Pam – Page 131 – Seashells by Millhill

Florida; Paradise or Overcrowded Oven, You Decide

It seems that everyone living here in the northeastern US, flocks to Disney World and Florida any chance they can get. Most likely they do it in other parts of the country and world too since I know the tourists are from all over, but all I personally know about is here.

The television commercials show empty and pristine beaches with SUN (that’s a big thing when you live someplace where the sun barely comes up above the tree line for months). I don’t recognize the Florida I know when I watch these commercials. Did they pay people to get off the beach while they were filming?

All winter these New Englanders talk about Florida like it’s some great, heavenly, paradise where there is real (as opposed to tanning booth) and constant sunshine. Well the sunshine part is true. And if you have lots of money and spend a week or two vacationing at Mickey’s home, I suppose the paradise part is true as well. Lounging by the pool and eating food you don’t have to make yourself sounds pretty good, even if it does cost $11 for a burger.

But then there are the lines, and screaming kids, and more lines, tropical heat, more lines, sweating people, standing and waiting, walking and walking, did I mention the heat? and sunburns?…sorry.

For those of us who live there or have lived there, well, we know differently. Unless you have lots of money and live on the ocean or intracoastal, it’s just life as usual except in the heat with huge bugs and deadly snakes. You work (for very little money) and struggle to make ends meet. You do yard work in the blazing sun trying not to get skin cancer in a land where the sun finds you no matter where you go. Sweating is just a part of life, like breathing.

Relatives constantly use your home as their way to save money while vacationing, and since the weather is fairly nice year round tourists are always everywhere so stores are always crowded and so are the roads.

If you are a teacher, you know that during the course of the school year kids will come and go in your classroom as often as the wind changes direction and your classes could be held anywhere from a closet to a teacher’s lounge or most likely a “portable” because of overcrowding. You won’t have aides or assistants because there is no money for them, but you will be expected to teach kids who have come from all over the country and have all kinds of backgrounds. If you are a high school teacher you will have to know how to handle firearms. (Just kidding- barely).

We know about the hurricanes that form off the coast of Africa and watch them grow each day wondering where they will actually hit. We know that the summer rain pours down in buckets and usually has hail and tornado watches if not warnings. And the lightening is deadly and the thunder is deafening. The roads flood and the highways get backed up because of accidents.

Florida is a beautiful place to visit, but I think you’d change your mind about the paradise part if you lived there. I did have my favorite places to go and things to do, like the Springs and fishing and boating. More about that later.

(Pam lived in Central Florida for 27 years.)

Florida Beaches, Warnings and Advice

When I lived in Florida, many times I witnessed extremely sunburned people. Whether at Disney World, the grocery store, or even at the beach – still trying to even out their “tan” and soak up the rays before vacation ended. They usually had the sunburned areas covered with towels.

They obviously had come down from the north, white as ghosts for lack of sun all winter, and were determined to “get a tan”.

It’s a much hotter sun in the tropics. In Florida you are much closer to the equator and the sun is able to fry you much quicker than farther north.

My suggestions:

1. Wear sunscreen, SPF 30+, believe me, you will still tan! And add the sunscreen BEFORE hitting the beach- at least 1/2 hour before is recommended and reapply often. The sun is strongest between 10am and 3pm, so it’s good to get out early, take a break and head back out in the late afternoon.

2. Wear a wide brimmed hat. One that will cover your ears as well as shield your eyes and nose. You will burn on a cloudy day as well! (Also wear sunscreen). Rent or use an umbrella – you will get tanned even when under it!

3. Take lots of water or Gatorade type drinks with you in plastic containers and pack the cooler with LOTS of ice. (beaches don’t allow glass of any kind.)

4. Kids cannot stay out for long on a Florida beach in summer. Even with a high SPF sunscreen, hats, umbrellas, drinks and the works I don’t think that young children can take more than two hours safely in mid-summer and it should be less if you are going back out later in the day.

5. And most importantly…You will not see the burn until much later on so judge by the time you spend on the beach and not how great your “tan” looks. Start slowly, especially if you will be on vacation for a week or two.

Don’t spend your honeymoon or vacation at the hospital…it happens!

Be aware of the rip current warnings as well.

A rip current is an undertow that happens at a section of the beach where the sand has been washed away causing a river type run out. You can’t see it because it’s under the waves and water, but when the water runs back out it is faster than the normal undertow and can pull a person out to sea very quickly.

Very often there are rip current warnings on the east coast beaches of Florida, so be aware and just stay close to shore, but if you ever do get caught in a rip current this is what you should do:

1. Don’t panic, and don’t try to swim straight back in to shore against the current. You will become exhausted fast.

2. Let the current carry you out- and call for help if there are lifeguards. (You should always swim where the lifeguards are, but if you swim at night, there won’t be any). It will stop pulling you once the water is deeper.

3. Swim to the side instead of straight back in to shore and you will get out of the current and safely be able to get back to shore.

I always reminded my children of this whenever we went to the beach. I’m sure it isn’t easy to stay calm while the water is dragging you away from shore, but having this information should help.
Click here for more on rip currents.

Seashells From Sanibel Island

A Little About Monograms

I was curious as to the reason for monograms. I have an old linen table runner of my grandmother’s with her initials sewn into the middle. People began using monograms to make their linens identifiable on wash days.

Monograms mean class. Way back when, it was only the upper class who had monogrammed items. Embroidered monograms for wedding gifts began with the families adding the embroidery themselves by hand, but now they can be purchased on silverware and many household items. Couples getting married often like to have monogrammed items given to them as wedding gifts.

If the towels hanging in your bathroom are monogrammed, then you probably already know all about monograms, but there are plenty of people who are unfamiliar with the set up.

See the example below.

For the newlywed couple, the grooms last name initial – S- will be in the center, with the bride’s first name initial on the left and the groom’s first name initial on the right.