BY MICHELE MILLER
What’s What New Port Richey
It’s that time of year again when locals get to relish the Florida winter season and what it has to offer before the spring break tourist onslaught. A recent taste of “back home” frigid weather and calls from northern connections looking to make plane reservations have upped the game a bit.
The December holidays rang in with record-breaking snow and a deep freeze over a large swath of this country including Nashville, TN, where what northeasterners would call a “dusting” of snow has the capability to strangle an entire city in the south. There we spent Christmas creating new, warm memories on the youngest’s turf while navigating freezing temps, black ice and rolling black-outs that served to remind us of the tireless and often dangerous efforts of those working to bring the lights and the heat back on. Thank you.
“Don’t miss that,” and “Count your blessings” were prevalent thoughts during the ride home to Florida for this transplanted soul.
The donning of 2023 brings the realization that I am a little over a year shy of living half my life in Florida. The move in March of 1991 was intended to be a temporary stint that sent me on a lonesome, homesick crying jag for the first six months. We gave it 5 years that came and went.
Best laid plans…….
Not such a bad thing, after all, I think in retrospect I survey the winter garden that sustained some damage while we were away during Florida’s cold dip. The basil was decimated. The tomatoes took a hit and so now a handful will have to ripen on the kitchen counter. On the other hand, turnip, bok choy, mustard greens, and kale are thriving. And being January, there’s more to plant.
And so it goes, rolling with the punches. Taking the good with the bad and indifferent.
Florida offers its own nuanced, homespun beauty that can shine through the political din, tourist traps, and the oft-publicized “Florida Man/Woman” antics, which, by the way, are often perpetrated by recent transplants from other states.
Turns out the draw of the Sunshine State attracts all sorts. Good, bad, and indifferent.
That we can grow our own food during this time of year is something I’ve come to value as is the thought that I can swim laps outdoors at the city’s aquatic center. The old man can get out of the house to cast a fishing rod in any number of spots that offer a scenic and often breathtaking vantage. Maybe catch sight of a manatee seeking warmth or hang out for a west coast sunset.
Take a short or longer trek south of the mangrove-lined Pasco County coast and you can find yourself lounging on sugar sand shorelines that have made Dr. Beach’s list of the “Top Ten Beaches in America”. Caladesi Island in Dunedin ranked number two in 2022 and is just a short ferry ride from Honeymoon Island State Park, which ranks as my number one favorite beach.
It’s a fine place to plant oneself – under an umbrella listening to the easy rhythm of gulf waves lapping the shoreline, the sound of happy kids frolicking, and knowing all the while that somewhere out there others are hunkered down in the cold and feeding the fire while dreaming of this very moment.
Life’s a beach 🙂
Now onward.
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You are doing such a wonderful job,Michele! I always look forward to the notice in my email that there’s another edition! You have a “knack” for presenting the info and often with a light-hearted twist. Wishing you the beast in 2023!!
Thanks so much for your kind words and feedback. 🙂 A happy 2023 to you as well.
I found the site. Don the swimmer. Well almost a swimmer. Nice site.
Thank you, Don the Swimmer 🙂