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

HOLIDAYS

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 [...]

Happy Holidays!

December 13, 2011
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Happy Halloween

October 29, 2010
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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 [...]

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 [...]

A meaningful tradition

January 4, 2010
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click on image, then again on large image for full sized image 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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Peace

December 25, 2009
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Who’s your favorite Scrooge?

December 21, 2009
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click for larger image 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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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