a few changes...

I was looking through some of my links and I think it's about time to update/eliminate. The globbing world (as swampy would say) is not static-bloggers come and they go. Some blogs remain inactive (yes, I'm guilty to a certain degree!) and others no longer are accessible. So why keep these around?

I think this will be an approach I need to incorporate more into my own life-are things still serving a purpose? Are they a part of my life? Or am I hanging on to them out of habit, fear or just plain laziness? If so, then I need to let those things go. This can only allow space for other things-whether tangible or intangible to enter.

Oh bumbling bees!!! It's freakin' cold!!! I know, I shouldn't complain considering the rest of the country (ok, and most of Europe as well) is dealing with snow and ice and all sorts of nasty complications from it, but still! It froze last night. Again. We've had over a week of this type of mischievousness from ol' frosty blowing us some Arctic kisses and quite frankly, I've had just 'bout enough.

Now, it's not like we never get cold temperatures here, but normally, they don't last but maybe a day or two at a time. Back in 1989, we had a nasty freeze. It was the first I remember really well. We'd had days that there was frost on the ground but usually by 8am it was gone. For me, it was cool! It was new. And it was over as fast as it happened! Many people protected their plants by turning the sprinklers on overnight. They'd then shut the water off once the sun was up because they figured that the freezing was done. Well, that day, everyone shut their water off not realizing the temperatures were still freezing. I ventured out with my little 110 camera at 10 am wearing three layers of tee shirts and a jacket. I think I also had a hat on? I don't know for sure except I don't remember every being so damned cold but I had to get the pictures of the thick icicles that hung from the poor neighbors' plants. It was amazing. By noon, everything had thawed and I'm sure I still have the negatives stashed away somewhere. But that lasted one day.

One.

This time. Not so much. We've had temps in the 30s for the past few nights. It snowed in parts of Florida. We would have gotten snow if there had been enough moisture in the air. I moved back here for the heat. What a cruel joke. I mean, really! How am I supposed to gloat that I live in South Florida where on a typical New Year's day we can go to the beach when, instead, I'm holed up shivering because the wind chill outside is in the 20s? It's outrageous! I think I need to move to Hawaii.

Wishing everyone a fabulous 2010!

Happy New Year!

Parks and Rec

Finally! I tried posting these earlier but, geez, haven't been blogging for so long that poor blogger didn't know what to make of it-I could almost hear it, "what??? not only are you posting but you're putting pictures up??? What the hell?" as the spinning wheel continued on and on.

Anyways, as I said, I visited G. up in the northern half of the state, and we took a few minutes to pop in for a little nature fix at Rainbow Springs.

At the top of the hill, you can see the river down below.
Yes, it's really that clear turquoise!

Moving on, here we can see downriver.

Here we were a bit closer and the elephant ears make a nice contrast.

A white egret takes in some sun while looking for some food.

As you wander through the park, you find these little spots of ....green!

Overhead, the spanish moss.....

And down in the water, moss covered rocks.

We had just about 1/2 hour to visit so we took a quick walk and that was that, but next time I'm up there, I think we need to make a day of it!

ah, nothing like going to visit my best friend G. and also get to catch up with old and new friends as well! More to come later...

Escape

Years ago, when I still lived in Baltimore, I had a chance to go back and visit the ol' homestate of Florida. In fact, I got to go back to Tampa and visit old friends again. My friend G. took me to a concert in St. Pete-she'd gone to school with the lead singer and here they were playing locally! Cool.

As many singers do, he told a few stories about this and that. I remember in particular his story of an Offspring song that started with "La-la-lalala" (btw-if anyone can remember what the name of that song was, please tell me because I know it but right now I can't effing remember anything except for the La-la-lalala part. And now I'm starting to doubt whether it's even the Offspring. Is it? I think so. How the hell could I forget which song the lala comes from?) and how he would sing that to himself anytime he was upset about something. In his head, he would just sing "La-la-lalala" over and over and it would help him get over it.

At the time, we all laughed because how fun (and funny) is that? Little did I know that man passed on a gem. I actually put it to use very soon afterwards. In fact, I used it on the flight back to Baltimore. You see, as we took off (and everything was cool), I leaned back into my seat, enjoying the takeoff, tired after a good weekend visiting people I actually liked. There was a bit of turbulence, but hell, this is Florida and a few clouds are no big deal. Until the flash of light that is. And the deafening thunderclap that shook the airplane. And the exploding lights on board. Yeah, not too cool. We flew on for a bit, everyone on board wondering, "WTF just happened?"

The pilot's calm voice projected over the speakers..."Ladies and gentlemen. It seems that we've been struck by lightning. (gee! ya think?) We've run some preliminary tests and everything seems to be running normally. Although we could keep on flying, we'd rather not take any chances so we're turning around and heading back to the airport."

Of course, once we landed, they found that they needed to find us another plane (here, let me check my pockets really quick. And where the hell is captain caveman when you need him to pull out an extra plane out of his pocket?) because the one we'd been on was no longer suitable to fly. Lovely. So, we all stood around for a couple of hours while the airline snagged us another airplane to take us happily home.

As we boarded the next plane and I settled into my new seat, everything that had just happened and the possible implications washed over me and I found myself less than calm (not that anybody nearby would have been able to tell, but inside I was freaking the F* out.) And all of a sudden, a little voice in my head started "La-la-lalala. La-la-lalala, La-la-lalalaLa-la-lalala."

And you know? It worked! It did help me calm down. I wasn't totally cool yet so then I started trying to take deep long breaths. Because that is supposed to calm you down, right? Right. Well, it's hard to calm down when your breath refuses to be long and deep and, instead, insists on short and shallow. Hyperventilation anyone? Yeah, that's all I needed right then.

That's when the image popped into my head. I closed my eyes. A lovely tropical island, a few palm trees and sandy beach in the middle of a clear turquoise ocean. And these little waves washing up on shore-slowly building up and then swooshing down and up on the sand. And I started breathing with the waves. Inhaling as the wave slowly built up, and exhaling as it swooshed down and up on the sand, until the next wave started. The image in my mind is close to the one below (different angle, slightly bigger waves but I think you get it, yes?) And it was the perfect mental escape for me then.

The rest of the flight went off without a hitch, but I still remember the song and island. Even today, I find myself sometimes singing "La-la-lalala" to myself and then going to my tropical island and breathing with the waves. I now pass it on. If it works for you in any way, great. After all, couldn't we all use a little escape now and then?

*

Did you all remember to change your clocks? Yep, it's that time of year once again. Though the extra hour of sleep is nice, I prefer springing forward, when the days are getting longer and summer is near. Falling back is, well, just that-falling back. Back into short days. Less daylight. Darkness. Can you tell I'm less than thrilled with this arrangement? Even so, it doesn't change the way things are. Daylight Saving Time is over for this year. So, if you haven't done so yet, set your clocks back one hour. Until March 14 next year.