Florida was the last place I ever imagined myself living in, however several years ago when we were renting a house in the San Francisco area and wanting to buy a house -- they were way out of our league there, so I started doing research about other areas of the country – then a friend happened to have a brochure of homes for sale in Florida. We were blown away because of the amount of really nice homes listed that were also unbelievably cheap – anyway long story short we bought a house on Merritt Island, which thankfully was relatively free of the rampant commercialism in other parts of Florida. Below is a piece I wrote back then describing my experience there. Merritt Island Florida is a land of thrift stores, fast food chains, and monolithic Baptist churches that look like movie theatre complexes complete with marquees that quote the Bible in neon. There are strip malls at every fourth intersection, an American flag on every other house, and a Walmart in every town. Here wildlife, rednecks, buff college kids, rocket scientists, seniors, families, surfers and regular folk share the beauty of the waterways, gorgeous rainbows, tropical foliage and a soft golden sun - - a place so flat that it’s a thrill to drive over one of the causeways or an interstate overpass. The advantage to the flat land is that the sky is enormous and goes on as far as the eye can see with clouds you could get lost in all day adrift against brilliant blue skies -- a painters paradise. The thunderstorms are thrilling -- a deluge of water comes down almost every afternoon in the summer. You can see storms coming from miles off. I bought my first pair of shorts since high school and I have to say that shorts, tee shirts and bathing suits are the outfits of choice here -- summertime is a virtual steam bath. Oddly enough, though I have always preferred a cool climate, I find I enjoy the heat -- when it is hot here your skin is almost always bathed with moisture when outside and sweaters are something you pack away in a chest in the garage like some old memoir. We bought a house on Merritt Island which is between the mainland and the ocean shores. It is a 10 minute drive to the ocean and we are surrounded by the Indian River on one side and the Banana River on the other. The Indian River is home to huge manatees, dolphins and fish I have never heard of -- about a five minute walk from our house. There is a saying about the Banana River – “don’t worry if capsize on it – you can just walk home” – that is how shallow it is. The house is great with a big screened porch in the back and a nice huge yard -- lots of privacy, pines and tropical plants. There is a tangerine tree loaded with fruit that has supplied me with enough marmalade for the next 3 years. What I love most is the wildlife that is everywhere. It was not unusual to see a large turtle ambling across our lawn in the morning, a blue heron or an osprey land with a catch in our backyard or have a mockingbird mimic an opera we were listening to on our back porch in the evening. You didn’t have to go to a zoo to see huge, gentle manatees grazing in the water like cows do in pastures. The first time I saw an alligator at a local lagoon I was completely in awe of his majesty and felt transported back to prehistoric times. Pequenia, my oldest cat was in kitty cat heaven the moment we moved in and spent most of her time out on the back porch completely drunk on the warmth -- I have never seen her so relaxed, whereas Igor had a bit of adjustment here and for the first few weeks he wouldn’t go outside -- every time I’d open the door for him to go out he would back away from the steamy heat hitting him in the face as though he had met with an evil alien force, so he spent most of his time hiding under the bed or in the closets. He slowly became less suspicious of the abrupt temperature change from inside to out encouraged by his discovery of geckos. He catches at least one gecko a day and even a couple of frogs that he brings back to the porch and to their unfortunate end. ------------------ Addendum: Even though Florida is strongly considered a Republican state I have to say that during the three years we were there most of the people we met never gave a thought to politics or legislation of any kind. They were mostly concerned with simply staying afloat.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 16:37:21 +0000
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