Wall to Wall Sunshine

Cat images are everywhere
& Halloween is big business

Yes, Halloween is the end of this week and that actually is the forecast for the last weekend in October: wall-to-wall sunshine.  More kites are flying today (one self-flying with a bag of sand on the end of its string), so mini me has concluded the kite "driver" must have a job as an "official kite tester."

The right kite in this picture has a tail that revolves in the wind and looks fantastic.  Microlight fliers have been buzzing by too -- looks fun but noisy!  The chattering sea gulls, hoping to snatch some tasty morsels, dive bomb the pelicans who are fishing in the surf.

The weather has definitely turned and with the sun rising later (spectacular sunrises in the morning as shown in 3 October post), mini me wears a sweater whilst sitting on our balcony.  Monday morning an intrepid 5 year old jogger  & beach comber appeared on our patch of sand urging his Dad to hurry along and washing his 'finds' in the sea.

The itchy poison ivy is becoming unbearable and life-sized me has now used enough calamine lotion to drown mini me. So much calamine results in  pink arms from the lotion with red blotches from the poison ivy.  Last time we clean the dunes!

Local news includes:

- Fly by of International Space Station (ISS) supposedly visible from Tampa (but we saw nothing).

Yup actual headline!

-Governor's race (election is 2 November) has incumbent running against the past governor, Crist.  Crist when in office was Republican but is now a Democrat with Clinton (but not Obama) on the campaign stump for him.  Both are very negative campaigns and each has refused to disclose key information.  A real mess and no good choice for voters.

- Massive auto recall announced, but there is no fix for the airbags which explode unexpectedly spewing metal shrapnel.  This in a nation very dependent on cars and poor to non-existent public transport.

This recall comes just as we have more wrong way drivers on the freeways (ie motorway); it seems this usually is at night and involves alcohol, but you would be surprised how many miles they drive before being stopped. 11 lives lost in Tampa to this alone so far this year.


- The Tampa Bay Rays (baseball team from St Petersburg) may move to Montreal - outrage!

- Quiet so far on the hurricane front, but we still have the month of November to go.

-Lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific, are invading the Bay - not good for local species.  Fishing for kingfish (30 lbs or more), Spanish mackerel, cobia and tripletail is good as these fish migrate South with the cooling of the sea waters (defined as upper 70s!) and schools of fish are 'frothing at the surface.'

Blue Sky and Sun glare

PS.  New dining room table arrived today and flooring should be fixed next week.  Hurrah!