Big Sky

My grandma used to live in Florida and all that I remember about Florida from the trips to see her besides the alligators and air conditioning is how huge the skies seemed; so much bigger than anywhere else with giant puffy clouds high up in the atmosphere. Texas might be called Big Sky Country but, to me, Florida's tropical skies outdo what I saw on the drive through Texas. What I remember from childhood still holds true; the sky here makes you feel miniscule and beyond that, has incredible power to unleash wild weather on you.

Rainbow over the Marina in Coconut Grove.


Tropical sunset (generally over land though, part of being on the east coast now--gotta get used to that)


Last weekend my belongings finally arrived and I salvaged my bike from going into storage. I had time on Sunday to bike to the Venetian Pool in Coral Gables, a historic pool built out of a rock quarry with waterfalls and lots of pseudo-Spanish architecture. Really beautiful and relaxing.


Then on my ride home I was caught in a cloudburst. I now know the true meaning of that word. To go from gorgeous skies like you see over the pool to rain like below in less than half an hour is what happens pretty much every afternoon. 45 minutes later the rain will subside and the gutters will be overflowing onto the sidewalk, simply unable to contain the flash flood that falls from the sky.


Today I was supposed to go snorkeling in Key Largo but the plan was foiled yet again, this time by the bad weather we've had all weekend. My first full weekend not working and I wasn't able to really get out! I spent today watching the world cup games in different bars (all with babies in them--lots of babies in bars, it seems) with Nicky, an editor who started work the same day as me, and her visiting friend.

We are determined to go. It will happen before I leave Florida!