Things I miss about FL

There were obvious things I would miss about Florida when I left. My family, my friends. But never having lived outside of the state before, I didn't realize how much I would miss the little, seemingly insignificant things...

• Cuban Sandwiches (made with REAL Cuban bread, baked with a palmetto leaf)
• small critters (lizards, frogs, bugs...) although VA has a lot of small birds, it seems to lack...
• large, crazy lookin' animals (come on. Gators, roseate spoonbills, manatees, sandhill cranes. CRAZY lookin' animals.)
• strong storms that blow through and leave that delicious smell hanging in the so-thick-you-can't-breathe air
• Sitting outside on the back porch of Tim and Terry's... Or Cafe Gardens...or any of our other regular restaurants in the 'ville.
• Satchel's (could be covered by point above. but so good and missed so much, it deserves it's own bullet.)
• Publix
• Beaches within a 1.5 hour drive
• sandy soil
• Gators in the water
• Gators on your plate
• Dillard's shoe department
• The crazy wackos that make FL their home (seriously, I always suspected we tipped the scales with the crazy, but now I know I was right. I think it's the combination of being Southern, the heat, and the swamps. All of which I love.)
• Old orange groves
• eating watermelon, while floating in the lake
• Old Florida souvenir stands
• Spanish moss smothering oaks (THAT'S what is wrong with these trees... they are naked)
• Boiled peanuts (I want some. right now.)
• Floating on the river/springs (preferably with boiled peanuts)
• The culture that has sprung up that is uniquely Florida. It's Southern, but done from the swamps.

Ok I'm going to stop now. I'm getting homesick. I just wanted to take some time to write some of these down so I can properly appreciate them when I go to Florida for a visit next week.

Garden Update

It's been a little over a month since I planted my garden, and it's looking great. I had a little episode with some birds who were determined to carry it away, piece by piece, but they have since moved on to greener pastures (unrelated: the dogs have caught two birds. TWO! I don't think they are falling out of the tree. I mean, they are birds).

My lettuce is doing much better than I expected. I harvested my first (bunch? it's leaf lettuce) on thursday had a salad with it, and still had left overs. I harvested again today and have another quart baggie. I'm still not sure how to clean it effectively. I think I need a salad spinner.

Since I took these pictures, I've added plastic netting to keep the tomatoes in line. they've started overwhelming the peppers and the second row of lettuce (which is between the tomatoes and sunflowers. It doesn't get much sun...).