A Certain Point of View, Too

Chilly Florida Mornings: A Writer’s Perspective

—

by

Alex Diaz-Granados
in , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It does get chilly in Florida…it was cold in the Tampa Bay area when I snapped this shot in December of 2022.

 Late Morning, Thursday, January 23, 2025, Miami, Florida

Hi all.

It’s a gray, cloud-shrouded, and downright chilly morning here in South Florida. As I write this, the temperature is a brisk 57°F (12°C). Stepping outside earlier, I was greeted by leaden skies that seemed to say, “Don’t even think about it”—even though no rain was on the horizon.

The view from the living room at my “old place” in the Granite State, shortly before I moved out. No snow yet, but the temperatures were beginning to dip into the 40s then.

It’s funny, a few months ago in Madison, New Hampshire, 57°F (12°C) was practically tropical compared to the usual Arctic blast. But now that I’m back in my hometown, I’ve wandered into an unexpected ice age. Perhaps I was beginning to morph into a true New Englander, considering what we Floridians call “chilly” is laughable up north.

If I were still at my temporary home on Huttwil Drive, I’d be layering up like an onion — gloves included! — against a positively frigid 13°F (-11°C). I would be cooped up indoors, cozying up with a big mug of Swiss Miss cocoa and a blueberry muffin, trying to summon some cheer under similarly gray blankets of cloud cover.

(I also would be grabbing my hiking poles and hat with earflaps to go outside for a brief walk on Huttwil Drive, although I’d need to keep an eye out for a possible dusting of snow. I miss my daily walks along the tree-lined unpaved road…but I don’t miss the snow or below-freezing temperatures.)

Today, I’ve got grand plans to dive headfirst into the second scene for Reunion: Coda’s 24th chapter and make up for yesterday’s productivity black hole. Hump Day was more like Slump Day—everything went awry! I spent so much time wrestling with my blog post that it didn’t go live until after 1 PM. From there, my carefully crafted afternoon plan crumbled faster than a cookie in a toddler’s hand. Try as I might, I just couldn’t immerse myself in the world of Jim, Maddie, Mark, and the gang from Reunion: Coda.

But hey, that’s the writer’s life. Sometimes you’re the windshield, and sometimes you’re the bug. Here’s to hoping today I’ll be the windshield and the words will flow like a river of inspiration! Cheers to a day of stellar scribbling and caffeinated creativity!