You may have
noticed the halo around the sun on Tuesday afternoon. Halos (also known as
nimbus, icebows, or glorioles) are produced by the refraction and reflection of
sunlight in ice crystals in cirrus clouds in the troposphere (3-6 miles above
the earth). Halos are not portents of disasters to come. They may be a
predictor of rain, since cirrus clouds sometimes precede a warm front passage,
but in this case, it appears to be simply a result of ice crystals in the
atmosphere. But it's still pretty cool!
While running
some errands yesterday, I parked the car at the drugstore and walked across the
parking lot to Petco to replenish our doggie toothpaste. When I returned 5 minutes later, My Lovely Bride was
being a smarty-pants by sitting on the curb, looking bored and fatigued from
having to wait for me. She evidently thinks she’s a comedian....
This photo
was taken behind our newest country club here in The Villages, Evans Prairie.
It was another gorgeous Florida winter day, about 67F. I sent this photo to our
friend Connie in North Dakota to remind her that she needs to visit down here
more often. The high temp in Fargo is supposed to be 0F today, and the low
tonight - 22F. You know what they say about North Dakota weather? There are four
seasons: Winter, Still Winter, Not Winter, and Almost Winter... So bundle up!
By the way,
you will please note that it is with great joy that I am being nice to
Minnesotans of late. I no longer refer to their lovely state as being part of
The Frozen North, even though it is hard not to remind everyone that the
temperature last night in Embarrass, Minnesota, was a very brisk - 38F, which isn’t really so
bad; that’s only 80 degrees colder than it was in The Villages, but who is
counting? Speaking of Embarrass, their record is - 54F... we actually hope to
make it there this summer, because it’s very close to Ely, MN, and the Boundary
Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a destination on Ty’s Bucket List. Here is a current
webcam shot of Shagawa Lake near Ely... now let’s see, maybe by summer the Coast Guard icebreakers will have cleared a channel through the ice for our kayaks... so we're inviting our friends from The Villages to join us for a picnic at this lake; details to follow.
Lastly, for those who think that The Villages is just a golfing and retirement community... I'll have you know that "We Got Culture!" Last night
was a classical music treat; we enjoyed a superb concert by The Villages Philharmonic
Orchestra performing two Mozart pieces and Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony,
Eroica. Many of the musicians hailed from Italy and France, as well as all across the US. We just happened to be
sitting next to a couple of former sailors who now had an RV like ours, so we had a lot to talk about before the concert began. They
were remarking how wonderful the weather was here. I asked them where they were from, and
coincidentally, they moved here from Minneapolis, Minnesota...
Neat photos, Ty. That halo is really pretty. I lived in Florida for years and never saw anything like this....
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photo of the Orchestra..
That's great you brush your dogs teeth...