Books in the Woods

What a delight to discover the new Forest Library open today when I stopped in Forest Corners! It’s a gem of a building, quite fitting for being in a community surrounded by the Ocala National Forest. With big windows overlooking the woods and a flatwoods pond outside, a big shaded porch where you can bring a camp chair and settle in with a good book while listening for sandhill cranes, and a community meeting room where free movies are offered on Wednesdays, it’s a delight all around. I spoke with them about giving a talk in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, if you’re cruising through the forest, stop in and visit! They’re just a little south of SR 40 along CR 314a in Forest Corners, immediately past the old library entrance.

Time to Recycle!

I had a television that gave up the ghost. It was a good one, 23″ and about that many pounds, one I rescued from a garage sale eight years ago and put to good use in my Dunnellon home. I gave it to Mom and Dad but Sal and I replaced it with a better one soon after, so it sat dormant in a back room until I asked for it back this fall when I moved into my own place again. I think it lasted three weeks before it started turning itself on in the middle of the night. When Marion County recently had an electronics recycling day, I queued up to say sayonara to the freaky tv and was surprised to see these palletized stacks of old computer monitors being shrinkwrapped and loaded into semis. I do hope they’re going to a good cause! Out with the old technology and in with the new: I replaced my tv with a flat screen version, that’s all the stores stock today!

Defining what Art is

St Spiridon's Cathedral, Corfu (Susan Friend)

From a very young age, I loved to create art. I would take rocks from the backyard and paint them to look like turtles and other creatures. I would sketch in my sketchbooks and as I got older, attempt to recreate the scenes around me – the forests, the places we traveled – in a variety of media, especially colored pencil. In fact, I even did a huge sketch for a high school friend as a wedding present for her to give to her husband.

Then life took a different turn. I moved away from family and went to college in Pittsburgh, working computer-related jobs and learning how to design databases. I wrote – I always wrote – but my art fell by the wayside. When it came time that I had the spirit to revive it, I was afraid. My sisters could make “better” art than me, art that glowed with realism, and I felt defeated. If I couldn’t make the art in my head come out on the canvas, what was the point?

I still loved art, of course. I collected art glass and pottery, original paintings and fine craftwork. But I remained afraid of doing it myself. It wasn’t until I took a retreat this October to clear my mind that once again I put pencil to paper and made something of it. I played with pastels. And in December, I started painting. Not photorealistically as I’d wanted to do, but in a style I can claim as my own.

Yesterday, Mom and I wandered through two distinctly different art galleries – the Maitland Art Center and the Morse Museum of American Art. The broad spectrum of art inside both was an epiphany for me. Art is what you make. Granted, some scholar may try to fit it into a school of style, but it’s an expression of what’s inside you. Now I feel less scared of creating art – for I’ve always been scared that if I focused on art, I’d lose my ability to write – so I’ll find those special times and places to keep creating.

Yo Gabba Gabba and the Mammogram

Timberridge

I was on my way to Timberridge this morning for my first ever mammogram. I’ve feared the procedure for years, and kept losing the scrips I’ve been given to have one done. But my sister’s confident claim that they don’t hurt like the urban myth says finally got me off my duff and down the highway.

En route, I was listening to Mr Bob and Kathy on 93.7 K-Country and they were having the annual Stop Children’s Cancer Bear-A-Thon. Having lost my sister Susan to cancer 11 years ago, and with a passel of young nephews and nieces in the family, I always feel a moral obligation to donate. And so I did.

In the booth with the radiologist, I was directed to place my breasts in various positions for scanning. Between each pose, the gal would say “hold still…” I couldn’t help but laugh inside. Just a couple evenings ago, I watched my littlest niece, Autumn, laughing and playing along withher favorite TV show, Yo Gabba Gabba. Every few moments, the dancing characters would call out “hold still…” and she would freeze in place. So, when she and her sister are of the age that they need this screening, I’ll be sure to remind them of how Yo Gabba Gabba taught me – and them – to do the right thing!  My long-time fears were unfounded; it didn’t hurt at all. Here’s hoping for a clean baseline!

Speaking at Leu Gardens Feb 11, 2011

Me and a cigar orchid in Big Cypress

I’ll be sharing stories and colorful images from my latest book, “Exploring Florida’s Botanical Wonders,” at the Florida Trail Association meeting held at Leu Gardens in Orlando the evening of Feb 11, 7 PM. C’mon down and take a ramble (and a drive) through the most gorgeous gardens and flora-filled wild places in Florida. I’ll be signing books afterward as well. Hope to see you there!

Get directions to Leu Gardens

Got Cox?

Blabbering sales pitch for a steam cleaner in one ear. A large screen tv showcasing tapeworms in situ on the far wall. If there is an anteroom to consumer hell, Cox has figured out the decor and sound system.

I wait 20 minutes amid a seething throng of simmering customers. No one wants to be here. And as my number is up, I approach the keepers of the room. The lady is kind but efficient. She parries my queries deftly, claiming corporate policy will not permit me to actually resolve any of my issues here and now. Perhaps I could call their toll free number at my leisure?

I leave, defeated and fatigued, but overjoyed at escaping from the building. I can see sunlight again.

Gluten-free at Chilis

I’ve been gluten-free since October, and the positive impact on my health has been so amazing I wish I’d done this years before. One of the greatest challenges is eating out, so a recent visit to Chilis drove home the reality that most folks don’t get gluten-free.

I ordered corn tacos. They didn’t look right when they arrived, so I sent them back to the kitchen to ask, and bingo, they were flour AND corn! They offered to replace, and I ordered a salad. It came covered in croutons. I ordered chili, and it came with a big stack of crackers (hint to chef, we gluten-free can eat corn chips!). Everyone else finished dinner before me. At least they cut a discount off the check, but you’d think a restaurant that touts Southwest flair would follow thru with corn-based entrees that are gluten-free!