Hello readers! I am so excited to tell you what happened this morning. Really early. My mom and I were sipping coffee flavored with hazelnut creamer when the Most Amazing Thing happened. I wandered out on the lanai and saw…are you ready for this??…Leaping dolphins!
In all the years I’ve visited Florida, I have never seen such a show. We can’t decide if it was one dolphin leaping over and over and over again, or many dolphins. It arched maybe six feet in the air. Maybe nine feet in the air. It leapt with grace and spirit and beauty. Up it arched and down it dove. Again and again and again. At least a dozen times. Maybe two dozen! No time to look for the camera.
The dolphin leaped and we gasped in awe and amazement. I said, “Look at the dolphin! It wants to be on the blog.” (My mother, I’m sure, rolled her eyes.) But you never know. The dolphin maybe did want to say hello to all you blog readers.
These photos are all backwards. I like to usually start at the Beginning of the Day and then progress toward the end. Tonight I’m starting in mid-afternoon (with a lounge by the pool) in about 78 degree temperatures. Sunlight appeared after a day of wind and gray and threatening rain. It was lovely. I brought my new book down to the pool.
It’s the story of a woman deciding whether to become a Buddhist nun or finding true love with a man. Which would you choose? I’m thinking she’ll choose the guy. But you never know.
Now let’s back up. After a lunch of leftover seafood salad, my parents had to attend a condominium annual meeting. So they dropped me off about 2-3 miles from “home”. “Find your way back,” they instructed. (Just kidding! They didn’t really say that. There’s really no way you can get lost on the island.)
I walked on the white white sand and thanked the Universe for the ocean, the sand, the sun, the warmth, the seaweed, the people, and sixteen other things. Tried to walk very very slowly appreciating everything.
The beach featured some seaweed–not enough to challenge swimmers–but enough to notice. I kept looking closer and closer, until their beautiful patterns and colors revealed themselves. After about five minutes of peering at seaweed, I was in love with its patterns. You could do an entire blog photographing seaweed.
The wind blew fiercely. So fiercely that I looked like Einstein’s niece upon arriving back at the condo. You needed a hat to hold your curls in place. The seagulls sat motionless, almost asleep, the wind attempting to blow them airborne. They allowed me to approach rather closely and did not fly up. The wind was too much for even them.
Very few sun-bathers lingered along the shore on the rented cabanas. The sun-bathers were waiting for the sun. Almost all the green cabanas below were empty.
I like to look in places most people ignore. The storm sewers looked fascinating. The leaves, the reflections. This one looked like a work of art. Do you agree? Or do you think it looks only like a storm sewer?
Almost back to the condo, I had to sneak oh-so-carefully up to a rented condominium to photograph the flower photo below. I shot a series of about ten photos of the flowers framed in white, but for some reason really like the simplicity of this one.
Tonight we ate dinner at South Beach in the Santini Plaza. It was the best meal ever! I ate glazed salmon (with some horseradish sauce) and my mom ate parmesan-encrusted tilapia and Dad opted for crab cakes. All the meals were absolutely gourmet.
Actually, it was a gourmet day. From dolphins leaping to swimming in the pool to glazed salmon…ahhh… Bring on Day #2.
is it just me or can you see the forlorn calf looking up through the sewer grate. it looks trapped.
A forlorn calf looking up through the sewer grate? Hmmm…can’t see that…but you never know what might be down a sewer grate. All I could see was a single simple leaf and reflections of sky.
Hope you can see it. 🙂
Btw, Florida looks like a lot of fun.
From Calf
Kath—-Sure liked those FEET!!!!!!!Dad
Ha ha, Dad…I think I inherited them from YOU!! Love you…
Kathy – The meals sound oh-so-delicious. I’m gonna get fat living vicariously through you during your vacation! My favorite photo is the sneaky condo flower photo. The simplicity of it reminded me of the Terrill’s Wabi-Sabi blogs (http://creativepotager.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/wabi/).
Laurie, I love Terrill’s blog about wabi-sabi. Simplicity…yet fullness. Our enough-ness. Oh yes ma’am you might get fat living through these adventures. I had a slice of key lime pie yesterday to ward off the rain!
Makes me feel like I’m there too! Oh and I’d choose the Buddhist nun!
I think I was a Buddhist nun in a past life. 🙂
oh boy, I so miss living by the sea. The lake is great, but the sea can’t be beat.
I love the seaweed picture.
You could, indeed, fill days with pictures of seaweed – I dare ya! 🙂
The sea is sooooo lovely, isn’t it, Iris? I would fill this blog with seaweed, but there is so much else happening as well! (And besides, yesterday, it was raining too hard to get to the beach.)
Definitely bougainvillea (that last picture). Loved the green cabana photo…looks like a glorious day! Enjoy, and thanks for bringing us along!
Thanks for the flower identification, Dawn. So happy to have you along! It makes writing these blogs fun. (Although I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to read everyone else’s blog ’til back at home. But you never know!)
Kathy this I think is one of the most amazing post every… you started us about two miles away from the beginning and told us to find our way back! – Just teasing, was like being with right there with you and having you say… “and do you what happened then? and then we….” Such fun. Terrill
Hey, you’re right, Terrill. I love the way your mind works. 🙂
Did the dolphin(s) smile at you as they were a-leapin’ and a-jumpin’? What a blessed way to start the day!
Glad you got some sun as I was worrying about you (and Kiah traveling) when I heard the weather report today…..I still remember the tropical storms we’d get in the panhandle of FL and I was just a little girl! It was after one of them that I got pecked in the head by the bluejay – remember that story? Maybe you’ll get some wondermous storm pictures….take good care and stay safe!
Couldn’t see the dolphin(s)…too far away to see if it was smiling. We’re all here safely now. We picked Ki up at the airport last night. Yes, I remember the story of you getting pecked in the head by the bluejay. You need to start a blog just to share that story!
Poolside with a new book and toes pointed up sounds wonderful!! Enjoy your visit and your fresh adventures. You’re missing nothing up here other than muck and fog today.
PS. Had to laugh at Marriannes pick of Buddhist nun. I’m so tired of being cooped up with my husband this winter, a Buddhist nunnery sounds great, LOL
Jane, we had rain (muck and fog!) all day yesterday. But the sun is out this morning at 7 a.m. already. Hurrah! P.S. I am feeling like you need a vacation too!
Fun, fun, fun! How exciting to see leaping dolphins! We saw dark shapes out in the ocean once that we were told were dolphins. THAT was exciting. To really see them leaping – wow! =D
I like seaweeds, too. 🙂
It is special to see leaping dolphins, Emma. The dark shapes are exciting enough. Seaweeds are great…
What a treat to read your blog, Kathy ! From the Dolphins to the gourmet restaurant 😉 I simply loved it. Including the green cabanas (surely from the French “cabanes” 😉 I would not mind renting one. Thank you for such a lovely day.
Oh, so glad that yo enjoyed this tropical day. I’ll be cabanas does come from that French word. You would love it. (Unless it’s raining….then you might not…)
I’m putting the book on my list, so don’t tell us how it ends. Lovely photos – I like the seaweed. I think the dolphins were welcoming you!
OK, not another word about the book. Lips sealed. It gets a little racy in the middle, though. Just warning you!