At 4:00 am CDT, this was the sight that greeted us as we came closer to the previously forbidden area, similar to Area 51, where secret projects came to life. Unfortunately for Six Flags Great America, it was built in the middle of the park, so it's really not so secret.
This is the place we were looking for, and it was much easier to photograph in daylight. Luckily, we did have the proper credentials for authorized entry; what we found inside was incredible.
Our transportation vehicle, it shows up so much better in the daylight.
The commandant of the X-Flight Cadets addresses the crowd, after they came marching in from both directions down the midway.
Complete with jumpsuits and aviator sunglasses, they look totally prepared to put X-Flight through its paces.
Hank Salemi, Park President of Six Flags Great America, received clearance from the control tower to release the cadets for the inaugural flight.
It all started with a bang, complete with confetti cannons and fireworks. As the smoke cleared, the train ascended the lift hill.
The inaugural flyers performed a barrel roll high above the stage.
The mandatory artsy fisheye shot of the first official train on X-Flight.
Maintaining their stoic decorum, the cadets silently fly through the south end of the ride. Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage to come early next week, we talked with many interesting people of all ages and heard amazing things, but for now we have to get our rest. The day started so early.
14 Mayıs 2012 Pazartesi
Scott and Carol Present: X-Flight Rules The Sky At Six Flags Great America
To contact us Click HERE
Riptide Racing at Lake Compounce
To contact us Click HERE
© Lake Compounce
Not wasting any time in starting to develop the new land the park has gained by moving an adjacent roadway, Lake Compounce is putting their finishing touches on a brand new water slide experience.
Named Riptide Racer, the new attraction is a tangle of four mat racing slides. Instead of a more traditional gentle sloping decent from the 40 foot tall starting tower, riders will encounter an enclosed twisting start. Once through that section things open up and a final plunge takes riders toward the finish line.
The new ride was recently tested by the park, and it looks like everyone involved had a great time!
The park expects to be able to add many more attractions in the large space gained by moving the road, which they foot the bill for. The water area at Lake Compounce was extremely popular when I visited, and expanding it will also make for an even better park experience. I can't wait to see what future rides and slides are added!
Weekly Rewind 5.12.12
To contact us Click HERE
WhiteWater West has created China's first Family Python water slide for Chime Long Waterpark, and released the photo at left. Look at how amazing the lighting is inside the tubes!
Holiday World had a preview this week of Mammoth, the park's new hydromagnetic water coaster. The ride looks like a lot of fun! Perfect compliment to the park's other rides and slides.
Yeeeoow! Skyrush at Hersheypark is testing, and boy does this one fly around the course. Haven't seen a ride run this quick since Intimidator 305. Cannot wait to ride!
California's Great America released another set of photos teasing the construction work they have going on. It will be fun to watch the new wooden coaster go up this Summer!
Herschend Family Entertainment has filed a trademark for a new coaster named Outlaw. Sounds perfect for Silver Dollar City, right?
Elitch Gardens is hard at work on their new water slide, named Tube Top. The ride features a bright yellow and pink color scheme, sure to grab as much attention as the slide's name!
Sadly there really weren't many more details released as part of Universal Studios Japan's official Wizarding World announcement. The park has a page for the expansion, but not much in the way of specifics!
Feel free to help out the Coney Island B&B Carousel with votes that would possibly help it win grant money. You can vote one time each day!
Raging Waters, a part of the Morey's Piers family of parks, will debut their new River Adventure on Memorial Day weekend. The highly renovated lazy river now features all new scenery, rockwork, and additional theming.
X-Flight Giveaway Winner
To contact us Click HERE
With our X-Flight goodie giveaway now over, we're happy to announce our winner. Our question was how many track pieces make up the entire length of X-Flight at Six Flags Great America.
Our winner was Mike C., who guessed a total of 71 track pieces. The correct answer was 85 track pieces. Mike C. will receive a selection of X-Flight related items, including carrying bag, water bottle, and luggage tag.
Thanks to all who entered!
Something Happening... Subtropical Storm Forming?
To contact us Click HERE
Seems so .... stay tuned. Most of the models take it out to sea though there may be some strong surf and high winds along the beaches of Northern Florida.
Red Circle. 60% chances of forming.
Already high surf advisories far from the storm ...
COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
421 AM EST MON NOV 7 2011
FLZ047-054-059-064-141-147-090000-
/O.EXT.KMLB.SU.Y.0003.000000T0000Z-111109T0000Z/
/O.EXT.KMLB.RP.S.0007.000000T0000Z-111109T0000Z/
SOUTHERN BREVARD-INDIAN RIVER-ST. LUCIE-MARTIN-COASTAL VOLUSIA-
NORTHERN BREVARD-
421 AM EST MON NOV 7 2011
...HIGH SURF ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST TUESDAY...
...RIP CURRENT RISK NOW IN EFFECT THROUGH TUESDAY EVENING...
* TIMING...ELEVATED NORTHEAST WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO COMBINE WITH
A LARGE SWELL TO GENERATE DANGEROUS SURF CONDITIONS THROUGH TUESDAY.
* IMPACTS...LARGE BREAKING WAVES OF 6 TO 8 FEET ALONG THE COAST
WILL CREATE VERY ROUGH AND DANGEROUS SURF TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY AT
THE ATLANTIC COAST BEACHES. DOMINANT LONG PERIOD SWELLS WILL
ALSO KEEP A HIGH RISK FOR RIP CURRENTS. MODERATE BEACH EROSION
WILL BE POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY NEAR THE TIMES OF HIGH TIDE
THROUGH TUESDAY.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A HIGH SURF ADVISORY MEANS THAT HIGH SURF WILL AFFECT BEACHES IN
THE ADVISORY AREA...PRODUCING LARGE AND DANGEROUS SURF CONDITIONS...
RIP CURRENTS AND LOCALIZED BEACH EROSION. EVEN EXPERIENCED SWIMMERS
CAN BE KNOCKED DOWN BY THE FORCE OF LARGE BREAKING WAVES. IT IS
RECOMMENDED TO NOT ENTER SURF...UNTIL THE LARGE OCEAN SWELLS
SUBSIDE LATER THIS WEEK.
As they say... "developing story, stay tuned"
Next name on the list:
Sean
Besos Bobbi
Seems so .... stay tuned. Most of the models take it out to sea though there may be some strong surf and high winds along the beaches of Northern Florida.
Red Circle. 60% chances of forming.
Already high surf advisories far from the storm ...
COASTAL HAZARD MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
421 AM EST MON NOV 7 2011
FLZ047-054-059-064-141-147-090000-
/O.EXT.KMLB.SU.Y.0003.000000T0000Z-111109T0000Z/
/O.EXT.KMLB.RP.S.0007.000000T0000Z-111109T0000Z/
SOUTHERN BREVARD-INDIAN RIVER-ST. LUCIE-MARTIN-COASTAL VOLUSIA-
NORTHERN BREVARD-
421 AM EST MON NOV 7 2011
...HIGH SURF ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST TUESDAY...
...RIP CURRENT RISK NOW IN EFFECT THROUGH TUESDAY EVENING...
* TIMING...ELEVATED NORTHEAST WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO COMBINE WITH
A LARGE SWELL TO GENERATE DANGEROUS SURF CONDITIONS THROUGH TUESDAY.
* IMPACTS...LARGE BREAKING WAVES OF 6 TO 8 FEET ALONG THE COAST
WILL CREATE VERY ROUGH AND DANGEROUS SURF TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY AT
THE ATLANTIC COAST BEACHES. DOMINANT LONG PERIOD SWELLS WILL
ALSO KEEP A HIGH RISK FOR RIP CURRENTS. MODERATE BEACH EROSION
WILL BE POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY NEAR THE TIMES OF HIGH TIDE
THROUGH TUESDAY.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A HIGH SURF ADVISORY MEANS THAT HIGH SURF WILL AFFECT BEACHES IN
THE ADVISORY AREA...PRODUCING LARGE AND DANGEROUS SURF CONDITIONS...
RIP CURRENTS AND LOCALIZED BEACH EROSION. EVEN EXPERIENCED SWIMMERS
CAN BE KNOCKED DOWN BY THE FORCE OF LARGE BREAKING WAVES. IT IS
RECOMMENDED TO NOT ENTER SURF...UNTIL THE LARGE OCEAN SWELLS
SUBSIDE LATER THIS WEEK.
As they say... "developing story, stay tuned"
Next name on the list:
Sean
Besos Bobbi
Coming together Gale Center vs Subtropical?
To contact us Click HERE
Really coming together here and forming a nice roll. Will be interesting to see what they do as it seems to be coming together here.
Loop:
http://tropic.ssec.wisc.edu/real-time/mimic-tpw/natl/anim/latest72hrs.gif
Track:
Also...some great info on www.flhurricane.com on a system in the Mediterranean ....which is rare but then this has been a rare year weather wise. Good info on how rare this is ...worth reading.
Picture posted from their site:
Keep watching...
Sweet Tropical Dreams
Bobbi
Really coming together here and forming a nice roll. Will be interesting to see what they do as it seems to be coming together here.
Loop:
http://tropic.ssec.wisc.edu/real-time/mimic-tpw/natl/anim/latest72hrs.gif
Track:
Also...some great info on www.flhurricane.com on a system in the Mediterranean ....which is rare but then this has been a rare year weather wise. Good info on how rare this is ...worth reading.
Picture posted from their site:
Keep watching...
Sweet Tropical Dreams
Bobbi
Subtropical Storm Sean ... Going Tropical
To contact us Click HERE
Sean is currently in transition between Subtropical and Tropical. At the moment he is like half a storm. Tropical on the top, Subtropical on the bottom. Like one of those machines that allows you to have both chocolate and vanilla in the same cone. Mind you he is a tropical dessert that is very far away from land out in the Atlantic between the Bahamas and Bermuda.
It seems from the way the discussion is written at the Hurricane Center than they will update on the next advisory IF he has finished the transition.
He is currently moving erratically or just slowly bobbing about. Official movement is 2 mph North.
The big question is how much this affects Bermuda.
Secondary bonus for beach goers and surfers who like big waves is high surf on the beaches of Florida.
It's really a moot point if it's tropical or subtropical. It's a complicated bar a storm has to reach depending on the wind field and how much it works it's way down to the surface and other discussion that is not that important. If you are a ship at sea you need to know it's out there no matter if its tropical or subtropical. Somehow, being "Tropical" makes it more "real" to us watching at home on our computers or reading advisories on our cellphones I suppose.
Have a beautiful, breezy day if you live in South Florida. The winds are dying down, but the palm fronds are still moving about making it a picture perfect day in the Tropics.
Besos Bobbi
Sean is currently in transition between Subtropical and Tropical. At the moment he is like half a storm. Tropical on the top, Subtropical on the bottom. Like one of those machines that allows you to have both chocolate and vanilla in the same cone. Mind you he is a tropical dessert that is very far away from land out in the Atlantic between the Bahamas and Bermuda.
It seems from the way the discussion is written at the Hurricane Center than they will update on the next advisory IF he has finished the transition.
He is currently moving erratically or just slowly bobbing about. Official movement is 2 mph North.
The big question is how much this affects Bermuda.
Secondary bonus for beach goers and surfers who like big waves is high surf on the beaches of Florida.
It's really a moot point if it's tropical or subtropical. It's a complicated bar a storm has to reach depending on the wind field and how much it works it's way down to the surface and other discussion that is not that important. If you are a ship at sea you need to know it's out there no matter if its tropical or subtropical. Somehow, being "Tropical" makes it more "real" to us watching at home on our computers or reading advisories on our cellphones I suppose.
Have a beautiful, breezy day if you live in South Florida. The winds are dying down, but the palm fronds are still moving about making it a picture perfect day in the Tropics.
Besos Bobbi
50/50 chance in the Atlantic for Development.. maybe...
To contact us Click HERE
Why do they do that? 50% I mean no one says 54% chance do they? It's always a nice round number. I'm thinking there's probably a 57% chance of some Heinz 57 sort of storm forming out there. Not really a storm.. not really prime time. Maybe it will bluster up enough rain and wind to get some late season designation but in any other season it would just be a lot of wind and rain out in the central atlantic.
In one of those moods... it won't stop raining and my plans for the morning included a long walk on Hollywood Boulevard up to the circle, around the circle and back again. The way it's raining I wouldn't make it to the end of the block without getting soaked. Nonstop flow of training rain coming in from the East with strong winds and small breaks of maybe 4 or 5 minutes at the most between them. To my north it's dry, to my south it's dry. Just training in one by one over my house.
Oh well, it's not the end of the world. I can walk later or I can dance later. I just want to see some blue skies and warm Florida weather before I have to go up north for a bit :( where it is gray all day and freezing cold and I have to put clothes on.. you know sweaters over shirts (ew) and coats and socks... I'm a tee shirt sort of girl and prefer them soft and flimsy not made for cold weather.
Either way the NHC is closely watching this system with one eye open and one eye closed. You can almost hear the yawn at the end of the discussion:
SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH A LOW PRESSURE
SYSTEM LOCATED ABOUT 550 MILES NORTHEAST OF THE NORTHEASTERN
LEEWARD ISLANDS HAS BECOME SLIGHTLY BETTER ORGANIZED DURING THE
LAST SEVERAL HOURS.
Listening to old Eagles tunes interspersed with Karen Carpenter (which is something I never do... usually would prefer lying on a bed of nails than listening to old Carpenters songs...) and looking for the right song to fit my mind.
Wrong Hollywood, but a good song....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVcXuKxNwks&feature=related
(classic version)
With regard to the tropics the last week or so there hasn't been much to write or tweet about. Here in Hollywood, Florida helping out one of my kids and enjoying life but.... thinking if I was in North Miami Beach I'd be able to walk on the canal this morning.
Losing all the highs and lows ... ain't it funny how the feeling goes.....desperado... song stuck in my head while I am trying to write something deeply topical about the tropics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDNtqy0zjJA&feature=related <--- sigh
So, being the Miami girl I am... I am going to put on some Gloria Estefan music and dance inside in the AC and maybe go take a tribal fusion bellydance class later or go find some sun on the boulevard or the boardwalk.... shake it up... come on baby shake your body do that conga...
Gloria dancing on the beach in Miami -----> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH_u0IzEMsY&feature=related
Besos Bobbi <---- me saying chow for now :P
Ps... Fins game at 1... be there or be a Jets fan!
Why do they do that? 50% I mean no one says 54% chance do they? It's always a nice round number. I'm thinking there's probably a 57% chance of some Heinz 57 sort of storm forming out there. Not really a storm.. not really prime time. Maybe it will bluster up enough rain and wind to get some late season designation but in any other season it would just be a lot of wind and rain out in the central atlantic.
In one of those moods... it won't stop raining and my plans for the morning included a long walk on Hollywood Boulevard up to the circle, around the circle and back again. The way it's raining I wouldn't make it to the end of the block without getting soaked. Nonstop flow of training rain coming in from the East with strong winds and small breaks of maybe 4 or 5 minutes at the most between them. To my north it's dry, to my south it's dry. Just training in one by one over my house.
Oh well, it's not the end of the world. I can walk later or I can dance later. I just want to see some blue skies and warm Florida weather before I have to go up north for a bit :( where it is gray all day and freezing cold and I have to put clothes on.. you know sweaters over shirts (ew) and coats and socks... I'm a tee shirt sort of girl and prefer them soft and flimsy not made for cold weather.
Either way the NHC is closely watching this system with one eye open and one eye closed. You can almost hear the yawn at the end of the discussion:
SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED WITH A LOW PRESSURE
SYSTEM LOCATED ABOUT 550 MILES NORTHEAST OF THE NORTHEASTERN
LEEWARD ISLANDS HAS BECOME SLIGHTLY BETTER ORGANIZED DURING THE
LAST SEVERAL HOURS.
Listening to old Eagles tunes interspersed with Karen Carpenter (which is something I never do... usually would prefer lying on a bed of nails than listening to old Carpenters songs...) and looking for the right song to fit my mind.
Wrong Hollywood, but a good song....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVcXuKxNwks&feature=related
(classic version)
With regard to the tropics the last week or so there hasn't been much to write or tweet about. Here in Hollywood, Florida helping out one of my kids and enjoying life but.... thinking if I was in North Miami Beach I'd be able to walk on the canal this morning.
Losing all the highs and lows ... ain't it funny how the feeling goes.....desperado... song stuck in my head while I am trying to write something deeply topical about the tropics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDNtqy0zjJA&feature=related <--- sigh
So, being the Miami girl I am... I am going to put on some Gloria Estefan music and dance inside in the AC and maybe go take a tribal fusion bellydance class later or go find some sun on the boulevard or the boardwalk.... shake it up... come on baby shake your body do that conga...
Gloria dancing on the beach in Miami -----> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH_u0IzEMsY&feature=related
Besos Bobbi <---- me saying chow for now :P
Ps... Fins game at 1... be there or be a Jets fan!
Hurricane Hibernation
To contact us Click HERE
So, it appears that I've been on hiatus for the last month. I know, several people have left me several little "here's waldo" sort of notes yet the truth is I didn't realize a month had passed until one of my son's email asking me about it. Fine, I'm back and posting.
Been a long few months and the truth is it was a long, boring hurricane season. I didn't really want to say that ...or maybe I did, but I would have to look back through the season and except for a few short, brief highlights... it was a really boring, non-event hurricane season with pumped up numbers with questionable storms that might never have been upgraded in the days of Bob Sheets.
All the no-neck storms traced the same pre-programmed patterns around a weird high pressure system and curved out to sea with the exception of the wayward Irene (of course, it had to be Irene that would not behave) that crawled onto the beach at Coney Island bringing flooding rains to New Jersey and upstate New York. People died. People died once again from inland flooding, not from the landfall at Coney Island where all the locals hung out waiting for the storm that never really came.
Much can be said on Irene. Much I won't say here. Many would call it an outright miracle, one minute it was there and one minute the bottom half of the storm was gone, the bottom half when the eye was making landfall. It was like someone, something, somewhere hit that storm with man in the moon gamma rays and it simply disappeared transferring it's energy into rain far away from the center.
I have friends who think it was a meteorological miracle from all the people praying for New York City to be spared. I have friends who think it was weather modification. I have friends who think it was simply a tropical storm going extra tropical at a fortuitous time for the people of the five boroughs of New York. Perhaps the ghost of Jimmy Walker looking down over New York and sending his Bowery Boys angels down to make sure nothing happened to his beautiful city. Who knows? Witches in Manhattan turning the storm into nothing but rain bored with turning the lights purple on Christmas Eve?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7164GuyrEQE <-- Beau James, great movie
New York is blessed. That is the truth. And, whoever we owe the Irene miracle to I'll say a thank you! The one storm that got away, off the beaten track of the multiple, meager, barely there tropical storms that traced each other's tracks around the Bermuda High. Not a lot of diversity there... sort of like North Carolina.
Note, after spending time in North Carolina I understand the meaning of the world "hibernation" as all you want to do on grey days is hide under the cover and read or stare up at the sky waiting for it to turn blue again. And, sometimes it does..like today which is a beautiful day but wayyy toooo cold, but I'll be back in Miami soon soaking up the sun and staring at the surf so am going to try to enjoy the cold and my new Victoria Secret's coat that I bought but haven't worn yet. Yup, that's my coat but I bought the black version of it...goes better with my boots. Who wears beige?
As for the 2011 season that has been touted as "busy" it was busy with weak, barely there storms that defied the models which constantly brought them further west than they actually tracked. Either the long term models need some work or they need to learn how to communicate better with their subjects.
Of course, there was Don, Lee, Harvey and Arlene who all got away and formed to the west of the Atlantic storms. Sort of like the 3 Stooges on runaway with a hot blonde actress :) But, I'm not here to talk about Larry, Moe and Curly though you owe Larry for this post I think :)
I'm a Miami girl and for Miami, except for a great day at the beach watching a very weak Irene it was a quiet, boring season for me when I was busy with other things anyway this fall as I watched babies being born, palm trees swaying in the breeze and other things that went bump in the tropical night. Love watching Turkey Hawks from Moe's patio, circling high in the sky while sipping my morning latte.
Winter is upon us, however it's been a crooked sort of winter so far. Cold out west where the El Nino blew up more of a storm in California than any tropical entity blew up in Florida ...go figure. It is just beginning to snow in places like Chicago and New England, real snow not those flakes that flutter down like white butterflies in the night and that melt upon sunrise. There is the briefest reference, more of a whisper in the 15 day forecast of possible snow on January 1st which I would LOVE to see before heading south but doubt that will happen.
I don't do well in the cold. I don't really understand how people up north do it or why they do it. Even the trees hibernate like the dogwood outside my window that looks more like a tumbleweed in the desert. I have to wear long sleeves and socks, and I really hate wearing socks. I'm not into layers. I'm just not. One of the only things I like about winter up north is that I can see the sky, through the brown, barren trees the sky as it peaks it's way through the pines and I can watch the sun hit the church steeple in the morning and turn it electric white and in the evening I can almost see the sunset and that almost makes it all worth it.
I do understand how people love the seasons... to me they should be like Paris. You visit Paris in the Spring and you go to Vermont in the Fall and the rest of the 50 weeks of the year you sip your Cafe Con Leche while looking down from the balcony on the Intracoastal Waterway and watch the sailboats and yachts moving about and you watch the clouds and the ocean and feel the tropical breeze ruffle your hair.
I'm sort of out of place in winter the way the white bow in her hair here seems out of place and why is she singing about Ipanema and the beach when she looks like she's in a snow lodge in Colorado in the early 1960s? Hey, she may not see now...but if he keeps watching, trust me one day she will see :) Great song. Some of the most beautiful songs were written in the 60s in all genres from Rock N Roll to Brazilian Jazz to Music Themes. Hey it's not Limp Bizkit, but it works for me today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzw1xEcQg4Y&feature=related
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_from_Ipanema
Listen...I appreciate the weather everywhere, though I enjoy winter in Iowa and New York more than I do North Carolina. I'm not a seasons girl, I'm a tropical girl but if you are going to have winter and cold weather you ought to have snow... you know?
So, I'm back. No more hibernating.
Kim Jong is dead in Korea. Finally... now what?
Well, further South in Australia ... storm, starved storm trackers are watching..
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html
There has been the possibility of a small, midget like cyclone forming off the North coast of Australia around Christmas Day if the models are right. They call them midget, it's a meteorological term not a political statement. All eyes are on Christmas sales and Iowa where Mitt Romney is trying to wrestle the nomination away from Newt and Ron Paul and it sort of feels like the 3 Stooges with Bachman a long for the lone female part in this political movie that has had way too many pre-release, publicity debates.
I'm back. I'll be posting again. Nice little hiatus I started back when Mercury went retrograde and I was busy with other things hiding from writing this and other things I should be working on (never end a sentence with a preposition) and well...will do so.
I owe a special thanks to my friend, my "master" lol because what's a muse without a master? Thank you because you really do understand and know me the way I need to be understood in a way that makes me giggle and stare and come to life in any weather. Merci Boucoup or as they say in Sri Lanka...Stuh-tee ;) Still smiling, trying to get the song Shadow of Your Smile out of my mind so that I can get on to doing the things I need to do today.
The real question of the day is whether the Pope lives long enough to get to Cuba, before Castro dies or after? Heard the Pope is weak, I wish him well and I wish Cuba a Castro free era and that's my "wish" for the day.
Enjoy the scenes from Bell, Book and Candle...a great movie to watch anytime but especially this time of year and especially if you love New York and I do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF82k06DXSA
Besos Bobbi
Ps Thanks for the music and inpsiration... and thanks Levi for the nudge and thank you God for the beautiful blue sky today and my new warm coat and for the melodies dancing in my head.
So, it appears that I've been on hiatus for the last month. I know, several people have left me several little "here's waldo" sort of notes yet the truth is I didn't realize a month had passed until one of my son's email asking me about it. Fine, I'm back and posting.
Been a long few months and the truth is it was a long, boring hurricane season. I didn't really want to say that ...or maybe I did, but I would have to look back through the season and except for a few short, brief highlights... it was a really boring, non-event hurricane season with pumped up numbers with questionable storms that might never have been upgraded in the days of Bob Sheets.
All the no-neck storms traced the same pre-programmed patterns around a weird high pressure system and curved out to sea with the exception of the wayward Irene (of course, it had to be Irene that would not behave) that crawled onto the beach at Coney Island bringing flooding rains to New Jersey and upstate New York. People died. People died once again from inland flooding, not from the landfall at Coney Island where all the locals hung out waiting for the storm that never really came.
Much can be said on Irene. Much I won't say here. Many would call it an outright miracle, one minute it was there and one minute the bottom half of the storm was gone, the bottom half when the eye was making landfall. It was like someone, something, somewhere hit that storm with man in the moon gamma rays and it simply disappeared transferring it's energy into rain far away from the center.
I have friends who think it was a meteorological miracle from all the people praying for New York City to be spared. I have friends who think it was weather modification. I have friends who think it was simply a tropical storm going extra tropical at a fortuitous time for the people of the five boroughs of New York. Perhaps the ghost of Jimmy Walker looking down over New York and sending his Bowery Boys angels down to make sure nothing happened to his beautiful city. Who knows? Witches in Manhattan turning the storm into nothing but rain bored with turning the lights purple on Christmas Eve?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7164GuyrEQE <-- Beau James, great movie
New York is blessed. That is the truth. And, whoever we owe the Irene miracle to I'll say a thank you! The one storm that got away, off the beaten track of the multiple, meager, barely there tropical storms that traced each other's tracks around the Bermuda High. Not a lot of diversity there... sort of like North Carolina.
Note, after spending time in North Carolina I understand the meaning of the world "hibernation" as all you want to do on grey days is hide under the cover and read or stare up at the sky waiting for it to turn blue again. And, sometimes it does..like today which is a beautiful day but wayyy toooo cold, but I'll be back in Miami soon soaking up the sun and staring at the surf so am going to try to enjoy the cold and my new Victoria Secret's coat that I bought but haven't worn yet. Yup, that's my coat but I bought the black version of it...goes better with my boots. Who wears beige?
As for the 2011 season that has been touted as "busy" it was busy with weak, barely there storms that defied the models which constantly brought them further west than they actually tracked. Either the long term models need some work or they need to learn how to communicate better with their subjects.
Of course, there was Don, Lee, Harvey and Arlene who all got away and formed to the west of the Atlantic storms. Sort of like the 3 Stooges on runaway with a hot blonde actress :) But, I'm not here to talk about Larry, Moe and Curly though you owe Larry for this post I think :)
I'm a Miami girl and for Miami, except for a great day at the beach watching a very weak Irene it was a quiet, boring season for me when I was busy with other things anyway this fall as I watched babies being born, palm trees swaying in the breeze and other things that went bump in the tropical night. Love watching Turkey Hawks from Moe's patio, circling high in the sky while sipping my morning latte.
Winter is upon us, however it's been a crooked sort of winter so far. Cold out west where the El Nino blew up more of a storm in California than any tropical entity blew up in Florida ...go figure. It is just beginning to snow in places like Chicago and New England, real snow not those flakes that flutter down like white butterflies in the night and that melt upon sunrise. There is the briefest reference, more of a whisper in the 15 day forecast of possible snow on January 1st which I would LOVE to see before heading south but doubt that will happen.
I don't do well in the cold. I don't really understand how people up north do it or why they do it. Even the trees hibernate like the dogwood outside my window that looks more like a tumbleweed in the desert. I have to wear long sleeves and socks, and I really hate wearing socks. I'm not into layers. I'm just not. One of the only things I like about winter up north is that I can see the sky, through the brown, barren trees the sky as it peaks it's way through the pines and I can watch the sun hit the church steeple in the morning and turn it electric white and in the evening I can almost see the sunset and that almost makes it all worth it.
I do understand how people love the seasons... to me they should be like Paris. You visit Paris in the Spring and you go to Vermont in the Fall and the rest of the 50 weeks of the year you sip your Cafe Con Leche while looking down from the balcony on the Intracoastal Waterway and watch the sailboats and yachts moving about and you watch the clouds and the ocean and feel the tropical breeze ruffle your hair.
I'm sort of out of place in winter the way the white bow in her hair here seems out of place and why is she singing about Ipanema and the beach when she looks like she's in a snow lodge in Colorado in the early 1960s? Hey, she may not see now...but if he keeps watching, trust me one day she will see :) Great song. Some of the most beautiful songs were written in the 60s in all genres from Rock N Roll to Brazilian Jazz to Music Themes. Hey it's not Limp Bizkit, but it works for me today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzw1xEcQg4Y&feature=related
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_from_Ipanema
Listen...I appreciate the weather everywhere, though I enjoy winter in Iowa and New York more than I do North Carolina. I'm not a seasons girl, I'm a tropical girl but if you are going to have winter and cold weather you ought to have snow... you know?
So, I'm back. No more hibernating.
Kim Jong is dead in Korea. Finally... now what?
Well, further South in Australia ... storm, starved storm trackers are watching..
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html
There has been the possibility of a small, midget like cyclone forming off the North coast of Australia around Christmas Day if the models are right. They call them midget, it's a meteorological term not a political statement. All eyes are on Christmas sales and Iowa where Mitt Romney is trying to wrestle the nomination away from Newt and Ron Paul and it sort of feels like the 3 Stooges with Bachman a long for the lone female part in this political movie that has had way too many pre-release, publicity debates.
I'm back. I'll be posting again. Nice little hiatus I started back when Mercury went retrograde and I was busy with other things hiding from writing this and other things I should be working on (never end a sentence with a preposition) and well...will do so.
I owe a special thanks to my friend, my "master" lol because what's a muse without a master? Thank you because you really do understand and know me the way I need to be understood in a way that makes me giggle and stare and come to life in any weather. Merci Boucoup or as they say in Sri Lanka...Stuh-tee ;) Still smiling, trying to get the song Shadow of Your Smile out of my mind so that I can get on to doing the things I need to do today.
The real question of the day is whether the Pope lives long enough to get to Cuba, before Castro dies or after? Heard the Pope is weak, I wish him well and I wish Cuba a Castro free era and that's my "wish" for the day.
Enjoy the scenes from Bell, Book and Candle...a great movie to watch anytime but especially this time of year and especially if you love New York and I do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF82k06DXSA
Besos Bobbi
Ps Thanks for the music and inpsiration... and thanks Levi for the nudge and thank you God for the beautiful blue sky today and my new warm coat and for the melodies dancing in my head.
No Snow For Christmas? Blame it on Kids Asking Santa for an iPad
To contact us Click HERE
Used to be, little kids scampered up Santa's lap at the Mall to whisper in his ear to ask him to make it snow on Christmas. Not anymore, this year the most asked for present was not to build a snowman or have a snow fight Christmas morning, but to wake up to an ipad...or an iTouch. Who needs snow when you can go on your iPad and pretend/play with snow games?
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/snow-fight/id476295219?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/santa-express-for-kids-letters/id476216502?mt=8
Yup, the kids have gone cyber and they no longer want or need the joy of a White Christmas. Seems all those kids standing in line are asking Santa for an iPad.
If you want the real white stuff and it's not forecast in your 4/5ths of the country it might be a long drive to satisfy your appetite for the cold white stuff.
Some links out there that confirm my analysis of the problem:
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-18/tech/30413868_1_ipad-christmas-gifts-nielsen-survey
http://techland.time.com/2011/11/18/your-kid-probably-wants-an-ipad-for-christmas/
http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?threadid=
And, by the way...this cannot just be blamed on Christmas, Chanukah bares part of the blame here too as somewhere in those 8 presents this year kids will get many will be i related.
Chanukah apps abound...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWRccGjvPzY
You want to play dreidel? Enjoy...
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/igevalt-for-ipad-dreidel-simulator/id485410634?mt=8
So...if you want snow this holiday season and you don't live in Colorado or New England you might want to turn the lights down, light a fire, take out your iPad and play make believe snowfall or pretend you in Pantagonia enjoying snow ;)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/patagonia-winter-2011-snow/id471927963?mt=8
Hey...anyone wants to give me an iPad this holiday season you know where I live ;)
What a world we live in, who would think that I would want the same thing as an 8 year old?
Hmmnnnnnn
Happy Holidays. May you find everything you want to buy for others ... be a Layaway Angel or donate to a toy bank for children whose parents can't afford to buy them toys let alone iPads and I hope you are surrounded by love from the people you love the most. And, if you can't be home for Christmas... hope you have an iPad or Tablet to talk to the one you love the most.
Besos Bobbi
Ps... I really wanted snow :(
Enjoy some music, sure you can download it on itunes...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To0vDizpeRA
Used to be, little kids scampered up Santa's lap at the Mall to whisper in his ear to ask him to make it snow on Christmas. Not anymore, this year the most asked for present was not to build a snowman or have a snow fight Christmas morning, but to wake up to an ipad...or an iTouch. Who needs snow when you can go on your iPad and pretend/play with snow games?
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/snow-fight/id476295219?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/santa-express-for-kids-letters/id476216502?mt=8
Yup, the kids have gone cyber and they no longer want or need the joy of a White Christmas. Seems all those kids standing in line are asking Santa for an iPad.
If you want the real white stuff and it's not forecast in your 4/5ths of the country it might be a long drive to satisfy your appetite for the cold white stuff.
Some links out there that confirm my analysis of the problem:
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-18/tech/30413868_1_ipad-christmas-gifts-nielsen-survey
http://techland.time.com/2011/11/18/your-kid-probably-wants-an-ipad-for-christmas/
http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?threadid=
And, by the way...this cannot just be blamed on Christmas, Chanukah bares part of the blame here too as somewhere in those 8 presents this year kids will get many will be i related.
Chanukah apps abound...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWRccGjvPzY
You want to play dreidel? Enjoy...
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/igevalt-for-ipad-dreidel-simulator/id485410634?mt=8
So...if you want snow this holiday season and you don't live in Colorado or New England you might want to turn the lights down, light a fire, take out your iPad and play make believe snowfall or pretend you in Pantagonia enjoying snow ;)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/patagonia-winter-2011-snow/id471927963?mt=8
Hey...anyone wants to give me an iPad this holiday season you know where I live ;)
What a world we live in, who would think that I would want the same thing as an 8 year old?
Hmmnnnnnn
Happy Holidays. May you find everything you want to buy for others ... be a Layaway Angel or donate to a toy bank for children whose parents can't afford to buy them toys let alone iPads and I hope you are surrounded by love from the people you love the most. And, if you can't be home for Christmas... hope you have an iPad or Tablet to talk to the one you love the most.
Besos Bobbi
Ps... I really wanted snow :(
Enjoy some music, sure you can download it on itunes...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To0vDizpeRA
I Dream of Snow...and a Good Dolphin Draft Day
To contact us Click HERE
Sitting here in North Carolina and headed back home to Miami very soon and thinking how somehow it does not feel fair for a place to be 28 degrees and for it not to snow.
Bone Suckin Sauce yes...bone cold weather...no. But, bone cold is what we have across most of the East coast this morning.
Sitting here texting with my brother in Miami who is waiting for the cold temps and am thinking it somehow is not fair to go home to the sun and have it as cold as it is up north.
People in Miami have, by the way, stopped talking on how we crushed the Jets playoff hopes and moved on to the weather again.
We always talk weather in Miami, we don't get a lot of up north weather but we talk about it a lot. We long for those days when we can take out our boots, our jackets and dress up like Wintertime Barbie Dolls in leather boots with five inch heels and layers that will come off as the temperatures climb around noon. I remember a day when I was in school and I wore a "maxie skirt" over a "mini skirt" and a fun jacket over a tee shirt finished off with really sexy boots. I began unbuttoning the "maxie skirt" button by button until I took it off completely, ditched the coat and ended up walking home barefoot. So much for a Miami cold front....
Sometimes, we get longer cold spells.
This is the first real cold front they have had up in Raleigh this winter. A little flirting with the 30s but mostly mild. The coldest day I have had this season so far was a Friday night in North Miami Beach, went for a walk with my best friend and daughter and a cold front came through, winds gusting the way they do in Miami the night the front blows through and I was freezing. Thinking this Friday night on the canal is going to feel the same way though the front will have backed off a bit.
The Dolphin really didn't crush the Jets season, the Jets crushed it themselves when they did not secure a place for themselves. That's the reality of life... either you put the game away and tie up the playoffs or you hope for three teams to win and you to beat your division rivals on the last day of the regular season.
Football is a metaphor for life and you either get it or you sit wondering what happened to your life and your play off dreams.
You settle for a penny and a penny is all you get. You set your sights low and accept mediocre and you end up hoping next year will be better than this year... and yet it won't be unless you do something to change things. As a Dolphin fan I've been there hoping two teams will lose and we would beat the next to the best team in football on the last Sunday of the season. Rarely works...by the way. That's not how winners play, winners play to win every game, every week, all year.
You settle for a washed up quarterback rather than trading up to grab a winner or settle for a player who never really made it with some crummy team when they were drafted in the first or second round two or three years ago.
Football is like life.. you got to know when you have a gem in front of you and guard it with your life and not let it get away from you. You have to tell em you love em... you have to play to win, not watch from across the room wishing you could go for who you really want rather than dancing alone.
There are no second chances sometimes, it's not baseball... no double headers and only so many games and then the season is over.
Take a chance, go for the right player, the player you really, really want and believe in him and spend the big money and hope like hell he can connect with his receivers and the fans start showing up again and the money keeps rolling in. Doesn't have to be a quarterback, can be a good receiver, coach.... kicker. Watched Arizona win the other day with one of our cast off kickers. We let a lot of good players get away over the years, it's time for that to stop. Personally, I think we need to get rid of Jeff Ireland. How are we ever going to get something different, with the same person picking the flowers for dinner? Hmmmnnn??? I mean seriously? The man would come in last in the Iowa Caucus and has more baggage than a wagon train but we are letting him pick our new coach? Makes no sense...
So... as I listen to Sting sing "I dream of rain" I am really dreaming of snow... wishing I could see snow... at least once this year. Got weddings to go to and parties to attend and unfortunately Iowa and New York are not on my dance card the next few months... what's a Miami girl to do when snow is not on her dance card?
I don't know the answer, except to keep on dreaming, keep on wishing and hoping the Fins pick a good coach who knows how to make the most of his team and who refuses to settle for mediocrity and is given a wallet that is wide enough to buy the best players available.
Speaking of someone who knows where the sun shines the sweetest... congratulations to Lebron and his high school girlfriend and the mother of his children... seems they are getting married. Not sure what took him so long, but well he's a Capricorn and I guess he wanted to be really, really secure before he popped the question ;)
Sweet Tropical Dreams Miamians... gonna dream on snow for a few months until the tropical season returns again.
Bobbi
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/sfl-miami-heat-lebron-james-s010112,0,5271814.story
In a Sting sort of mood today.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-yHU8T61cA
Sitting here in North Carolina and headed back home to Miami very soon and thinking how somehow it does not feel fair for a place to be 28 degrees and for it not to snow.
Bone Suckin Sauce yes...bone cold weather...no. But, bone cold is what we have across most of the East coast this morning.
Sitting here texting with my brother in Miami who is waiting for the cold temps and am thinking it somehow is not fair to go home to the sun and have it as cold as it is up north.
People in Miami have, by the way, stopped talking on how we crushed the Jets playoff hopes and moved on to the weather again.
We always talk weather in Miami, we don't get a lot of up north weather but we talk about it a lot. We long for those days when we can take out our boots, our jackets and dress up like Wintertime Barbie Dolls in leather boots with five inch heels and layers that will come off as the temperatures climb around noon. I remember a day when I was in school and I wore a "maxie skirt" over a "mini skirt" and a fun jacket over a tee shirt finished off with really sexy boots. I began unbuttoning the "maxie skirt" button by button until I took it off completely, ditched the coat and ended up walking home barefoot. So much for a Miami cold front....
Sometimes, we get longer cold spells.
This is the first real cold front they have had up in Raleigh this winter. A little flirting with the 30s but mostly mild. The coldest day I have had this season so far was a Friday night in North Miami Beach, went for a walk with my best friend and daughter and a cold front came through, winds gusting the way they do in Miami the night the front blows through and I was freezing. Thinking this Friday night on the canal is going to feel the same way though the front will have backed off a bit.
The Dolphin really didn't crush the Jets season, the Jets crushed it themselves when they did not secure a place for themselves. That's the reality of life... either you put the game away and tie up the playoffs or you hope for three teams to win and you to beat your division rivals on the last day of the regular season.
Football is a metaphor for life and you either get it or you sit wondering what happened to your life and your play off dreams.
You settle for a penny and a penny is all you get. You set your sights low and accept mediocre and you end up hoping next year will be better than this year... and yet it won't be unless you do something to change things. As a Dolphin fan I've been there hoping two teams will lose and we would beat the next to the best team in football on the last Sunday of the season. Rarely works...by the way. That's not how winners play, winners play to win every game, every week, all year.
You settle for a washed up quarterback rather than trading up to grab a winner or settle for a player who never really made it with some crummy team when they were drafted in the first or second round two or three years ago.
Football is like life.. you got to know when you have a gem in front of you and guard it with your life and not let it get away from you. You have to tell em you love em... you have to play to win, not watch from across the room wishing you could go for who you really want rather than dancing alone.
There are no second chances sometimes, it's not baseball... no double headers and only so many games and then the season is over.
Take a chance, go for the right player, the player you really, really want and believe in him and spend the big money and hope like hell he can connect with his receivers and the fans start showing up again and the money keeps rolling in. Doesn't have to be a quarterback, can be a good receiver, coach.... kicker. Watched Arizona win the other day with one of our cast off kickers. We let a lot of good players get away over the years, it's time for that to stop. Personally, I think we need to get rid of Jeff Ireland. How are we ever going to get something different, with the same person picking the flowers for dinner? Hmmmnnn??? I mean seriously? The man would come in last in the Iowa Caucus and has more baggage than a wagon train but we are letting him pick our new coach? Makes no sense...
So... as I listen to Sting sing "I dream of rain" I am really dreaming of snow... wishing I could see snow... at least once this year. Got weddings to go to and parties to attend and unfortunately Iowa and New York are not on my dance card the next few months... what's a Miami girl to do when snow is not on her dance card?
I don't know the answer, except to keep on dreaming, keep on wishing and hoping the Fins pick a good coach who knows how to make the most of his team and who refuses to settle for mediocrity and is given a wallet that is wide enough to buy the best players available.
Speaking of someone who knows where the sun shines the sweetest... congratulations to Lebron and his high school girlfriend and the mother of his children... seems they are getting married. Not sure what took him so long, but well he's a Capricorn and I guess he wanted to be really, really secure before he popped the question ;)
Sweet Tropical Dreams Miamians... gonna dream on snow for a few months until the tropical season returns again.
Bobbi
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/sfl-miami-heat-lebron-james-s010112,0,5271814.story
In a Sting sort of mood today.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-yHU8T61cA
Where's Snow? Ice Storm in NW???
To contact us Click HERE
Seems that SNOW is missing from a good part of the nation this week. It IS snowing mind you, but not where it usually snows.
It's snowing in Seattle where it rarely snows. As anyone who was a baby boomer knows.... it rains in that part of the woods, actually....it rains a lot.
But, this week even the University was closed down...even the library at the university was closed down which is about as rare as it gets.
http://alert.wsu.edu/ <---Bottom line for students... a SNOW DAY
Seattle-Tacoma Airport is closed, no flights in or out and they are hunkering down for a possible ice problem on top of the snow problem.
Here's a good blog about the truth about snow in Seattle:
http://pauldorpat.com/seattle-now-then-archive/a-history-of-seattle-snows-exposed/
Actually............there are Ice Warnings for Seattle this morning and an Ice Event in Seattle is rarer than a Snow Event.
http://www.king5.com/news/local/In-snows-wake-region-for-overnight-freeze-high-winds-137630728.html
Here on the East Coast it's been a strange winter. After last year's ongoing blizzards this year there have been barely a few flakes falling that you most likely missed if you did not take out the garbage in the middle of the night or did not park yourself on the porch waiting to see snow fall. Flakes, small, barely there flakes that did not stick and did not cover the ground.
That strange area between the Mid Atlantic and the South has yet to really see a good snow fall unless it's in the ski resorts where they are pumping snow and keeping the ground covered in white. Neither North Carolina or Virginia have really seen snow, unless you count a few flakes falling in the western part of the state where the mountains reach high into the cold winter sky.
It's all a matter of perspective I suppose.
Seattle got snow. No one should be sleepless in Seattle, they should be either freaking about how to get to work or making snowmen or snow girls.
In the South, people are enjoying sunny blue skies and wearing their flip flops. I took out my white, furry boots the other day expecting it to be cold enough to wear them and threw them back into the closet for when I am up north next. Yes, I did wear a sweater but I did take it off about an hour later after the last "really strong cold front" pushed through into Miami.
I keep checking the 10 day forecast for North Carolina and New York... barely a flurry and no forecaster is putting his reputation on the line forecasting that event long range.
Meanwhile, the snow in Seattle will move east and Chicago will look more like Chicago than it did the other day when people were out jogging around Lake Michigan in shorts.
We have crossed that bar of January 15th and well into winter and yet... nothing much has changed... we are still waiting for snow to show on our side of the country.
As for me... I've traveled a lot for family events and enjoyed a beautiful day away from everyone and everyone thing at Rock Reef Resort in Key Largo, truly a pristine paradise for those who want to get away from it all and breathe and stare out at the ever changing watery landscape.
Watched a strange, quiet sunset, stared at the water for a long, long time and was cold enough at midnight to put on a sweater when I went out to look at the moon. Trees were down from the wild storm that passed through Key Largo and took the top off of the Manderlay's new oceanfront dining area. More on that later... but today's post is not about severe weather in the Keys but snow missing in action in my neck of the woods and the other part of the woods is buried in snow.
So....where ever you are Snow.. (probably hiding in Alaska with Superman in his Icy Fortress not ready to deal with prime time emotions).... I miss you. Miss you a lot.
If I'm gonna be up north and it's gonna be this cold... I want to look snow in the face, eye to eye and feel it wrap itself around me, taste snow on my tongue and dance with the storm.
Still waiting... still holding on.... and wearing layers and memories to keep me warm.
Sweet Dreams of Snow... Bobbi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUQ4-ZuEfwE&feature=related
Seems that SNOW is missing from a good part of the nation this week. It IS snowing mind you, but not where it usually snows.
It's snowing in Seattle where it rarely snows. As anyone who was a baby boomer knows.... it rains in that part of the woods, actually....it rains a lot.
But, this week even the University was closed down...even the library at the university was closed down which is about as rare as it gets.
http://alert.wsu.edu/ <---Bottom line for students... a SNOW DAY
Seattle-Tacoma Airport is closed, no flights in or out and they are hunkering down for a possible ice problem on top of the snow problem.
Here's a good blog about the truth about snow in Seattle:
http://pauldorpat.com/seattle-now-then-archive/a-history-of-seattle-snows-exposed/
Actually............there are Ice Warnings for Seattle this morning and an Ice Event in Seattle is rarer than a Snow Event.
http://www.king5.com/news/local/In-snows-wake-region-for-overnight-freeze-high-winds-137630728.html
Here on the East Coast it's been a strange winter. After last year's ongoing blizzards this year there have been barely a few flakes falling that you most likely missed if you did not take out the garbage in the middle of the night or did not park yourself on the porch waiting to see snow fall. Flakes, small, barely there flakes that did not stick and did not cover the ground.
That strange area between the Mid Atlantic and the South has yet to really see a good snow fall unless it's in the ski resorts where they are pumping snow and keeping the ground covered in white. Neither North Carolina or Virginia have really seen snow, unless you count a few flakes falling in the western part of the state where the mountains reach high into the cold winter sky.
It's all a matter of perspective I suppose.
Seattle got snow. No one should be sleepless in Seattle, they should be either freaking about how to get to work or making snowmen or snow girls.
In the South, people are enjoying sunny blue skies and wearing their flip flops. I took out my white, furry boots the other day expecting it to be cold enough to wear them and threw them back into the closet for when I am up north next. Yes, I did wear a sweater but I did take it off about an hour later after the last "really strong cold front" pushed through into Miami.
I keep checking the 10 day forecast for North Carolina and New York... barely a flurry and no forecaster is putting his reputation on the line forecasting that event long range.
Meanwhile, the snow in Seattle will move east and Chicago will look more like Chicago than it did the other day when people were out jogging around Lake Michigan in shorts.
We have crossed that bar of January 15th and well into winter and yet... nothing much has changed... we are still waiting for snow to show on our side of the country.
As for me... I've traveled a lot for family events and enjoyed a beautiful day away from everyone and everyone thing at Rock Reef Resort in Key Largo, truly a pristine paradise for those who want to get away from it all and breathe and stare out at the ever changing watery landscape.
Watched a strange, quiet sunset, stared at the water for a long, long time and was cold enough at midnight to put on a sweater when I went out to look at the moon. Trees were down from the wild storm that passed through Key Largo and took the top off of the Manderlay's new oceanfront dining area. More on that later... but today's post is not about severe weather in the Keys but snow missing in action in my neck of the woods and the other part of the woods is buried in snow.
So....where ever you are Snow.. (probably hiding in Alaska with Superman in his Icy Fortress not ready to deal with prime time emotions).... I miss you. Miss you a lot.
If I'm gonna be up north and it's gonna be this cold... I want to look snow in the face, eye to eye and feel it wrap itself around me, taste snow on my tongue and dance with the storm.
Still waiting... still holding on.... and wearing layers and memories to keep me warm.
Sweet Dreams of Snow... Bobbi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUQ4-ZuEfwE&feature=related
Night of the Tornadoes... Real Life NOT the Movie
To contact us Click HERE
Word went out last night in the storm chase community that it was going to be a bad night for the South. The worst kind of night actually, as the twisters would swarm through the south under the cloak of darkness and that usually wreaks the most havoc when it comes to loss of life. Last night lived up to it's publicity as there are already two deaths reported in Jefferson County, Alabama.
The news reports this morning from the areas north of Birmingham, small beautiful little towns that have been partially flattened will be heartbreaking. Maplesville, Alabama was under the gun last night or rather very early this morning. Nothing sweet about this mess and nothing unusual in that severe weather is one of the biggest threats we face every day somewhere, anywhere in this country.
This is the region that is going to be reporting damages this morning... Maplesville, not just a name in the news but a place on the map:
We worry on Alien Spaceships and the nuclear bomb in the hand of rogue nations and nasty nations and we worry on politics and primaries but the reality is any given moment on Planet Earth someone is under the gun and their life is about to be ripped apart by fast, forming, sudden, severe weather. This morning it's Alabama, last night it was Arkansas and tomorrow it may come to a town near you.
Atlanta is protected by a cold wedge of air that is delivering gray, rainy, cold weather. No snow, some fog, a lot of SAD for people who like to wake up and see the sunshine. Further up the road in Raleigh the sunrise was punctuated briefly by a touch of mauve before it defaulted back to dreary, gray skies and a foggy commute. Why anyone would want to live in cities this far inland, the sky hidden by a wall of green pine trees and rarely ever getting snow is beyond me. Then again, I'm a beach girl.... Miami Beach, Long Beach, Santa Monica Beach, any beach will do...
Note at the top part of the cold front there is snow, ice... and the bottom part that is dragging it's tale across the south there is rain and severe weather forming. Tornadoes are a natural occurrence, they happen when the warm, hot air from the south moves up and punches into the cold, dry air that is descending and especially in a "warm" winter like this one when a cold front marches across the Deep South.... and you get slam, bam and thank you maam ... Personally, I'd rather have a hurricane or a blizzard than a tornado, but that's me.
You can follow the developing news out of this region on the following links, I may add more later as more news develops but at least the home folk in Atlanta feel they are safe from any damage due to their "cold wedge" however as the temperatures rise and the cold front moves on someone, somewhere is going to get an early taste of what would normally be strong, Spring storms as we are still deep in winter.
To these towns the Super Bowl is no longer a big exciting news story and the Florida Primary is not really relevant. What is relevant is finding the remains of their lives that are now scattered across the landscape.
http://www.abc3340.com/
http://www.myfoxal.com/
As for me....going to take a shower and try and figure out what to do while hiding from the fog and cold air and wondering...strangely, did Stephanie Abrams color coordinate today with the severe weather or was that just a coincidence or was she trying to stay warm this cold, gray morning in Atlanta.
Alexander City... you are under the gun next for severe weather...
Welcome winter.... would have preferred a small Southern Snow Storm not this Spring like mess which makes me wonder....is spring coming early this year?
Besos Bobbi
Ps... if I lived in the Atlanta Metro or anywhere in Georgia I'd keep watching the weather. It seems to me the NWS is hedging a bit on their protective wedge...
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/text.php?pil=ATLAFDFFC
"HOWEVER IF
THE WEDGE BREAKS AND DEWPOINTS ARE ABLE TO RECOVER...WE COULD SEE
ISOLATED SEVERE OVER NORTHWEST AND PARTS OF CENTRAL GA EARLY THIS
MORNING. CLIMO WOULD SUGGEST THAT THE WEDGE WILL HOLD BUT WITH THIS
UNCERTAINTY WILL KEEP ISOLATED SEVERE IN THE HWO FOR THIS MORNING.
AS FOR LATER THIS MORNING AND AFTERNOON."
Hmmmmnnnn looks like a BIG "IF" to me... time will tell and that is why we call it a forecast...
Word went out last night in the storm chase community that it was going to be a bad night for the South. The worst kind of night actually, as the twisters would swarm through the south under the cloak of darkness and that usually wreaks the most havoc when it comes to loss of life. Last night lived up to it's publicity as there are already two deaths reported in Jefferson County, Alabama.
The news reports this morning from the areas north of Birmingham, small beautiful little towns that have been partially flattened will be heartbreaking. Maplesville, Alabama was under the gun last night or rather very early this morning. Nothing sweet about this mess and nothing unusual in that severe weather is one of the biggest threats we face every day somewhere, anywhere in this country.
This is the region that is going to be reporting damages this morning... Maplesville, not just a name in the news but a place on the map:
We worry on Alien Spaceships and the nuclear bomb in the hand of rogue nations and nasty nations and we worry on politics and primaries but the reality is any given moment on Planet Earth someone is under the gun and their life is about to be ripped apart by fast, forming, sudden, severe weather. This morning it's Alabama, last night it was Arkansas and tomorrow it may come to a town near you.
Atlanta is protected by a cold wedge of air that is delivering gray, rainy, cold weather. No snow, some fog, a lot of SAD for people who like to wake up and see the sunshine. Further up the road in Raleigh the sunrise was punctuated briefly by a touch of mauve before it defaulted back to dreary, gray skies and a foggy commute. Why anyone would want to live in cities this far inland, the sky hidden by a wall of green pine trees and rarely ever getting snow is beyond me. Then again, I'm a beach girl.... Miami Beach, Long Beach, Santa Monica Beach, any beach will do...
Note at the top part of the cold front there is snow, ice... and the bottom part that is dragging it's tale across the south there is rain and severe weather forming. Tornadoes are a natural occurrence, they happen when the warm, hot air from the south moves up and punches into the cold, dry air that is descending and especially in a "warm" winter like this one when a cold front marches across the Deep South.... and you get slam, bam and thank you maam ... Personally, I'd rather have a hurricane or a blizzard than a tornado, but that's me.
You can follow the developing news out of this region on the following links, I may add more later as more news develops but at least the home folk in Atlanta feel they are safe from any damage due to their "cold wedge" however as the temperatures rise and the cold front moves on someone, somewhere is going to get an early taste of what would normally be strong, Spring storms as we are still deep in winter.
To these towns the Super Bowl is no longer a big exciting news story and the Florida Primary is not really relevant. What is relevant is finding the remains of their lives that are now scattered across the landscape.
http://www.abc3340.com/
http://www.myfoxal.com/
As for me....going to take a shower and try and figure out what to do while hiding from the fog and cold air and wondering...strangely, did Stephanie Abrams color coordinate today with the severe weather or was that just a coincidence or was she trying to stay warm this cold, gray morning in Atlanta.
Alexander City... you are under the gun next for severe weather...
Welcome winter.... would have preferred a small Southern Snow Storm not this Spring like mess which makes me wonder....is spring coming early this year?
Besos Bobbi
Ps... if I lived in the Atlanta Metro or anywhere in Georgia I'd keep watching the weather. It seems to me the NWS is hedging a bit on their protective wedge...
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/text.php?pil=ATLAFDFFC
"HOWEVER IF
THE WEDGE BREAKS AND DEWPOINTS ARE ABLE TO RECOVER...WE COULD SEE
ISOLATED SEVERE OVER NORTHWEST AND PARTS OF CENTRAL GA EARLY THIS
MORNING. CLIMO WOULD SUGGEST THAT THE WEDGE WILL HOLD BUT WITH THIS
UNCERTAINTY WILL KEEP ISOLATED SEVERE IN THE HWO FOR THIS MORNING.
AS FOR LATER THIS MORNING AND AFTERNOON."
Hmmmmnnnn looks like a BIG "IF" to me... time will tell and that is why we call it a forecast...
Kaydol:
Kayıtlar (Atom)