A beachy & squally New Years to You!

Pinellas prepares for the Great Tornado Drill

                      Take shelter and a selfie to participate in the Jan. 6 exercise

was today's headline, with the weather report including both a High Surf Advisory (5 feet or more) and A Life Threatening Rip Current Statement. We were also due for an exceptional high tide overnight.

Our County's Great Tornado Drill instructions are below and come complete with a request [not shown below] to post on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  The drill is probably a good idea given the recent spate of tornadoes touching down in hurricane alley and the southern US. Still one has to see the humorous side of taking selfies in a closet or inside bathroom - the likely 'shelter' for those of us without basements (ie most of Florida as we were built on a swamp).

Everyone is urged to participate. Businesses, organizations, families and individuals are asked to first identify a shelter and their source of emergency alerts, such as messages received on a mobile phone, weather radio or other notification service. The alerts should be loud enough to wake a person up if a tornado were to hit in the middle of the night.

Then at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 6, the NWS will issue a test alert through the Weather Alert Radios only, following a scenario that a tornado is in the area, and warning people to take shelter. Regardless of whether the alert is heard at 10 a.m., participants should practice taking cover and then take a selfie of their group.

What's inside?

After opening a few Christmas gifts, it was time for a Christmas Day beach walk in shorts and sunglasses. Unlike last year when Nov & Dec (13 Dec 2014 post) had a distinctly chilly feel, it has been unseasonably hot and very humid (read muggy).

Here's what we found.

With the holidays there is  bit of time for quilting - this is going to be a cover for a framed mirror (family heirloom) -- to ensure the bright Florida sun does not reflect onto my antique quilt (posts of 22 March & 20 June 2015) and fade it. Manatee is from a zebrapatterns.com sea life collection pattern that I adjusted from a square to a rectangle to fit my mirror frame - a first machine stitch applique for me.

The frame

wall quilt under construction

NB/Note:  Americans are big into the row by row experience and license plate fabric panels - to see more visit Country Bears & Quilts Shop.

Shop's 2015 Challenge Winner: Doris Drown

Karen Pieczonka
Row by Row Winner

Fabric License Plate Panel

The weather outside is . . . Christmassy!

Well the temperature and more importantly the humidity has plummeted (well OK dropped to 51 F/11 C overnight and from 99% humidity to 38%), enough to drive away those cownose stingrays mentioned in the last blog . . . but not before Kenny, our intrepid beach raker, got this video.

Must say this is the first morning mini me welcomed the heat from the hair dryer on her   body as usually it is too hot and humid to appreciate a warm blast on the head!!

You never know what you will see on the beach and here was this week's interesting sight - not that salt water is good for one's bicycle, but hey it looks fun!

Wind is up, humidity down; we have a rip current and a RED tide warning in effect. The beach joggers are all bundled up with hoodies and mittens. Musical instruments, however, don't fare well in cooler weather, so this winter front meant the outdoor Christmas Florida Orchestra concert last night was cancelled.

But mini me has gotten on with holiday festivities including . . .

Welsh cheese straws made with friend Sharon

LARGE wine glass painting with
neighbour Diane
note the flip flop footwear

. . . a spot of quilting to take the place of a door wreath.  Pattern given to mini me by her Quirky Quilting friends (and creator!), but of course life sized me felt she could improve upon the pattern - what do you think?  A bit more quilting wouldn't go amiss, but we were keen to put it on the door.

the result

the pattern

No Florida Christmas would be complete without a special local song and a boat parade or several.

We were invited to a Treasure Island Boat Viewing House Party this year; the wind and lower temperatures kept the number of entries down and the boats sped along (rougher water means faster speeds to retain control of the boats), but there was the usual boat hooters honking and 'Merry Christmas' shouting (likely alcohol fueled - this is Florida after all). The highlight was the turtle boat, and the flippers were animated swimming through the air!

Florida Jingle Bells

standing at end of dock looking at house party

Dashing through the sand, in a rented minivan
Driving by the bay, laughing all the way.
Tourists drive too slow, everywhere you go,
Oh what fun it is to live in sunny F.L.A.


Chorus
Jingle Bells, Coconut shells
Dolphins in the bay
Oh what fun it is to live in sunny F.L.A.
Orange juice stands, Mickey Mouse land

see the hatchling at the back?

Gators in your way,
Oh what fun it is to live in sunny F.L.A.

Crowded shopping malls, Lotto and BIngo halls,
Sunshine that's too hot, a football team that's not.
When Santa hits the shores, He finds stingrays galore,

Oh what fun it is to live in sunny F.L.A! 

As my British friends would say, it is feeling very 'fresh' outside.

Happy Christmas (or Merry Christmas to our American friends) and all best wishes for 2016!

Thought I had seen it all ... Beach Life & Small Rivertown America

Well, just when I thought I had seen it all, but what should pass us in St Petersburg, but the ultimate in drinking and driving - a Pedal Pub!! There's an open seat if you are interested  . . .

and back at the beach a digital advertising blimp floated by - but the digital sign was too far away to read - someone wasted their advertising dollar.

Now in the Gulf we have red tide warnings --- which may account for the large number of stingrays we are seeing right up in the surf line - apparently a bunch of stingrays is not a school, but called a 'fever' and they tend to hunt together. Those dark shapes in the water are the stingrays visible from our 3rd floor balcony!  Mini me is not going in the water anytime soon!!

Back in the house we got some new hurricane windows - apparently the whole building could fall down, but the windows would be intact.  Mini me couldn't watch, but is glad to report all went smoothly and it was a relatively clean operation.

at the Peabody Hotel, Memphis

Life sized me and hubby took a little holiday over American Thanksgiving on the American Queen, a steam-driven paddlesteamer, down the Mississippi River. We started in Memphis visiting Graceland, seeing a mock-up of the first self-serve grocery (Piggly Wiggly in 1916), along with making a few purchases at the Metal Museum. There was a spot of fun watching the 'world famous' Peabody ducks who swim in the hotel fountain daily and then waddle down a red carpet to ride the lift (elevator) up to their rooftop home each evening.

On board the American Queen, loaner bicycles meant we could explore all the little towns along the river on our own, including a number of plantations (complete with crazy quilts and video extolling virtues of healthy sugar!). At Oak Alley we found the sugar cane harvest in full swing and a farmer delighted we had an interest.

This sign in our hotel, the Q&C, in New Orleans gave us a good laugh.

We finished off the trip by train (yes, an American passenger train - double decker no less) from New Orleans thorough Jackson Mississippi back to Memphis.  In Jackson we found a petrified forest complete with petrified sea turtle skull. Back in Memphis we completed our adventure with a sobering trip through the National Civil Rights Museum (bringing the slave plantation story right up to date!).

 A new friend has just opened Flip Flop Quilt Shop in St Petersburg (www.facebook.com/flipflopquiltshop) and with some new thread I am getting on with some Christmas decorations. Andrea is looking for volunteers to teach a few classes, so if you fancy some time in St Petersburg . . .

And the birds are flocking together getting ready to migrate . . . eating berries and bombarding our car like we are in a hail storm!