photos and descriptions of what makes our world a pleasure
emphasis on Florida and the Tampa Bay area but also far beyond

FAVORITES

Year ’round Holiday decorations

December 30, 2011
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I think I will leave up my holiday decorations year ’round. Why not? They make me feel good. Long, long ago, there used to be a small, downtown cafe in St. Pete that was decorated with year ’round Christmas tree lights strung around the ceiling. I could almost swear it was where the Central Coffee [...]

Homegrown lettuce from a neighborhood garden

December 20, 2011
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A friend brought me a great gift today: fresh lettuce she picked herself from a plot she maintains in a community garden at the end of her street. Although I, personally, lack the drive for such industry, I’m certainly glad she doesn’t! Isn’t it great to know where your food comes from? The word, “community,” [...]

Biloxi, Mississippi

August 27, 2011

My big sister, Lucy, in 1949 at Biloxi lighthouse The Mississippi Gulf Coast figures prominently in my family’s history since my father’s relatives are in southern Mississippi and Alabama. Also, as a poor Methodist preacher’s family in Illinois, about the only vacation we could afford when I was a kid was to head south in [...]

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Trees and picnic table in an Atlanta park

August 24, 2011
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Peace in the Great Southwest

August 18, 2011
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There are places you miss more than you realize until you visit them again. The Southwest is one of those places. Recently I visited a friend of 43 years. He’s only recently moved to Gallup. I’d never been there before, but I hope to go again. The title of this post pretty much says it [...]

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Eliot Pattison’s Ashes of the Earth: A Mystery of Post-Apocalyptic America

May 14, 2011

Something new out of something old There are many types of sleuths and mysteries beyond Mrs. Marple in Agatha Christie’s locked-room cozies or the hard-boiled private eye, Philip Marlowe, in Raymond Chandler’s yarns. One of the many types is the police procedural that’s become the tired mainstay of so much television fare. Yet, a master [...]

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Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo

April 2, 2011

Bornean orangutan (male) “Rango” Age 36. The only great ape from Asia, orangutans are among the most endangered animals on earth. What a privilege: a private tour by the person I’m convinced is the world’s best docent of the zoo rated #1 in the United States by Parent’s Magazine. That zoo and that docent (Jane [...]

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Super Bowl Surprise

February 5, 2011

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl. Therein lies a tale: Back in 1991, as usual, I was supplementing my income as a college prof by moonlighting as a church musician, playing organ and conducting a volunteer choir. That particular year, I happened to put on a variety show with the choir, doing a number of sets [...]

The Eliot Pattison Inspector Shan series

January 1, 2011
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Beijing Yong He Gong Lamasery prayer wheel   In an earlier post, Mystery Series Set in Foreign Lands, there were some very interesting comments and suggestions. Additionally, I’ve been exposed, entirely by chance, to an author that I’ve become addicted to: Eliot Pattison (eliotpattison.com/). That addiction began when a good friend gave me a book [...]

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The Joy of Learning (photographing the Elizabeth Crown Collection)

November 27, 2010

Long ago, I learned a secret that kept me writing and growing as a composer all my life: with each piece you’re learning something new about how to compose. I was already doing this as a kid, but didn’t know it. However, as an undergraduate, I was fortunate enough to take one of the courses [...]

Views of the “Big Boats” from the Crosstown Expressway

November 13, 2010
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The Leroy Selmon Crosstown Expressway (map) is a toll road that stretches from Gandy Blvd., on the lower peninsula of Tampa, just north of MacDill Air Force Base, across the top of Hillsborough Bay, on to Brandon, a bedroom community to the southeast of Tampa. The purpose of the Crosstown Expressway, which was ridiculed when [...]

Happy Halloween

October 29, 2010
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Jeckll Island, Georgia

October 23, 2010
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amusements and pastimes There’s an interesting getaway a leisurely five hour drive from Tampa: Jeckll Island, Georgia (www.jekyllisland.com). View Larger Map The History of Jeckll Island page of the above website gives an encapsulated account of its history: “In 1886, Jekyll Island was purchased to become an exclusive winter retreat for America’s most elite families, [...]

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