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

From the category archives:

HOLIDAYS

Vietnamese New Years at St. Petersburg’s Phat Phap Buddhist Temple

February 16, 2010
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Two of the most popular posts at Inkwatu over the few years of its existence are Wat Mongkolratanaram — Palm River Thai Temple and Songkran at Tampa’s Wat Mongkolratanaram and memories of Thailand. Wat Mongkolratanaram is a Thai Buddhist temple, but there are many other Buddhist traditions represented in the Tampa Bay area, many distinguished [...]

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A meaningful tradition

January 4, 2010
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Some friends invited me to a New Year’s Eve celebration last week. It’s a group of friends who’ve been getting together every New Year’s for the past fourteen years. They have a tradition of everyone writing their old year’s regrets, disappointments, and things-to-let-go-of on [...]

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Friendship

December 31, 2009
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If you were to read almost any post in Inkwatu, you’d soon discover the word, “friend,” somewhere in the text. Very few of the places described in Inkwatu I discovered myself. Friends shared with me the things and places they liked. In turn, I shared them with you.
Family is important, of course, but friends are [...]

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Vintage Sheet Music Covers

December 28, 2009
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My sister and I were fortunate as kids because our parents were good amateur musicians who, in the days before TV, would often play together as a way to end the evening: our mother on violin, our dad on piano. I have multiple memories of falling asleep on the couch as a child listening to [...]

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Peace

December 25, 2009
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Who’s your favorite Scrooge?

December 21, 2009
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I know, I know: regardless of your specific religion, the winter holidays are all about sweetness and light. BUT…if it weren’t for Charles Dickens’s unforgettable Ebenezer Scrooge, would there be a Grinch? A Scrooge McDuck? Or, Bill Murray’s wonderful character, Frank Cross, in the 1988 film, Scrooged? Could there even be “sweetness [...]

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Holidays, Home and Hearth

November 27, 2009
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Holidays are all about home and hearth, which is to say, family and food. Last week, Inkwatu was a post about sharing a morning with my son (the family part of home and hearth) at a dog park in Atlanta. Today’s Inkwatu is a repost of recipe teasers (both family and food) from my sister’s [...]

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Pumpkins & Palm Trees

October 31, 2009
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Celebrating autumn and winter holidays down here in the semi-tropics is always a little unconvincing because the temperatures are still in the upper 80s to mid-90s. But, many here are transplants–temporary or permanent–from climates that have actual seasons so we bring our traditions with us. We even relish the dissonance of seeing a carved pumpkin [...]

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Dairy Inn

July 4, 2009
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You’ve got your chance today to celebrate our nation’s independence as well as the fact that July is National Hot Dog Month by competing in the Dairy Inn annual hot dog eating contest!
According to the Dairy Inn (1201 9th St. N., St Petersburg, FL 33701; 727-822-6971) website, “The Dairy Inn is St Petersburg’s oldest ice [...]

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Father’s Day

June 20, 2009
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Long-time readers of this blog know that my sister, Lucy, writes Lava to Lilikoi, a blog about gardening in Hawaii. Occasionally, she and I do a guest post for each other. Last year, when I was busy with preparations for an approaching hurricane here in Florida she did a couple for me. More recently, while [...]

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My Favorite Doughboy

May 23, 2009
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Monday is Memorial Day when we honor those who have been lost in war. Thankfully, to my knowledge, none of my kin have ever been lost in battle, but they have indeed served during wartime. Normally, Inkwatu doesn’t cover personal things, but today’s post is a tribute to members of my family, living and dead, [...]

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Guan Yin

May 9, 2009

GUAN YIN
To set the mood for this post, click the play button below for a 30 second sample of a luscious, contemporary setting of a traditional Guan Yin mantra. (There is nothing to download–this is streaming audio.) If you would like the short sample to repeat, click on the little icon that shows a loop [...]

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Spring!

March 21, 2009

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Spring officially began yesterday at 7:44am. But those of us with allergies, especially oak allergies, already knew it was here. My apologies for the brevity of this morning’s post, but my army of antihistamines, decongestants, cough syrups, eye drops, expectorants, and analgesics has been totally overwhelmed by this year’s high pollen [...]

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Unless specifically attributed otherwise, all Inkwatu content (text, photos, music, media, etc.) Copyright © 2008-2010 Hilton Kean Jones