A Thanksgiving wish

With the Thanksgiving holiday fast approaching, I want to take a moment and thank all of the folks out there who take time to read my blog. I've been lacking in weather lately, which is supposed to be the meat of my weather blog, but when you have none to talk about, it leaves people like me to get creative.Our family will be arriving tomorrow to share in a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with us. The kids will have a wonderful time playing together. We have an all out feast planned, capturing everyone's traditions, as best we can. I am expecting to have lots of great pics, as we will roast one turkey with my wonderful Pampered Chef roaster (hosting parties rocks!) and my wonderful groom will be frying another. The brining process is being combined with the thawing to speed things along. Aside from two turkeys, we will also have dressing and stuffing. Me being a Yankee, it is important that I have stuffing, you know stuffed in the bird and baked to yummy perfection (yes, we have a thermometer!), but my very southern family is not going to slip by without some of mom's yummy dressing. Of course, while talking about mom's yummy stuff, I should mention that she will also be preparing 2 sweet potato casseroles. One will have a crunchy savory nutty crust, and the other will be smothered in a bed of sweet marshmallowy decadence. We'll have gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, peas, corn, green bean casserole... my dear sister-in-law's famous pea casserole... my wonderful groom's famous roasted butternut squash soup.Mom's yeast rolls, flaky crescent rolls... my wonderful groom's mouth-watering fudge... mom's pumpkin pie, a new recipe pecan pie, my family's traditional chocolate and banana cream pies and since Mini-Dew doesn't like any of those, apple pie. In my opinion, you can never have too many desserts. Of course, for drinking, we'll have everything from apple cider, to sweet tea, to soda... I expect about 20-22 of us to gather in our home and share thankfulness for the love of our wonderful family. I would love to hear what your family traditions are, to hear how you're celebrating Thanksgiving. Feel free to share. In the meantime, from our home to yours, we wish you all the blessings of a safe and happy Thanksgiving. May God bless you.~Dewdrop

P.S. A little isolated supercell would make Thanksgiving extra nice...

Sometimes the weather even cooperates

Well, thankfully, the rain that was moving in from that low pressure system that flooded the Houston area last week, did a split apart just before arriving at the Florida panhandle (what are the chances?) on Saturday, leaving us with a dry game day! I never would have expected that with 50-70% chance of rain from a solid approaching system. Apparently, the Dewvoid can work in my favor from time to time. We were fully prepared with waterproof spirit face tattoos and ponchos. Lo and behold... not a drop! We must be living right!

We were in Tallahassee for the FSU game against Maryland. It was a great game, with an intense ending, which had us pulling our hair out. I heard "Well, that's it, we're done." "It's all over now." "They'd better pull it out against Florida or they're missing the bowls." "Hang it up." Then, from out of nowhere, they did it. They stopped them. They turned it over. The drove the ball and TOUCHDOWN FLORIDA STATE!!!! I bet the people who gave up and left are kicking themselves right about now. So, here is FSU football... Dew-style.They actually gave us our very own weather update.The huddle was great. Some of the players expressions were so full of passion.The band demonstrated sharp marching precision. I love the rows of people.I really love the "Unconquered" statue outside the stadium. One of my favorite parts of the game is when Chief Osceola comes out to the field and slams the torch into the center of the field. Well, since they were honoring the 26 year defensive coordinator, Mickey Andrews, Chief Osceola stopped and handed off the torch to Coach Andrews and allowed him to spike the torch. It was cool.

This next set is interesting... is that foot hold from the ground legal??? Oh well, FSU won!!!Have a great day!
~Dewdrop

Blue skies smiling at me

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! Welcome all sky fans!!! I truly appreciate your visit and comments. I might not have time to respond to you, but I will try my best to visit!!!

Our hosts: Klaus Sandy Sylvia Wren Louise Fishing Guy

Thanks, also,to Dot and Tom, who were instrumental in the success of this blogging event. You should definitely come fly with us!

Since I am still reveling in the excitement of our weekend trip, getting lost, I have decided to re-share some of my favorite sky shots from the adventure.This shot was taken along the shores of Orange Beach, AL, where my wonderful groom and I found ourselves after letting fate decide our course.

For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Revelation 7:17

The photograph captured above is of a man attached to a motorized fan and a parachute. I decided that they were called paracopters, but I don't know the official name. It was beautiful weather, a slight chill in the air, just after Ida pressed through, leaving a dry cool air mass in her wake. Perhaps, some of you have experienced the intense blue sky that occurs after a tropical system passes through. It's what happens when a great deal of moisture is snatched away (pulled into the tropical system and away), generally leaving a mostly cloudless sky. A few cirrus clouds were scattered about for good measure. It made for some striking sunsets on both Friday and Saturday.... and since we drove west for both nights, we had front row seats for the main event! To read about how we GOT LOST, click on the link.

The sunlit sky appears blue because air scatters short-wavelength light more than longer wavelengths. Since blue light is at the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum, it is more strongly scattered in the atmosphere than long wavelength red light. The result is that the human eye perceives blue when looking toward parts of the sky other than the sun.
~source

Blue skies smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies do I see
Blue birds singing a song
Nothing but blue skies from now on.

Never saw the sun shining so bright
Never saw things going so right
Noticing the days hurryin' by
When you're in love, my how they fly
"Blue Skies"
Eva Cassidy

Wishing you smiling blue skies.
~Dewdrop

Nothing... nothing at all...

Nothing tropical out there as we approach the end of a rather uneventful season. We had 2 US landfalls of Tropical Storms during the entire season, a total of only 9 named storms. I was hopeful for the storm named Bill because it was the one my wonderful groom and I were anxious to chase, only because "Dewdrop" isn't on the list, but Hurricane Bill, a category 4 hurricane at a point, didn't reach land until Newfoundland. Only 5 of the 9 named storms, plus a couple of unnamed tropical depression made landfall. So, what are we looking at for next year. I predict that the big one will be Earl, mostly because the associated songs and show with Earl in the title would create some interesting irony. Just ask the Dixie Chicks, Goodbye Earl... Of course, Gaston might be entertaining, as the villain of Beauty and the Beast.

So, without tropical action and with Nor'Ida finally gone away, what have we got going on??? Well, we have one low pressure system spinning in the center of the country and one system off the coast of Washington state.The one off the coast is actually the more powerful system, with its hurricane force winds. I saw some footage of damage up there. You'll note in the graphic above that we have absolutely nothing going on down my way. Are we surprised??? I think not. So... we make our own fun!Have a fabulous day!
~Dewdrop

Get Lost!!!

What a superb weekend my wonderful groom and I shared this weekend. It started with a great idea... GET LOST! My wonderful groom suggested(, or was it me?) that we take one weekend and just spin a wheel to decide our direction. Well, we did just that. With the spin of a wheel early Friday morning, we started our great adventure! We were perfectly content allowing God to decide our course (for the most part). Amazingly, God led us straight to my wonderful groom's dear children's school just at their lunch time, which turned out to be a special treat for Dad and his dear children (divine intervention). Then, we were on our way, trusting our Navigator with the great adventure... As it turns out, we were meant to head west. I guess the best thing to do would be to take you chronologically through our adventure, hitting the high points.

We, of course, made a point of stopping frequently along the course of our adventure, just for the sake of making sure I cover everything. Our first stop was at a beautiful cotton field, which is a common sight in south Georgia, and I thought it would be fun to have pictures of us in a cotton field (why not?!)We can't help ourselves, we are silly almost all of the time!!! Life is too short! We also stopped by a sunflower field, which looked like the winds of (at the time) TD Ida had gotten to, but I took some pics anyhow. My wonderful groom was checking out the nearby cemetary.We drove the long way south (ending up in Florida without realizing it), until we finally met up with I10, where the wheel pointed us west for 2 hours! We were thrilled. He had secretly hoped for a New Orleans trip, and I just wanted to experience Mississippi on this trip (Don't have a clue why... I know, now, that Mississippi isn't really worth it). So we headed west... stopping for photos along the way, being silly and happy all the way.Another spin and extra driving time for the time change (going into central time zone), we ended up in Alabama.As we moved toward Gulf Shores and the sky continued to grow darker, we decided that this would be our first night's stay. We visited the Wharf, which was dead! We went to see "This Is It", which was not worth the money... sigh. Then, we caught some seafood at the Original Oyster House, which was one of the many places Alabama Mike recommended when we shared with him that we were in his favorite place. Gotta love those last minute reservations during off-season. We were upgraded for free to an ocean front view, which had a nice patio and chairs overlooking the ocean. BONUS! We slept in that morning, and made certain to take some time to enjoy the beach.I particularly enjoyed the back-fan parachute contraptions (well, watching them). I dubbed them Paracopters. I'm not so sure I would want to go up with one, but they were fun to watch.There were two of them effortlessly gliding around the beach Saturday morning.

Back to the spinning... we left Orange Beach and Gulf Shores and made it to Foley, AL, when my wonderful groom discovered this building.Lambert's Cafe, the only home of the Throwed Rolls! We had seen this place on the Food Network and thought it would be exceptional! Well, sure enough, it was. We arrived just in time for the first roll throwing and got a some of Ol' Norm's pass-arounds within the first minutes (before we even had plates). Yes, they really "throwed the rolls", across the room to some folks! I assure you that between the abundant gigantic rolls, the larger the life portions and the bottomless pits of pass-arounds, you WILL NOT leave that place hungry! Not to mention, we had a super entertaining time! When we got back to the interstate, it was left again, and we ended up being directed to (get this) Daughin Island... you know, where TS Ida made landfall in Alabama, before bee-lining to the Atlantic coast and becoming (I heard this this morning).... Nor'Ida! Perfect name. Unfortunately, while we were out exploring, the Atlantic coast was being pummeled and now faces a substantial recovery effort.

Well, we explored Daughin Island some and passed up the $30 ferry ride, even though neither of us had ever been in a car on a ferry before. We would have probably both gotten car/sea sick. The scary bridge leading to the ferry made my heart skip a few beats.Incidentally, you couldn't tell that a Tropical Storm had just passed through.

We left there and once again were directed west! Here we were almost in Mississippi! When we got to the interstate, we spun for another hour of west on I10!!! That would put us nearly in Louisiana!!! Well, we voyaged through Mississippi rather uneventfully and made a decision that being that close to New Orleans meant we had to go there. We decided that was our next plan, or detour... as we called it. While in New Orleans, we visited Bourbon Street, eating my wonderful groom's favorite cuisine, and listening to his favorite music... For breakfast, what other than a trip to Cafe Du Monde for some Cafe au Lait and a pile of beignets!!! Powdered sugar doughy goodness!!!!We did some more sight-seeing and exploration around the French Quarter before making the long trek home.The only evidence of Hurricane Katrina that we saw was the remaining damage to portions of I10 over Lake Pontchartrain. Other than that and some barren areas of land where vegatation had previously been, where we were, you couldn't tell it had happened. What a wonderful excursion!!!! It's so much fun to get lost.

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop