When it Rains in Florida

This is by way of consoling friends elsewhere who might be a little jealous. Yes it does rain in Florida.

 And when it rains it really rains.

 Nothing like sodden palm trees to give you a real lift.  And while my friends up north are enjoying the end of the ski-ing season, I managed, in solidarity with them, to fall flat on my back in three inches of dirty water while trying to negotiate a car park in the flattest place on earth. "Never jump over puddles" my neighbour said with an "I told you so" look.
  Well that was last weekend. Today was a little better.

  Though the surf is still up from the cold snap.
  This week has been what Americans call "spring break", a sort of cross between half-term and the Easter holidays. Local schoolkids are on the loose and the beach actually has more sandcastles than zimmer frames. Older spring-breakers, those of university age, are more notorious in their behaviour though they tend to seek out livelier places than this. Which is fine by me. This morning it was like Piccadilly Circus on the beach  - I spotted all of four other people.
 Meanwhile back at base here's the orchid tree in the sun.

And boogie-woogie too

 Charlie the mocking bird has been up on the electricity cable - his favourite place - running through his repertoire of different songs. Who needs Spotify? Thank goodness he seems to have given up imitating the telephone, which used to send me running into the house every five minutes. A couple of mourning doves just had a domestic at the bird bath. Probably a good thing I couldn't understand their language.