I am sitting...actually standing in the 80% humidity of Florida on my brother's front porch pirating the internet from some unknown neighbor as an overgrown Florida bug crawls across my computer screen.

After taking dendrology in the fall, all of the native Florida trees are really annoying me because I don't know what they are. In my brother's front yard there is a Saucer Magnolia, and in his backyard a Mockernut Hickory and Crapemyrtle in the back. On the way to the park I saw a Southern Magnolia with a few of its huge white flowers in bloom. At the park today there was about 20 huge Slash Pines that are very native to the Florida area. I also saw my first Baldcypress today at the zoo. My how I love trees.


I played with my nephew Sam all day today. He is so cute and energetic. We went down the slide a lot and played in the sand. Someday he will be a rock climber. He is learning pretty much all of the important things in life right now like purple, and blue, as well as A, B, and C. Also car, airplane, ugh-oh, and flower are among his favorites. Sometimes his words are inaudible but he gets his point across by growling. I think the highlight of his day was not seeing the tigers at the zoo, but burying me in the sand. I can see how that would be fun.

Tim and Abby are just a day away from another baby in their family. Mom and I on the other hand are enjoying drinking beer and being in the sun. Mom enjoys being a Grandma and I enjoy not having children for a long, long time.