Do Something Extraordinary

Everyday we have opportunities to go above and beyond the call of duty and do something extraordinary. It does not have to be something huge, holding the door for someone with their hands full can make someone's day.  Little kindnesses can make a big difference.  In this season of giving, do something extraordinary, be kind to a stranger, YOU ROCK!

Have A Little Fun Along the Way

Practice Day at Indianapolis 

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

― Hunter S. Thompson, The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967

Why are people so afraid of dying that they decline to have a little fun and live along the way? We are all going to die - I would prefer to die having fun - to dying of boredom or fading away - dying in inches over a long period of years.  I am not one to take silly risks, I don't think I have ever said, "you'all ain't gona believe this!" and proceeded to do something stupid.  Not that I haven't done a few stupid things in my life, but nothing that resulted in permanent injury.  

So yes, I fly on anything that can get off the ground with a reasonable likelihood of returning safely to the ground, I ride bikes in traffic - and I don't always wear a helmet, I have been known to take short hikes on long trails, I have been to the desert, I love boats and the water, I swim in oceans where there are sharks, I eat odd and exotic foods and explore big cities - I will visit that sketchy neighborhood with great food or art.  

One of the programs in my office does development work in troubled places around the world.  At the office Christmas Holiday Party, I met and was talking to the head of security for that program.  I said there are places I would like to see but I won't go to like say Egypt.  He said, "don't worry, there a few places to avoid, but work with someone who knows what they are doing and you will be fine," he was in Egypt two weeks ago.  He did advise against Iraq and Afghanistan at the moment, but beyond that what is holding me back? (Time and money - but remember you can't take either one with you and you are going to die someday.) 

It is easy to fall into the routine of day-to-day life.  I try to change that up, take a different route to or from work, go someplace different for lunch, say Hi! to someone I pass by everyday and really don't know (there are 250 people in my office.)  Do something silly.  Have a lot of fun along the way, someday this will all be over - and who cares if you have the prettiest corpse in the mortuary, you'll be dead just the same.  

Quiche me Once, Quiche me twice

Friday at noon was the office "Holiday Party" and after a couple of hours with an open bar in the conference room, the executive director has the great sense to send us all home early.  So I was home at 4:00.  Having a little extra time, I decided to get creative in the kitchen and make a quiche.  Someone once said, "real men don't eat quiche," what kind of men make them?

Quiche is really a simple egg custard in a pie shell You can put almost any combination of ingredients into it.  This one was onions, mushrooms, sausage and cheddar cheese.

I start with a cheat, a pre-made pie crust.  I buy the rolled up one's in the dairy case. These are easy to work with, quick, and they store reasonably well in the refrigerator.  This is one place where the brand name will frequently be better than the store brand.  I started by taking the rolled crust out of the refrigerator to warm to room temperature, it needs at least 30 minutes.  

Ingredients:
One medium onion diced
8-10 mushrooms cleaned and sliced
6-8 ounces of extra sharp cheddar cheese grated
6-8 ounces of breakfast sausage (bulk)
6-7 eggs
1/4 to 1/2 cup of heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil as needed
Single pie crust
Preheat the oven to 350-375 F

While the crust was warming I diced the onion, mushrooms and grated the cheese. I cut the sausage into slices about 1/4 of an inch thick. In a very heavy fry or saute pan cook the sausage over medium heat- turning as needed to prevent it from getting overly crusty.  Start with the sausage, the grease from it will be used to cook the onions and mushrooms. When the sausage is cooked, remove, turn the heat up slightly and cook the mushrooms. Turn the mushrooms to get a nice brown on both sides.  When done, remove and saute the onions until transparent, a little color is fine, but don't burn them.  You may need to add a little olive oil to the mushrooms and onions as the cook.  A heavy pan really helps, I use a cast iron fry pan. Season the onions and mushrooms with salt and pepper to taste.

Place the pasty in a pie plate, and place in the preheated oven for 5-7 minutes.  The goal here is to partially pre-cook the pastry to minimize ending up with a soggy bottom.

While the pastry is pre-baking, break eggs into a bowl, whisk in the cream, and whisk until smooth.

Remove pastry from the oven, start with a layer of grated cheese, then veggies, then sausage, then repeat with cheese, veggies and sausage.  You should get two of three layers in.  Pour the egg and cream mixture over the layered ingredient in the pie crust.

Bake one hour at 350-375.  When done a knife inserted in the middle will come out clean (no sign of uncooked egg.) Let cool at least 15 minutes, slice and enjoy.

Let leftovers cool (this will take a while, this is a very dense food.)  Refrigerate. I think it is even better the second day, you can serve it cold, or it reheats quickly in the microwave.

So I Won this Award

I was nominated by our good friend Anne Marie over at From My Brain to My Mouth. She does a fun weekly posting, supplemented with how she is really feeling and leaves the best comments - you want Anne Marie to read your blog and leave comments (no trolls here.)  Thank you Anne Marie!  

This award is kind of a pyramid scheme. 

I will stretch the second rule - let me know if you want to be nominated - I suspect many of our mutual friends have already be tapped, but I will suggest:

http://retiredindelaware.blogspot.com/

https://sporeflections.wordpress.com/

http://homersworld.blogspot.com/

http://randyinneb.blogspot.com/ 

The Questions: 

Which literary genre do you prefer - travel narrative - Peter Mayle and beyond 

Why did you start blogging - to talk about travels and adventures - to have a place to share my favorite photos 

Order or Chaos - Order - I am a planner and organizer 

Where would you like to live - France - I love to food, the people, the landscape. 

Starry sky or sunset - sunset - I don't like the darkness of night. 

Better the paper book or rather the e-book -  I love my Kindle. 

What is the writing for - self expression and self understanding 

What do you think about social networks - I have made wonderful friends, connected with old ones, and connected with family - kind of like them. 

TV or not TV - 200 channels and so little worth my time - could live without - but hubby can't.  

Favorite food - cheese 

Favorite music genres - broad and eclectic interest in music.  Strong vocals that can be heard and understood are a common theme.  

Eleven random facts about me: 

1. I am the youngest of four children
2. I was 35 when I finished my BA, I was the first in my family to finish a college degree  
3. My paternal-grandmother was born in London 
4. I have ridden on a Zeppelin 
5. I get bored easily 
6. I love to talk, but prefer to work alone 
7. I have owned 15 cars - my first three were Oldsmobiles  
8. I have an irrational fear of flying birds 
9. A chapter I wrote was published in a college text book this year 
10. I have always wanted to own a boat
11. I own four bicycles

My 11 questions for anyone who wishes to take on the challenge: 

1. Do you prefer to cook or eat out?
2. Which is better, love or lust? 
3. What was the last thing you did that left you with an adrenaline rush? 
4. Quantity of life or quality of life, in other words do you want to live as long as possible, or only as long as life is fun? 
5. When was the last time you finished reading a book?
6. Do you wish a stranger Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? 
7. How many times have you renewed your passport?
8. Fiction or non-fiction?
9. For $100,000,000 would you leave home in the next 15 minutes and never return to the country you currently live in? 
10. Sexy or Kinky?
11. Boxers or Breifs?

Office Gift Exchange

My department partners with a couple of other departments to hold the annual 8th floor holiday party.  Now we are all on the 4th floor, but we were on the 8th floor in the old building, the one we moved out of nearly three years ago..  Traditions die hard, we have been partying for 20 years.

Part of this is an odd gift exchange.  You bring a wrapped gift, frequently a funny gift, and put it in the pile.  Each participant receives a number. Numbers are then drawn out of a bowl.  As each person's number is drawn they come forward and select a gift.  The gifts are opened and shown to the crowd.  The next person whose number is drawn has a choice, they can select a wrapped gift from the pile, or steal a gift from anyone in the room.  If you gift is stolen you can select a new gift from the table or steal from one from someone else.  Gifts can be stolen 3 times.

It can be a scream.  Good gifts get moved around the room.  People sometimes beg to have a gift stolen.

So this year I am taking the book above, a nice little journal of one's dysfunctions.  Lots of demand for this in a room full of lawyers and the people who work with them.

20 non-sexual amazing sensations

I saw this at https://sporeflections.wordpress.com/.  It seemed a fun thing to try. Indeed there are a lot of non-sexual sensations that feel amazing. Here are mine

20 Non-Sexual Amazing Sensations

1. Seeing a place I have dreamed about, for the first time 
2. Stroking beaver fur (the kind with a flat tail and buck teeth.)  
3. Warm sunshine on a cool day 
4. The smell when you enter a room containing 5,000 pounds of beeswax 
5. Landing on the water in a float plane 
6. Wiggling your toes after spinal surgery 
7. The taste of Willett Pot Still Reserve 
8. Watching an Indy car go by at race speed 
9. The world shaking in an earthquake 
10. Walking into the Vatican in Rome 
11. Gazing up into the soaring vaults of Notre Dame in Paris 
12. The smell of sausage and bacon cooking 
13. The sound of a big gator launching into the water 
14. The sensation of a spacecraft launch, you can see it, hear it, feel it, smell it 
15. The magic moment when the plane lifts off the runway and starts to climb 
16. A slow "spin" in a single engine airplane (you never forget your first - full stall, full rudder to one side  and the plane rolls over upside down and then starts to spiral toward the ground.) 
17. A fast downhill ride on a bike, with the wind at your back 
18. Swimming in 85 degree ocean water 
19. Crossing the finish line 
20. Walking out the door on the start of a new adventure  

Top Ten Reasons I like Cities

1. Choices - the variety or restaurants, shopping, entertainment 
2. Transportation - Cities can be the worst if you insist on driving, but are at their best when you use public transit 
3. Anonymity - If 100 people know you and you live in a city of 1,000 people, odds are 1 in 10 the people you bump into will know you, know the same  100 people in a city of 1,000,000 people and only 1 in 10,000 people will know you.
4. Big airports, more flight options, more airlines, more destinations without changing planes  
5. The hum of the city - cities make a sound 
6. Diversity - big cities draw people from all kinds of backgrounds and life experiences 
7. Eating out - forget chain restaurants - how about Turkish tapas tonight?  I know just the place! 
8. Tall buildings, I can't leap them in a single bound, but I like them. 
9. The smell - this may go back to my first grade in Phoenix experience, but I like the smell of cities, especially on a cool damp morning.  
10. Entertainment options, museums, music, theater, there is a lot more to enjoy in LA then there is in North Branch.  

December Health Update

This has been a month of Doctors appointments, an MRI, X-Rays, the Dentist, the Neurosurgeon, and my general practitioner.  Lots of quacks.

The MRI results show no evidence of regrowth on the tumor!  It looks promising enough, that the next follow up MRI is in 6 months, and probably go to once a year after that.  The tumor was very slow growing - we will need to watch it for years.  The X-rays of my spine show that the metal work is stable in place, nicely aligned, right where they left it. All of the screws holding it in place are firmly in place. He said we will quit looking at the erector set, unless I am injured, it isn't going anyplace. This is all very good news.  The neurosurgeon said it looked like I had lost weight, but his scale and my pants disagreed.  I need to work on that.

The Dentist appointment was a follow up to have "some work done." When I made the appointment the plan was to work on the side of one molar and replace a crown on another one.  I was not looking forward to the crown work, among other things my Dentist does not have the technology in-house to make the replacement so it takes two-weeks.  My sister had one made recently in 35 minutes.  The Dentist looked at the crown and said, "I am using some new material and I can fix it rather than replace it."  He continued that he was concerned that the issue was not significant enough to make the insurance company happy with paying for a replacement and that new materials make it possible to fix is.  A secondary issue is that the technology is so new that the insurance company does not have a billing code for it, so we may have to deal with that.  But the bottom line, was a 10 minute job, for $160 vs $1,050 for the crown (my co-pay would have been half.)  And less trauma for me.  The work on the side of the other molar ended up being more extensive than expected, but I survived and was out of the chair in a little over an hour.

The GP's visit, 12 minutes with the doctor took 75 minutes of my time.  And she wondered why I was so tense and recommended that I relax and laugh more.

Bottom line, I am moving much-much better than anytime in the past 18 months. Muscular control in my feet and legs is near normal. Most of the feeling has returned in my feet.  My balance is good, I can stand on one foot, I can stand with my eyes closed and not topple over.  There is some stiffness in my knees, that will lesson as my legs get stronger. I sleep well most nights.  My back muscles spasm when I overuse them, get stressed or fatigued.  The stronger the muscles get the less they spasm. There is some residual tenderness along the incision, that will lesson with work and time. The dead spot in my abs, I am still getting use to,  it hurts when everything around it moves and it does not.  Not much that can change that. Bottom line, I am very-very fortunate.  I had great doctors and nearly everything went as well as possible.  

Great Light

The green house and upper garden wall at Mt Vernon 

Way back in 1977 or 1978, my Grandmother and I visited Mt Vernon.  Neither of us had been to Washington DC, she wanted to go, and I was willing to drive.  I remember the greenhouse and gardens above.  I bought a book in the gift shop in the end of the greenhouse building - it is likely still in the collection in the other house.

December is a pretty time to visit Mt Vernon.  The light is warm, highlighting the brick and red tile roofs.  The shadow and contrast accentuate the lines and shape.

Laying Waste to my Teenage Hangout

I went to half of high school in Michigan and half of high school in Titusville, Florida.  In Michigan we lived in the middle of nowhere, a mile-and-a-half from the nearest paved road.  The nearest shopping mall was 40 miles away.  In Florida we lived in town.  I rode my bike past two shopping malls on my way to school each day. After living in  the middle of nowhere for most of my life, being able to swing by the Mall on the way home from school was a real treat. The Miracle City Mall, so named because Titusville is home to the Kennedy Space Center and the miracle of manned space flight,  had two anchor department stores (JC Penny and Belk Lindsey) and up to 40 shops in between.  For several years it had a great bakery and for a critical period in my life a nice camera shop (I bought my first 35mm SLR there.) There was also a coin shop, Angus Coins, the couple who owned and operated it were Ann and Gus.  I still have coins that I bought there.

Over the years the Miracle City Mall fell into decline.  First Belk Lindsey closed, to be followed by a series of clearance outlets and discount stores, then the stores in the mall started leaving as their leases expired.  The last time I was in the Mall, 3-4 years ago, there were only about 5 open businesses.  Really sad.  When JC Penneys 50 year lease expired the store closed, and with it the Mall.  Plans were announced to replace the Mall, with a "Big Box Town Center" with retail on the ground floor and residential above.

Hence when I was in Titusville over Thanksgiving, (my parents still live there,) I went by and Mall is gone, a pile of rubble and dust on the wind is all that is left of my teenage hangout.

Sad yet exciting.  I look forward to improved shopping options for family and friends who still live in the area, and yet sad, I had some good times in that place.  Only once did I ride a bike down through the middle of the Mall, I got out before the Mall-Cop could catch up with me.  I have never told anyone about that.  It was long before the era of video security cameras (the only video surveillance was on the Flagship Bank ATM on the side entrance.)  I did and got away with it.

I was a "good kid."  Good kids can get away with things, because no one suspects that we might color outside the lines once in a while.  There was the Donkey in the high school, I will have to tell you  about that story someday.  

Test Crashing a Drone in the Living Room

A little peace, beauty and quiet

Iceland, August 2015

Munich, August 2015

Munich, August 2015

Germany, August 2015

It has been a loud and ugly week, really a nasty last three months in many ways.  I have been letting the stress get to me. It is time for some peace, beauty and quiet. So today I am posting some images from last August's adventure to remind me that the world can be a pretty and pleasant place.  There are a lot of good people in the world.

Do one thing fun today.
Do one thing that makes the world a better place for others today.
Pause to take in the adventure around you today.

Generation Gap

Kids today, wearing skinny jeans, short haircuts, obsessed with an I-Phone and the noise they call music.  Other than the I-Phone, it sounds like my father complaining about my generation 40 years ago. At that time my grandmother told me that my father sounded like his father 30 years earlier. She chided him, that when he was a kid she would give him a 25-cents to go get a proper gentleman's haircut, he would get a 10-cent buzz-cut (that she hated) and use the other 15-cents to go to the movies.  I fought over letting my hair grow for six months at a time when I was a teenager - back when I had lots of hair.  It was down to my shoulders when I finished high school.  I was obsessed with stereos, I wore "low-rise" jeans and was seldom seen without a camera or two.

I am actually very comforted by my reaction to young people.  I remind myself that each generation has fashions and interests that are considered weird by older generations.  The action of younger generations and my reaction to it is normal.  I try not to criticize or complain about the differences, they are part of what sets the generations apart, part of the normal generation gap.  I don't try to look like a 20 year old, I have sweaters older than that.

I try to learn from younger people, what are they doing that can make my life easier or more productive.

Big Things, In Tight Places

Sometimes it is difficult to fit big things into tight places,  sometimes a little lube will help, but there are limits on what can go where, some things just don't stretch.  While a little snugness might be nice in the right place, in the wrong place it can be downright painful.  Kind of like trying to squeeze the kitty above through a cat flap, even if it happens, someone is going to get hurt.  (The Lion is in Munich.)  

Earlier this week I went for my 4th or 5th MRI since the first of May.  I am not sure how many, because I can't remember clearly if we did one in the hospital after surgery, if we did I was drugged enough to not care what they did.  One was done on May 1st, that led to another the following week, that confirmed surgery on my spine. I have had two MRIs since I came home.

If you haven't had an MRI let me give you a brief description, you lay in a steel pipe while 50 crazies pound, saw and grind on it for 15-75 minutes. They give you earplugs to reduce the noise, kind of block you in place so you can't move, and slide you in and out. The typical machine is a comfortable fit, for a 90 pound 12 year old, a bit tight for 175 pound adult, and like being squeezed through the cat flap for a larger person.  I am a POS, person of size, I am about 5 ft 10 inches tall and about 270 pounds.  I know, I am fat.  I am especially broad across the shoulders.  The typical MRI machine is a very tight fit for me.  Back in September, I was unexpectedly early for my MRI appointment, that had been made for the "large aperture" machine,  and volunteered to go for the small machine.  I thought they were going to have to lube me up to get me in and out.  The operator said next time, request the big machine, don't do this again.  So the next day when I called to schedule my 90 day follow up, I scheduled the big machine.  I arrive and the operator takes me to the small machine.  He comes up with some BS answer about it giving a better image quality and tried to wedge me in it.  For the first time since this medical odyssey started, I said NO.  No, this is not going to work.  He harrumphed that it would take longer to get the same quality of image in the bigger machine and moved me. It was so much more comfortable, I could unfold my shoulders and move my arms.

Sometimes size does matter, and if it don't fit, you need to move on.

Exploration Tower - Port Canaveral Florida

I went to half of High School in Brevard County, Florida, across the inland waterway from the Kennedy Space Center, and not far from Port Canaveral. Visiting the port and Jetty Park was part of going to the beach.  Back in the 70's the port handled bulk cement, petroleum products and some other cargo.  The first "cruise ships" arrived in the early 80's, the SeaEscape was a converted Greek Ferry, I can remember when it caught fire in port - it never returned to service. It's primary mission was to haul gamblers into international waters to play the slots for the day, on weekends it did overnight runs to Freeport in the Bahamas (I did one of those once.)  It was followed by a larger but old ocean liner in the later 80's and then real cruise ships in the early 2000s, with Disney, Royal Caribbean and Carnival all sailing from the port today.

In the early days, the military dominated the north side of the port, they even excavated a submarine turning basin, then move the subs farther north along the coast.  Today the port handles freight and lots and lots of cruise passengers, being just 45 miles from Orlando International Airport.

The Port Authority decided they needed a visitors center, so they built a 6 story tower, with a fanned arch at the top called the Exploration Tower.   http://www.explorationtower.com/.  Each floor has something different to see, starting with a gift shop and coffee bar on the first floor and then each floor going up talks about the history of the port, port navigation. the space center, and a great observation deck on the top.  It is a neat piece of architecture and offers commanding views of the Port and the active launch pads of the Kennedy Space Center.

Size Matters

Size matters in bank accounts, boats and certain parts of the male anatomy.  Money can't buy happiness - I tried for a couple of years one time - but it is more fun being miserable in a new car on the way to the airport to fly to Paris, then to be miserable in an old junker on your way to Mal-Mart.  Not that I am a size queen, but who wants to play with a little one?

That leaves boats, more specifically cruise ships.  My first cruise was to Alaska in the fall of 2008 on NCL.  The ship was about 1,000 feet long, big state of the art for the era.  It was great fun. In a week on the ship I never ran out of things to see and do.  Later that year we took a cruise the Bahamas on a smaller older ship. It was about 700 feet, amazing what difference 1/3 in size made.  It didn't have the selection of restaurants, shopping and entertainment of the larger ship.  Size matters in how much fun you can have with it. Since then a new generation of larger cruise ships has come out, virtual floating cities - like the one in the picture above that was in Port Canaveral last week.

Next time, I go larger.

Travel Wish List

48 States - 15 Countries and many adventures left to have.  Sometimes I float in and out like sea-weed, sometimes I attach myself to the rocks.  So where is left that I want to go? What is left that I want to do?

• Wyoming and Idaho - then I can check off having been in all 50 states.  
• Spain and Portugal,  and a few places in Europe that need another visit.  
• Japan - I am fascinated by the culture - terrified by the language. 
• Hong Kong - Asia and a major world city - how fascinating and English is common. 
• Take a flight in a hot air balloon - one of the few ways of flying that I have not experienced. 
• A long distance train trip- as in overnight trip on a passenger train.  
• Explore the east coast of the United states in a small boat. From the Chesapeake Bay to Florida would be great. This will take a month or more, and lots of planning.  I don't like camping, so either the boat has to be plush, or hotels need to be planned along the way. 
• A cruise on a mega cruise ship. I have been on two cruises, one on a 700 footer, the other on a 1,000 footer, I want to spend a week on one of the floating cities.  
• Cross the Atlantic on an ocean liner.  My grandmother did it a couple of times.  I am always open to going back to England - London feels like a second home to me.  
• Explore Cuba -
• Greenland - I find the north Atlantic fascinating - part of the allure is it is so difficult to get to.  It is a popular fuel stop for small aircraft crossing the Atlantic - that could be fun.  

So, not a terribly long list. Most of the places I have been, I would gladly go back to.  Not on the list - the middle east including Egypt, there is a lot there I would like to see, but I don't feel comfortable traveling there; Russia - lots to see, but not in the current political climate; Africa - I would enjoy a photo safari, but travel safety and living conditions are problematic for me unless I do one of the all inclusive luxury fly in and out packages (not my travel style.)  

So, where do you want to go and how would you like to travel? 

Birds

A penguin could eat well in Daytona Beach, lots of fresh seafood around.  That area has great shrimp (prawns), scallops, sea bass and red snapper.  Some really good stuff.  I am always surprised to find Cod and Salmon on a menu in Florida as fresh fish, those are cold water fish from hundreds or thousands of miles away.  There are local oysters, not bad fried.  For fresh raw oysters, I prefer colder water.  Pacific coast oysters have more flavor - and are best when on the west coast.

Or a bird could struggle to eat well in Daytona, with these discriminatory signs.

Writing On The Road

The blog waits for no one, I try to write ahead and schedule so that I have something everyday, at the moment I am only 2 days ahead.  If something comes up, I can write and shuffle the schedule. I have been on the road for 8 nights, so I have had to write and post from on the road.   

A lot of the blog pictures are taken with my phone, I carry I nice digital camera and sometimes take two shots, so I have one on the phone.  The pictures from my phone load automatically into blogger.  Ah, that makes it easier.  

I sometimes blog on my phone, it works, but the tiny keyboard has a lot a lot of limitations.  Most often when I travel I use a Samsung Chrome Book.  A Chrome book is a very simple laptop, that runs the Chrome operating system and uses apps.  My Chrome book is an 11 inch, about three years old.  It was cheap - around $200, has good battery life, and connects easily to WiFi (it is useless without a WiFi connection.)  Most of the time, I just shut the cover and go - when I open the cover, it comes to life in seconds.  From a full shut down, it loads updates and starts in less than 20 seconds.  Because it is limited in what it does, it does it does well and runs fast.  I can print from it via google cloud print to my printer at home.  

I kind of beat the crap out of it, and it keeps going and going.  I love it. I will buy another one when this one dies. 

Back Home Again

Daytona Beach, Florida - the Worlds Most Famous Beach

Where is home, is a complicated question for me.  I was born in Michigan, I have lived in five states.  I own homes in two states.  I live in the mid-Atlantic,  but parts of my being are rooted firmly in the south east.  I lived in Florida for almost 20 years.  I grew to love the mossy parts, the swampy parts and the Atlantic coast.  I instantly feel at home.  I am comfortable stopping in local Florida places, despite the fact that I drive a car with northern plates, and have lost most of my southern drawl (if I work at it, I can turn it back on.)

I can read the seasons of the south, the color of the sky, the mood of the waters.  I understand southern food - cooked long and slow - the slower pace of life.  Today I return from the south that is the home to my heart, to the home I currently live in. Where I currently live in Virginia just outside of Washington DC, is a clash of cultures, it is where east coast aggression, meets southern gentility.  Far enough south to feel a little like home, and far enough north to remind me that it is someplace different.