FLORIDA AT LARGE: November 2005

Nov 29th ......THE FOLLOWING ARE PICTURES OF THE COURTYARD IN THE CENTER OF THE RINGLING ART MUSEUM

in process Nov. 28...THE JOHN RINGLING MUSEUM OF ART IN SARASOTA (Ringling Bros.Circus)

The courtyard. Note all the statues along the top level

Nov. 27th....
Paul called in the morning to see if we wanted to go boating. We headed over to his place and Gerry,me,Paul,Kathryn and the neighbour Susan piled into the boat. We passed under a bridge that separates the mainland from Snead Island which is quite close to my place. In this channel we spotted a manatee as well as the two fixeruppers you see in the pics below. (one is barely visible and on the left of the bigger one.) We then passed by the Bradenton Yacht Club.
It was quite windy out in the bay so rather than get wet we headed South and up the Manatee River which separates Palmetto from Bradenton. It was quite protected up there and lots of mangrove islands. It would be easy to get lost up there as there are so many channels and islands and it's quite shallow in places as we found out when approaching one of the bridges. This leads us to Capt. Paul's theory of stuckinthe mud. You keep the engines down so when they bottom out you can raise them and power away.
We arrived back at Paul's place around noon and had a bite to eat before setting off to view Stan and Sharons new house by car.

Cruising the Manatee River

Pruned Mangroves

A Fixer Upper

The Bridge where we ran aground

The Bradenton Yacht Club

Nov. 27.... This is the home of Stan and Sharon and has been under construction for five years. Occupation is expected to be in the first half of 2006. The architect is also building the house. The floors are eucalyptus and the architect cut down the trees and cut the planks himself. He's done it all alone including the welding and the laminating of the supports for the house. Most of the house will be glass. The kitchen appliances will be located on pedastals above the floor. The front lookout on the second floor is anchored by steel rods held together by turnbuckles so if the balcony over the front entrance ever starts to sag it can be lifted up by tightening the turnbuckles similar to adjusting the stays on a sailboat

The Group at Stan's house. Kathryn,Stanley, Sharon,Paul,Gerry, Susan

The front of the house

The main entrance will be 12' above the ground in the center. The driveway will curve up to the door in a circle.

The guest house which is next door between the house and the boat dock which is on a canal

The walkway between the guest house and the boat dock

One of the two boat lifts.

This will be the hottub which overflows into the pool. The pool will overflow over the edge and be pumped up into the upper pool.

The guest house. Note how the roof is supported

View of the house from the beach

Looking towards the water with the bedroom on the R.H. side

Curved bedroom wall which will be enclosed by frosted glass. Note the eucalyptas floor

Looking towards the bedroom from the kitchen area

The bedroom showing where the built in bed will go and facing the water

These are the supports the hold the house up. They're individual pieces of wood (eucalyptus) laminated together and attached to concrete foundations that go 25' into the ground.

Nov. 27th Days End

Nov. 26... Went for a bike ride for an hour or so in the morning and then took Gerry out to Anna Maria Island. Checked out Holmes Beach, The old fishing pier, and Coquina Beach. Then headed south to Long Boat Key, St. Armands Circle, Lido Beach and then across the John Ringling (of the circus) into Sarasota and back up hwy 41 and home.
Went to Paul and Kathryns for their neighbourhood party. About 35 people in attendance and lots of great food! It was a long day and we came back around 9 pm.