wonky windows #23.

never a dull moment in miami. here are some windows into my day-to-day encounters with my city.

i was in line behind this lady and i was kind of mesmerized. and that's all i am going to say about that.

i see this bumper sticker semi-regularly. no comprende. i mean if you want to share with the world that you love and/or hate jesus, that is fine by me. but to be honest, with this bumper sticker, i am not sure whose side you are on.

a little old lady, who needs a walker, jaywalking across a six lane road. during rush hour. the epitome of a florida grandma.

wednesday windows #9.

this week's theme: the wonderful world of our condominium building.

when i moved into our condo, i was told that condo rules prohibit pets; however, there is one lady who has medical authorization to own a dog. i did not think anything of this fact. after a few weeks i met the lady and found her to be aggressively friendly. strange combination, but i have not other description. having been accosted by her multiple times over the last five years, including her yelling at me for not joining the condo board, loudly insisting that her large, growling, and barking dog (which may have been foaming at the mouth) was perfectly harmless, and running her hand down my leg at a meeting, i have since changed my opinion. she is simply crazy. after being harassed himself, even the mister, who is much less feisty than moi, finally had to agree. the lady is cuckoo for cocoa puffs.

it just so happens that her reserved parking spot #116 is right along the path from my parking spot to the building entrance. i used to cut through her spot (between her car and the column)...you know, shave a few seconds off of the journey to my house. but then pringle joined my adventures and i have had to learn to think for two. one day i realized that crazy lady technically owns that parking spot and i am not the least bit interested in introducing pringle to that world. since that epiphany, i have avoided the spot like the plague. or tried to. but occasionally when lost in my own thoughts, i find myself wandering through the corner of her spot. do i just forget it and continue? ummm...no. because apparently i am a little wacko myself. i have actually retraced my steps, as if that erases my tread into psycho territory, and walked back around the support column. anyone who observes this probably thinks that i belong in the loony bin, but i have to protect my young!

living in miami, i am constantly surrounded by people for whom english is a second language. the resulting english can be amusing. i am not gonna lie, it took me a minute to decipher the meaning of a "computer for car key," and still, i am only assuming that my analysis is correct.

interested in participating in wednesday windows? check out the instructions.

wednesday windows #8.

another glimpse into my wacky world.

taken through my car window (this seems to be my favorite window from which to take these weekly pictures). i cheated and took this picture on tuesday, but it was too fascinating to ignore. it's not that i have never before seen fog (the town in which i grew up is blanketed in thick fog nearly every morning), it's just that i have never seen it engulf miami. i have lived here for five years and this was the first morning that i woke up to a soupy fog.

this is one of the laundry rooms in our building. not much to look at, but it has machines. fancy, eh? you don't think so? i do. today is laundry day. i hate doing laundry (yes, i have complained about this before), but every time i consider wallowing in my misery, i think of my in-laws who have to do their laundry by hand. and then i thank my lucky stars that i have machines to do it for me.

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wednesday windows #2.

the second installment of wednesday windows.

i took this picture through my windshield (fear not, i was stopped at a light). since childhood i have coveted the original VW beetles. i still harbor fantasies that i will one day own one of these babies. the one in the picture is a bit dilapidated, but here on the streets of miami it is rare to find such a gem amongst all the hummers and lamborghinis.

i spend approximately 1,000 hours a year holed up with small children, so it is probably no surprise that on the days recess is rained out, i am just as saddened as the kids. over the years i have come up with some creative ways to keep the kids entertained without causing me to lose my sanity, but today's inspiration was the best ever. i dumped a box of mini-blocks on the carpet, paired up the kids, and gave them one minute to make a tower. tallest tower got a point. and then we did it again. and again. and again. instant hit. clearly we know what will be happening in my room the next time it rains on our recess.

interested in participating in wednesday windows? check out the instructions.

c-c-c-c-c-cold.

i want my money back. i bought the miami dream complete with warm and fuzzy winters and now i am stuck in the neverending clutches of arctic cold fronts. thats right kids. as if the freezing temperatures all week were not enough, there is now a wind chill and frost advisory in effect AND the temperatures are supposed to exhibit a "drastic drop" on saturday. uhh...how much lower can we go? and how many more days do i have to go to work in my goofy striped hat? i mean, please...i don't have a lot of "grown up" stock to begin with..forcing me to wear my stripey beanie hat to work is NOT helping.

i dont know pete, but for his sake, we need our weather back. our electric bill is going to go through the roof, because we discovered that our a/c is also a heater. thank goodness for this, but really?!?! i am one of the odd ducks who actually relishes the ghastly humidity of miami summers (there is something divine about being blissfully warm even in the wee hours of the night), but seriously, putting up with the psycho humidity of miami summers should earn me bragging rights in the dead of winter. instead, all day i've been haunted by angelenos raving about their 74 degree afternoon as i sit shivering in my nineteen layers.

there is only one saving grace here. my future nephew is due to arrive in the city of angels any day now. perhaps the higher powers have decided to clear the air so he can come into this world under a ray of golden sun. in that case, i suppose i can suffer through a few more days of frostbite. let's be honest...i look kinda adorable in my snow hat.

shattered innocence.

this evening found me sitting on my balcony desperately trying to ignore the myriad of activities that were attempting to lure me from the drudgery of studying. the mister arrived home with kisses for his darling wife and then he retreated to the inner sanctum to watch television and leave me in the swamp of scholarly essays.

suddenly i hear repeated popping noises coming from the other side of a neighboring building. my head is spinning...fireworks? ummm...gunshots? the mister immediately appeared at my side and confirmed my fears that i was indeed hearing gunshots (why was he so certain? dunno. that is to be determined another day). this claim was substantiated when we heard sirens, and then saw a black car careen down the road only to be rammed by a chasing police car. to make matters more frightening another police car came screaming the WRONG way, effectively sandwiching the suspect between their bumpers.

at this point the mister and i are gaping in dumbfounded shock at the events unfolding on the streets below, when POP POP POP POP POP the gunfire starts again! YEESH! i hightailed it into the house with the mister close on my heels. call us dweebs, but we went to peek out the window, only to hear more pops, which sent us scurrying back to the kitchen. after what seemed like an inordinately long stretch, the shooting stopped and we reemerged on the balcony, only to discover that five stories down one of the suspects was sprawled across the trunk of a police car. the yelling, shouting, and wailing, that ensued shortly after, emanated from what we presume was another suspect, this one not so "lucky," because he was apparently hit by one of the many flying bullets.

it only took a few minutes for a bevy of police cars, detectives, and ambulances, to descend on the scene. three hours later only a few police cars remain, but the mobile crime lab, detectives, the suspect's cars and the crime scene tape have not yet disappeared. i am holding out hope that when i wake up, the flashing lights, crime scene tape and suspect's cars will have been removed and all the events will linger only in my memory.

who knew that the 200 yard stretch of road visible from our balcony would provide us our own constant stream of police action. we regularly watch traffic stops, but this was a first (and hopefully last) experience with a shootout. i, for one, prefer the traffic stops.