Weather Archives

February 7, 2015

Hobe Sound Bike Ride

I’ve never made a secret about how I’m not all that fond of Florida, even though we’ve lived here since 1972. I’m a Midwesterner at heart. I like rivers better than oceans; oak trees better than palm trees, clay better than sand, and folks from the Heartland better than refugees from New York and New Jersey.

Having said that, I do have to concede that this is the time of year that almost makes it worthwhile to live in the Sunshine State. Compare these late-afternoon photos taken on a bike ride around Hobe Sound in January 2012 with what is outside YOUR window right now.

The food at the Flash Beach Grille on Bridge Road is excellent, if a bit pricy by Missouri standards. The folks who run it are friendly, and you have your choice of indoor or outdoor seating.

Snoopy?

One of the nice things about bike riding is that you are going slow enough that you can spot quirky things like this creative stone and inner tube Snoopy in someone’s yard.

Old light posts

The apparently non-functioning light posts along the highway look like they’ve been there a long time.

My bike’s not that colorful

My Surly Long Haul Trucker bike isn’t quite as colorful as this guy, but I bet it is more comfortable.

Shelter from the storm

Riding Partner Anne and I saw an afternoon thundershower moving toward us, so we took shelter, hoping it would blow through quickly. It did.

Before we hopped back on our bikes again, I had time to shoot this tree when the sun finally broke through behind us.

Here are more photos from another ride we did in the Hobe Sound / Jupiter Island area.

January 20, 2015January 2, 2022

Hammocks & Donald Trump

Road Warriorette Anne and I took a nice bike ride on a coolish Florida Saturday. I paused to take a photo, then looked on the other side of the causeway that leads from the West Palm Beach mainland to the rarefied island of Palm Beach. There was a young woman reading a book suspended in a hammock between two palm trees. (Click on the photos to make them larger.)

I abandoned Anne to get a closer look. A lot of bike tourists like hammocks because they are light and pack up very small, but I always thought of the big, heavy ones I remember from kidhood.

Two heads pop up

When I got within range, TWO heads popped up. I wasn’t expecting that.

I didn’t get their names, but I DID get the name of the hammock, which packs into the little square pouch hanging from the front of the hammock. It ends up about the size of a softball. They said this was an ENO, I didn’t know enough at the time to ask if it was a double or a single, but I’m guessing it’s a single.

Lots of favorable reviews

The reviews for the Eagles Nest Outfitters SingleNest Hammock on Amazon are almost universally favorable. The women said it’s a snap to put it up and it doesn’t harm the trees. What I didn’t know to ask them was if the straps that go around the tree came with it. From the comments I read online and the photo of the hammock, they look like they are accessories. The doggone straps cost almost half as much as the hammock, and probably could be rigged on your own, but these sure looked easy to use.

Just south of the huge Kapok tree that is now off-limits to the public, darned if we didn’t see another young woman hanging between two palm trees along the Lake Trail. Her hammock was a no-name from the Dominican Republic, but it looked and performed like the ENO. She said she likes to stretch out in it to study.

Big pile of sand

The public beach in Palm Beach was covered with huge piles of sand that had to have been close to three stories tall. Kids and adults were clambering all over them. This little girl was playing Queen of the World.

I was afraid she was going to take a tumble, but she enjoyed taking a step, feeling the sand slide out from under her, then rinse and repeat all the way to the bottom.

Donald Trump missile strike?

On our southbound leg down Flagler Boulevard in West Palm Beach, we spotted some strange contrails.

Donald Trump has been in the news lately because he filed a $100 million dollar lawsuit alleging that Palm Beach International Airport is deliberately flying planes over his property in Palm Beach. Considering that the airport has been there longer than Trump has been alive, and that the property, Mar-A-Lago is almost directly east of PBIA’s main east/west runway, it should come as no surprise to him that jets, including his own personal jet, take off or land that way, depending on wind direction.

Figuring that his suit will probably be thrown out as having no merit, I thought maybe he had decided to take out a few jets to send a message. The vertical trail looks like it’s coming from about the right spot to have been launched from Mar-A-Lago.

October 7, 2013

A Windy Day in South Florida

It sure looked dark this afternoon. A friend 60 miles west of us at the north end of Lake Okeechobee said it was raining so hard out there she could hardly see across the creek. It didn’t take long before our trees started whipping around.

But, that’s not really the reason you’re seeing this. My computer is tied up outputting 1,111 photos for a project in Athens, Ohio. Not only is it resizing them and working magic once, I have to do it four times for different size prints and for a slide show.

(No, I’m not showing all thousand slides in one show. Relax.)

Video of wind and rain

While all those digital gyrations are going on, I can’t edit any still photos. That’s why you get this short video of the wind picking up, then moving on.

This rain video I did back in Cape is a little more dramatic.

May 9, 2013

Slushy Main Street

This shot down Main Street looks like one of those ugly winter days when the pretty snow has turned into that annoying slush that passing cars splash on you and that you drown your shoe in when you step off the curb. It’s cold enough that there are icicles on the store awnings. Christmas decorations are up, but I don’t know for sure when it was taken. I’m going to guess 1964 to 1966. It had to have been taken before April 1967, because that’s when the St. Charles Hotel was torn down.

Business signs

I see signs for Ross Young & Sons clothing, Oklahoma Tire & Supply, Osco Drug, Wards, Al’s Shop, Personal Loans, Zickfield’s Jeweler, Irvin’s, Penney’s and the St. Charles. Zickfield’s is the only one of the businesses that has survived. Here’s a story with lots of Main Street links. You can make the photo larger by clicking on it.