A Brush from Sandy...

Took this during Hurricane Sandy. We didn't even get the full effect but you can see that is one mean ocean. Surprisingly, there were people that ventured into those waters, as you can see below...

Here comes the sun...

Anyone out there that knows me probably knows that I'm not much of a morning person...it's funny, love early mornings, I just don't like the waking up bit. However, when I do manage to drag myself out of bed early, it really is magnificent...like this sunrise in Nov 2011...

Retrospective: White Sands National Monument, June 2006

I'm slowly bringing over photos I've posted to other places...I might as well have just one blog with everything in it rather then a few raggle-taggle blogs here and there. This series is from my drive to California in 2006. We stopped at White Sands National Monument. Would love to go back some day.

Bracelets

part of the iPhone-ography...they have this cool app that creates this faded look with the blur and texture...love it. Even random things look more interesting, like my old bracelets.

Rain

From May 2011.

Traffic Flow as Breath...

I was on the road today, toodling along in my automobile, down I95 towards Fort Lauderdale...minding my own business...All was well.
The volume of cars started steadily increasing...but still, all was good. Everything was flowing. It wasn't rush hour yet, no inclement weather, nothing but a lovely South Florida sunny day.
And then...it happened-everything slowed down. We decreased to 55mph. Then 40. Then 25. Then. Stop. In front of me a row of red brake lights. Hmm...what could this be? Maybe there is an accident. Oh well, nothing I can do about that. Inching forward, slowly we increase to 5mph. Then stop. 5mph. stop.
10.
15.
25.
And then everything open up and we are able to flow at about 60.
What gives? What happened? No accident. No police, no flashing lights. Then, once again, red brake lights ahead. Slow down. And yet again, accelerate to at least acceptable speeds with no discernible cause. And as I drove, it occurred to me that the traffic had become its own entity, all of us drivers creating it, each of us a little cell in this giant organism and...it has breath. Slow down...speed up....all together now...inhale, accelerate, exhale, slow down...we were part of the heaving creature....

The Season is Here...

I've mentioned before that here in South Florida, "the season" generally refers to tourist season, or snowbird season. Whichever. Doesn't really matter what you call it.

The bottom line is that every year, we get inundated by out-of-towners. The traffic increases with that many more cars on the road, travel time increases, there are just more people. Another reason I love summer here...

This year, instead of getting aggravated by the traffic, I've decided to play a game instead. It's "Spot the Out of Town Tag" Game! (Yes, I made it up, but I doubt I'm the only one.) It makes driving a lot more fun!

Now, instead of thinking to myself, "crap! another out-of-town (OOT) plate..." I'm all, "ooh, where is that one from?"

I got the idea to do this just this week. So far, I've racked up over 15 OOT plates! There are the normal ones...New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, North Carolina, Michigan and Quebec. Yes, that is normal. I have spotted a few Ontario, however. And Maine! Usually don't see that down here, but yes, this year I did. Then, some unusual ones, Texas, Cali, Mississippi and Lousiana. Oh, and Georgia. I'm guessing that these are not the regular snowbirds however. But, hey, they are here. They are not from Florida. And that counts for my game!

I do suppose that as I've spotted most of the eastern sea coast, it will get harder to find new plates as time goes on, but that's OK. At least I'm keeping myself entertained while in the slew of cars.