Cat Statue

Back in 1991, I visited Key West for the first time, and one highlight of the trip was the Hemingway House. The tour guide casually pointed out a ceramic statue sitting on top of a cabinet, a gift from from Pablo Picasso to Ernest Hemingway. Years later I heard that the statue had been stolen, which honestly wasn't surprising considering it was a cool Picasso statue just sitting on a cabinet in a house.

Years later, while going through boxes of old photos (oh, the pre-digital days), we came across this picture from that 1991 trip. According to the Hemingway House museum's website, the cat was found in a box in the 1970s, and Hemingway's wife said that it was a gift from Picasso to Hemingway. The two men had become friends when living in Paris in the 1920s. The statue was stolen during or shortly after a house tour in November 2000, and recovered a month later when the thief tried to use it as a deposit for a small boat. Unfortunately, the statue was badly damaged. The statue now on display in the house museum is a replica.

(Sources included the Hemingway House website, the Dec. 11, 2000 Miami Herald, and the Jan. 26, 2001 Palm Beach Post)

Taft Richardson, Jr.

Folk artist Taft Richardson, Jr., known for his community service as well as his sculptures made from animal bones, passed away in Tampa earlier this week. Spirituality infused his work, which is well illustrated by this website by Folkvine.


Further reading:

"Taft Richardson Jr.: Bones spoke to artist " (St. Petersburg Times, December 3, 2008)

"Bones of invention" (by Jeff Klinkenberg, St. Petersburg Times, August 13, 2006)


From the library:

Extraordinary Interpretations: Florida's Self-Taught Artists (by Gary Monroe, University Press of Florida, 2003)

Just Above the Water: Florida Folk Art (by Kristin G. Congdon and Tina Bucuvalas, University Press of Mississippi, 2006)

International Coastal Cleanup

Saturday was the 2008 International Coastal Cleanup Day, organized by the Ocean Conservancy. Several local cleanups were coordinated by Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful, including one along Courtney Campbell Causeway in Tampa Bay.
















It was a beautiful morning to be picking up trash. My team found plenty of bottles, cigarette butts, and a dreidel, which got a mention in the local paper!
















Things we found that belonged there included a wasp nest and several horseshoe crab shells.

The Florida Collection, from the Jacksonville Public Library

The Florida Collection is an online resource made available by the Jacksonville Public Library. It includes biographical sketches, historic photographs, and old postcards, among other things. Browsing through the postcard index, I discovered:

* a 1900s photograph of horses at the starting line at Moncrief Park

* two brave men plucking feathers from an ostrich, and

* a 1940s advertisement for Berney's Restaurant.

The Berney's card proclaims "Dine with the Man in Green from Ripley's 'Believe it or Not'." And sure enough, there's a man in a green suit. A little googling finds a January 18, 1937, letter to the editor, published in Time magazine: "Dressed completely in green day and night, he will give to any woman dressed entirely in green the choice of his menu, gratis. ... The only man in Florida to drive an automobile with a green licenses, he has even painted the 'White Horse' Scotch whisky statue green."

Florida News Stories

"Free flying parrots are all around us" (Miami Herald, May 18, 2008) "One of them has raggedy tail feathers. Both have that unmistakable scream, deep throated and meant to be heard across the rain forest. From time to time, they set to work on the headless royal palm, ripping at the trunk with their beaks, teasing us with the thought that they might nest in the cavity they've created."

"Silver Springs marks 'Sea Hunt' anniversary - underwater" (Ocala Star Banner, May 23, 2008) "Some 50 years ago, actor Lloyd Bridges dove into the cool, crystal-clear waters at Silver Springs attraction playing scuba hero Mike Nelson on the television series "Sea Hunt.""

"Sssomething different on menu: rattlesnake " (St. Petersburg Times, May 16, 2008) ""The rattlesnakes were more prolific than the crops I planted..."

"Greek Diver Has Soaked Up Life Like A Sponge" (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, May 24, 2008) "Taso, short for Anastasios, has creased bronze skin and a salt-and-pepper moustache. When he crosses the deck of the Anastasi, his 48-foot fishing boat, there's a little swagger in his step."

"Sacred Heart Jump-Starts Wedding Photo Project" (Tampa Tribune, May 24, 2008) "...looking for wedding photos from Sacred Heart and its predecessor, St. Louis Church, that date all the way to 1860. The photos will be mounted and displayed as part of Sacred Heart's 150th anniversary celebration...."

"When Glades burn, a delicate balance" (Sarasota Herald Tribune, May 24, 2008) "The fire has scorched about 40,000 acres, sent smoke over Miami and forced schools to close temporarily. And yet it has also put nutrients into the soil, killed non-native plants and made it harder for hawks to prey on the endangered Cape Sable seaside sparrow."

"Residents urged to look out for owls" (News Press, May 24, 2008)

St. Augustine's Donkey Burial

Last year archaeologist Carl Halbirt discovered an intentionally buried donkey dating to the seventeenth century in St. Augustine. His talk given at the recent Florida Anthropological Society meeting was popular with other Florida archaeologists, and now you have a chance to look at this unusual find and make your own conclusions: why would someone bury a donkey?, why was it buried the way it was?, and how did the donkey die?

Read "The Case of the Disarticulated Donkey" from Archaeology magazine, and send in your answers.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Clearwater Marine Aquarium, just over the Memorial Causeway Bridge (shown in the photo below, completed in 2005) from the mainland, is not as glossy as SeaWorld or the Florida Aquarium. The facility was converted from a sewage treatment plant in the 1970s, and that along with the large amounts of salt water and sea life contained within its concrete walls give it somewhat of a utilitarian air. The point of visiting here is to learn about sea life, not to admire architecture, although that does come into the story later on). The Aquarium's mission is to rescue marine animals, rehabilitate them, and release them back into their natural environments. Some animals cannot be returned to the wild because of injuries sustained, and they stay at the aquarium, becoming educational ambassadors. On the Aquarium's most famous residents is Winter, a young bottlenose dolphin who became entangled in a rope at a young age. The rope cut off the bolld supply to her tail. Now without a tail, she cannot swim as well as other dolphins. She captured national media attention when she received a prosthetic tail.

On a recent visit to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, I did catch a glimpse of Winter, as well as several sea turtles, stingrays, sharks, and a sea otter. We also went on the aquarium's two-hour boat tour of Clearwater Bay, a nice trip for families, visitors, and all age groups. The trip is on a pontoon boat, with schedules stops to raise a crab trab and do some shelling on a spoil island. A couple of kids on the boat found sea urchins (reddish things in photo below), which they shared with the rest of the group. The tour guides/educators also run a seine net out, sampling underrwater life at different points in the bay. Creatures we all got to see included grunts, sea squirts, spider crabs, arrow crabs, tiny blue crabs, and bigger blue crabs. At one point a pod of six dolphins -- several of which were just youngsters -- lept beside the boat.

Along the way down the Intracoastal Waterway, the captain pointed out several houses on the shore, including Hulk Hogan's Swiss chalet-style mansion. Now, it's probably not a surprise to any of you, but I'm kind of a history geek, and I was a lot more interested in another house the captain mentioned.

This is Spottis Woode, sometimes called Spotswood, Donald Roebling's waterfront estate. The captain mentioned that Donald Roebling was the grandson of the man who built the Brooklyn Bridge, but Donald is noteworthy based on his own acheivements.

In 1930, Donald Roebling bought this parcel of land in Clearwater, naming it honor of his finacee, Miss Spottiswoode. Roebling built a fabulous Tudor-style mansion, then added a machine shop to the estate. After the 1928 Lake Okeechobee hurricane, Roebling saw first hand how difficult rescue efforts had been. In his machine shop, he built the first prototypes of the Roebling Alligator, an amphibious tractor or tank. He repeated tried to get the military interested in his invention, but unsuccessfully so until the Alligator was featured in a 1937 issue of Life magazine. By 1940, Roebling was suppling the vehicles to the Marine Corps. The Alligator played an important role in the Pacific Theater during World War II, after being testing on the beaches of Clearwater Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

For more information about Donald Roebling and the Roebling Alligator:

"Roebling's Amphibian The Origin Of The Assault Amphibian," by Richard W. Roan

"The Alligator Amphibian: A Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark" (from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a pdf file, includes photographs)

Our State Fair

For over one hundred years, Tampa has hosted the Florida State Fair. It's not so different from other state fairs, with rides, food on a stick, and 4-H clubs with sheep and steers. There's exotic looking chickens and rabbits, bleating goats, and cow milking demonstrations. Over on the other side, there's a guy carving wood with a chainsaw, just outside the exhibition hall where the Elvis impersonator contest is underway. There are pig races, a giant alligator, and spinning thrill rides. For just a few dollars you can throw a dart/ ball / ring and win an unwieldly stuffed animal.

In 1904 the South Florida Fair was organized to promote Tampa's economic resources and bring tourists to our fair city. For seven decades, the fair was held on the west shore of the Hillsborough River, near the Tampa Bay Hotel, now part of the University of Tampa campus. Eventually anew, larger fairgrounds were built in east Tampa, on Interstate 4, and this is where the fair has been held each February since 1977.

In other months of the year the fairgrounds host craft shows, horse shows, and concerts. Year round, Cracker Country is a popular school fieldtrip destination.

If you want to go, you'd better hurry -- Monday is the last day this year!

Florida Videos on the Web

Neal Hecker, with Program Services at WPBT/Channel 2 in Miami brought this website to my attention: uVu, described as "uVu is a video sharing website and companion digital broadcast channel powered by WPBT Channel 2, South Florida’s PBS station. The website consists of video content created and submitted to the site by individuals, community groups and cultural/educational institutions, which allows the community to experience, at any time, the important happenings of South Florida."

Here's a few of the videos that caught my attention, but I'm sure you'll find your own favorites.

Roadtrip to Yoder's Restaurant

MiMo Architecture

Palm Beach's Famous Doorways

Florida's Key Deer

Tour of Versailles in Little Havana

Stone Crabs

Miami Bungalows

Birding Trip to Merritt Island

This weekend, we went on a field trip with Tampa Audubon to the Viera Wetlands and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Brevard County, on Florida's East Coast, near Cape Canaveral. The Viera Wetlands are part of Brevard County's water treatment and reclaimation system, located near the New Town of Viera and the A.Duda Sod Farm. The Duda family started planning Viera in the 1980s, and A. Duda and Sons has been operating sod farms since the 1970s. In addition to LOTS of birds, we saw a river otter, wild hogs, and a turtle at Viera Wetlands.

Sandhill cranes near the town of Viera

There was a caracara at the Viera Wetlands.

Along with an uncountable number of coots, only a tiny, tiny percentage of which are shown in this picture.

Sod farm

On the way to Merritt Island NWR, we stopped at Parrish Park, which is just on the other side of the Max Brewer Bridge from Titusville. The Max Brewer drawbridge is the longest swing bridge in the state, and one of only two existing historic deck girder swing bridges in Florida. The bridge is scheduled to be replaced by a high, fixed-span bridge.

Our group leader identified 92 different species, and I saw 60 or so. Some of my favorites are the sandhill crane, pie-billed grebe, roseate spoonbill, and peregrine falcon. My list for the trip:

pie-billed grebe

white pelican

brown pelican

American bittern

great blue heron

great egret

snowy egret

little blue heron

tricolored heron

reddish egret

cattle egret

green heron

white ibis

glossy ibis

roseate spponbill

wood stork

tree swallow

mockingbird

yellow rumped warbler

palm warbler

red-winged blackbird

common grackle

boat-tailed grackle

black vulture

american widgeon

blue-winged teal

northern shoveler

northern pintail

green-winged teal

lesser scaup

hooded merganser

ruddy duck

osprey

bald eagle

northern harrier

red-shouldered hawk

crested caracara

American kestrel

peregrine falcon

wild turkey

common moorhen

American coot

sandhill crane

killdeer

American avocet

greater yellowlegs

willet

sandpiper

marbled godwit

ruddy turnstone

short-billed dowitcher

laughing gull

Bonaparte's gull

ring-billed gull

herring gull

black-backed gull

Caspian tern

royal tern

Forster's tern

rock dove

shrike

See a Manatee

Looking for ideas of something to do with kids or visiting relatives during winter vacation? Go see some manatees! The Save the Manatee Club website lists places where you can see Florida's state marine mammal either in the wild or in capativity. As Gulf water temperatures drop, manatees seek warmer waters, so in the wintertime you are more likely to find them at natural springs or near power plants.

"Our favorite snowbird, the manatee" (The News-Press, December 16, 2007)

Florida News

"My Florida dream" (St. Petersburg Times, Octoer 21, 2007)

"Pumpkin, knife, Scuba gear -- all set" (Earthtimes.org, October 21, 2007)

"Underwater carving contest draws fish" (Miami Herald, October 21, 2007)

"Film Festival: New Urban Cowboy: An interview with Michael E. Arth" (Connect Savannah, October 23, 2007; documentary about "New Pedestrianism" in DeLand)

"Architect's Vision Realized As Fountain Comes To Life" (Tampa Tribune, October 26, 2007; Frank Lloyd Wright's Waterdome)

"The great swan corral at Lake Eola" (Orlando Sentinel, October 27, 2007)

"Alligator Emerges From Sewer and Is Found Under a Parked Truck" (First Coast News, October 26, 2007)

"'A particular kind of beauty' spares house demolition" (News-Leader, October 25, 2007)

"Marineland: 'God's country'" (Bradenton Herald, October 14, 2007)

"Tomato packaging firms feel squeezed" (Bradenton Herald, October 23, 2007)

"An old look for Truman retreat" (Little White House in Key West, Chicago Tribune, October 14, 2007)

Florida Stories in the News

"Inventor Wants to Sap Storms" St. Petersburg Times 9/9/07

"Post Office Loves Being Stuck in Past" Orlando Sentinel 9/9/07

"Getting a Gauge on the Gators" News Press 9/14/07

"Bill Would Designate the Cracker Horse as the Official State Horse" WPTV.com 9/14/07

"Florida Panther Cub Comes to Lowry Park Zoo" St. Petersburg Times 9/14/07

"Voices of Lake Okeechobee" Florida Trend 9/1/07

"Hearing History's Echoes" Tampa Tribune 9/16/07

"Last Officer Class Leaving Pensacola; 7 Decade Tradition Ends" St. Petersburg Times 9/15/07

Stick with Florida

Aside from the increased cost of mailing a letter, I was disappointed when the U.S. Postal Service raised the first class postage rate to 41 cents. I really liked using the 39-cent alligator and spoonbill stamps, and the others in the Southern Florida Wetland commemorative pane.

Those are certainly not the only "Florida" stamps the USPS has ever issued -- in fact, they just this summer started offering a 26-cent Florida panther stamp. Another Florida stamp was issued in June 2007, picuturing the Okefenokee Swamp, for the 69-cent International mail rate.

In 2004, the post office issued a stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, which featured a closeup of a pelican's head.

The 2003 Southeastern Lighthouse Stamp series included the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse.

In 1995, the Florida Statehood stamp marked our 150th anniversary of being a state, with a stylized alligator rising from a swamp. Fifty years earlier, the Florida Centennial stamp was less colorful, a monochrome light red violet, and pictured the gates of St. Augustine, an old map, and the state capitol.

In 1989, the Key Marco Cat, a carved wooded figurine found at a southwest Florida archaeological site, was featured on a U.S. Airmail stamp.

On December 5, 1947, in a ceremony at the Florida City post office, the USPS issued a 3-cent stamp commemorating the country's newest national park, the Everglades. The green stamp with an outline map of the state and a white ibis was designed by Garnett Megee of Miami

There have been other Florida stamps, several as part of sets covering all 50 states -- state flags, state birds, etc. What are your favorites, and what "Florida" stamps would you like to see at the post office?

The Horses of Proud Spirit by Melanie Sue Bowles

Today I'm reading The Horses of Proud Spirit, by Melanie Sue Bowles. Bowles's memoir is not about Florida per se, but is set in Florida and peopled by Floridians, good and bad. In this book, Bowles shows how she went from being unable to ride, to saving horses other people thought were hopeless. Each chapter is the story of a horse, and how that horse came to the Proud Spirit Horse Sanctuary near Myakka City (that's in Manatee County). Since writing this book, Melanie and Jim Bowles have moved the Proud Spirit Horse Sanctuary to Arkansas, where they continue to save horses, one at a time.

The book has been made into an Emmy-winning documentary by WEDU, Tampa's public television station.

Published by Florida's own Pineapple Press in 2003, The Horses of Proud Spirit is 200 pages, hardcover, with black and white photographs. If you buy the book through Bowles' website, part of the proceeds go to the horse sanctuary.