The weather around here has been crazy lately. You could get a whiplash for trying to determine whether the wind is coming from the north, south, southeast, or northwest because the last few days it has been all of the above, at times all in one hour.
We also have “red tide,” which is common on the Gulf of Mexico when conditions are just right to cause microscopic algae to bloom in the water, turning it a red or brown hue. Every couple of years in October we have this toxic mess and it is a pain. When the phytoplankton occurs in high concentration, it affects the nervous system of fish and paralyzes them making it impossible to breath, resulting in fish kills all along its path.
Not only do the dead fish smell bad, the high levels of algae also present problems in the form of throat and eye irritation to humans. Although the experts (whoever they are) tell us it is not harmful to people, it is a problem because once you spend even a few minutes outside you start coughing and wheezing, making a day at the beach or just sitting outside unpleasant, to say the least.
Since fall is a beautiful time of the year here, it is really aggravating, especially because I love to be outdoors. Although red tide doesn’t usually last more than a couple of weeks, the wind shifts are stirring it up more and certainly confusing it. One day the wind is out of the north and it blows the murky water out of my channel; next day the wind blows 40 miles an hour from the south, and here it is again. Scientists don’t really know what causes this phenomenon, but they claim to be working on a way to prevent it in the near future. Let’s hope they figure it out fast.
This, and the fact that Mother Nature has decided to make up for the long summer drought by giving us lots of rain and cloudy days, really cuts into “floating and bloating,” which is what we affectionately refer to as girls’ afternoon in the pool when friends join me for gossiping and drinking a bit of wine. Fortunately with a little help from the Propane Gods, combined with some cash, you can pretty much swim or rather float and bloat here year round. So for right now, I’ll just stay inside and work on the edit of Promises Kept, the sequel to Keeping Faith.