Sunday 24 January 2016

Chill on the Beach

Tons of sponge and coral on our beach signal the Gulf waters are being stirred up by a storms out to sea - headed our way. Our hurricane shutters came down overnight last weekend as a special weather statement had us on watch for:
    • High Surf Advisory
    • Coastal Flood Advisory
    • Rip Current Statement
    • Wind Advisory
    • Tornado watch
    • and on 24th Jan - a Wind Chill Advisory (in effect when windchill is forecast for 26-35 F or -3 to 2 C)
The Skyway Bridge just south of us is closed due to winds of 60 mph and deadly tornadoes struck on the other side of the bridge in the night.  We had 6 alerts on our emergency weather radio between 1 and 3 am Sunday (17th Jan) night. The shutters rattled, the seas are high and the wind blows. Out came my crochet slippers with turtle buttons kindly made by CB.

The pelicans and gulls were out feasting just before the storm. Mini me learnt that birds stand (and hop we were surprised to see) on one leg to conserve heat/energy. So with lower temperatures, our sea birds have all been one-legged recently!  Just time for one last warm sunny day on the beach . . .
















Here, on video, you can see a native brown pelican swallowing his catch.


larger white pelicans stop by
in route to warmer climes
smaller (but not small) local
 brown pelican in flight
Migratory white pelicans are one of North America's largest birds; when not stealing food from others, they work together to semicircle fish and herd them to shore before scooping them up with their pouches for a tasty meal.

'Exceptional cold' is what we are experiencing according to the weather reporters and this means the balcony lemon tree, complete with one budding lemon, has come inside. But of course nothing like the blizzard conditions further north nor the cold in the UK.

Alexa's turtle journey
And the Mad Beach Textile Fans group has abandoned the beach for warmer indoor venues - sigh.

Hard to believe it will soon be turtle season again! Here's a great year-round reminder of our turtle friends created by Alexa.


Manatee drawn in sand
My Manatee wall quilt (post of Dec 30) was replicated on the beach when I found this orange coral. It is on hold whilst I make a lap quilt from my 90 year old neighbor's mother's hand quilted flowers.


Last Saturday night our dining group went to a St Pete Beach restaurant called Chill; the food was excellent - what I had of it (my main meal never arrived) - but the service was anything but 'chilled' although the temperature certainly was! The British manager wasn't interested in any American customer feedback, although our whole group of 26 got free dessert.  Here's their new wall decor - just remember this is [bonkers] Florida!

Shortly thereafter he left the beach
under his own steam
Just looked out the window and either someone almost drown or they are performing a religious/spiritual ritual of an unusual nature involving lots of head shaking . . . who knows what is going on down on the beach - it is never boring!!

Monday 11 January 2016

This is FLORIDA - BONKERS!!!


Life in Florida works on beach time and is a bit haphazard [ie bonkers] to say the least!  Weird things and disjointed, illogical conversations happen every day. Bonkers also means no planning, but somehow things come together at the last minute - gives mini me a headache and 1/2 but hey, you have to go with the flow!!  So I did [go with the flow] -- and here's my inflatable toy stingray gracing my bathtub. Hubby, trying to resuscitate his British humor after a 30 minute call with the health insurance company, has also gone bonkers.

We missed it-but apparently an "anonymous donor" puts up a beach Christmas tree each year - not anywhere to be seen on Christmas day I might add. Read the caption and see what you think . . .

We have stuck our toe in local politics, small town antics with a Sunshine Law supposedly to create open government, but on the ground it seems to have the opposite effect.  The funniest part is that local government buildings have named meetings rooms 'Shades Conference Room' and they don't see the irony.  

Great Blue Heron & Snowy Egret
Thankfully mother nature continues to provide some restful relief.  The temperature has dropped into the 40's (~5-6 C) with thunderstorms this second week of January, so sweaters out and windows closed - even occasionally heat on! Tornado to the South and freeze warnings surround us. The snowman wall quilt on my front door (see blog of 20 Dec) is very apropos.


And the sewing continues:
a little carry bag (with separate pouch for the charger) for my hubby's new travel clock . . .

Despite what my London quirky quilting friends might think, I am progressing with various applique projects - this one a mini me designed lap quilt for my elderly neighbor who gave me the large hand-pieced flowers - you might not be able to tell, but my skills are slowly improving even if I cannot follow a pattern to the letter.  With a little encouragement from CD and web tutorials (what did we do before the Internet?), I am even trying out the 'quilt as you go technique.'
don't look too closely . . .
For the start of 2016 we got new hurricane shutter covers - what more can mini me ask for (LOL)! You may not have realised, but living on the beach is actually a very dusty and fairly dirty affair - all sorts blows in over the water and off the beach. Now with these covers comes a story . . . the first set of covers were tied on to the back of the supplier's pickup truck and blew off when going over the drawbridge 2 blocks from our home.  

He showed up at the door with 'good news and bad news' -- the good new was he thought the covers he made were beautiful looking things - the bad news that these aluminum covers were now scrap metal and hence he couldn't install them as they blew off his truck and were run over by a gasoline tanker. By the way this had happened to him before, but hey he took a chance with an old single bungee cord to tie them on (said with a straight face no less)!  A week later we got a new set installed - hurrah!  Florida is bonkers!!
Roller shutters exposed & dirty!
After - roller shutters hidden