The Lemon Takes Flight

Throughout the summer in Florida, the Tampa Bay area gets thunderstorms with torrential rain--like clockwork--every afternoon. With the exception of a few years of el nino (or was it la nina?) the afternoon thunderstorms have been a fixture in my life since I was a boy. In fact, while I lived in New York City, I often found myself feeling nostalgic for these storms.

Oddly, for the last three days, it has rained ALL DAY. The weather patterns remind me of New England in the spring. Grey all day. Sprinkles of rain interspersed with downpours. Once again, I find myself waxing nostalgic for those rapid, powerful, and BRIEF afternoon thunderstorms of old.

The big problem with the wet weather is that I can't take Reilly outside. We typically go out three to four times per day, so cutting that down to a quick rush outside between rain clouds has put quite a damper on both of our moods. Reilly had so much pent up energy yesterday that I thougth she would explode. She was getting into everything, just tearing the house to pieces.

At one point she crawled up on the coffee table and stood there, smiling at me, defiant. I gave her the whole "no, no, no" routine and redirected her attention to her stroller. She turned right back around and climbed the table once again. This battle of wills went on for a few more rounds, at which point I swept Reilly up, stuck her in her highchair, and pulled her into the kitchen so that she could watch me prep dinner. (This was intended to be a form of punishment.)

Surprisingly, she seemed to enjoy the distraction. I gave her some Veggie Booty to keep her quiet and went to work. At one point, I was slicing a lemon, and she started pointing and whining at me, so I de-seeded a slice and gave it to her (but not before recognizing my duty to the blog and grabbing my camera).

Here is Reilly's first bite of lemon, in five frames:

Reilly considers the lemon.

Reilly bites the lemon.

Reilly's initial reaction to the sourness.


Reilly's second reaction to the sourness.



The lemon takes flight.