Failed Attempts

The move to Iowa is quickly approaching and I've been making a concerted effort to enjoy the outdoor opportunities here in Florida. However, it hasn't been working out very well.
Last weekend I had an afternoon free so I wanted to try a nearby new-to-me attraction. The "Mike Roess Gold Head Branch" state park looked interesting - it is only 30 miles away and has hiking trails AND a lake open for swimming. While the 3-mile hike was beautiful, any time I paused to check the trail map, read a sign or admire the sights, a horsefly would bite me. It was awful. Even a sighting of two beautiful deer couldn't offset the misery of those bugs. And then the lake only had a small area open for swimming and it was very crowded. And then it started to rain. Blah.
This past week I kept seeing online articles about the "solstice moon" effect. Somehow the alignment of the sun during the solstice makes the moon look quite large when it rises. Compounded with the fact that the moon was full, this effect was supposed to be very dramatic. On Friday night Sheba and I walked to a local spot with a slight elevation and a good view of the eastern sky. Unfortunately, a band of clouds near the horizon obscured the moon and by the time it was visible, it didn't look that large. It WAS unusually red, but not that large. Another disappointment.
This weekend I wanted to make a beach trip. My excursion to Clearwater Beach last summer was great, so I decided to try Honeymoon Island State Recreation Area, a barrier island on the Gulf Coast north of Tampa Bay. It was especially appealing because it had swimming AND hiking. Saturday morning was rainy, so I waited until Sunday. On Sunday, the forecast said a 50% chance of rain, so I decided to take a chance and go. After driving 2.5 hours, I had about 20 minutes on the beach before a big storm moved in. You can see the storm moving in here on the right.

It was an enjoyable drive and I enjoyed my time there before the storm came, but I was still disappointed when I think of all of the other ways I could have spent the driving time (and gas money!). I (and several other people) stuck around until the rain started - check out the dark clouds here. And speaking of storms, we've had some really cool ones lately. This one had such strong thunder that some of my pictures were rattled off of the wall. The video was taken from the couch in my living room.

On the other hand, not all of my new adventures have been failures. Shortly after Christmas, I bought a pair of rollerblades thinking that it would be a good source of non-walking activity. However, it was immediately apparent that my fear of falling was going to make learning to rollerblade mainly a mental challenge, not physical. After several months of puttering around, I seem to have finally gotten the hang of it. The crucial event was a fall that I took last week. The fall was scary, but it didn't hurt at all thanks to my knee, elbow and wrist pads. Now that I've survived a fall uninjured, there's nothing to be scared of, right? This past Saturday I rollerbladed all the way from my apartment to the lab and had a blast. I still have a lot to learn (I haven't even attempted any hills yet), but it's turned into something really fun instead of something scary.

Beach Trip

I only have a few weekends left to enjoy the wonderful outdoor opportunities here in Florida. This past weekend, I convinced two of my co-workers to make a beach trip with me. My co-workers Jim and Wilmer, Jim's two young sons Luke (6) and Paul (4) and I had a wonderful afternoon at Crescent Beach on the Atlantic Coast. Luke and Paul were tons of fun and the weather was just gorgeous.
We all packed into one car, so we ended up only having to chip in $5 each for gas. Wilmer recently started reading my favorite book series (George RR Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire"), so we had tons to talk about.
Maybe the best part of the day: Wilmer brought along two bags of puffy cheetos. During the drive home, Luke and Paul made SUCH a mess with the cheese powder. It was even in their hair. What made this so enjoyable? The fact that we weren't driving MY car.

Milestones

Many of my friends and family members had some major milestones lately.

My niece Abby celebrated her 4th birthday.

My cousin Lindsay graduated from high school; she will be starting college this fall and studying to be a nurse.
My maternal grandmother (Mamaw) turned 80.
Unfortunately, I had to miss all of these celebrations. I am very proud of all of you and would have loved to have been there to celebrate with you.

Another interesting milestone: one of my Weight Watchers friends is a first grade teacher. This year, the students that she taught during her very first year graduated from high school. Apparently one of these students sent her an invitation to his graduation ceremony with a note about how she had been an inspiration and motivator for him. She said that makes the long hours and low salary all worth it.