• The post that almost wasn’t

    running from the waterI didn’t have any intention of writing this evening, right up until about twenty minutes ago. That was when I decided to have a look at some of the pictures I took on our little hike this afternoon.

    The kids were getting a little restless, and Cheryl really wasn’t feeling well, so I decided to get the kids out of the house. We hopped in the car and five minutes later we were cruising across the Dunedin Causeway towards Honeymoon Island again.

    Taking a look at the pictures I’m reminded that some of the most fun I’ve had with my kids has been doing the free stuff. Disney is o.k., and Busch Gardens can be pretty cool for a little afternoon getaway, but the free stuff seems like so much less work. A walk to the park, an impromptu session of keep-away with a soccer ball, or a few hours on the beach can have all the fun, but none of the expectations; and I think that sometimes makes all the difference.

    We might decide to play a little chase, throw rocks at the waves, or collect interesting rocks shaped by the surf. We just do whatever comes to mind, whenever it comes. It feels so liberating. Sometimes I’m walk along behind and watch my kids have fun being kids. Today was one of those days.

    Fidget rock It doesn’t take much to make me happy sometimes. At some point I usually find an odd piece of limestone to carry with me. I like to find something that’s small enough to toss, but with an odd shape. With all the limestone around here, that’s not very hard.

    So picture me with an odd little white rock, tossing it in the air and snatching it back. Imagine my kids running up and down the beach, chasing the waves, the birds and each other. Imagine a small, contented grin seemingly permanently etched on my face.

  • WordPress 2.3.2

    From wordpress.org:

    WordPress 2.3.2 is an urgent security release that fixes a bug that can be used to expose your draft posts. 2.3.2 also suppresses some error messages that can give away information about your database table structure and limits and stops some information leaks in the XML-RPC and APP implementations. Get 2.3.2 now to protect your blog from these disclosures.

    Yikes! The words “urgent security release” served their purpose, I took them seriously and updated my software. Now that I’ve lost two hours of precious free-time at home, I just hope the good folks at WordPress aren’t prone to fits of exaggeration.

  • A pinch of fog

    Pelican, fog, and sun

    We almost never get fog here on the west coast of Florida, but this week has been full of exceptions. An evening fog is almost unheard of, even out on the barrier islands.

    I took Adam out for a sunset walk on the beach this evening, and even though we didn’t see much sunset, it was still really cool… mostly because of the rare conditions. It reminded me of those early morning bike rides to work, when the moisture in the air condenses on the hair of your arms, and you don’t feel wet until you move suddenly… shaking the little drops free.

    water's edgeAdam had an absolute blast. He fell asleep on the ride over, but was instantly awake when he saw the conditions. He was running up and down the beach as if it was morning and he’d had the whole night to recharge his batteries.

    So we spent the last hour of sunlight walking along the gentle slope of the water’s edge, with small waves breaking at our feet, and tossing water worn limestones back into the gulf.

    It was a great way to end the day. It seems like I’m saying that a lot lately.