Signs of Spring are showing here in Florida, but I’m still freezing. The cold weather makes my bones hurt. It makes everything hurt, actually. I can’t complain, though. This is Florida and most of the time the weather is so mild it feels like I’m living in my own version of the Truman Show (cue the nature soundtrack, soft breeze, clandestine meetings and constant derailment…). On the clear nights, when I chance a walk around the ‘hood with the lil’ monster I can hear an entire orchestra of windchimes and smell (more like inhale) loads of jasmine, while a waning crescent moon smiles down at me like a cheshire cat.

The homes in my neighborhood have the best trees and flowering bushes. My rental is all sparse grass (weeds) and sandy dirt, mind you. But, just a block over there’s magnolia, climbing roses of every color, an obscene amount of azaleas, citrus, fig, japanese plum, pecan, eucalyptus… and this is just on one block. I’ve walked this little circle so many times, I know each smell and crunch of debris underfoot by heart (mind the wonky sidewalk and the low hanging branches – SPIDERS!).

In a month or so there will be GIANT dragonflies and the butterflies here can grow to be a pretty good size too. I tried to get a video of one with my phone but he was too quick at the exact moment that I was too slow. There are tiny lizards along the path. They scuttle back and forth (sometimes across your toes!). They always seem to pause and bob their head a little when I notice them. And, I’ll pretend they are giving a hat-tip how do you do… you know… in that Wind in the Willows sort of way.

I tend to be a bit agoraphobic, if I’m being honest (which I also tend to be). But, I enjoy walking alone (mostly with Mac, though) and just seeing, hearing, noticing and – when I’m feeling especially coordinated – taking pictures of the little vignettes that I come across. I plan on taking more strolls this year as Spring turns into Summer. I even forced myself to get some new weather appropriate duds this past weekend (I am notoriously overdressed in the warmer months). I thought about some capris but let’s not get carried away. First it’s an ankle, then a knee and before you know it… you’re all blind from the whitest white girl you could ever imagine (gives me the shivers just typing about it).