Florida

 Do you see the two completely different skies in each of these pictures?  I mentioned yesterday that I'd been "fooled twice" by the Florida weather patterns, having been away from them for so long, and leaving my car windows open two days in a row during rainstorms because I wasn't nearby to close them.  Got the car dried out, thankfully, but these pics were taken while we were driving BACK to Daddy's house after our overnight visit with friends three hours to the south (also in Florida).

I remember growing up in Florida, how we would call rain "liquid sunshine," knowing that most of the time, you either had skies exactly like these that are pictured - bright blue with shiny, sparkling-white fluffy clouds, right next to the dull grey, not-so-fluffy SHEETS OF RAIN.  I'd lived a decade in California, though.  "It never rains in Southern California," while not exactly the God's-Honest-Truth, isn't far from it.  Rain just doesn't share the heavenly landscape with not-rain, like it does in Florida.  And I'd been gone long enough to forget.

If you ever travel to Florida, at any time of year, you'll be tempted to leave your car open.  You can absolutely do that, but please take this advice: Don't leave your car open and then drive off to somewhere more than a block away for any length of time, leaving your vehicle open to the mercy of the elements.  You WILL return to damp seats and floorboards and who-knows-what-else.

In other news, I was so happy for our relocated friends and the new life they've carved out for themselves in Florida, and I really enjoyed seeing them.  It was sad to say "good-bye."  I hope they will come north sometime to visit Daddy, or he will drive south to visit them.  I hope they'll get a chance to vacation in Southern California again and see not only us, but the rest of the friends they left behind.  I was expecting to get melancholy in posting this "news" but I'm happy to report that Daddy needed my help getting the trash to the curb at just the right moment in my typing, so that feeling has passed.  YAY!  Thank you, Daddy!