Friday 16 October 2015

Beach Brain = Addled

Mini Me has coined a new term 'Beach Brain' to describe her experiences living  & now working part-time in a beach community in Florida. Sometimes called Beach Brain Mush.
Brain Melting Syndrome



Pronunciation: /bēCH/ /brān/
The failure of the soft nervous tissue contained in the skull to function as the coordinating center for a human being. Note: animals do not suffer from beach brain.
Image result for mushy brain syndrome
In reality it is not about more time off, rather LESS!
Often speculated to be brought on by sun and high quantities of alcohol, beach brain manifests as impairments in thinking: repetitive, fuzzy rationale, general lack of logic and/or absent awareness of impeding consequences of seemingly simple actions. Once beach brain sets in, it is hard to reverse; afflicted individuals are seemingly unaware of their condition.

Most commonly observed when the individual sentences uttered by a person are complete, but coupled together with adjacent sentences the overall meaning is disjointed, contradictory or makes no logical sense at all.  Often friendly, however, some are egomaniac in a small-town way, ie 'explanations & thoughts don't add up.'  In short, as my friend Gwen said 'People just don't think things through!'
Interacting with such individuals is guaranteed to be S-L-O-W, imprecise, inconsistent, and highly tactical in the moment - you could say 'fluid.'  It is also highly amusing if you don't mind that logical thinking and action rarely prevail.  Coupled with a 1950's patronizing 'Big Fish in Small Pond' attitude, well . . . I leave it to your imagination --
Back to the beach and FUN - we were delighted to have family visitors recently.

UK house guests mean we get to do a bit more touristy fun things.  This included a trip to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa with these amazing sea dragons and nesting Roseate Spoonbills.
Leafy Sea Dragon
from Southwest Australia
Sticker Received
ID cards available too! LOL
Now that "Winter" (non-rainy season)is upon us, turtle season is over, the humidity has dropped, we have a lovely breeze and the daytime temperatures are below 90 F (32 C). "Winter" brings stone crab season (opened on the 15 October); the buoys for the traps are bobbing in the surf outside our door; they harvest one claw of each crab which then regenerates in about 3 years time. LARGE spotted stingrays leap out of the water, they say this is mating behaviour. And the beach has developed a sharper incline over the past 2 weeks - is that nature's way of preparing for winter?

For us humans, winter means we have the opportunity to get a flu shot at the drive-through, so we can 'remain in our car'!!  Yes, really.

Photo by Carlton Ward
www.carltonward.com
Rare Florida panther caught on camera on the Carlton Ward Jr. trail in the northern Everglades on a cattle ranch in Highlands County.
<100 left; Florida Panther
Photo by Carlton Ward
Recently we learnt of an exciting project, The Florida Wildlife Corridor, which holds a vision to protect the state's habitat for native wildlife and
has documented Florida wilderness in film and breathtaking photos.

Sadly the corridor doesn't come near us in Tampa!

Just for comparison Florida is 2/3 the size of Britain with 20 million people vs Britain's 60 million.  We could almost be a country!

My favorite friends are back out front in great numbers, diving for fish near shore, soaring through the air and generally hanging out. When beach brain sets it, I occasionally call them penguins - who knows what synapse get mucked up.

Brown Pelicans, not penguins!
Recently we had another unique sunset - swirling clouds - again the camera doesn't really do it justice, but have a look . . . to celebrate mini me's 100th post.

The stores are full of Halloween, Thanksgiving and yes Christmas decorations and trinkets competing for space.  Mini me is off to do some machine quilting!

It brings a smile to mini me's face that in sub-tropical Florida, we decorate with colorful fall leaves + snow and advertise cold medicine on TV with blizzards that don't occur here in Tampa. Irony, however, is not a national pastime and hence the incongruity is lost on many locals.