Category Archives: Florida Weather

On Writing & Storytelling: To Write or Not to Write – Today’s Pressing Dilemma


Hi, there, Dear Reader. How are you on this Friday, May 26, 2023 – or, if you live on the other side of the International Date Line, Saturday, May 27? As always, I hope you’re as well as your circumstances permit. Here in lovely Lithia, Florida, it’s a warm (78°F/26°C), humid, and sunny day, butContinue reading “On Writing & Storytelling: To Write or Not to Write – Today’s Pressing Dilemma”

On Writing & Storytelling: Time for Another SITREP on The New Story


Hi, there, Dear Reader, and welcome to the Thursday, May 25, 2023, edition of A Certain Point of View, Too. It’s midafternoon here in Lithia, Florida, and it’s hot (84°F/29°C), dark, and rainy. It’s so dark that I just had to turn on the ceiling lamp, and I hear thunder, which of course means weContinue reading “On Writing & Storytelling: Time for Another SITREP on The New Story”

Musings & Thoughts for Tuesday, May 23, 2023, or: Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, It’s Back to Work I Go….


“Summer is only the unfulfilled promise of spring, a charlatan in place of the warm balmy nights I dream of in April. It’s a sad season of life without growth…It has no day.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise Hello there, Dear Reader. It’s late morning here in my corner of Lithia, Florida,Continue reading “Musings & Thoughts for Tuesday, May 23, 2023, or: Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, It’s Back to Work I Go….”

But…It’s Spring! In Florida! (A Haiku for a Chilly May Morning in the Tampa Bay Area)


Chilly northern breeze Sends unexpected shivers To sleepy writer. (It’s 63 degrees Fahrenheit/17 degrees Celsius as I write this at 9:26 AM; it’s going to be hot later, with a forecast high of 88 degrees Fahrenheit/31 degrees Fahrenheit later in the day.)

Musings & Thoughts for Saturday, December 17, 2022, or: Chilly Day in Tampa Bay Area Triggers Memories of Sevilla in 1988


“Fare thee well, and if for ever Still for ever fare thee well.” ― George Gordon Byron Today I woke up to an even chillier – by Florida standards, anyway – morning than I did the day before; the sun had only just risen, so it was still semi-dark outside, with temperatures in the lowContinue reading “Musings & Thoughts for Saturday, December 17, 2022, or: Chilly Day in Tampa Bay Area Triggers Memories of Sevilla in 1988”

Tempus Fugit: Remembering Cheryl T- 50 Years Later, Part the Third


As I stood there, Cheryl gave me a quick hug, then stepped back a few steps, her eyes fixed on me. Then, without a moment’s hesitation, Cheryl straightened up and unbuttoned her pink sweater. Even though it was cold and her blouse was made from the same material as my shirt, she doffed the sweater and held it out to me.

I must have shaken my head or made another gesture of protest because Cheryl looked at me sternly and handed me the sweater.

Knowing that I didn’t speak English fluently but intuiting that I understood body language, Cheryl mimicked someone putting on a sweater. She did this once, twice, and when she saw that I was reluctant to don the sweater – I didn’t want her to get cold, either – she did the Marcel Marceau bit one more time. “It’s cold, sweetie. Please, Alex, put it on,” Cheryl said.

I wanted nothing more in the world but to please her – and see her smile again – so I nodded in assent, took the sweater from her hands, and put it on, clumsily and with some effort because I was cold and nervous. It felt soft, warm, and smelled lightly like lilacs – not exactly a manly scent, to be sure – and it was the nicest thing that had happened to me at Coral Park since the beginning of the school year.