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emphasis on Florida and the Tampa Bay area but also far beyond

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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 [...]

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The New St. Pete Dali Museum and politics

February 9, 2010
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New Dali museum under construction The new Dali Museum The new Dali Museum being constructed right next to Mahaffey Theater looks exciting. I hadn’t driven down that way until just recently and what I saw took me by surprise. I’m not sure if this is the front or the back of the new museum–that fits [...]

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Behind the scenes at the Arbors Records Invitational Jazz Party

January 24, 2010
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Gary Baldassari, Incorporated Magi audio engineer, instructing Full Sail interns on microphones Teachers and students   The tagline for Inkwatu is “Delights, near and far.” Less poetically put, that simply means that this blog is about things that I find delightful: people, places, things, food…and also the good I see some people do. One such [...]

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Gulfport Trolley Day

January 17, 2010
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Gulfport Hideaway Apartments   A good friend recently bought a home in Gulfport, Florida. Attached to this home, in which she will be resident, are four apartments. She calls her complex the Gulfport Hideaway Apartments.   Her target clientele are seasonal visitors from abroad. She wanted to confirm that her visitors would not need a [...]

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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 [...]

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Adam’s Nursery & Water Gardens

December 12, 2009
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all pictures in this post taken at Adam’s Nursery & Water Gardens multiple waterfalls greet newcomers Who do you call if suddenly you find yourself the owner of a professionally constructed koi pond? That’s the question a friend of mine recently faced after she bought a home in Gulfport, Florida. interconnecting ponds In her new [...]

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Sunday Morning in the Dog Park

November 21, 2009
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Daisy Grady Last weekend, I visited my son and his fiancé up in Atlanta. Sunday morning, their two dogs (Daisy and Grady–both pictured above) and my son and I went to a nearby dog park for some fresh air and fun.   Anyone who thinks dogs are not sentient beings fully capable of emotions including [...]

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2009 St. Petersburg International Folk Fair photos

November 14, 2009
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PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH FUNNEL CAKE SPIFFS (the St. Petersburg International Folk Fair Society — www.spiffs.org/) “is the only independent multiethnic organization of its kind in the United States. It was founded in 1975 as an umbrella organization of ethnic groups who joined together to present a festival during the US Bicentennial Celebration.” In addition to their [...]

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Thai Orchids at St. Petersburg International Folk Fair 2009

November 6, 2009
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Click on any picture in this post for larger image. SPIFFS (www.spiffs.org/), the St. Petersburg International Folk Fair Society, is one of the beloved institutions of St. Pete. I’m honored to be their official photographer this year while their regular photographer is in the hospital. This year, the fair has been moved from the spring [...]

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TC Choy’s

September 26, 2009
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A FEW KITCHEN SPECIALS: (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT) SALT & PEPPER SHRIMP, FRIED TOFU STUFFED WITH SHRIMP PASTE, CHINESE BROCCOLI IN OYSTER SAUCE, EGGPLANT STUFFED WITH SHRIMP PASTE I’m proud to announce that the September 2009 issue of Asia Trend Magazine carries my first article and photos as one of their contributing food writers. Asia [...]

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Cassadaga, Florida

September 19, 2009
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The best non-fiction book I have read this year is The Power of Coincidence: How Life Shows Us What We Need to Know, by David Richo. I don’t say that lightly, because I read a lot of books. It’s so good, in fact, that I’ve already begun rereading it. THE CASSADAGA HOTEL (note the spirit [...]

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New York Sidewalk Flower Shops

August 29, 2009
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Except for the final photo in this post—to be explained shortly—all the photos in this post are of various New York City sidewalk flower shops and link to much larger images in Flickr. And here is a link to a full-sized slideshow of all the pictures in this post   In a bit of green, [...]

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The Sea Hagg

August 8, 2009
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The Sea Hagg is a place my mother would have adored. I guess the love of kitsch, tchotchkes, schlock, “bad” art, curiosities, and the odd flotsam and jetsam of life is an inherited trait, because I know I’ve got the same affliction: the total inability to pass a seashell store without stopping! That’s why, when [...]

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