I had heard that the sunset can be especially nice after a storm has rolled through, which is what happened yesterday. It was nearly 6:30 when I glanced up and noticed that the clouds had broken up, which left a half hour until sunset. I hadn’t been to Hudson Beach for a while, and at 3 miles from my house I can be there in 10 minutes, I should probably go there more often. The sky was already streaked with reds, but the houses across the inlet looked so perfect in the light that the feature photo is the first picture I took when I got there. That lovely light doesn’t last long. It was a beautiful night.
Day one of early voting in Florida found me in a socially distanced line waiting to vote, which is all I have to say about this election. The first election that I actually remember was the 1956 election. I was turning eight, and horrified to realize that Eisenhower might not continue to be president. Since I thought life was just perfect as it was I worried that he wouldn’t be re-elected. Or they could elect my daddy, I thought that would be a dandy idea also. Next up was the 1960 election of JFK, a big deal in MA of course, so that left a lasting impression. But with a voting age of 21, and due to my July birthday, the first election I was able to vote in was the 1972 election. I was living in San Diego at the time, so waiting for my husband to get home from work meant that Nixon had already been declared the winner before I went out and voted with my home state, the only state to go for McGovern.
To be honest I had to look up a list of the presidential elections after that to remind myself who ran, who was elected, and who I voted for. I’m only batting 500, but I actually thought it was worse than that, and for me most of those elections came and went without a lot of emotion on my part. Probably the most memorable one was the 2000 Bush/Gore election, which isn’t surprising. But it so happened that a friend of the family was on the Bush election team, which is probably why my two oldest grandkids were very aware of the election and excited about it. We walked to the polls to vote that morning, the kids rode their new scooters and we were going to McDonald’s for breakfast afterwards. The line was just long enough for it to seem like an event, but not so long that the kids got bored. They were allowed into the polling booth with me and they were given their own “I voted” stickers. For this grandmother it was the perfect educational moment, I just loved everything about that day, until the vote count. It was educational in an entirely unexpected way when my grandson asked me several weeks later, “Hey Mimi, did they ever figure out who won that election?”
The story of this election is still to be written… God bless America…
Staying home alone means you can do whatever you want to do, all day long, day after day. Even if you find yourself caught up in a show on Apple TV and basically watch all day long it’s okay, because living alone means there is no one there to object, or tell you that you need to do something, anything, else. I may live alone, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t hear a voice telling me to go do something else, but it’s the voice in my head, and it can be relentless. Do I listen to it? No, not usually, unless it tells me to go bake something, but then after I’ve baked something it tells me not to eat it, so that’s no fun. Living alone has its perks, especially when that voice in my head tells me I’m okay, good even. But it’s not so free with the compliments, it’s much better at ‘constructive’ criticism.
I wanted to go back to Green Key beach, or more correctly, the road to the beach, when low tide came around again. Low tide lets you walk out onto the wet sand to improve your view of the sunrise, which in reality is rising almost straight back down the road you drove in on. Low tide also leaves you lots of seaweed and debris that feels creepy underfoot as you walk out toward the water in the dark. And after you stand and take several pictures and then decide to cross the road and see if the view is better on the other side the wet sand holds your shoes, reluctant to let them go. Thankfully I’ve learned not to go shooting in flip flops anymore.
To my surprise, a little before sunrise someone came down the road and opened the gates that allow you to drive to the end of the road to the actual beach, so I jumped in the car thinking the view would be better from the beach. Perfect even. But no, there was foliage blocking the view totally, so I returned to the spot I’d just left. And the sunrise was prettier than I expected, shot from the opposite side of the road. Only a spoonbill appearance would have improved the day…
There has been lots of fall foliage in my Facebook feed lately, but mostly from New England and Michigan. And just today my Facebook memories reminded me of the trees I used to see on my way home from work that I used to claim as fall color, Florida style. So today I rode up to Spring Hill to find the trees, and then headed to the botanical garden to see what was blooming.
I think the color of the trees disappointed me a little, it’s more brown than red. I think that the glimpse of those trees that you see behind houses, or hidden among other trees, always seems to be brighter fall colors. But when I haven’t been up north for a while it feels like fall to me.
The botanical garden was a surprise today. It was early and the flowers were plentiful and loaded with water droplets, and butterflies.
That orange butterfly must have been hungry because he let me get a lot of photos of him. And one photo was straight down on his back, and when I viewed it blown up in the computer all I could do was say, “Boo!” Halloween will be here soon…
And while I was zooming and cropping I loved these droplets too!
At the end of the day my phone app showed the least distance walked today of any of us. Just under 5 miles. We walked the trails and then weren’t sure whether to turn around and retrace our steps or continue the loop around the lake, not knowing exactly how far that walk would be. Our phones showed a series of small lakes, and it was tempting to try a ‘short cut’, and to continue the loop looked like it was going to be a very long way. If I had known it was only going to be five miles I wouldn’t have worried. Shade on the trail would have been nice also, but there was a breeze and yes, Florida has cooled off somewhat.
The big surprise of the day was when two young bucks chased each other across the road and proceeded to battle with each other for a minute, and then they dashed back into the woods. What an unexpected treat that was to see.
Zoomed and cropped to the max, but at least we can see them.Bees aren’t so common to see lately.Butterflies were scarce also.I was reminded of the Tetons when I saw this cloud.Egrets are so common to see, but their elegance is hard to resist.On you walk, with no idea where the trail will lead you.We stuck to the main trail, mostly to avoid ticks.It seems likely that there were gators around, somewhere.What a handsome boy he is.Not all reflections are in the water!
