Life in Florida

Although I still really miss my beloved Cleveland, I’ve got to grudgingly admit that living in Florida definitely has its advantages. Today, for instance, I spent the whole day at the beach, doing a little bit of incompetent snorkeling (visibility: less than a foot), collecting seashells, finding money underwater (a whole buck! I’ll try not to spend it all in one place), and getting roasted like a Kenny Rogers chicken. Beautiful beaches aside, the Florida life can be fascinating, even at its most apparently mundane. Here are a few photographic high/lowlights from the past week (click to enlarge).

On my way to FGCU (new abbreviation: FU) last weekend, I drove past this doozy of a brushfire. I almost caused several accidents by whipping out the camera and taking a few photos while careening down I-75, thereby adding to the “shitty driver” local flavour:

While mowing my lawn a couple of days ago, I came across this beautiful wild lily buried in The Corner From Hell among the palmetto and air-potatoes (a filthy, pesky exotic invasive – kind of like me!):

On my way to FU yesterday, I had to slam on the brakes, get out of the car, and record the apparently simultaneous demise of two huge toads just outside my driveway. I wasn’t dorky enough to place a quarter on the street next to the squished toads for scale (they really stank), but these bad boys were at least eighteen inches long:

While returning from the beach today, we were treated to a spectacular rainbow. Having learned from last week’s brushfire photo near-accidents, I waited until reaching the Coastal Village parking lot to snap a few pics. Here's my favourite:

What, oh what will the next week hold for us? Hopefully a lightning strike sighting…