I probably won't be posting until Tuesday because Eric and I are going to Pensacola to visit his family.
The Florida panhandle is an interesting place. The beaches are improbably beautiful; the water and the sand are literally blinding. It's also as Southern as anywhere I've been, in terms of manners, politics, and food.
But that's not what really gets my attention. What I really dig are the church signs.
A (very brief) sample of this aspect of panhandle culture:
Clearly, I'm not as happy as I could be.
What better way to greet folks into your neighborhood than a shining message of hope?
Etc. I took these a few years ago. Signs like this are all over town, although these were the best by far. The second one is in front of Eric's mom's next-door neighbor's house.
I mean, I thought my Catholic upbringing was pretty dire, but in the middle-class suburban version I grew up with, no one used their front yard to display anything more threatening than a tacky plastic Nativity scene.
It'll be nice to see Eric's family for a few days, anyway, especially his two-year-old nephew, who I'm told is talking now and has a thing for elephants. And of course I'll have plenty of pictures when we get back.