A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens
Life on my own, on the Nature Coast of Florida, and beyond…
While the sunrise itself seemed to struggle this morning, it was the reflected color in the opposite sky that caught my eye as I arrived at Bayport. The layers of clouds glowed golden for a while, and then became lovely pastel blues and pinks. I wasn’t alone there this morning, sharing the scene with the occupants of two other cars. Then one of them set off their car alarm and couldn’t seem to turn it off, but it was time to leave anyhow, and soon enough came the rain.
My granddaughter gave me a lovely gift for my recent birthday. It’s a book of inspirational messages with lovely images, and the text is in German. You see, this is the granddaughter who up until recently was teaching Kindergarten in Bucharest, and who now is teaching in Munich. She said I might pick up a little German as I go to Google Translate to read the daily message. And I might. According to the translation, this image means,
‘Life is adorable, you just have to see it through the right glasses.’
I’m sure the gist of the message is correct, and I sort of like that the phrasing is a little awkward. That adds to the charm. The world is a smaller place for this generation of young adults. How can that be anything but a good thing? I would never have had the courage to take such a chance as she did by traveling so far from home on her own. Especially at 22. I find that so much of what has changed in society to be distressing these days, but I suppose that just means that I really am an old codger. Kudos to these young people. I hope they can make this world a better place for the generations to come. Thank you, Kara.
Maybe it’s all the driving I’ve done lately, but since I’ve been back in Florida I’m having trouble catching up mentally with where I am physically. While I was in New England I said I was ‘home’, and I was home, back to where the kid in me feels restored to the surface. Now I’m home in Florida, but is it home? Not sure anymore. What struck me as I drove up to the house for the first time in six weeks was that everyone’s lawns were so green! A sure sign that we had a lot of rain while I was gone. It rained all day my first day back also, so I went out back when I saw some birds milling around once the rain had let up. The ducklings! I was glad to see them, five surviving. And I caught up with my neighbors who said that there is only one Crane colt now, no one knows what happened to the other one. 
With the clouds breaking up the sky looked promising, so I drove to Aripeka, the shortest possible sunset drive, and liked the light on the houses at my first stop, but the sunset itself didn’t look like it would be the best view.
So I went to the little spot I’d noticed before, right on a bend of the road that feels a little scary as people take the curve a little too fast. There isn’t much opportunity to vary your shot, but I love this view. And the colors built, and then extinguished themselves like a candle flickering out. I’m back…
Rocks are dependable. They are solid, strong, unbreakable. They don’t surprise you, or disappoint you, they are just there. There are lots of people who might be described by using those same words. But in the case of this particular rock, and many people, we are just looking at the surface and making assumptions about the core. Were I to drop this particular rock it would fracture into pieces, a lot like I was feeling I might do not too long ago. Careful hands have reassembled this rock, and in much the same way I am somehow feeling pieced back together after my visit home. We are both still fragile, but then aren’t we all?
No, not down Mexico way. If you’ve ever driven through NC/SC on Route 95 you’ve seen the billboards starring Pedro, LOTS of them. Less now than the endless signs back in the day however. Charley’s family used to vacation in either Canada or Florida when he was a kid, and when they headed to Florida they stayed at South of the Border, so he wanted to stop there when we drove to Florida in 1988. Because of that trip I knew that you park in a covered carport that is right outside the door to your room, a perfect feature for when you are traveling alone. And then there was Ozzie, and I also knew that they accept dogs, no weight limits thank goodness. So, tacky as it may be I had to stop there, it was a no brainer. That left me an 8 hour drive the next day, not to mention that I knew it would be lit up perfectly and I could get some photos. The bed must have been comfortable since I sat on it with the computer to relax for a minute and woke up 3 hours later, having missed the sunset all together. But the lights were still on at least, so Oz and I went out for a photo walk…
I’m not sure why but my GPS took me on a route I’d never been on when I left Cape Cod last Wednesday. I was happy it did because I noticed a pretty little harbor and stopped for photos. The boats were all at anchor, it struck me as a sleepy little place. Only later did I notice that I was in the town of Weymouth, MA. Weymouth, where a policeman was killed recently during a routine traffic stop, along with an innocent woman killed in her home in the same incident. Sleepy and peaceful for days, and weeks, and years, but not immune to the craziness that we see on the news all the time. Even in the aftermath it’s hard to imagine that such horrific things can and do happen in such lovely places.
A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens 