Post 124
The Salt Life...
Is a saying, as well as a car decal in these parts. You see it not only on vehicles with surfboards clamped to the top but on cars that just love the beach life. No sticker yet, but the longer I am here, the more I like it!
There are a few things that are not great, I won't dwell on them but it is true that they have spiders bigger than any I have ever seen. Just one, but if I don't make a close association with that kind again, it will be fine. It had a body as big as a walnut and legs longer than my fingers. It was in my closet. YIKES!
Palmetto bugs: they look like a cock roach and have a thorax bigger than your primary toe.
No matter how straight your hair was before you moved here, it will frizz out in a moment's notice.
You can't leave clothes in the washing machine too long or they will mildew.
Always have the car full of gas and an empty bladder when you start out.
I've been to several beaches and still like going to new ones though I have returned several times to Indian Shores which you see in the picture above.
I am getting into my new job, finding a groove and liking it and the people I work with, very much. The organization itself is on the cutting edge of what health care is going to look like in America but in my off hours, I have been looking and have found a new place to live.
Being in an apartment complex was not even a consideration to begin with. After being a home owner with a garden to play in, I really wanted some little cozy place on a lake or the ocean front.
Here's a reality check; the beaches are through downtown, I work in the County so that is out. "Lake views" are very possible but when a landlord says "We like people to come and see the neighborhood first" this is a not-very oblique code for "What you can afford, you would not want to live in". Out of necessity of moving in the next few days, I did find a nice complex, I'll have a little screened in porch, room for guests, it has lovely grounds and a large pool, Spanish moss in the trees and so I will take my two suitcases, one skillet and some dollar store flatware and be in a place of my own again. The Welcome Mat will be out for all of you snow birds who might like to come and visit.
I'm about an hour away from Orlando, on the Disney side, and still have access to all the lovely beaches in Tampa, the history and city night life if I choose it. Lakeland is a small community of about 50,000 in the middle with its own history and charm and it even has a community orchestra with which I hope to make my acquaintance. I have to locate a practice area where my French Horn will be liked as much as me. So far, nothing in the complex has been discovered, but there is plenty of room for the motorcycle!
Situations change, our need changes. We weather storms, get calm seas again. We know how to be abased and how to abound; we get both in life. I've been through a lot of storms in the last year but I've seen some beautiful places, spent time with dear family and friends, learned more about the power of prayer than anything else.
This one thing I know: God is good, always. There is no darkness in him at all. There is darkness in the world, some of it in our lives, sometimes because we live here, but it is not of God. We live in the world but we have access to power beyond it. I hope to utilize more of it today than I did yesterday!
My son's wedding is in New Jersey in less than two weeks so if I don't get back on for awhile, keep me in your prayers and thoughts.
I've ordered a set of fall scenes for more note cards. Stay tuned on that one!
The clouds and the light here are truly magnificent. The heading photo is from my cell phone, so it would not fill the page, but you can see the awesome colors. If you have ever been on a cruise in the middle of winter, or have flown to a tropical place while where you live is in the winter-time, then you know how the light feels when you debark into it. That is how it is every day! It truly is the land of sunshine.
They tell me this is early fall; it is not raining a few times a day or even every day. The clouds stack up vertically and sometimes, have the most incredible color.
Look for beauty, you'll find it! Add it to your Thankful and Grateful list for today!
Until next time...
