You Know You're in Florida When...

Forgive me for not posting in such a long time. I keep trying to upload some pictures and it just isn't working. And then I get busy... And then I try the pictures again and get frustrated. And then I get busy. You get the idea.

Anyways, tonight was the Edison Light Parade. Apparently it's award-winning as far as light parades go, at least within the US. Who knew that so many things with lights on them also have sirens and loud vrooooommmming sounds!?!? It was kind of noisy, especially at the beginning.

Interesting things to note. You are not in Missouri if you go to a parade outside at night in February and don't need a winter coat or jacket. You are not in Missouri if you go to a light parade outside in February and people are selling (and people are buying) ice cream a long the sidewalks bordering the parade. Sometimes I forget it's "winter" here. Today, for example, started off slightly chilly and then I went on a ten mile bike ride in shorts and a t-shirt in the afternoon, which was warm and enjoyable. Being able to bike and run outside regularly is one of the things I like about living here.

On a run earlier this week, I saw three people drive down a side street in golf carts. I thought that was pretty funny and qualified as an "only in Florida" sighting. In early January I saw an inflatable Santa perched right between two palm trees, as a Christmas lawn decoration. Something about that just seems strange; Santa makes me think of snow, not palm trees. On the way to work yesterday, which is, by the way, about a three minute walk, I got sand in my shoe. When I was doing community work this week (we do one hour of yard work per week to keep campus looking nice), I was raking up pine needles and pulling up weeds....and I found a grapefruit on the ground. It was whole and in decent condition; there weren't any fruit trees nearby. Where did it come from? Only in Florida...

Back to the parade, though. Thomas Edison's summer home is just a few miles from where I live in Fort Myers (or so I'm told). So that's why there's an Edison light parade. One of my favorite parts was a gigantic inflatable light bulb with sunglasses on. From far away it looked kind of like an alien.