Blame it on the Heat

Since last we met, the date on the calendar shows that summer has arrived. In Florida what this really means is that we have moved from lesser summer (April, May, early June), to greater summer which can sometimes stretch into November. As I type this, it is 97 outside, a degree or two cooler than yesterday's temp at the market. Not only am I wilting, but my sales are too. Of course I'm sure "this too shall pass."

You were probably thinking that I haven't written because I've been too busy, not really. With sales down, the behind the scenes activity has slowed to a crawl; I've been filling my days with reading and swimming, and of course taking photos when the opportunity presents itself.

Last Wednesday the phone woke me up at 6--groggily I picked up hearing my dear husband's cheerful voice,

Bruce:"it's your wake up call honey." (He'd been up since 4:30 working on email!)

Gail: "why did I want to get up?"

Bruce: "I've no idea."

It was then that I remembered the yard.

Gail: "I'm going out in the semi-darkness to clean up from the storm."

Bruce: "Have fun!"

Gail: "Will do--have a good day!"

I threw on a t-shirt and shorts and headed out into the sauna. Torrential rains with 60mph winds tore through on Tuesday evening, lasting well into the night, leaving our yard a disaster. Knowing that the lawn guys were coming the next day I filled a garbage can with debris and left the rest for them. Because I was up and moving so early I decided to head to the beach for both photos, and swimming. The ocean temperature is just perfect right now, one can plunge right in immediately feeling invigorated. I first stopped at Sea Gull park, which sounded perfect, but was anything but. Not only were there no seagulls, there were huge rocks just beyond the shoreline--not a good place to swim if you don't want to get hurt. Heading back north on A1A, I stopped at one of the uncrowded beaches on Patrick AFB, the first photo in the album. I swam, took photos, and collected shells, leaving before the sun was too high in the sky so I wouldn't burn. Although I've been to Cocoa innumerable times, I'd never seen Cocoa Village which this trip rectified. It is a charming little area with lots of cute shops and restaurants. The surrounding neighborhood has loads of old house with lots of character. Count me surprised.

More huge storming going on Thursday about two hours after the yard men left. Friday morning I repeated Wednesday's operation minus the beach trip. It's all this intense heats fault. I will say that these storms have not been our typical--cool things off-- afternoon storms because of the high winds.

Friday I did chores and went by the gallery. Oh yeah, it seems as if the show is on for October; more details as we get closer. Bruce called around 3 saying he was leaving work early so we could go to the 5:00 movie at our spiffy new downtown theater. We saw Taking Pelham 123 which was better than I expected. From what I've heard this version isn't as good as the older version--I may be wrong, but I'm thinking the inclusion of lots of techie stuff subtracted from the psychological drama that the former one was.

Just before leaving I tried to open my iPhoto library with sad results. The error message states that it is locked and I don't have access. Trying not to panic, I did the whole reboot thing, unplugging, and any thing else I could think of with the same message. Annoyingly the screen kept coming up--ok?--no, it is NOT ok! My date arrived to pick me up. After Saturday's market I sent Matt an email; he called immediately. I felt terrible because he'd been cleaning his flat all day and was just going out. Hoping it wasn't anything too drastic, he took control of my computer (always so miraculous to me) for more than an hour with no resolution. All is not lost dear readers, just misplaced for now, not to mention that I have a copy of most things on Picasa. It will all work out somehow.

Mr. Roger's son Ed is having his third surgery to eradicate the cancer behind his sinus this week in Philadelphia. Not only has he undergone surgery, but radiation and chemotherapy as well, with cancer cells still detected. Three surgeons will work together, one for his brain, one for his face, and I can't remember what the other one will do. Hopefully this will be the last of it; Ed is only 27 and has been through enough already.

Dave and Bill came over last evening around 6:30 to celebrate Father's Day with Bruce. My, oh my, those boys (men) can talk. I was disappointed that Michelle wasn't feeling well--I was looking forward to seeing her. We sat around the kitchen table for a few hours engaging in conversation about all the taboo subjects--politics, religion, and the economy. Not only do they talk loudly, but over one another--you would think we were an Italian family or something! Our big city sons called as well each getting to have a chat with their SUPER dad.

After a week of tinkering I finally got the pool cleaner to work--it travels around like mad now! Fantastic!

In an effort to spur on the economy I think I'll head up to our local nail salon to get a pedicure.