hard to sleep last night

A friend emailed me this photo today from last night. Don't know the local photographer, but we certainly needed the rain - and always good to have a little visual excitement. Viewpoint appears to be from north Siesta Key looking towards downtown.

photo credit; Val Vasilescu

".... bowl of Skittles" ..... deplorables?

Today's rally.

Hard to believe it's almost over.

the "Angola Settlement" (1812-1821)

With nearly two hundred years past, a small parcel of land along the southern shore of the eastern Manatee River, of a little known and almost forgotten settlement - once farmed by run-away slaves (maroons), the so-called Black Seminoles - has finally come to true light. Researchers, archeologists and anthropologists have all determined the site as;  Angola, a "maroon" settlement.  An initial and lengthy study was recently completed and a lecture series with their excavated, simple early evidence, has finally been publicly presented.  Not the easiest place to find, but I found it.



The well-hidden entrance to a natural flowing mineral spring, that feeds out into the Manatee River.

The approximate 25 acre site below, originally accommodated the roughly, 750 spread-out settlers with vegetable gardens and rough-hewn cabins. The Angola settlement lasted only a brief period of nearly a decade, before it was burned and destroyed as directed by then, Gen. Andrew Jackson, in 1821. (Remnants of planted sugar cane can still be found)

Special thanks to an old friend, Vickie Oldham;
www.lookingforangola.org

Recently published site by New College of Florida; from the northern Florida fort of Prospect Bluff to the "maroons" of Angola.
http://goo.gl/OAyUEZ



 

that time of year

Yesterday, with tropical storm Hermine just lingering out in the Gulf, our backwater, saltwater lagoon rose above it's seawall. Now, the sea level appears to rise, higher and higher with each consecutive year. At least 6 inches of rain yesterday, and with much more rain and a much higher tide expected, a 'storm surge' will arrive later tonight.

Hermine, soon approaching the coast with it's gale force winds, will make it all that more difficult to sit outside under any umbrella - to be able to enjoy that typical afternoon's summer cloud, or that late afternoon/early evening, reflective, soothing pack of smokes.

(post script) After all that nonsense above, this morning - my second day of clean-up - cutting a path with a cheap chainsaw to the back of the house, through the broken, roof laden bamboo.  Hot and humid, with what appeared to be "Zika" bourne mosquitoes and definitely, within the cut pieces, those large biting, Red Bull ants. One more day should do it. Three, one hundred pound bags of sand to fill in for the seawall are still sitting in the back of the truck - and all the while, me living through that rough and tough, semi-retired life.

Our Gang (part of)

Meetin' up on the back roads in Arcadia for a late breakfast at Wheeler's (est.1948).
For their steak & eggs, coffee - and a little of that sweet, creamy "peanut-butter pie".

                                                (Scot-Irish, German-Anglo, Italian-American)

a rare grey day

When the light is flat it always compliments the monotones.  I've always admired this mural which depicts Sarasota's lower Main Street from the early 1940's.  Today being a rainy, drizzly day, it seemed to just jump out.

Sarasota mural by the Brazilian artist, Eduardo Kobra. (2011)

Guana Tolomato Matanzas Estuarine Preserve

We dropped our Sandy off in early morning at the Mayo Clinic (Jacksonville) - while Knuckles and I headed out south, along the eastern Atlantic coast, to hopefully find something unique and a little different.  Just south of Ponte Verdra we found the 'GTM' Preserve.

At the entrance, the gatehouse was closed and appeared abandoned - and with no cash on hand, and with no way to leave the recommended 3 dollars in their drop-box envelope - we drove through.


Knuckles tracking the estuary's bird life to a favorite roosting spot

On a short path, Knuckles and I found the overgrown site of the then, Spanish Governor's "Grant's Villa Plantation" (1768). Early enslaved Africans had been used to clear this plantation land of 1,450 acres, to plant indigo seeds. There they processed the plants into a profitable blue indigo dye.  After 250 years, nothing much left, but a historical marker and thick palmetto.

Hot and humid, Knuckles quickly headed back to the brackish saltwater beach. I quickly followed, and was stuck by numerous cacti spines - and this warning sign.

We spotted one other sole visitor, who was out wading and fishing, but who seemed to have little concern. Finally we got a text from my wife Sandy, that her scheduled biopsy procedure at Mayo was complete.  And, by 12:00 noon, all three of us were done, a little sore - and soon, all heading, driving back home.