Northern cold weather signals the migration of two kinds of people to Florida: Snowbirds, who come for the season, and Frogs, who come to croak.
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I visited The Villages, an over-55 community, where the women are too old to get pregnant and the men look like they are.
I am informed among the Villagers over 70, women out-number men 15-1. Of course, when the odds are good, the goods can be quite odd.
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I shall live badly if I do not write, and I shall write badly if I do not live. -Francoise Sagan, playwright and novelist (1935-2004)
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I wish I could attribute the line below. A teacher was remarking about an observation made by one of his students upon returning from a photographic field trip.
“A picture is worth a thousand words. The real thing is worth a thousand pictures.”
A Year on the Road 
Ahh- Florida! The first time I went was after my husband died- culture shock. Dave and carole took me to all venues of snowbird life, from kareoke signers in VFW halls to trailor communities where pot luck suppers were the concern of the day, and to luxury hotels where the elderly clinked wine glasses and sang to the sunset. I realized, then, that LIVING every day to the fullest is the snowbird mantra and that time is of essence.
Florida has never been one of my fav states. Too many bugs and ‘no see-um.’ But some lovely people live there, so I go occasionally. Here in Michigan many people turn into snowbirds in winter. Me, I love the snow. It’s so beautiful coming down, clinging to the branches of trees, covering the hills like a huge ice cream cone. I’m even finally learning to drive in snow. Only took 6 years…
I lived in FL for 13 years until the late 80s. By the time I left the SE corner had become one of the most unattractive places on earth to me–esp as a year round place to be.
Northwest and north central in February are another barrel of beer. The area is high on my candidate list of places to establish a home base for part of the year when I am ready to put the Jolly Swag out to pasture for part of the year.
I have yet to find my lost tribe of mates, but I think they might be around here somewhere.
AL
Let me know when you have an address that I can send my latest book to you.
Colleen
I have not forgotten.
This set of bits and pieces is especially good and quite funny. It’s a distinct possiblity that I will be doing some reposting of these later just to share the laughs.
Florida was always too flat for me. I’m a hills and mountains guy. I spent a couple summers down there when Iwas a kid. I enjoyed the daily thunderstorms and occasional hurricane and fishing trips on Biscayne Bay, but it always bugged me that the highest elevation was a bump in the road.