December Tropical Troubles? Lunar Eclipse...to watch or not?

Stranger things have happened in December in the tropics, but despite it being cold, cold, cold down in Florida .... there is a small tropical area of possible development out in the Tropical Atlantic.

An orange circle to be exact. Go figure... Ho Ho Ho..ya know??

I am NOT making this up. Then again... it's more of a "heads up" for the islands I think but it is orange not yellow so hard to tell just yet.

"A SMALL BUT WELL-DEFINED LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM LOCATED ABOUT 275 MILES
EAST-SOUTHEAST OF BARBADOS IS PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS OVER THE
SOUTHWESTERN TROPICAL ATLANTIC. ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ARE NOT
CONDUCIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT AT THIS TIME. HOWEVER...CONDITIONS COULD
BECOME A LITTLE MORE FAVORABLE ON TUESDAY."

Love their "however" ;)

Today was a sunny, breezy day where I was today. I was busy texting children and emailing teachers and opening late Chanukah presents and early birthday presents and avoiding dealing with things I didn't want to deal with...

Waiting up for the eclipse or debating on setting the alarm... still not sure.

What are you going to do I wonder?

Eclipses are funny. Spent so much time over time waiting up for them or standing around outside watching them. Nine years old and watching the eclipse with my "boyfriend" across the street who was flush with a new telescope to watch the lunar event! Was a nice, tropical warm night out in Southwest Miami near the Tropical Park Race Track. What a great place to grow up... big ficus trees and wide open streets and a porch with a view under the stars ....and our fathers babysitting us looking annoyed that our mothers told them to stay up with us ...

I have a friend who died the other day, he didn't wait up for eclipses. He told me one night when the moon was about to rise out of the Atlantic Ocean and hang luminously over the City of Miami "he's seen a lot of eclipses, let's go eat dinner" and so we did though I watched the eclipse at totality after dinner. Sort of annoyed me but it was becoming a pattern as I got older.... boyfriends who had scene one and had scene them all sort of... "just a scientific fact" one guy told me. Happens all the time. Nothing mystical.... just happens...what's the big deal???

Well...tonight... it's conjunct the day that is the Winter Solstice. I imagine back at Stonehenge there would be some rocking party for that event. What did they do on Stonehenge? Do we really know?

My son told me he is waiting up. Is he his mother's son or what? My guy asked me if I wanted to wait up or set the alarm (am I making progress or what???)

I don't know.... wishing my friend Stuart was still alive and hungry and wanted to go out to some late night Israeli restaurant where he would regale me with stories, fill me with food and perfectly coordinated wines and I'd sort of rather see Stuart tonight than a lunar eclipse. A wonderful guy... fun guy, caring guy, fun to be with guy, smart, talkative, interesting, great cook, caring father and grandfather and really good friend. So many of these blogs were written from his place, way back when down in Key West. One of those refuge like places where I could get on the bus or drive down with Stuart impulsively late at night to "keep him awake for the drive" and could wake up in paradise and usually have an awesome brunch he'd put together as if it was going to be on the cover of Gourmet Magazine.

Now, I'm so far away and it's just all a beautiful memory.

One night Stuart gave me a call, he was hungry and wanted to know if I wanted to join him for something at the Chinese Kosher Restaurant after work at the library. While talking he decided he really needed to drive down to Key West and wanted to know if I wanted to go for a ride. I mean how could I go for a ride? I had kids, lots of them and you simply can't just go to Key West on a whim at 11 pm can you?? Thought on it. Could call in sick the next day... my older son was home, he could get the kids off to school... came home, talked to my son...who said, "Ma, go... we are fine, go to Key West" and I did... ran in, grabbed a few things, a blanket (cold winter night haha) and went to Key West with Stuart. Talked, drank coffee, talked... watched one of the biggest moons rise up out of the water over the Seven Mile Bridge...awesome, silver. He may not have wanted to watch the eclipse that other night but wow... did he love that moon over the open water. So we watched the silver moon shining down on the ocean and the little mangrove islands and kept on talking about life.

I learned so much about life from Stuart who had lived a big larger than life ..life.

I learned to think short term and also think long term. Life could be approached it seemed like a business proposal and Stuart knew a lot about business. As opposed to me... who always lived life moment by moment.

What were my goals? Short term? Long term?

Stuart was at his best on last minute excursions or making a gourmet meal or giving me tours around Key West or sitting at his table over really great wine talking about life.

I'll miss him. I have missed him a while now but now he is really gone but he is alive in my memory always making me smile.. yet staring off in sadness that he is not around to whimsically drive off to Key West or get the world's largest Sushi Boat when we started out for a lite bite after Shabbos. And, yes...was the best sushi I ever had in my life.

Another lesson... if you are going to spend a fortune on something... it was worth it if it was the best you ever had.

So... seeing as I am a girl born during a December Tropical Storm...am not going to laugh off this 30% orange circle but am going to take the lunar eclipse tonight a bit more seriously as there is a 100% chance that there will be an eclipse.

And... one day... in the near future I will find a way to deal with the reality of losing one of my closest friends...other than writing about him in my blog.

Been so blessed to have so many amazing, wonderful good friends...

Sweet Tropical Dreams

Bobbi!