Inkwatu » NATURE

Jeckll Island, Georgia

Hilton Kean Jones — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 15:13:23 +0000

There’s an interesting getaway a leisurely five hour drive from Tampa: Jeckll Island, Georgia (www.jekyllisland.com).

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, known as the Jekyll Island Club. For more than half a century, the nation’s leading families, including the Rockefellers, Morgans, Pulitzers, and Goulds, came to Jekyll Island ‘to secure an escape.’”

Jeckll Island Hotel Club exteriors

As with many of the pleasures one discovers in life, a trip to Jeckll Island would never have been something I would have sought out on my own initiative; rather, I went there because of an external event–the wedding of my son!

My son and his fiancé–now his wife–decided to have a small, “destination wedding.”

I’d never heard that term before. But, now that I’ve learned about it, I must say I’m taken with the idea. The couple and those invited to the wedding go to the destination and rent rooms through the night of the wedding. The wedding takes place on the grounds of the destination and included in the price of the event are things like the officiant, the musician, the photographer, the wedding dinner, etc. Then, the day following the wedding, the guests return home and the couple stays at the destination for their honeymoon.

Such a lovely idea. And in this case, this particular destination was such a lovely place, a place I would never have come to otherwise.

The guests and bride and groom stayed at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel (www.jekyllclub.com)–either the main building or one of the “cottages,” which are the former residences of people who used to winter there and who originally bought the island, people such as the Rockefellers, Morgans, and Pulitzers. Humble folk. Just about as humble as their three storey “cottages.”

Jeckll Island Hotel interiors

All the pictures in this post are of the Jekyll Island Club Hotel buildings and grounds.

There are other, quite good, less expensive places to stay on the island, but the Jekyll Island Club Hotel was less expensive than I thought it would be. Actually, it was less than some hotels on St. Pete Beach. So, if you’re only going for a couple nights, as I was, it doesn’t break the bank. For a very nice two days within a short day’s drive from Tampa, I really do recommend Jeckll Island, Georgia, and the other neighboring Golden Isles of Georgia (St. Simons Island, Brunswick, and Sea Island–see Brunswick and the Golden Isles of Georgia).

Jeckll Island Hotel dock

One last suggestion: when you visit the Jeckll Island Club Hotel, take time to visit its bookstore. Allow at least an hour to browse its many rooms, each dedicated to a specific theme related to the Georgia islands. My favorite (you can tell by checking my credit card statement for that visit) was the cookbook room, with many cookbooks relating to the Atlantic barrier islands cooking history.

Jeckll Island bookstore

There are two cookbooks in particular I’d like to mention. One is Gullah Home Cooking the Daufuskie Way: Smokin’ Joe Butter Beans, Ol’ ‘Fuskie Fried Crab Rice, Sticky-Bush Blackberry Dumpling, and Other Sea Island Favorites. The other is Cornbread Nation 5: The Best of Southern Food Writing.

Cornbread Nation is the most recent in a series of Best of Southern Food Writing volumes. That title is obviously carefully chosen. It’s the quality of the writing, not just the recipes, that is the appeal of the series.

trees and moss

Gullah Home Cooking the Daufuskie Way is, of course, about the cooking of the Gullah region (the coast of South Carolina and Georgia), home to the Gullah who…

” are known for preserving more of their African linguistic and cultural heritage than any other African-American community in the United States. They speak an English-based creole language containing many African loanwords and significant influences from African languages in grammar and sentence structure. The Gullah language is related to Jamaican Creole, Barbadian Dialect, and the Krio language of Sierra Leone in West Africa. Gullah storytelling, cuisine, music, folk beliefs, crafts, farming and fishing traditions, all exhibit strong influences from West and Central African cultures.” [ref]

To say more about the Gullah would require another whole post. There is also an incredibly rich and beautiful Gullah musical tradition that would require yet another whole post! So, I’ll leave you with these five links that interested me in a Google search of Gullah.

Also…all best wishes to my son and daughter-in-law. May you have many, many happy years together!

this short video pretty well expresses the emotional experience of Jeckll Island for me

[Disclaimer: if you buy something, like the books above, through my Amazon.com links, I receive a teeny-weenie commission from Amazon. It really is miniscule. It doesn't increase the price of the item in any way. So, if you'd be willing to buy something through my Amazon links, I might be able to afford a second cup of coffee some morning! I make this disclaimer because we are now required to by law, so please consider things thoroughly disclaimed.]

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Windswept

Hilton Kean Jones — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:30:47 +0000

Monterey, CA

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Inertia

Hilton Kean Jones — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 17:23:02 +0000

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, drive back to the location, get out in the heat, brave the bugs (I’m a real sissy when it comes to flying, stinging bugs), and take some pictures.

It’s worth it though. I just love this tree. I’ve never seen it quite so glorious as it was today. I’ve blogged about it before here. At the end of that post, you can see the same tree when it’s not flowering.

Searching for that earlier post, I realized that I’ve actually got ten (10…!!!) posts on trees. I guess I really am a tree-hugger.

Here’s the list of those posts in case you’re in a tree-hugging mood yourself.

While I was out, today, I snapped this crepe-myrtle, too. These are everywhere down here right now. So easy to not notice how Pandora gorgeous is the place where we live. I remember one of my grand-nephews, who’d spent his entire life in the brown hills of northern California, helping me drive cross country a few years back. We took the southern route (my favorite) along the Gulf states. He’d never seen anything so green and lush in his life. Sometimes we’re lucky enough to see what’s around us through someone else’s eyes.

If you click on a picture, you go to a larger version. And, depending on the size of your monitor, if you click on that larger picture, you may go to an ever larger version!

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The glow of spring

Hilton Kean Jones — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:00:41 +0000

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Just a weed

Hilton Kean Jones — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:34:25 +0000

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Mount Dora, Florida

Hilton Kean Jones — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:13:43 +0000

OVERLOOKING LAKE DORA FROM LAKESIDE INN
Mount Dora is a small town in central Florida on the edge of Lake Dora. As you can see in the map below, Lake Dora is just one of dozens of lakes, large and small, scattered throughout this area adjoining the Ocala National Forest.

View Larger Map
This past weekend was my first visit to Mount Dora and it definitely won’t be my last. To the question, “What is there to do here?” the answer, quite simply, is “LOTS!” There is so much to do, I’m not going to even try and list the attractions. Just check out the links below. I’ve listed them in the order I found the most useful.

Mount Dora is a small historical Florida village on the shore of Lake Dora that has successfully made itself into an arts and convention center with plenty of opportunities for outdoor recreation.

LAKESIDE INN PIER
The central theme in Mount Dora is Antiques: specialty antiques, such as the clock store pictured below, or little malls of high-end shops, or lower end, multi-storied antique shops filled chock-a-block with collectibles, as well as contemporary crafts that fit with the antique mystique.

JUST A FEW OF MANY MOUNT DORA SHOPS

This makes sense, of course, since Mount Dora is, itself, an antique, a little slice of preserved history as exemplified by its railroad station and historic homes.

HISTORIC MOUNT DORA TRAIN STATION

Newer buildings are designed to fit in with the old village look. Even the night spots preserve the theme of weathered quaintness.

ONE OF MANY LOUNGE/RESTAURANTS
Nature cooperates in this effort when birds such as those pictured below make their home in a chimney in downtown Mount Dora. Subliminally, one is reminded of storks roosting on chimneys in old European cities.

NESTING BIRDS DOWNTOWN MOUNT DORA
There’s a fond spot in my heart for any busker because I know, as a musician, that someday I may be playing for tips on a street corner or subway landing myself. New Orleans has jazz saxophonists as street musicians; Mount Dora has harpists. On the sidewalk in Mount Dora was a busker playing electric harp. His name is Rupert Parker and he has a lovely act and style. After hoofing it around the hills, to which I’m unaccustomed, it was such a pleasure to sit and listen to his music.

STREETSIDE HARPIST
This link to Sometimes When We Touch on Youtube gives you a feel for his performances. I plan on buying one of his several CDs from his website at www.rupertparker.com/; I hope you consider doing so, too.

TAKING IT EASY
My mom would have loved Mount Dora, after all, she herself lived for a while in Solvang, California, another quaint, historic town that fashioned itself into a successful tourist destination.

I was a bit disquieted by how thoroughly Mount Dora markets its quaintness. I wondered if perhaps I’d stumbled onto the set of the late 60s British television series The Prisoner, starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan. But…no giant inflatable balls chased me down the street. It was just my overactive imagination sparked by my discomfort with a theme, too consistently packaged for my taste. Mount Dora’s charm makes it an effective tourist destination but, even in my retirement, I prefer living in a funkier, urban environment such as St. Petersburg…

WORLD’S SECOND LARGEST LAWN BOWLING COURT
…or the raw, authenticity of old Florida as embodied in this, now abandoned, roadside orange juice stand on Highway 441 on the outskirts of Mount Dora.

VINTAGE FLORIDIANA
I think, ultimately, even for all the planned activities and shops and man-made attractions in Mount Dora the real draw, the thing that sustains over the long haul is the lake itself. As you play the video below, you can’t help but instantly relax with the bird sounds and, even, the distant sound of the motor boat. This is really what Florida is about.

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LAKE DORA PANORAMA

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Nesting birds

Hilton Kean Jones — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:20:23 +0000

Mount Dora, FL
Taken on February 20, 2010

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Urban Rainbow

Hilton Kean Jones — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:29:44 +0000

There’s probably no greater photographic cliché than a rainbow, but unexpectedly seeing one, especially when you need a lift, is no cliché. This morning’s was very welcome. No point going out looking for them, of course…they just happen to you.

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Adam’s Nursery & Water Gardens

Hilton Kean Jones — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:17:23 +0000

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 backyard was a lined pond about 4 feet wide, 3 feet deep, and 7 feet long, built up around its edges with rocks and sporting a waterfall at least 2 feet high at its head.

greenery and statues gracing a quiet pond
Although it was obviously professionally designed and created, it had fallen into disrepair and had not been maintained. So, we set out to find a place in St. Pete that specialized in ponds. She found one and it is a jewel of a place. I enjoy going there to soak up the quiet, restful ambiance of the ponds scattered around their property.

waterfalls into rock garden instead of pond
Sounds of trickling, splashing water are everywhere in this unexpected haven of restfulness. It’s Adam’s Nursery & Water Gardens (www.adamswatergardens.com), 7510 46th Ave. N., St. Petersburg, FL 33709; 727-547-2063.

bridge of weathered wood
All of the pictures in this post are of ponds, fish, accessories, and plants on their property. Of course, the ponds and plants are there for utilitarian reasons (to provide for the propagation of the water plants they sell and to demonstrate the different kinds of ponds and layouts they can design and construct) but that doesn’t keep the nursery’s grounds from being a pleasurable experience in their own right.

many varieties of koi
For sure, it’ll make you consider adding a pond to your own garden. The koi, of course, are a big part of the attraction of these ponds and Adam’s Nursery sells koi as well.

more koi in a small pond
Here’s a Wikipedia posting on koi that includes notes on their history and breeding as well as a link to this wonderful poster picturing some of the many varieties.

water lilies for sale
Another treat at Adam’s Nursery is how low-key, non-”salesman” their approach is. They obviously love koi ponds and they really know their stuff. Every time I’ve been there, they willingly shared much information, gradually giving me an education in the care and feeding of ponds. That kind of generosity makes a customer want to return.

floating pads that protect young plants from being eaten by koi
Here’s their hours: 9am-5pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; 10am-2pm Sunday; closed Wednesdays. The street on which they’re located, 49th Ave. N., is undergoing extensive renovation and is currently limited to one-way, west-bound, so contrive to arrive at 49th Avenue well to the east of the 7500 block. At some point in the future, that traffic flow will be reversed to be one-way, east-bound while they work on the other lane, so it’s best to call to see which direction is blocked. It’s definitely worth the trip and bit of inconvenience dealing with the construction!

frog pond fountain

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Sunday Morning in the Dog Park

Hilton Kean Jones — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:00:10 +0000

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 mischief, joy, anxiety, curiosity, and playfulness need only go to a dog park to see just how “human” these creatures are.

Click on any of the pictures in this post to see a larger image. And, here’s a link to a full-sized slideshow of all the pictures in this post.

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:

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.

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