Robin's Reports

Christmas in July

Back when I was a kid visiting my grandparents here in Florida, I remember going to the Early Bird Specials and seeing a Christmas tree up in the corner of the room. We would laugh and then Grandma would educate us that they celebrated Christmas in July. Now, I've been a Floridian for several years myself and I have not once come across that same custom here on the East coast. Maybe it was the sales pitch of the day to boost commercialism. Maybe it was a senior citizen-induced holiday since all the grandkids would come visit in the Florida summers. Either way, it's a tradition I had forgotten about until yesterday.

We had another one of those horrible late afternoon thunderstorms. Power flickered multiple times. It rained cats and dogs. And then I heard a noise I was unfamiliar with. I peeked out the windows to see hail! Hail was pelting the porch roof and making little dive bombs into the pool. By the time I thought to get my camera, it was finishing up and so you cannot see any marble-sized balls on the deck. I suppose the decking was so hot that they melted in seconds. So, I had been thinking all day, maybe our summer hail is the reason why they say we have Christmas in July.

Today, we had a high sitting over the center of Florida and so the coastal sea breeze is acting differently. The west coast is getting our storms and we had a perfect day of sunshine and hot temps. We couldn't wait to finish school so we could jump into the pool. The pool has become a big incentive to work diligently.

Anyhow, me and my big guy were out there first. The clarity is perfect across the pool, so I got the idea to take pictures as if I were underwater with him. The trick is to go down with no held breath and hold still for as long as possible. You sink right down and then pose.

We sure did enjoy doing this. He took a couple of me, but I didn't like any of them.

Merry Christmas,

Robin