Happy Friday, the last Friday in September, if you can believe it? Time went fast, but slow this month, if you understand that. Irma itself and the immediate aftermath went really slowly for us as we waited, sleep deprived for power to come back on and things to get back to normal. Financial crises solved, (thank you all) and a flu bug that tore through everyone in the house. Some of us are still dealing with that (my son and I for example) the rest are fully recovered. I go to the doctor on Tuesday, so hopefully my ear will get cleared up (if it isn’t by then).
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
Monday Crimson Quillfeather
Tuesday ejoanna
Wednesday Pam from Calif
Thursday art ah zen
Friday FloridaSNMOM
Saturday Gwennedd
Sunday loggersbrat
Technically it’s fall, but we’ve still got 90 degree temperatures and sun, afternoon thunderstorms are dying down though. There’s a chance a tropical system could form off the coast of Florida in the next few days. The good thing about that, it likely won’t be very intense, at least not while it’s here.
Yes, some of the leaves on some of the trees will start to turn, mostly the trees that don’t belong in Florida in the first place. The better acclimated trees won’t start turning until November, maybe, if it’s cold enough. And trees like the Live Oaks won’t change at all.
Live oaks stay green all year, we know it’s fall by the acorns, we know it’s spring by the thick yellow pollen that coats everything. But the live oaks stay green.
We have a dog wood that will lose its leaves, and a purple orchid tree that will as well, and then it will bud every time it starts to warm up, only to lose its leaves again every time it cools off. Poor confused tree. We get flowers on ours several times a year for the same reason. Florida seasons and temperature changes really seem to confuse it. But it’s pretty when it blooms.
Sometimes I miss the crisp fall mornings and the smell of ripe apples on the trees, the frost and signs of the changing seasons. I grew up in Pennsylvania, quite a different climate from the one down here. So this time of year I put pictures of fall up on my computer, to remind me of ‘home’ and to cool me off a bit when I go outside and it’s 95 degrees out there.. in the first week of October. We make pumpkin bread and buy apple cider, and try to think fall and cooler. We also stock up on hot chocolate for those occasional cooler mornings we’ll start to see in November.
Still the view from my window is quite a bit different from this:
But it makes me ‘feel’ a little bit cooler just looking at it and remembering.