Spring Time In Florida

As you know, if you read this column or are one of my Facebook friends, I'm once again in Florida. I've never been here at this time of year before. It's very unlike a Montana spring. Here there is green grass, blooming flowers, palm trees, and virtually no chance of snow. (We did have torrential rains the other afternoon.) It's pretty nice that way.

My trip getting here was fraught with difficulties. The first of those was the last several miles driving into Billings on the interstate. Dennis mistakenly thought actual spring had come to Montana and opted to drive his corvette. Lo and behold, Mother Nature decided April 6 was the perfect day for a "winter weather" event and started dumping a record amount of wet slushy snow on us. He quickly decided to forego any shopping he'd planned to do after getting me to the airport. He did take me to a restaurant for a decent meal before dropping me at Logan International Airport and skedaddling for home. I'm really glad I had that meal.

Once through TSA screening, I quickly found my gate, a not difficult task. I started hearing rumblings about other flights' incoming planes being diverted to other airports (Bozeman was one such). Eventually the formal announcement was made that our inbound plane had also now been diverted. Of course, I'd already noted there wasn't a plane outside our gate. They thought there'd be an hour delay. I had almost two hours in Denver between flights, so wasn't too concerned.

That hour delay soon became two hours. Offers were made to rebook for the next day. Of course, by then Dennis was long gone. And our daughter's surgery was still on for early Monday morning. Why risk another delay? Then the delay was over three hours. Before then I'd gotten "tentatively" rebooked from Denver to Tampa for Sunday morning, but wouldn't arrive until 3:13 that afternoon. (Why are they so precise with those times? They're never accurate.)

Of course I opted to go ahead to fly to Denver, arriving there an hour after my other flight had gone without me. Once deplaned in Denver, I joined a long, long line of other disgruntled passengers (heard an agent say seven other flights had been cancelled) who'd also missed their connections. While in line, I heard about a couple of red eye flights that would get me to Tampa about the time that "tentative" flight would leave Denver. I managed to snag one of the last seats on the one that would get me there at 10 instead of noon. I had to fly to Newark and then to Tampa. (The other flight went via Washington, DC.) I got to see the famous NYC skyline as well as the Statue of Liberty in the harbor as the sun was rising. And I had a "breakfast pizza" which was a glorified omelet in Newark. It maybe tasted better because I was so hungry by then?

Upon my arrival in Tampa, my airline app told me I was traveling without luggage, so I had to locate the missing baggage office. It was hidden under some stairs in a poorly lit area well past the luggage carousels. I had my luggage stub, so the agent located it arriving that afternoon on my "tentative" flight. They assured me it would be delivered to my daughter's home. It did get there before I needed it (before I went to bed.)

So, Kim picked me up at 10 a.m. Sunday rather than 11 p.m. Saturday. She immediately whisked me off to St. Petersburg to take in the Orchid Festival and plant sale at the Sunken Gardens there. My resistance was low due to a combination of lack of sleep (jet lag?) and sharing my daughters' desire to "own all the plants." We only bought three orchids there, but there were multiple varieties of Hoyas as well as air plants and other succulents. I'm bringing home a new-to-me Hoya (called Sunrise - it will have yellow blossoms and the leaves turn more bronzey with more sunlight) as well as two large unnamed air plants. I'll also have a large phalaenopsis orchid Kim had already purchased for me as a "thank you for coming to care for me" gift. It's supposed to have large white flowers, but was treated to have beautiful blue ones. (Only very rare orchids will produce truly blue flowers.)

Of course, while at the Sunken Gardens, we had to stroll through the grounds and again admire all their botanical specimens. I wrote about our trip there a couple of years ago. It's still gorgeous and well worth a trip - even when you're operating on very little sleep.

Kim's surgery went well, and she is well on her way to full recovery. Walking is good therapy and will speed her way back to full health. So, we're taking walks (strolls? meanders? moseys? shuffles?) through her neighborhood. During these outings, we've come across a sandhill crane family (mom, dad, and newly hatched baby), near her home. Baby cranes are called chicks (duh) or colts. My cousin had asked, so we looked it up. She and I agree colt works well, as the chick is gawky with long gangly legs.

Kim also has a Carolina wren nesting in one of the hanging pothos plants right outside her back door on the lanai. Those chicks are loud in their demands to be fed. The screen door got left open yesterday and mama got into the house. She visited the living room, dining room, and almost got upstairs before we managed to shoo her back outside. Kim's dogs got very excited about their visitor. That door will not be left open again.

I'm going to miss here when I return home next week.