Freezing in Florida

Hi Friends. We have a new tradition – Christmas dinner and New Year’s breakfast at Waffle House. When we woke up this morning and the dishes were frozen to the table and the water in the dogs’ bowls was suitable for insects with ice skates, we decided to high tail it out of Dead River Landing and find some hot bacon and eggs. A greasy diner breakfast never tasted so good.

We’ve been trying to find reasons to celebrate the freezing temperatures. Here is what we’ve come up with:

·      Butter, cheese, yogurt, and leftovers stay fresh without refrigeration

·      Physical contact is really nice.

·      The ice in my daily fountain drink remains icy for my evening Jack.

·      White wine is chilled – even though Jeff prefers room temp

·      The van smells fine even with dogs.

·      Teddy and Lady think they’re still at home in Ste. Lucie.

We are now at gorgeous St. George Island State Park on the eastern edge of the Florida panhandle. We shopped at the Piggly Wiggly – I didn’t know it still existed – but I guess it lives on in the southeast. They have so many varieties of corn meal – hush puppy mix, white corn meal, yellow corn meal… fine, coarse, you name it. Tomorrow I’m making corn dumplings to complement our vegetarian chili with andouille sausage.

Jeff says even though it’s cold here, it’s balmy compared to Ste. Lucie where the temperature registered –35 (C) today ( –31 F). Yikes. Good thing we brought our down jackets.