Daisy

Grady

Most cities have dog parks, an idea which shows good sensitivity on the part of local government to the needs of its citizens. Here’s a list of Pet Friendly Places to Play with Your Pet in Florida.

Here’s the official list of St. Petersburg dog parks: St. Pete Dog Parks. Here’s an unofficial list of the same information at Pets Welcome.

Here’s the official list for Hillsborough County (where Tampa is), dog parks, and an unofficial list for Tampa, Dogster.

Almost all the above sites also have information on other cities within the greater Tampa Bay area. Here are a few more:

• DogparkUSA
• For the Voiceless
• Pet Friendly beaches

You’ll notice that dog parks come in varieties–just as dogs do! There’s leashless parks where they’re free to run. But, there are some parks where they must be on a leash at all times. There are parks that are primarily for the dogs and parks that are primarily for people, but allow dogs. Of course, there are pet friendly beaches as well as parks. Some parks have runs for big dogs separate from runs for little dogs.

Even if you’re petless, find a friend with a dog, and tag along to a dog park. The experience draws you out of yourself as you watch these rascals play together.

In the Inkwatu Lassing Park post, I gave the following statistics:

There are more than 2,300 acres of parks within the city limits of St. Petersburg, Florida. There’s an astounding list of all these parks (complete with addresses) at the parks page on the St. Petersburg city site. I count 126 named city parks dedicated for public use plus an additional 11 that are shared with public schools. And that’s just within the city limits!

Pinellas county, within which St. Pete is located, lists an additional 24 county parks on their parks page. If you enjoy outdoor activities, those are two links I would recommend bookmarking. The Pinellas County parks page includes information on parks that permit camping (such as my favorite, Ft. De Soto) and beaches and nature preserves. This Coastal Travel Guide listing for Pinellas County shows an accumulative 321 parks within the county.

There’s an additional two pages of park listings for the greater Pinellas county area at this Florida’s Beaches website. One of the parks listed there, Fort Desoto Park, will be featured in an Inkwatu post soon. Most of the research is done; I just need to take the photos.

In addition to the Lassing Park post quoted above, there’s another St. Pete park featured by Inkwatu: Lake Maggiore Park. Be sure to check that post for information on fishing in Lake Maggiore.

The focus of today’s post is another of St. Petersburg’s 126 named parks, Lake Vista Park (1401 62nd Ave. S., St Petersburg, FL 33705-5653; 727-893-7744; map). Lake Vista–properly, the Lake Vista Recreation Center–has a number of facilities that justify its designation as a neighborhood recreation center: a dog park, a swimming pool, a duck pond, and an exercise trail with exercise stations.

If you have a dog, you know how much fun a dog park can be for your pet and yourself. St. Petersburg has six dog parks (see the Parks department’s dog park page): North Shore Dog Park, Lake Vista Dog Park, Walter Fuller Dog Park, Crescent Lake Dog Park, Coquina key Dog Park, and Kenwood Dog Park. See the link above for addresses and dog park rules.

In addition to the exercise course for us old folks, Lake Vista also sports a free public skateboard park for the youngsters. Here’s a couple details from SkateBoardPark.com

“Crashup Derby Factor: 4
Do you have to wear pads?: none required
Does it cost money to skate?: no
Description
Street plaza, built by team pain. 3 flat 3 hand rail. Perfect hubas, nice gap step up and hip. Curved ledge, two two stairs. Wall ride and dipped manual pad.”

A user review by “sk8ehard” is typical of the comments about Lake Vista’s skateboard park found at SkateBoardPark.com:

“sk8tehard – I have to say we went this weekend to this park.
This park rocks, it was a chillin shreding session. I loved the fact that it was a street course. You don’t see that very often, so it was cool time. Plus, the rec center has two 2 stairs off to the side and a three stair in the front with two ledges. The park is located in South St.Pete it’s definitely a must return.”

Be sure to check out that site for many more user comments. A link is also given to skateparkoftampa.com which gives this synopsis by Rob Meronek (with photos by Tito Porada):

“Finally, a public park around here that doesn’t suck. No repeat of 100 foot deep bowls catering to 40-year-old skaters, free, no supervision, no waivers, no fence, and no pads. Team Pain designed and built this park in St. Pete that’s going to be completed and open in a few weeks.”

That’s quintessential youth syntax and vocabulary; that’s why I’m quoting it so extensively. There’s no way, at my age, I could ever communicate so appropriately on that subject matter. (I know what a skateboard is…that’s all.)

Lake Vista finds its way to my heart, though, in its duck pond. In the Inkwatu post, Feeding the Ducks, I talk about visiting a duck pond in Atlanta with my son. That’s one of my favorite posts, primarily because of the duck pictures and the quote from the old Mitch Miller TV show song sung before the final credit roll. There’s also some important information in that post about what to feed ducks and what not to feed ducks! Bread is not a good thing for ducks.

But, walking along the pond shore as the ducks come quacking to your feet expecting a treat, it’s tough not to give them something. The oboe duck theme from Prokofiev’s famous Peter and the Wolf is waddling around inside my mind. I’m going to listen to the whole piece, right now!

You can buy the MP3 “album” (all the movements of the piece) at this AmazonMP3 link. Or, at that same link, you can just sample (for free) each of the different tracks in Peter and the Wolf (click the Preview All button there)…including the duck theme!

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WILDLIFE AT LAKE MAGGIORE

In an earlier post on St. Pete’s Lassing Park, I mentioned that I’d be covering more of my favorite city parks. Today’s post has some pictures and information about one of the largest of these parks, Lake Maggiore Park.

This hiking site has some details about Lake Maggiore I haven’t found elsewhere, such as this:

“This lake, comprising 375 acres, was a salt bayou until the city dammed it during the 1940s. In the early days it was called Salt Lake. The road now known as 9th St. began as an old Tampa cattlemen’s trail. It was extended into a roadway by John Hayes. Later, this section was renamed to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”

The side of Lake Maggiore opposite the Lake Maggiore Park is occupied by the Boyd Hill Nature Park and Lake Maggiore Environmental Education Center. Those will be covered in detail in a coming post. Boyd Hill Nature Park is definitely an important area, but the Lake Maggiore Park side has its own advantages.

One of those is fishing. Fishing regulations are enforced, so please read them at the city’s Fishing/Boating page which also gives the fishing season for individual lakes. (Lake Maggiore is year round; cast netting is permitted, but not crabbing.) Regulations include types of poles for which licenses, etc., so please do check the above link. Lake Maggiore also has a city boat ramp.

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FISHERMAN AT LAKE MAGGIORE

Lake Maggiore Park has a very nice, rustic picnic pavilion. Please see the city’s Application for Park Permit – Outdoor Public Assembly page for more information about hosting events in the parks. This quote explains why:

“With 137 city parks, St. Petersburg offers ideal outdoor venues for family picnics, special events and gatherings. Some uses of city parks require a permit. The lead time for applying for a park permit is 15 business days prior to the event. Park permits are free; however, a fee is charged for the use of shelters with electricity and for maintenance services. Some events may require liability insurance, which is determined by the city’s Risk Management Department.”

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PICNIC PAVILION

Some of the larger parks, such as Lake Maggiore, have some pretty remote areas. St. Petersburg has crime like anywhere else, so it’s prudent to not expose yourself to risk by being alone in isolated areas. Two or more people and you’re much safer. Just be aware of your surroundings and play it safe.

Even more important, do not feed the alligators! This makes them think of “food” when they see a human…not an equation you wish to foster. Never approach an alligator for any reason. Almost all Florida lakes have alligators. Most at risk are children and small pets, but there are some very big Florida ‘gators (over 14 feet isn’t uncommon), so just don’t tempt fate. Florida’s waterways are their home. (Hint: they really do look like part of a submerged log floating in the water.) For more information on alligators, read the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Alligator Management pages. They have lots of facts and even have some fun alligator stuff for kids.

You don’t need to be afraid of Florida’s wilder wildlife, just be watchful.

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LAKE MAGGIORE PARK

There are more than 2,300 acres of parks within the city limits of St. Petersburg, Florida. There’s an astounding list of all these parks (complete with addresses) at the parks page on the St. Petersburg city site. I count 126 named city parks dedicated for public use plus an additional 11 that are shared with public schools. And that’s just within the city limits!

Pinellas county, within which St. Pete is located, lists an additional 24 county parks on their parks page. If you enjoy outdoor activities, those are two links I would recommend bookmarking. The Pinellas County parks page includes information on parks that permit camping (such as my favorite, Ft. De Soto) and beaches and nature preserves. This Coastal Travel Guide listing for Pinellas County shows an accumulative 321 parks within the county.

Obviously, I’m not going to be able to cover all those in one post. So, over the coming months, I’m occasionally going to highlight a different park, calling its location and special features to your attention.

Today’s featured park is Lassing Park which is in the Old Southeast Neighborhood. St. Pete is divided up into very specific neighborhoods, all marked with signs, and each having its own character. I think that’s a good thing, although a friend, a long-time resident whose opinion I respect, thinks it leads to a balkanization of the city. As long as the neighborhood identities are sources of pride and foster a shared sense of close community–and don’t facilitate economic discrimination–then I think the highly identified neighborhoods are a good idea.

In a series of later posts, I’m going to explore in depth a number of those different neighborhoods, including the Old Southeast. Each is fascinating. But today, I’m only mentioning the Old Southeast because of its hidden treasure: Lassing Park.

As you can see from the Google map, Lassing Park is a long, narrow strip of land bordering Tampa Bay. The pictures in this post were taken at low tide. Low tide is a special time for folks down here. In many places there’s a shallow sea bed extending out quite a distance that is completely exposed at low tide enabling people to walk to “islands” as the people pictured below are doing.

Lassing Park is quite off the beaten path, but special to locals who know of its location. Once, I saw folks there assembling a hot air balloon for a ride. It’s a primo Frisbee layout. Or–my specialty–just chilling on a bench. There’s a modest, natural beach, and the narrow, extended length of the park allows the eye to really stretch out and enjoy the expanse of green and sea blue.

Some weekend enjoy this free treat. Or, if you brownbag your lunch, slip away from work to Lassing Park to renew your sanity before returning to the grind.

WEDNESDAY MID-DAY MARKET

A week ago today, the Wednesday Mid-Day Market opened for the 2008-09 season. It’s in Williams Park, downtown St. Petersburg, every Wednesday during the season from 11 am until 2 pm. According to that wiki, Williams Park was “Founded in 1888 and originally named “City Park,” it was changed to Williams Park in honor of the founder of St. Petersburg, John Constantine Williams Sr.”

PEOPLE SHOPPING ON ONE OF THE WILLIAMS PARK SIDEWALKS

Tourists and locals stroll among the tents set up in the park shopping for arts and crafts. Many of the dealers also have booths at the Saturday Morning Market, which has a new location this year. Often, business folk hurry over to the park to grab a bite on their lunch break.

MUSIC ON STAGE

While they shop and eat, folks enjoy music from the bandstand. Last week, one of my favorite local performers, Sam Stone, was playing. He covers the music of Jimmy Buffett, the Eagles, James Taylor, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Simon and Garfunkel. His solo act is no lazy Ramada Inn cover act, he’s extremely good and fondly reminds me of many past times and places. It fits perfectly with kind of laid back setting too. I encourage you to check the Sam Stone link above for the dates and locations of his coming coming appearances. While you’re there, buy a copy of his CD.

Sam Stone is just his stage name as a musician, though. His real name is Sam Rivenbark and together with his wife, Bonnie, they operate the Postcard Booth at the Saturday Morning Market that I mentioned in my post on Fran Sim’s collection of Vintage Florida Postcards. The Rivenbark’s product is a collection of useful items (pillows, carry bags, mouse pads, cups, tiles, etc.) with images of vintage Florida postcards printed on them—an excellent gift to send the folks back home.

SOUL FOOD

Back to the food…

There was no question where my first eats would be: Mr. I Got Em! See this St. Pete Times article on the current Mr. I Got Em (Brady Johnson) and the history of Mr. I Got Em, complete with a photo of the original Mr. I Got Em. An excerpt: “Johnson, 57, carries on a tradition started by Elijah Moore, who walked the streets of St. Petersburg in formal wear, hawking homegrown vegetables and fresh fish for five decades. You want ‘em? I got ‘em!” he’d cry.”

I got some of my personal favorites: barbecued pork, collard greens, and macaroni and cheese. I should’ve gotten the corn bread too, but I was trying to be prudent–always a mistake. Everything tastes as good as it looks.

ENOUGH TO SHARE

If you follow this blog you may remember an earlier post, Mississippi Greens, that gives my Cuzn Don’s recipe for greens. (I heard from Don just yesterday—he’s back from a fishing trip where he caught 60 catfish! I’d say, “wish I were there,” but I know he’d put me to work cleaning them.)

The pulled (shredded) pork reminded me of my time living in Hawaii as much as time down here in the South, but with a few differences: Hawaiian pulled pork (also called Kailua Pig–that’s a very authentic recipe and good Hawaiian food blog) is traditionally cooked in a pit in the ground instead of the big drum like Mr. I Got Em’s is.

Hawaiians also add a macaroni side, but it’s a little different, too. The Hawaiian version is a cold macaroni salad mixed with potato salad. A typical Hawaiian plate lunch will have three starches: sticky rice plus the mac-cheese and potato salad mix. All those starches keep you very mellow and preserve the “aloha” spirit!

CREPES NEXT TIME?

My next visit to the Wednesday Mid-Day Market, I’ll (reluctantly) skip Mr. I Got Em and eat at La Petite France. He features crepes. In addition to what we usually think of as crepes (sweet crepes) he also has savory crepes. I wonder if one of each would be too much.

…OR MAYBE KIDNEY PIE?

When it comes to food, I plan ahead: the visit after my next visit to the Wednesday Mid-Day Market, I intend to eat at British Pies that serves meat pies to eat there or to take home. Last week his menu included these:

• Steak and Guinness with potato
• steak and kidney
• steak and mushroom
• steak and creamy puffer
• chicken and asparagus
• chicken and mushroom
• chicken and Thai green curry
• Cornish pasty
• barbecued pulled pork

There we are with barbecued pulled pork again! Hmmmm

I also intend to start saving for one of these. What terrific baskets. Just right for storing magazines.

I’M SAVING UP FOR ONE OF THESE!

A couple summers ago I had the chance to visit London. When I returned, I shared some snapshots with friends. One friend said something like (paraphrasing), “they know how to keep a bit of green in their lives don’t they?” I hadn’t recognized it at the time I took the pictures, but he’s absolutely right. London, and many other cities, know how to keep a human touch alive amidst their “progress.” That bit of green is something every city, every human, needs, isn’t it?

It might be shaded, verdant banks sheltering a quiet stream.

Perhaps just a window box.

Or, an entire medley of window boxes!

Maybe willows reflected under sailing swans.

Hanging baskets with your curry and elephants to settle the stomach.

Our eyes wander pleasingly among 3-dimensionally arranged shrubs of varying height, color, and texture.

Flower stalls grace practically every corner, and, certainly, entrances to the tube.

Sometimes, just a tree overhanging the street is all it takes to ease the mind.

Who could not help but want to enter the restaurant pictured at the beginning and end of this post? It’s framed by so much living color.

For about a year before I got my wonderful kitten, I kept fresh flowers on top the piano. Concerned for his health (some flowers can be poisonous to cats) and also not wanting to tempt his exploratory tendencies in the dirt, I stopped putting out flowers. I realize now, putting together this post, how much I miss the flowers. I’m going to work on a solution that’s kitty-safe (suggestions welcome). Having plants makes the days a lot brighter.

PS: I didn’t realize when I wrote and posted this that today was Guy Fawkes Day in the UK! Special thanks to my sister, Lucy, for the tip.

The pictures in this post are all of the Florida Botanical Gardens
and are in random order, unrelated to the text.

Kids have “mountain top” experiences that key in to fundamental aspects of their intrinsic personalities and unlock an affinity that lasts for the rest of their lives. Visual memories come floating up throughout their lives whenever circumstances similar to the peek experience occur. Such a formative experience for me was visiting the Jewel Box, in St. Louis, Missouri, as a child.

Forest Park is a very large St. Louis park (descriptions vary from 13 ½ to 17 acres) dating from the late 1800s that is home to the St. Louis Zoo, the St. Louis Art Museum, the Muny opera (outdoor light opera), the St. Louis Science Center, the McDonnell Planetarium, and the Jewel Box.

The Jewel Box is a several storey Art Deco greenhouse built in 1936, partially with WPA funds. It’s on the National Historic Register. Their website describes its dimensions as “50 feet high, 55 feet wide and 144 feet long, containing about 7,500 square feet of floor space.”

It’s recently been rehabilitated to the condition it was in when I was a child. It was a safe place and my parents would let me wander among its labyrinthine paths amidst fake grottos, hills and small waterfalls, or climb the stairs to look out over the spacious interior. When I first read Arthur C. Clarke’s description of the interior of the vast interstellar spaceship in Rendezvous with Rama, the image I formed in my mind bore a strong resemblance to the Jewel Box of my childhood.

A related set of experiences for me, about the same time in my life, were on the grounds of a small inspirational publishing house in Litchfield, Illinois, called the Sunshine House. Much smaller, it nonetheless shared many of the same features of the Jewel Box: wishing well, wandering paths, flowers and plants in faux rock garden settings, soft, piped-in classical music. I still remember hearing J.S. Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring on one particular childhood visit to the Jewel Box.

Somewhat later in my life, my love affair with botanical gardens continued into my adolescence with the many hours I was allowed to wander, unescorted, through the numerous parts of the University of Illinois Arboretum while my father was taking professional development courses in Urbana every summer.

The trend continued right up to the present including forays through the U.S. Botanical Gardens in Washington D.C., the San Francisco Botanical Garden, and, of course, large open parks with similar enchanted paths such as Forest Park itself, San Diego’s Balboa Park, San Francisco’s Golden Gate, and New York’s Central Park. Just south of St. Petersburg, Florida, is Sarasota’s Shelby Gardens that I have tremendously enjoyed and which definitely fits the wandering-through-the-magic-of-nature mold. I suspect that the reason botanical gardens attract us so much is that they resonate to the motif of the enchanted land into which the hero must venture and then return that is part of The Hero’s Journey explained in the book of the same name by Joseph Campbell.

Which brings us—finally—to the topic of this post: The Florida Botanical Gardens, located right here in Pinellas County. The gardens are actually one of three attractions at the Pinewood Cultural Park: the Florida Botanical Gardens, the Gulfcoast Museum of Art, and Heritage Village. A map of the entire grounds can be found here. You will definitely need the map as the grounds are quite extensive. So far, I have only been to the botanical gardens portion. That alone took several hours to enjoy, so I would not attempt all three attractions in the same day.

The Florida Botanical Gardens features native Florida flora (and some wild fauna), primarily Bromeliads, Palms, and Herbs. In addition to some large areas such as the Wildlife & Natural Habitats and the Aquatic Habitat Demonstration Area, it’s organized around smaller themed gardens: the Patio Garden, Herb Garden, Tropical Fruit Garden, Seasonal Garden, Succulent Garden, Butterfly Garden, Bromeliad Garden, Palm Garden, Formal Gardens, Wedding Garden, Topiary Garden, Rose Garden, Jazz Garden, Cottage Garden, Tropical Walk, Tropical Courtyard, Sculpture Gardens, and the Native Plant Garden. (That’s a heck of a lot of Gardens!)

One feature of their website is worth making note of: What’s In Bloom by Month. That will help you plan the timing of your visit to best advantage. Information can also be found at their website on the Wedding Garden, mentioned above, that is available for garden weddings.

When your out-of-town relatives visit, take them to the Florida Botanical Gardens. I highly recommend it. (Especially if they are getting on your nerves and you need some space and silence!) Admission is free and it’s an excellent environment within which kids may have formative emotional experiences as I did, long ago at the Jewel Box.