Oct 22: Fresh Wind

I live in a boating area, a place of canals and boatyards and yachts. For a resident of Greater Fort Lauderdale, of course, that statement may seem a trifle unnecessary. Don't we all? Well, yes, we all do, generally speaking. But what I mean is that I live in a neighborhood where I can easily walk to those canals and boatyards and yachts. And that's just what I did today to start off my morning. It was delightful. I strolled north from my condo through Dania Beach streets lined with mostly modest homes, some decorated with skeletons and witches and pumpkins for Halloween. Within 10 minutes, I was at the big boatyard.

I enjoy walking through there, a bustling little corner of Fort Lauderdale's boating world. I had the impression it was humming with some extra enthusiasm this day too, with only a week left before the 50^th annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. The marina was awash with ... washing. Lots of workers were sponging and polishing up big boats and I felt a mist on my face from one of the hoses as I passed.

The wind seemed especially fresh on my skin, blowing persistently off the sea and carrying that delicious salt scent with it. I wandered down the dock past vessels that had come from the Cayman Islands and Delaware and wherever else. There's a small picnic bench beside the dock and so I sat down, just smelling the air and watching those workers with their mops and buckets. The breeze now was quickly blowing in some thick clouds, a mottled gray and white mass progressively hiding the clear skies above them. I closed my eyes for a moment and simply let that refreshing wind splash over me. And I thought about how appropriate it all seemed just then, as if that wind also was carrying a new season to South Florida. Which, in a way, it was. Because with it, the boat show was blowing into town and so was a long stretch of cooler, drier weather and so were our most hyperactive tourist months, accompanied by the return of the snowbirds. I sat there a little longer before leaving, but I noticed that patches of blue already were breaking up the heavy cloudbank. Our shady day wouldn't last too much longer, apparently. But that fresh season was going to stay around for a while.