Bring Me The Warming

7/13/12 0710 Hilton Suites Boca Raton Fla. The Florida sky show is right up there with the great sky shows I’ve had the privilege to witness. The long low ragged lines of palms and other travel agent dreams, or the I can’t believe it blue of the water, white of the coral sand beaches, or even better the sea of grasses, undulating in waves pushed by a weather front. And overhead, super cells of almost black water filled clouds rimmed by shades of grey and piled up thousands of feet high, making mountains well intentioned ground bound attempts at such heights. And it’s all moving, evanescing, roiling, dogs and old bearded men, witches and warlocks, ducks and your mama’s apron, a whole cast of characters fit for any story you might be populating. And then the rain; marching across the tame lake, sweeping across the grass, tossing the palm trees into a dance. Roaring in like a great beast, as animate as you can imagine. And then there’s the famous calm, and the golden amazement lighting up the departing clouds. On a par with the distant perfection of clouds over the Himal on the road from Leh up the Markha Valley in Ladakh, on our way to the meadow in Niemeling, where we met the first snow of the new winter although it was still summer . Or the perfect puffs of Navajo clouds against the impossibly clear view and over the perfectly executed variously green puffs of brush on the red hills as you cross the border from Texas into New Mexico. Sky shows; who needs fireworks? On the other hand, we did stop in Pennsylvania and spent some money in a strange little house converted into a store; three rooms crammed floor to ceiling full of fireworks. With improbable names like Firedragon and Unicorn Silver. Bypassed the one’s called Enforcer and Controlled Mayhem; Fuji wouldn’t like that even if Joaquin would. Bought a bunch of sparklers, but turned out not to be the good kind, the ones with the dangerously hot wires that need to be put immediately into a bucket of water. They did have a huge versions; might as well try a box. Against all my long dormant 13 year old desires, I didn’t go for the cherry bombs or 88 salutes. Staggered back to the car with the let’s face it probably illegal haul, and so I was ready at that magical hour of dusk, when the fireflies (yes, young Californians; they really do have fireflies on the East Coast, and yes you can catch them and put them in a bottle, if you have air holes and promise to let them go before you go to bed) The sparklers were kinda disappointing; they may be safer, but they don’t look like Tinkerbell flying around that castle like I wanted them too. But the kids were forgiving. And the big sparklers were a great success. The roman candles were perfect for the side yard. And the 8 to 12 dollar Unicorn Silvers and Celestial Extravaganzas really lit up the sky and sent Fuji into the nearest sheltering arms. And so now the glorious fourth is over, and the House of Representatives has voted once again to repeal the Affordable Care Act ( Oh, I so hope they have miscalculated on this one, and that enough people have benefitted already as to give the test of reality to their Big Lie), and here I am again in beautiful Ratsmouth Florida, pursuing the dream of a new medical school. Yes, and global warming takes on a new life of its own when you are two hours late because of unprecedented storm patterns sweeping the entire East Coast. Or with news of droughts and fires here, and floods and tornadoes there. Who needs to go traveling to look for sensational weather; it’s coming to your hometown sooner than you think. Waterfront property? Just sit tight, it’s on its way. Well, the boats are in the water, and the fish are waiting. Went out with Ms Amalia and Steve and had a beautiful fishless time, but the time before that…well, another story. Aloha