Happy Foggy New Year!

 

Over the last few days including today we have weather  like this ...

Sea fog, formed by warm moist air over cooler waters, comes and goes, and comes and goes, and ...

Today the Gulf of Mexico sea temperature is 70F and the air 77F with a 67F dew point (21C, 25C and 19C).

With the sea fog rolling in we get a gentle moist cooling breeze/feeling. 

Fireworks in the fog - oh my and a bit blurry round the edges!

Life and Omicron seems a bit like sea fog cooling our socialising and leaving us a bit hazy!

2020 the [COVID] year that wasn't (as in we mainly stayed home), 2021 the [English] summer that wasn't (as it it didn't get very warm and sunny), 2022?  Wishing you all the best!!

~ 6:45 PM New Year's Day - Helicopter hovering overhead; right in front of our condo 5 Sheriff Deputies talk a large seemingly drunk man out of the surf, cuff him and haul him down the beach.  No idea what happened.

Excitement on the Beach???

Mini Me has just learnt of a new season - we knew we had hurricane/rainy season over the summer months, but that apparently is then followed by 'Windy Season!' Windy season is from November to May - go figure and they do not rent umbrellas on our local sands as they may be a hazard being blown down the beach. 

One recent evening, the local deputy sheriff was at my door.  Turns out he was doing a wellness check on a neighbour and was looking for a key - I didn't have one and next I knew a battering ram was being used - very loud! Fortunately neighbour is OK, however their door isn't.

Week ending 18 December, 2021:  

Omicron Cases Explode In Florida but as of Nov 29th Florida Tourism Tops Pre-Pandemic Levels

and they just keep on coming; so once again we have decided to curtail our activities with others. 

So what's a girl to do?  Well I have taken to having a giggle about British weather terms, for instance, we have recently heard, mainly on the BBC descriptions of conditions such as:

• nuisance cooling wind
• high kinda in wrong place for good weather
• anticyclonic gloom
• murky
• crisp
• summer a muddle
• sun developing
• dry with clear spells
• sharp showers - as noted by my friend HW who asks are soft ones an option?
• The cool won’t last but the crisp will
• settled weather already a bit frayed around the edges
• ‘You get a lot of weather.’
• Jet stream on full gas

In Florida we are having an 'unwinter' with record challenging heat and apparently an 'excess of savings' whatever that might be!  Not to mention, 'mostly clear with some fog around!'

We did have a lovely Christmas with my sister who finally got her combo birthday/Christmas present quilt! Also got together with some cousins before the COVID really hit - yippee!

Here's some Christmas lights at the Florida Botanical Gardens. There was even a tree rigged with lights to react to our singing.  Very well done - takes 4 guys a month to put up.

Displayed on larger bed than the 3/4 quilt was made for complete with matching pillow cases

Now back to the beach ...

US Coast Guard watching our waters
but it is usually a helicopter patrolling

Another baby relative on the way ... so a ducky and some teething biscuits seem in order.

Today was another foggy day - weird in that the fog came, went, came, went, came and then went ...

and wait for it: Photographer Damon Powers: “Underneath the Pinellas Bayway Cathedral Bridge. Probably one of the coolest bridges I’ve shot in Florida. The lighting and reflections was just spectacular!”

as posted by an admirer on NextDoor

Four and Done! Phew!!!

This is the fourth and [at least for now] final quiet book for toddlers - they are a joy, but also a big job as they take ages to do and I have tried to make each one different, tailored to the recipient.

Am glad to report they have been well received - at least by the parents 😊.

Following this I am on to trying to finish my sister's quilt by Christmas, a handful of crochet cowls and next back to a few reed baskets.  Oh and of course catch up on my various volunteering activities.

Faces obsured for obvious reasons

And a peak under those numbers ... I hear the recipient of this one likes dogs.

Whose in that house to eat a bone?

Also made progress on that quilt - 16 pieces in each of 40 squares to make the center panel, 

including incorporating a few red pieces from the quilt made by our great grandmother.

My first foundation piecing - Phew!

Local Sights and Sighs

Inghtham Mote (pronouced something like 'Item Mote') first built around 1320 and a family home until 1985 when sold to the National Trust.  So 700 years old!  The name a bit of a mystery.  Inghtham may be an early settler Ehta or Ohta.  Mote could be moat -- this manor house is afterall surrounded by a shallow (3-4 feet) moat -- or old English moot - a gathering place or court. There was some interesting stone work there - very labour intensive, called Galleting, an architectural technique in which small pieces of stone are pushed into wet mortar, Kentish ragstone a hard grey limestone) wall. We were told galleting protects the wall from frost, but Google is less clear - perhaps done for aesthetic, or econmic reasons (reducing costly lime mortar and contributing to the stability of the wall by minimising the effects of shrinkage in the mortar as it dries), or for ease with irregular stones acting as wedges and a shield from the weather or even superstitious reasons in an attempt to protect a building from evil influences such as witches.

We found these new Beacons by Conrad Shawcross, overlooking the North Sea with , colours referencing  nautical flags with input from local school children. Apparently they are installed for 1 year - I confess I find the bases hidious!

Some are even brave enough to swim in 15C/59F waters on 30 October - but they were wearing wetsuits and we didn't see them in the water for long ...

In between days out, doing a little crochet test, which doubles as a doll's blanket for a grandniece. I really like this Cozy Blanket pattern from Attic24. Think she will love the sparkly wool.

And SIGH, here's one of my favourite sights -- 

Unseasonably . . .Local

Not exactly sure what someone had in mind here

We've had some lovely walks in and amongst coastal towns and wartime former railway tunnels used to shelter civilians during bombing raids.

The RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) visited our harbour, and low flying chinook and Coast Guard Life Flight pass by occasionally looking like they are going to crash our building - but sadly without much warning so I don't have a photo.

There have been some amusing British weather terms, summed up as either unseasonably warm or cool!  And then this rainbow appeared! 

- Dry with clear spells

- Sun developing

- Summer a muddle

- Nuisance cooling wind

- Murky

- Anticyclonic gloom

- The high is kind-a in wrong place for good weather

More sights from our walks

Pavilion de The [Tea Pavilion] (2012) by Joana Vasconcelos, Yorkshire Sculpture Park

The Little Time House, narrow triangular building, Southgate, Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

'This is the shortest street I've seen - the sign on the white door in background reads 'Private.

It is near the canal museum at Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire.

Tide is out - time for a 7 km Harbour to Harbour race 

3 Down & ...

Three quiet books made and one to go . . . 

One can feed the elephant by mouth, empty his/her stomach, pull the truck (elastic inside) and squeeze the ear (crinkly paper). Also find more food by opening up the Velcro strap on her/his back (along with threading through clip), and braid the tail.

Yes there are beachy things inside the 3 parts of the sandcastle . . . 

and onc can race the owl button around the track, watching the butterfly and avoiding the dog

The cat has Velcro eyes to play peek-a-boo

Double purpose money!