Migratory path of two Denver Snow Birds Part 2 (A 2023 travelogue of Gary & Denise Flanders)
We unloaded the car and rushed the block down to the beach just to confirm the ocean was still there.
Our good friends in Titusville were down and out with the flu so Denise made a large pot of her world famous cure all chicken soup. We jumped on I 4 as angels of mercy and were treated to a sundog. “Sun dogs are commonly caused by the refraction and scattering of light from horizontally oriented plate-shaped hexagonalice crystals either suspended in high and cold cirrus or cirrostratus clouds, or drifting in freezing moist air at low levels as diamond dust. The crystals act as prisms, bending the light rays passing through them with a minimum deflection of 22°.” “Sun dogs are red-colored at the side nearest the Sun; farther out the colors grade through oranges to blue. The colors overlap considerably and are muted, never pure or saturated. The colors of the sun dog finally merge into the white of the parhelic circle (if the latter is visible)
Last year we wintered in Oceanside California. Every day we went down to the beach to see the sunset. Here on the east coast we looked forward to sunrises. The first morning in New Smyrna Beach we rushed down to the boardwalk at the end of our block to see our first sunrise. These are not blurry photos…it was completely socked in with heavy fog…oh well. We just drove 1860 miles and we would not be denied our first sunrise…dang it! The sun finally popped through the fog and our initial sunrise was in the books. Gull coffee klatch January 2, 2023. In addition to local coffee places we scout out local ice cream businesses. We met a couple who had just moved from Georgia. Jim & Jen bought a local high quality ice cream joint and now had a new home and a new business. It is all homemade with top quality ingredients. It was mighty tasty. And you can always tell a high quality place when you see fantastic art on the walls. At 7:18 the next morning we were on the fogless beach for our first clear sunrise. The true nature photographer must have the correct angle. Other photographers just stand there. Gary still holds the theory, ‘it’s not the destination – it is the journey’. Always on the lookout for the different angle. January 3rd was our first clear look at some of the damage Hurricane Ian had done to New Smyrna Beach. Ian was a category 4 hurricane that hit New Smyrna on September 28th. Three plus months later many parts of Florida are still cleaning up. Our research staff, Denise, looked for the best places to see the sunset in New Smyrna. We drove the 15 minutes to Smyrna Dunes Park to see the sun go down over the Indian River.
Men) Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise, sunset,
Swiftly flow the days. (Women) Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers,
Blossoming even as we gaze. (Everyone) Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise, sunset, Swiftly fly the years
One season following another, Laiden with happiness and tears.
deliriouslove1970. The life & times of Gary and Denise Flanders. (Free and worth every penny. If you would like to compliment the editor, send to garytheflan@deliriouslove1970.com. If you would like to complain, call your mother.) 
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