Manatees and Lightning

Lightning strikes the northern end of Merritt Island.
A lightning flash makes the night seem like day outside my motel room on the bank of the Indian River.
The lights of the Kennedy Space Center shine across the rainswept Indian River.
Orlando weather television, Channel 13, reports the passage of the electrical storm across Florida.

I declared Sunday, April 25, a rest day. I stayed at the motel, swimming in the motel pool, which afforded a view of the Kennedy Space Center. Sitting outside with palm trees and the placid waters of the seven kilometre wide Indian River before me I wrote the first draft of the first weeks of this journal.

In the river a pod of manatees were cavorting, herring broke the surface of the water and sting rays could be dimly seen in the cloudy water. Along the rock wall that formed the river bank lizards basked in the sunshine.

Some of the other motel residents were fishing in the shade of the palm trees. Many types of marine and land birds flew about.

That evening it clouded over and a severe electrical storm with heavy rain swept over the area. I experimented with taking some photos of the lightning, with the ranch slider open to the wet lawn outside. By 9 pm the rain abated as the storm moved eastward out to sea.

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