Some local flowers.... more to come


Angels Trumpet

Nov. 12th.... The last Fla. sunset

Nov 10..... The locals decorated up their boats and paraded around the bay this afternoon





GREAT BLUE HERON........... The drumsticks are too small

Dec 9..... The birds pay a call

A Great Egret
White Ibis

This is the egret checking out the shrubs for geckos and small bugs

Two dolphins appeared in the bay making quite a commotion. They were circling a school of mullet creating confusion in the school and then they proceed to eat up
Circling the mullet.

Dec. 3..... While pruning the bushes for the neighbour I noticed this dolphin in the bay. Snapped these shots and then a short while later I spotted a cow and calf manatee basking on the surface soaking up the sun. I launched the kayak after putting the fannypack containing the camera around my neck to keep it dry. As I got closer I opened the pack and put the camera on my lap. It then slid off my lap and into the water in the bottom of the kayak. One year and over a 1,000 pictures later it died. I figured that was the end of the blogger and the camera had contained the sailing pictures which I hadn't downloaded. I ended up getting a new camera w/ a 10 power zoom and 5 mg so I'm back in business. I took the memory stick out of the old Kodak and lo and behold it worked so I was able to enter the following two blogs. Only 5 more days to go so the countdown is on.

Dec. 2.... A beautiful sunny day with an anticipated breeze of 15 knots. Jim and I got away around 10:30 and headed out in a light breeze to Terra Ceia Bay where it's imperative you follow the channel markers. We zig zagged out towards Egmont Key and around 1:30 as we approached the key the wind decided it had had enough. We turned around about an hour later and headed back in under power. A few teaser gusts encouraged us to keep the sails up but it wasn't meant to be. Due to all the channel buouys it's extremely difficult to sail the whole way due to the erratic course that must be followed. All in all it was a great day with great company. Thanks so much Jim.

Capt. Jim
Hang on Al

The Bay

Jim hauling down the jib

Sunset after a great day
A calm evening at the end of the day

Nov. 29th.... The Art Museum.... Contains over 500 million dollars worth of paintings alone. John Ringling began collecting Ruebens prior to anyone showing interest in them. Most of his collections were purchased while travelling in Europe including the contents of his mansion.

Although it's hard to tell in these two photos these are three dimensional



The following pictures show part of the Ruebens collection. The large ones are 5 of the original 11. Two are near Paris and the rest have been destroyed in fires. They were prototypes for tapestries which would appear as a complete opposites when completed. You can get some idea of their true size in the picture with Gerry standing in front.




One of the exhibition rooms
Hallway linking the different exhibitions

A painted bureau
This is a huge Banyon Tree outside the Ringling mansion. It originally came from the Thomas Edison home which was about 35 miles south of the mansion

Nov. 29th..... The Ringling circus museum....John Ringling had 6 brothers 4 of whom were partners from the beginning and the other two joining later. Ringling eventually bought out the Barnum circus. Later there were two circus's the Blue and the Red. One travelled the east coast and Europe and the other covered the remainder of the States. Lance and Paul were participants in the 75th anniversary circus in Sarasota in 1977 when both the Blue and Red circus's were combined, doing their acts in the winter headquarters before taking the shows on the road.

The woodcarving shop showing a lion in process

This is an exact replica of a parade wagon that was pulled by 40 horses.

Parade Wagons


This is a cutaway model of the 3 ring circus

This map shows how the rail lines all converged on the winter quarters. If you enlarge the map you can read where the animals were quartered, the cookhouse, and the living quarters are. This was the winter headquarters where the employees practised, made their costumes and repaired their equipment
The truck used to shoot the acrobat from the cannon. The clown beside the truck is actually a firechief.
These clown faces are exact copies of the Ringling clowns. Each clown had his own unique face the most famous was Emmet Kelley
This wagon contained a steam powered calliope That played the music for the circus parade. The steam engine was in the fwd. section of the wagon.
This is the rolling blacksmith shop where all the maintenance was done on the wagon wheels. It also contained a welder and the blacksmiths wife did all the welding. Probably one of the first lady welders in the U.S. The wheels also rec'd their elaborate paint jobs here. When the wheels were all painted it was time to go back and start repainting them all over again.