Fay

Yesterday when I left work Tropical Storm Fay was blowing in.


I left early to beat the rain.


It looks bad, doesn't it?


But the rain never came -- not until today, when it rained for about one hour. It looks like Fay is a big dud blowing in a disorganized fashion right past us. Which is good! I'm driving to Tampa tomorrow evening and I would rather not be caught in a bunch of blinding tropical storm rain.

Vacation, here I come!

Hurricanes

I have been avoiding posting because I haven't done anything outdoorsy lately and all I've been thinking about is my upcoming vacation to the Virgin Islands.

I was supposed to fly out from Tampa on Wednesday.

Tropical Storm Fay is on track to hit Tampa on Wednesday.

Summer Rain

When I was growing up, I scheduled my summer activities around the rain; it rained every day almost exactly at 4 p.m. The past few years we've had a drought, though, and it either hasn't been raining during the summer or the rain has come at wonky times, I hypothesize because of climate change.*

This summer, global warming notwithstanding, is the first one in five or ten years where the old pattern is sort of returning. Yesterday was the heaviest rain I've seen in years. Of course, it started right around 5, when I leave work. There were sheets of water falling on my car. Roads were flooded. It was scary because I could barely see in front of me. My car is tiny and weighs, like, 40 pounds. Also, I need new windshield wipers.


Apparently we got almost three inches in under an hour. On my street, there was a puddle so deep that when I drove through it at 5 mph, the waves created were taller than my car.


*This is my personal opinion and is not based on any scientific research that probably exists, only I just haven't read it.

Northern Light

I always forget how different the quality of the light is up north. But I can't really explain how. Our first day at the conference, we walked downtown to eat dinner. The walk was along a bay on Lake Michigan. It was gorgeous.

It sprinkled as we walked along a canal.


Then a rainbow came out. I haven't seen one of those in a while.


Our hotel room was right on the bay. Kim and I watched the sun go down several nights.


The gloaming might have been my favorite time of day, though.

Another Weekend

The weather has really been interesting lately. Friday the sky looked like this:


And Sunday was like this:

An 80-degree day. Go figure. I lay under the magnolia tree and took a nap. It was glorious.

Winter in Florida

It's been wacky weather around here this winter--more than usual, even. The temperature, barometric pressure, and sunshine have been fluctuating wildly almost every day.

The other day I was driving home when it looked like a violent storm was threatening. Someone is building these horrible condos near my workplace, and I despise them, but took a photo of them anyway because the light looked so beautiful reflecting off of their windows, combined with the dark sky to the south.


I continued on my usual path home, which means I skirt the entire "city," basically, passing all the greatest hits: industrial area, homeless shelter, etc. The sky loomed.


Then I turned the corner and got this.


What the heck?