Florida's 3 H Factor

There is a reason that September is not considered “in season” for Florida…it’s called the 3 H Factor (actually I just made that up…but it should be called the 3 H Factor): Heat, Humidity, and Hurricanes. That pretty much sums up things here. We’re here because we have to be (working on house permitting “issues”) but assume that in the future that September will definitely be a month in which we travel to cooler climes.

However despite the 3H factor and having to deal with frustratingly insipid permit issues we still had a good time (ONLY because of Air Conditioning…frankly I think whoever developed AC should be given the Nobel Peace Prize…I’m thinking its not surprising that the parts of the world most embroiled in violence and warfare are amongst the hottest and the poorest (hence no AC).

We got to go to our favorite tortilleria/carnitas hole-in-the-wall: Clearwater's La Cabana del Tio (which is our favorite not just in Florida..which frankly wouldn’t say all that much…but in the entire US). Stuffed ourselves with tacos and gorditos…yummy…and really good orange soda made in mexico (which means real sugar not corn syrup…so it tastes like the sodas from childhood).

We had a wonderful afternoon with Geri Willingham, a stained glass artist, who is designing a series of windows and transoms for the our “soon-to-be-permitted-we-hope” house in St. Pete. I can’t tell you how excited I am about the designs. They are filled with images native or common to Florida…bird of paradise, sea grapes, gardenias, orange blossoms, egrets, herons, osprey, and turtles (you know we have to turtles for Jerry) even a roseate spoonbill. Those of you who know my love of birding can just imagine how “happy as a clam at high tide” I am.

We drove over to Orlando for the weekend to visit with Jason and Yaric. Jason and I worked in their garage, sorting, repacking, discovering stuff he forgot he had, purging, AND nearly getting heat stroke. In retrospect I’m pretty sure it was 110 inside that garage. So needless to say we didn’t last the afternoon and Jason has Phase2 of the garage cleanup planned so some other time NOT in a 3H month.