With family in Florida

It's not like southern Black Mountain. It's just like itself...Florida. I'm in the central west area - Tampa, St. Petersburg to be exact.  And I'll be coming home by the time this gets posted anyway.  But I have a minute on this whirl-wind

visit, so will post some of the great photos that I have taken (ok, not so great, but attached to great memories and of course great relatives.)

After I looked at the above photo, I suggested that Will (in blue) open his eyes a bit more...and this is the result. My oldest son, Marty on the right, and his daughter Cayenne on the left.

So when Will and his sister admitted to both being aliens who could shape-shift (thus looking like this human person...) I kind of believed them!

They really are sweet kids, and blogger is playing around with the spacing and layout, which is driving me crazy.

They both tried to play with the cat...and you know how cats are...

Cat is black object lying on the tower. The cardboard robot behind (with square silver face and box for body and holding the broom handle) was part of some costume effort when my grandchildren were little.  The green bird on a wire is being flashed for the cat by my granddaughter, with little effect!

 My youngest son needed some new clothes, so we went to the Brandon Mall...and parked next to a Tesla. This is probably as close as we'll ever get to one!

 A 2 story merry-go-round looked like fun...but the bunny (?) hanging from the side was a bit scary.

I liked the Manatee fountain.

Not my style...and fortunately my son found almost everything he needed in one store.

Flying down the road!

You have very little opportunity to take photos when flying down an interstate highway (as the driver at least.)  So I was happily surprised that some of these actually show what I was aiming at.

 One of the steep grades downhill as I left North Carolina a few days ago.

 After leaving the parking lot known as Interstate 95, I was glad to pull over at the Georgia Welcome Center.  Here even worse slow traffic is going from right to left headed north.  I had pretty bad cross-winds the whole way on Wed. afternoon on I-95, but felt for the slower traffic going north.  And there's one of many Walmart trucks I passed (reminding me of my cousin who drives one!)

I broke up my drive to give my feet a chance to have blood circulating...at my age that's more likely a problem than you'd imagine. They don't exactly go to sleep, just turn off, a worisome thing while driving.

The welcome center had some very nice displays...including this turtle replica.

By 5:00 pm I was thinking of stopping for the night in Brunswick, GA...my original plan.  Then I talked with my son, who I was headed to visit. We considered how on Friday there was due to be a huge line of thunderstorms coming across the south...so I said I'd try to get a bit further before I nested for the night. My aim was to stay somewhere near Jacksonville.

 But I zipped right around the outskirts, and then headed to Gainesvilel FL.  My trusty map guide on my phone gave me some good short-cuts, and before I knew it I was on the other side of my old Alma Mater town, (go Gators).

Paynes Prarie was suddenly there, as well as 20 or so cars parked along US 41 South.  I didn't know why, except I remembered this as a great place to see birds and stars.  I remembered I went to see Haley's Comet but it was too foggy.

 The full moon was just coming up on one side.

And the sun was going down on the other side of the car.

Once I got past Gainesville, I saw no reason to postpone till the next day the 2-1/2 hours of remaining travel.  And it was fun not having bad traffic nor the cross-winds when I got on I-75.  I just stopped one more time before I got to my son's house where I was welcomed by my grandson, Michael.  My son was home later in the evening, after I'd happily closed my eyes, while behind my eyelids the earth was still coming toward me between white lines at 80 miles per hour.

And the storm did come through, inundating my home town of Black Mountain NC, and giving a good dose of thunder showers in Brandon FL while we were eating lunch.  I would have pulled to the side of the road if I'd still been traveling.

Around this time last year...

 In Februry/March 2018, the Swannanoa River glided it's way through Black Mountain. This was before flooding later in the year which dropped some of the trees along the bank, and gouged some different paths for the water.  I loved seeing the mist of green ground cover coming back in this picture.

A year ago I was in Florida visiting my oldest son.  And the rest of his family. And friends too.  It was a really nice week.   But that sky is only what Florida can offer in February!

OK, I know you now want to see (as do I) what the river looks like now.  Since it's still raining, we both will have to wait a day or two till I can walk around the ground near the river without sinking in.

Memories of Florida

Cold feet

Must mean...

backing out of plans at the last minute

or the floor is cold

or you don't have your fluffy slippers on

or you've plunged them into the Gulf of Mexico in November 

or poor circulation



In my case, I think the latter may be happening.  And the first is something I seldom have happen, though I may think about it.

But in the last few days I've been surprised to find Florida floors are cold.  That's because of quarry tile over concrete slab, over the earth.  In the summer it probably is welcome.  In the last week, when I forgot my fluffy slippers, I would sit with a pillow under my feet, or wrap them in a blanket.

Then I came home and again the floor was cold if I didn't have those fluffy slippers.  The temperature never gets that warm in the crawl space under my floors, so I expected it.  Just was surprised that I'd dealt with it while visiting sunny relations. 

I'll be sharing some vacation photos for the next few days...why not?

Quote for today:

How fit to employ all the heart and the soul and the senses forever in joy!

Robert Browning