tornadoes touched down about 8 miles from us and did some damage at the Lakeland Airport.

And it's still raining and thundering and lightening-ing.

But tomorrow it will be sunny and 81 degrees. Ahhh, Florida.... --cds

Pretty Little Miss

We had such a good visit with our Vermonters. The weather couldn't have been nicer - all week long. I'm such a sucker for a cute sailor outfit and have had this dress since Ruthanne's birth - so we had to conduct a little photo shoot, of course.

There was much swimming in Ruthie's new Ariel bathing suit.

Our blueberry pancake breakfast.

We went to Seaworld.

But mostly played around the house.

Oh yes. We have been informed that one is never too young for Five Guys.

Ruthie enjoyed pulling herself up and standing at the front door to watch dogs and golf carts go by.

Like I said, such a good visit. --cds

Connections

I have been thinking a lot about a good friend I worked with at SMC - she is a Japanese language professor as well as the Language Proficiency Coordinator. I know she still has family in Japan, but my sense is they live in the south and the mountains. Hideko made this origami paper crane for me when I retired.

I both loved and hated the summer freshman registration that our office conducted every July - it was a wildly busy, extremely concentrated and (barely) controlled chaos of testing, advising and course choosing for the incoming class. Since students were assessed in second language proficiency, Hideko had a huge job on those days as well. We would giggle that the week of registration took care of our exercise program for the summer since we did so much running around. Sometimes testing rooms would be spread out over campus and Hideko and I would meet in hallways or stairwells, exchange information about missing students or computer breakdowns, and dash off with a wave of the hand. Or she would appear at my office door, out of breath and laughing about something, and give me a little bow before collecting paperwork or whatever.

Hideko is only one of the great people I worked with and miss at St. Michael's, and I'm hoping all is as well as can be with her family. --cds

Beware The Stinging Nettle!

I have always always been a backyard flower gardener who does not believe in using gardening gloves. After those brutal Vermont winters, I couldn't wait to get my hands in the crumbley black dirt, breaking up the clumpy bits and picking out the tiny green weeds. I like to think I can tell the health of the soil by the feel of it and even the smell of it.

Florida soil is sandy, of course, and dry, and I am amending my yard beds like mad trying to make the dirt feel right. But now I have been beaten by the Stinging Nettle. I accidently grabbed at this green weedy thing while cleaning out underneath my rose bushes and GEEZ-LOO-EEZ it felt like a thousand tiny barbs were stinging the tips of my fingers. It's twelve hours later and still my fingers are numb and tingling. Very unpleasant.

So, I gotta go get some good gloves, I guess. I'm sure that's the smart thing to do because what if, next, I accidently disturb a Pygmy Rattler entwined in one of my flower pots? PYGMY RATTLERS, people!! That happens here in Florida. Just one more proof to my theory that the further south you go in the world, the more venomous, poisonous, stinging creatures there are to kill and maim us. I'm NEVER going to Australia. --cds