Raining Champ

Contrary to popular belief we have not been flooded out down here. There's no ark building and no pairs of animals have been sited. We have, however, officially begun the rainy season. Every day for the last week or so... it storms as some point. In the beginning it rained all day long. Now we've moved to a more segmented sort of day. At some point you see the storm clouds begin to gather and realize that there truly is a black cloud over your head. Hmmm. I thought that was just my bad attitude.



I love this picture. I took it from my balcony. I think its sort of Van Gogh-esque. This was as the storm was brewing. Today I went to the Florida Historical Museum. It was nice enough. There was an interesting exhibit on Civil Rights in Florida. There was an actual cross that was burned on a black woman's yard in 1982. Interesting. There was also a little case that had a ballot and some "official" chads from 2000. Not sure what it was related to but it was funny.



Authentic chads. How quickly history is made and then museum-ed.

Work continues to move forward. We think we may have found place where we can sublet some space in an existing doctor's office. This will give us a chance to start already but have a soft start. Now I just have to remove two obstacles to getting started. Nothing big. Malpractice insurance and regular insurance companies and what they'll cover. No worries. It'll be taken care of in no time. Whatever. These people are freaking crazy. Before entering my new medical world I had always thought that insurance companies were the spawn of Satan but I was wrong. They are Satan himself. I was on the phone with one company enquiring about what a patient could expect if they come see us as an out of network doctor. She said, "if they do it too often, we'll start denying the claims." But it will take us six months to get in your network. "Sorry." But we're a specialist and our patients need us. She was unmoved. Finally she said, "you seem confused. The employer is our customer. Not the patient." We'll deny the claims and then contact the employer to report the person. Nice. Its a dog-eat-dog world out there.

Don't get me started on malpractice insurance. And that's with no surgery, nothing invasive, no baby deliveries, etc. I can only imagine what those practices might cost. Sheesh. We don't need to fix the system we have. We need to blow it up and start all over. But we new that.

Some friends from DC/Philly were visiting down in the Keys. I went down for an overnight to their private island. Nice stuff. Here's a few good shots... I do like the flora and fauna here!

Wild orchids.




The coral reef is amazing. Whether its on the water or just underfoot everywhere.




More wild orchids.



I like the lines in nature.



The Royal Poinciana trees are about to burst into bloom. I'll share pictures when its time. Its a beautiful sight. Meanwhile I'll track the clouds, watch the trees and ogle the wild flowers.

I miss the quality of the Smithsonian and the delicate blooming of the dogwoods. But I have to admit when I can stop making comparisons and trying to prove this place to be lesser... its kinda cool. Don't tell anyone. I'll deny saying it.

Hard to keep up...

You know its funny. It happens all the time. Your hear retired people say they don't know how they had time to work. While I really don't like working alone... I sure do like the flexibility. I am dying to get going with this clinic and yet... at the same time... I know it means the end of my freedom.

I've been trying to swim at least three times a week. Nothing like having the pool to myself in the middle of the day. Food shopping, getting errands done, visiting the library. All are easier, quicker and more flexible during the day. But then there's the working alone thing. Nancy has offered many times for me to go down and work at the university but its not just that there aren't people around. Its that there's no team, no group working toward a common goal. Yeah, I know its sounds dorky but its true. I miss the social aspects of an office but I also miss bouncing ideas off other people. Hence my polls that some of you have received recently. A hearty thanks to all who participated. If you did not, feel free to email me and I'll include you. Feel free to email me anyway!

Life is good in sunny Florida. Its getting warmer no doubt but its still more than pleasant. A wonderful breeze most of the time. My balcony is sunny in the morning and shady after noon so it often a very pleasant place to have lunch and dinner. Now that's nice. Sitting amid my flowers in my Max garden. Surprisingly I've only killed one. Okay, two. One was a small palm -- and its weird because I bought two at the same time and one is fine and the other is dead. Huh. the other was my beautiful Begonia. I think I over watered it. The beauty of Begonias -- besides their beauty - is that they can survive with very little water. I had some potted Begonias in the front yard on E Street and would forget to water them for long stretches at a time. Turns out it might have been better that way. Who knows. What's truly exciting is that my orchids are still alive and new babies on TWO of them. Now that's exciting stuff.



Bromeliad is coming along nicely. I had a beautiful tall and stately Amaryllis for a while but I think its time has passed. have to read the instructions of what to do with that so I can get it to bloom again another time.

I've been thinking about a Hibiscus. If ever there was a place to grow one this would be it but I do have to be careful. I actually like to USE the balcony so can't fill it completely with plants or I won't be able to move around out there. I wish I could find those over the rail planters. That would give me some levels to work with. Not sure if anyone would mind if I did that or not. This condo association is just getting going but that might be just the kind of thing to catch someone's eye.

I did go to the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Two movies. The one about the remake of A Chorus Line. That was fun and another one called "I Can't Think Straight." Very fun. And what do you know... a theatre full of lesbians. If I had my organizer hat on I would have printed up some flyers for a Lesbian get together or Coffee chat... something to try and draw them out again. Obviously they are here - but WHERE? I even chatted up a few people. Oh yeah, we all stay in. Huh. Whatever.

Here's a photo of the marquis for the movie. It was down on South Beach so it wasn't a stretch but still right up there for all to see. Yeah!

That same day, we went to brunch at the Delano Hotel. A lovely deco hotel down in South Beach on Collins Ave, the main drag. We ate out on the terrace overlooking at beautiful garden. its a funky hotel with a very modern sort of Alice-in-Wonderland kind of theme. See the chair in the lobby. That's Elliott lost in it....



The bench below just tickled me. It would have been perfect in the house on E Street with that never ending wall!

It was a great brunch in a cool environment. I need to check out every hotel in South Beach. That's sounds like a challenge and a half!

Went snorkeling last weekend. Down at Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo. Not only were the
fish astoundingly beautiful but the soft coral was all in bloom as well. Some of them look so alien and extraterrestrial and then to have flowers on top was just cool.

I picked some mangoes from Nancy's yard and have been waiting patiently for them to ripen. I tried a brown paper bag, put the bag under the sink, even put a banana in with the bag. Not sure what worked... if anything... but they are finally ripe! Yeah. Today, I picked some gardenias right off the bush. They are so amazingly fragrant. Forget the Hibiscus... it could be a gardenia plant for the balcony. I think I'm in love with the smell. Here are mangoes and gardenias together.


Work is work and we're struggling forward. Each day I move one step ahead... one to the side and then usually a big one back. Today involved a conversation with a rep or some sort for Aetna insurance. Now there's an industry that deserves a whole blog unto itself. Its so confusing what they cover, what they don't. In network, out of network, how to get into the network. Its all enough to make your head hurt. She reminded me that the client for her... was the employer, not the patient. Interesting. Its a dog-eat-dog, dog approve or don't approve life saving health care treatment kind of world. I gotta figure it out if I'm gonna make this thing work. So figure it out I will. This is definitely Goliath but I'm up for it, I hope. This is part of the dark underbelly I hoped I'd never have to see. But if I learn any good tricks, I'll definitely pas them along. Strength in numbers don'tcha know.

So there you have it for a bit. Calls and a letters always appreciated. Emails, etc. Visits. Its all good. Talk to you soon.