"fiber art" at the Harn Gallery in Gainesville

We loved the Gainesville Museum of Natural History, and the Art Museum next door..... especially this one huge "quilt"  on display

the piece is titled "Old Man's Cloth" and the artist is an African man well known for his large quilt installations.  But the most amazing fact is that it's not made of fabric

When viewed up close you can see the metal twists joining the pieces together....but even on close examination I didn't realize what the pieces were made of

 

The "fiber" is the metal collars from whiskey bottles or the metal cap-pieces from whiskey bottles; each pierced and threaded with copper wire and joined together.  Amazing!  I didn't find much information on this piece, but guess the quilt was roughly 10 feet x 13 or 14 feet!

ALLIGATORS ALL AROUND!

I have this unexplainable fascination with alligators and reptiles.  I was always the one wanting a stop at the alligator farm or snake ranch..... and the gators at the Paynes Prairie Preserve have been awesome!  even tho' they mostly just lie there in their sunspots.

Last week we went for a walk on the Prairie after a rainfall, and found that the gators were moving around from one pool to another - and we even spotted a couple in the canal/creek.  A short walk later we spotted a couple big ones had migrated up the canal, and were sunning themselves on the sandy bottom of the culvert - a good 20 below the path we were on, and seemed very safely distant from us, considering how steep the sides of the culvert were, and how sandy the soil was.

We continued our walk, and on the return trip we discovered that alligators are alot more agile then I thought!

This little fellow was about 15ft long, and had climbed that bank in less than 10 minutes.  He was now up on the path - where the sun must have been stronger!

I may be fascinated with them, but I don't like them this close without the concrete barriers and fencing!

He's clearly grinning about this.  It must be a favorite stunt for the hapless tourist.  10 minutes later when we checked again he was gone without a trace.

Rainbow Springs Florida

Both Fred and I have many memories of old Florida from the 50's.... exotic gardens, tourist traps with really tacky souvenirs, beautiful other-worldly attractions with alligators and monkeys and snakes.  Most are gone now, but a few have been taken over by the State Park systems and continue to provide some of the entertainment that made these parks so popular.

We went to Rainbow Springs, which was a very popular and quite large water & animal park in the 50's.  The gardens have been adopted by the garden clubs of the area, and the animals all set free..... but what a beautiful park!  It almost was tempting to go for a swim!  The water is a constant 72 degrees!

This would be a beautiful park to visit when everything was in bloom.... but we did see Camellia, azalea, wild begonias, redbuds and magnolia in bloom!  It must be stunning in the spring!

Fred takes a fishing trip

Fred wanted to do a bit of fishing while here in Florida, but his only fishing trip was a bit of a surprise..... and it gives us the obligatory "black tank" story that every RVer needs to have!  (if you haven't seen  the Robin Williams movie "RV" it's time to order it from Netflix)

For those who don't know.... the Black Tank is the holding tank for the toilet.  We also have a Grey Tank (for the sink & shower) and a Galley Tank for the kitchen sink.  But, you drain them individually, even when set up in a campground with "full hookups".  The worst is actually the Galley tank, because it fills up the quickest.  To avoid this nuisance we often dump our dishwashing waste water down the flush.  It's a camping shortcut that works quite well..... unless you forget to check for silverware on the bottom of the basin.

I think you can guess where this story is headed....  yes, silverware went overboard - so to speak.

We considered saying farewell to the silverware  but what would happen when the tank was drained???  would it become stuck the drain?? or wedged in the tank hose?\

After some creative problem solving we came up with a possible solution: 

Magnets taped onto the end of a wire used to "fish" electrical wiring!!!  and it worked.

There was alot of bleaching & then boiling and more bleaching and more boiling .

Where did January go???

We're gathering up our stuff in preparation for our departure from the Williston/Gainesville/Ocala area tomorrow.  We just can't believe that a month has flown by.  It turns out that life in this "rv resort" setting was alot more pleasant than we had expected.  People were very friendly, the assorted gatherings were actually fun, we thoroughly enjoyed being close to Gainesville and all it had to offer, and we were not bothered by one single nosy or noisy neighbor.  No one pushed us into attending functions - and the park is truly lovely.  I'm just so glad that caring for it is the responsibility of someone else!  Our little "street" is home to quite a few retirees who travel full time (have given up their homes and live in their RVs all year).  We were the only ones on this street that were only here for a month; everyone else is here for 6+ months.

Tonight is our last pot luck supper; we missed bingo last night!

drought conditions & wildfires

We've enjoyed such wonderful weather during our stay in Florida, it's easy to forget that a serious drought is effecting most of the State.  The leafless trees and brown grass look like winter to our eyes, but the cause is the lack of rain, not the season.  Wild fires seem to crop up everywhere - and yesterday a modest grass fire in the Paynes Prairie, combined with fog, caused a massive pile up on Rt 75 - not 15 miles from here.  Sadly 10 were killed, and double that were hospitalized.  I gather from reports the visibility was Zero....seems hard to believe.  We may be spared from having to drive in blizzard conditions this winter, but the heat and drought has it's own set of challenges.

There's a name for my "disease"

I admit that I have an overwhelming compulsion to feed animals - wild birds, chipmunks, fish, goats in petting zoos.....  I'm even tempted to toss a snack into one of these gator ponds.

Who knew there was a name for my disease!!!

a creepy visit to Manatee Spring

There are all sorts of "Springs" around this area - some are warm, some have high mineral content, but mostly they produce millions of gallons of fresh water daily.  The Manatee Springs are famous because the warm temps attract Manatees during the winter chill.  The day we were there we did see 2 manatee - no photos, sorry!

 But, we did get photos of a true Hitchcock experience at Manatee Springs.... it turns out that Manatees aren't the only winter visitors! - it was unbelievable!!!!

I think the real State Bird of Florida is the Black Vulture.  We saw hundreds.

Paynes Prairie Preserve

There is a huge scrub pine/prairie/marsh area between our Park in Williston and Gainesville, called the Paynes Prairie Preserve.  We've hiked a couple different areas, but yesterday we did the sink-hole section on the La Choua trail. What a Day!  we stood in disbelief watching 30-some alligators floating in a natural sink-hole pond..... with another dozen babies safely hiding in another nearby pool covered by water plants.

 the black log on the left middle is a modest sized 6footer.... but on the right side, there is a huge gator on the little spit of land - pretending to be a pile of light colored rocks.

We also saw a very large bison (there is a wild, managed herd), lots of wading birds, warblers, a wild pig, sandhill cranes, falcons.  We're going back later this week to try to find the wild horse herd,

more photos will be posted soon!

January in Gainesville

We've moved into an RV resort mid-way between Gainesville & Ocala.  The community is very much a "community" with planned activities (wood carving, exercise classes, sewing club, line dancing, bingo, movie nights, pot luck suppers and more).  Most of our neighbors are here for 6 months - and most consider themselves to be full-timers.  Thankfully, the park is beautiful, the people are very nice, and the parks around the area are interesting.  We find that we do miss the beaches, and will probably pick more beach locations if we are able to do this again next winter.

Gainesville is the home of the "Gators", and the campus is beautiful.  We've also explored the surrounding neighborhoods and have found some interesting sections.

We found a very old neighborhood with an historic Community Garden (for you Mary!)  but perhaps your planning board is afraid of a similar sculpture... I liked it.

And, there is an Occupy Gainesville movement..... but their hardships are pretty minimal when compared with the conditions faced by the folks camped out in Portland 

more photos will follow! love anita & fred