'Tis the season ...

I love this time of year -- well, for the most part. This is probably the time of year that I miss being north of the state line - the changing of the seasons! Last year, we were in Colorado and the aspens were golden!! I knew that Thanksgiving and Christmas were just around the corner. But, when it is still 87 degrees, it's hard to imagine Christmas at all. Then again, maybe not! I visited K-Mart today -- an almost daily occurence (what would they do without me?) and there was my reminder -- a full Christmas section in the store. It's not even Halloween let alone Thanksgiving -- but the trees are lit and stockings are hung just waiting to be picked! I had to check to see if my rememberer was working properly. Isn't it just the middle of October?!!

You know you are a true Floridian if you take a couple days off to stay at a hotel near the beach and spend the time in your room working on emails, etc. Okay, I can see the water from my room -- but I can see the water when I go to the grocery store -- northerners, eat your heart out! We are blessed but we don't have a clue!! I just get annoyed when the drawbridge operator decides to have mercy on that tall boat in the channel ... and I have to wait while the bridge goes up .. up ... and ... down .. down. Don't people know that some of us actually live here year 'round and actually work, too.

Of course, then there's those of us who dare to go shopping at 11am .. like I did this morning. I had a vision of what I might be in 20 years and it scared me! I was dodging sweet little old ladies and men as they made their daily or weekly jaunt to KMart. One of them actually said, "Oops". Most of them are off in their own world and you make way for them. And if you get in the middle of a discussion on various physical ailments or remedies, you might as well go around another way.

But, we love our snowbirds! And I do mean that! They like to have fun and so if I am like most of them in another 20 years, maybe I won't irritate the shopper at 11am on a Tuesday morning in Florida!!

Oh, did I share ... my friend, Elaine, and I are spending a day in Bradenton Beach -- way down the coast -- all of about 30 miles -- but, it's far enough away to be away -- and I can see the water from my window as I write this but can't say that I have any yearning to wade through the sand to get there. Aren't you jealous .. and don't you think I am crazy for not appreciating what we have here?! I do ... and I will really appreciate it in mid-January when it is 70 degrees and sunny almost every day.

So much for rambling today -- guess since I'm in 'shut down' mode for a day and my brain has decided to follow ... so I'll make no cents today ... oops, I mean, no sense today! My dad would be mortified at my grammar or lack thereof. Better stop before it gets worse!!