It's hot up in here...

     Florida in the summer, not the easiest place to be.  When I moved back to Florida as an adult in 2004 I quickly realized that "paradise" is a mixed bag and not everyone can cut it. My house is open to anoles, geckos (my favorite for their quiet, nocturnal ways), snakes,  and, in rapidly decreasing in order of tolerability, ants, palmetto bugs (yes, yes, giant ROACHES), rats, raccoons, possums, on and on, ad infinitum.

     Everything molds from the humidity.  I run my AC as little as possible so the winter is the worst.  My shoes disintegrate in the closet and I have to scrape down my kitchen cabinet doors every couple of weeks.

     All that being said, I feel at home here; Florida is a good fit for me.  I don't know if it's because the crucially formative first 5 years of my life were spent chasing lizards and digging holes in the sand in Bradenton but I've landed in a spot that has expanded my personal growth by an order of magnitude.

     And...back to the heat.  Living in Missouri for 35 years I briefly labored under the delusion that I could be a quilter like my grandma but I only wanted to do it if I did all the quilting by hand and without the room for a large quilting frame, I had to do my handiwork buried under a hot pile of fabric; it's ok in the Missouri winter, but it NEVER works in Florida.

     Along came the knitting needles.  I will forever be grateful to the older woman who introduced me to this hobby that has enriched my life in many ways and even though she ultimately treated me badly (I ain't gonna sugarcoat it!) I still send gratitude thought bubbles into the universe for her.  

     I can knit anywhere and knitting on airplanes has enabled me to fly without being stupefied on xanax to deal with my fear of flying.  It's amazing!  Who woulda thought it?

     Oh!!!  The chicks are in a pen on the grass and a swallowtail kite just swooped over my yard.  Time to check on the babies.