chasing clouds

I have always been a huge fan of clouds in the sky, cumulus, nimbus, cirrus, stratus, and beyond. Florida seems to have some of the best cloud formations of anywhere I've lived or visited.

favorite song friday: heavy cloud, no rain

All the summer storming makes me think of this Sting song.

stormy (sorta) skies

It's been raining and thundering and lightning all week, but that doesn't spoil the kid's sunny mood.

swimming to beat the storm

The kid was able to take a quick dip in the ocean the other day before the afternoon storm hit. It is rainy season, after all.

florida's fantastic cloud cover

Another storm coming ... with pretty impressive cloud formations.

eye on the storm

Tropical storm Isaac, which may or may not turn out to be a hurricane, is looking to give us a wider berth than was originally expected, for which I'm very thankful, but Isaac will still be dumping a ton of water on us over the next few days. The hurricane shutters are still open, but if things start to get crazy windy on Sunday we can close them. I just dread having to do that, not just because that means the bad weather has escalated, but because it will be so dark in here with them closed, and quite claustrophobic.

Hopefully the power will stay on and we can have a DVD party weekend. Worse case scenario, I can always charge the iPad and the phone in the car and we can get our digital fix that way. I have tons of water and batteries and got the kid her own flashlights, so we should have some fun making shadow monsters, too.

sighted yesterday ...

An interesting cloud formation. An oncoming storm, but also a beautiful line drawing by nature.

A curious feline that refutes the old wive's tale about cats not liking water, my shower-loving cat Harry.

knitting as a hobby in Florida may not be such a crazy idea after all

Today was brrr ... Luckily the cold weather is coinciding with a sweater project. And if I can get this one done, I have another cool pattern I just downloaded on the back burner ...

good night irene

Everyone here is bracing for Hurricane Irene, which, like most tropical hurricanes, is unpredictable and could go any direction at any moment. Right now, it seems like south Florida will escape the eye. Hopefully that trend will continue and that it will miss the rest of the eastern seaboard as well.

I am getting my first taste of hurricane season mania here. So many people have the weather on 24/7. Not to mention the long gas lines and stockpiling. I get that we should all be prepared, but I also think some folks just like to overdramatize, to feel part of a bigger something.

The preoccupation with the weather by people in Florida, impending hurricane or no, is just as perplexing to me as the folks in the DC metro area who could only talk about the best way to approach the Capital Beltway. So many people I knew there would always have "the best route" and loved to talk and talk about different approaches in and out of the city. Yawn. I would get to wherever I was going whichever road I took. It was impossible to get lost, the Beltway circles the city. But I digress.

I just don't need any more drama than I already have. I can't control the weather, but I also don't want it to control me. When my daughter asked what a hurricane was like I told her it's a bit like the scene in The Wizard of Oz with the twister, except coming from the ocean. I'm not sure how reassuring that was, but she adores the movie and now has a pretty good idea.

Either we'll stay here and hunker down or we'll be told we have to leave. Like everyone else, I have to keep an eye on the weather. Just not every 15 minutes.

drying out

The DC area has been inundated with a steady stream of rain for days and days. Most of the time it was "just" a mist, but it succeeded in completely soaking everything. Before anyone says, "Well, we needed the rain," I will politely demand that they zip it. No area needs a constant, steady, depressing drizzle. Not even Seattle. We took a drive yesterday to visit some relatives in nearby VA, and when making a curving turn onto the highway access ramp on a road I've taken a million times before on a million weekends, we hydroplaned, the car swinging to the right, then the left, before I was able to regain control of the car. The road didn't look slick and we weren't even going that fast. It was simply saturated. Luckily, there weren't any other cars too close, and the kid didn't even notice, apart from the weird squeals and yelps that I emitted before I regained control. Or an illusion of control. I am extremely excited about the prospect of this week's dry-out. Temps in the 60s are forecast, and for those of you who might dare to say, "But that's not October weather," I politely respond, "Zip it."

swamped

Just in case you were wondering, D.C. is indeed a swamp.


Sometimes a pretty swamp, but still...a swamp.