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

favorite articles

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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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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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 [...]

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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Mystery series set in foreign lands

August 28, 2010
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If you enjoy travel to foreign lands and if you enjoy mystery suspense series with a strong, memorable protagonist, then we share the love of a special niche in escapist fiction. I’m sure there are more such series, but there are four authors’ series that I know of. James Church‘s novels, featuring an Inspector O [...]

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I should have known better

August 3, 2010
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Hilton’s first “song”–age 3 For young (and old) composers, there are no books that really help you understand the process of composing music. I mean that word, “no,” quite literally. There’s not a single book that I know of that really deals with the process. The books that purport to be about composition are really [...]

Inertia

July 10, 2010
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Sometimes you see something that is so stunning, you’re actually able to overcome the inertia of living, go home, get the big camera (well…big for me; it’s just a lower end Nikon DSLR, but it’s bigger than my old Canon point-and-shoot which I still love and use a lot), go back out in the heat, [...]

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If you’re ever in St. Pete in June…

June 26, 2010
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If you live in St. Pete, chances are someone you know was either marching down Central Avenue today or watching others do so. They may have been your brother or sister, your aunt or uncle, your son or daughter, your boss or employee…or a fellow church member. I counted almost 2 dozen churches marching in [...]

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Lucky Star Hong Kong Style Chinese Restaurant

May 27, 2010
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If you’re in the mood for authentic Cantonese on the St. Pete side of the bay there’s really only two places: ABC Seafood, reviewed earlier in Inkwatu, and the Lucky Star Hong Kong Style Chinese Restaurant (4175 66th Street North, St Petersburg, FL 33709-4915; 727-381-8888‎; map). On the Tampa side of the bay, my favorite [...]

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