The HEA Cafe

Autumn comes late to Florida, indeed, in some parts of the state it doesn’t arrive at all. But in North Florida we’re now in our autumn/winter season, or as we like to say, “The season when you can open the windows again”.

I find this switch from the heat and humidity of the summer to the more temperate days of a Florida winter stirs my creative juices. I’m once again able to sit out on my screen porch beyond 9:00 in the morning, enjoying the butterflies hovering over my butterfly-friendly container garden. The days are energizing, and this is felt throughout the community. This is the time of year when we have outdoor art shows and music festivals. The summer is simply too hot and too wet. This is also the time when the farmers’ market begins to bloom with winter flowers, like mums and pansies, and winter greens. It’s salad time at the market, ’cause once again, the summer is too hot and wet to grow much besides corn and tomatoes.

Those of you preparing for a northern winter (or a southern summer down in Australia) have my sympathy. As I told someone on my annual winter trek to the frozen north, “The only good thing about traveling up here in February is having a return ticket that says ‘Florida’.” This is our payoff for the 100F temps and 98% humidity, the hurricanes and mosquitoes, the droughts and wildfires.  I like to take my notebook computer out with me these days, finding that being away from my desk and enjoying the sunshine can get me through some rough writing patches. I enjoy feeling the change of seasons, and as a writer I like how it makes me feel different, more creative, more willing to try something a bit different. I hope that whatever season you’re experiencing now, you enjoy it to its fullest.