On Sunday 3 August I read the article to Eileen entitled "The Squeeze on the Middlebrow: A Resurgence in Inequality and Its Effects on Culture" by A. O. Scott in the New York Times. I would say that the number of middlebrow and lowbrow in the American population far outnumber the highbrow and that I am definitely middlebrow. It is defined as "demanding or involving only a moderate degree of intellectual application; a person who is capable of or enjoys only a moderate degree of intellectual effort."
We watched "Music and the Spoken Word" on BYU-TV.
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| Mormon Tabernacle Choir |
Eileen enjoyed the Book of Mormon panel discussion that followed.
We went to Russ and Gail's to see Jane and Steve for a while before church. They had been out for breakfast together.
We met the Cubberley's at church as we all attended the Plantation Ward's fast and testimony meeting. Brother James Potts conducted and so bore the initial testimony of the meeting. He spoke of the joy of service and being able with the young men of the ward to take the sacrament to Sue (Sister Opatosky), young men whom Sue had known since they were young Primary boys. He spoke of the youth temple trip last Thursday evening and being able to do the baptisms and confirmations for many of Sue's ancestors. (Bishop Penrod will keep the family file cards so that the ward members can do the rest of the ordinances and then mail them all to us.)
Some that spoke, brothers and sisters, talked about anniversaries, anniversaries of marriages, anniversaries of being baptized, and so on. An older sister spoke of renewing her temple recommend. (That was one of the things that Sue wanted to be able to do that she did not accomplish.). The two elders bore their testimonies.
Sister Karen King spoke of upstairs neighbors who were empty nesters and how they had made nice connections with them. He had a heart attack and has been unconscious on life support for two months. His wife cannot bring herself to have him removed from life support. Sister King had gone with the youth to the temple and did baptisms herself, including ones for [Sue].
A Hispanic sister bore her testimony, speaking of her baptism at age 18 and how wonderful it is to work in the temple each Friday evening.
A brother spoke of how wonderful it is to come home from business travels and cross the threshold of his home, to do the same when he visits his mom, and likewise when he enters the temple. In all three instances his blood pressure drops.
Sister Richards bore her testimony of the peaceful feelings working in the temple. She loves the paintings of the Savior in the temple, particularly of Him delivering the Sermon on the Mount. She spoke of her association with Sue, the temple work being done for her ancestors, and the service that the Relief Society sisters could provide for Sue.
Another Hispanic sister spoke of being prompted by the Spirit to reach down in her car and get her pen that she had dropped. She thought that she could do it later. Prompted again, she reached down to get her pen and found someone else's car keys that the valet attendant had dropped two hours earlier at the restaurant they had been to. They returned to the restaurant and the car to which the keys belonged was blocking five cars from leaving! Were the owners glad to have the keys returned!
We all left after sacrament meeting and went to Russ and Gail's for picture taking with the Cubberley's and Stetka's. Russ took Stetka's to the airport.
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| Jane, Gail, and Russ |
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| Spencer, Ashton, and Tanner wearing Russ's fireman hats |
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| Jane, Spencer, Ashton, Tanner, and Russ |
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| Spencer, Gail, Ashton, Tanner, and Russ |
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| Colleen, Spencer, Gail, Ashton, Tanner, and Russ |
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| Russ, Spencer, Colleen, Ashton, Gail, Tanner, and Sean |
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| Jane, Eileen, and Russ |
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| Russ, Gail, Jane, and Steve as we prepare to drive away |
Cubberley's went to Kristen's and we returned to David's to change clothes and get William's birthday card. His birthday is 13 August and Kristen had a little ice cream cake. David had made a couple of dishes for supper and we took them to Kristen's.
William and Erin left at 4:10 for the airport.
I finished reading Chapter 17 of "Miracle of Forgiveness" by President Spencer W. Kimball entitled "Charting a Safe Course." Near the end of the chapter was the following quote which I posted on Facebook: "'What is the price of happiness?' One might be surprised at the simplicity of the answer. The treasure house of happiness is unlocked to those who live the gospel of Jesus Christ in its purity and simplicity. Like a mariner without stars, like a traveler without a compass, is the person who moves along through life without a plan. The assurance of supreme happiness, the certainty of a successful life here and of exaltation and eternal life hereafter, come to those who plan to live their lives in complete harmony with the gospel of Jesus Christ-and then consistently follow the course they have set."
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| President Spencer W. Kimball (1895-1985) |
We enjoyed David's entrees as well as leftovers from yesterday.
Then Eileen and I, the Cubberley's, and David returned to David's. Colleen looked through a lot of Sue's clothing, including her temple dresses. I downloaded pictures from both of our cameras to our laptops. Then I worked on the many pictures in Photo Stream on my laptop to organize them. Finally I copied many of them into my Blog folder on my desktop to eventually go in my blog.
I finished reading "From the Earth to the Moon, and Round the Moon" by Jules Verne which I had begun on 11 March. I had previously read "Around the World in 80 Days," "A Journey to the Interior of the Earth," and "The Fur Country" by Verne.
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| Jules Verne (1828-1905) |
On Monday 4 August we drove to the resort and helped Cubberley's pack up. Colleen and the boys said goodbye to Sean and we took Sean to the airport about 11:45 am for his 1:56 pm flight. Colleen and the boys went to see David at his UPS store and then they came by David's to see us before departing for Brooker and then north and west to Arizona starting tomorrow. We said goodbye until December when we plan to drive west. They headed north about 3:45 pm.
We stopped at Costco for gas after dropping off Sean and discovered that Gas Buddy was wrong! It had said $3.369 just three hours earlier, but it was now $3.399!
Megan took the Dowd's to the airport a little earlier.
After Colleen and the boys left we went to d'Lites Emporium. Eileen enjoyed a medium yellow cake cup and I had a medium mango tart cup. Cold and yummy!
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| d'Lites Emporium in Plantation |
We met Russ and Gail at the Mexican - Spanish Restaurant La Bamba for supper at 5 pm. We enjoyed their company and said goodbye until next January unless they come visit us in Ellijay.
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| La Bamba Mexican - Spanish Restaurant |
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| Mural |
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| Mural |
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| Mural |
Back at David's Eileen made the kale salad with Cranraisins and sliced almonds for David. I read the Book of 3 Nephi 13 in the Book of Mormon.
Eileen has admired mango trees and banana plants along a route we take frequently near Sue and David's. Here are two pictures.
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| Mango tree |
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| Banana plant |
On Tuesday 5 August we were up early, finished packing and headed west after Megan came by about 10:30 am. We traveled across South Florida on Alligator Alley to Naples!
We stopped at a rest area and enjoyed the very nice displays all about the Everglades. We saw two heavy downpours south of Alligator Alley and got sprinkled on once and got poured on once though just briefly in both cases. We passed a vehicle from Britannia Auto Transport! Why would that be in South Florida? (It is an intra-state motor transport company only in Florida.)
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| Everglades Rest Area |
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| Wood Stork display |
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| Floor mosaic |
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| Eileen at the display |
We stopped for lunch at the Cracker Barrel in Ft. Myers. We got a mug for Steve for when he retires. Our odometer had reached the palindrome of 79397! We got gas for $3.359 at Pilot in Punta Gorda.
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| Eileen at Ft. Myers |
We reached Sarasota about 3:30, crossing US 301 which brought back memories from when we lived in Annapolis, Maryland.
We stayed at the Sleep Inn, which was fairly decent but only one chair to sit in! Later I "borrowed" one from the lobby to sit at the desk with my laptop.
We enjoyed the White Horse British Pub in Sarasota for supper. Eileen likes her mushy peas!
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| White Horse British Pub |
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| View from where we were sitting |
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| Page from binder in Sleep Inn |
Eileen enjoyed watching a show on PBS about Mark Twain.
Colleen texted us that they had reached Daphne, Alabama, just east of Mobile across Mobile Bay.
I finished "Nero Wolfe : The Silent Speaker" by Rex Stout which I began on 24 July. It was my first Nero Wolfe novel and I enjoyed it! It reminded me of the TV series "Jake and the Fatman" (1987-1992).
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| Rex Stout (1886-1975) |
On Wednesday 6 August we had breakfast at the hotel. We went to The Aquarium at Mote Marine Laboratory (www.mote.org) which included The Aquarium and the Ann and Alfred E. Goldstein Marine Mammal Research and Rehabilitation Center. We went to the Research and Rehabilitation Center first to take pictures of the large outside mural that Colleen had told us about. We had our picture taken with the Times-Courier at the entrance to the Aquarium. The lady in the Research and Rehabilitation Center gift shop said "yes" to my two Book of Mormon questions! We enjoyed the entire area very much! All the many pictures from the aquarium and research facility will be in a separate blog entry.
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| On the way to the aquarium |
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| On the way to the aquarium |
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Eileen and Ben in front of the Mote Aquarium
with the Times-Courier |
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| Ben and a friendly frog |
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| Ben in front of the manatee mural |
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| Eileen in front of the manatee mural |
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| Eileen at the entrance to the aquarium |
We then went to the Ringling Circus Museum (original and new) and Ca'd'Zan mansion. We had our picture taken with the Times-Courier inside the new Circus Museum in front of a huge circus mural. We were able to go on the 1 pm tour of the original Circus Museum with tour guide John Fisher. We rode the tram to the mansion and back. We went on the 3:15 pm tour of the mansion with tour guide John Fisher! We got two souvenir books about the Circus Museum and the mansion. The Circus Museums were excellent as was the very impressive Venetian Gothic mansion. (www.ringling.org). All the many pictures from the museums and mansion will be in a separate blog entry.
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| Eileen at entrance to Ringling Estate |
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| Entrance to New Circus Museum |
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Ben and Eileen with Times-Courier in front of
painting "The Greatest Show on Earth" |
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"The Greatest Show on Earth"
Oil on canvas, 22 ft by 42 ft, 1935 |
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| Mural is just inside the entrance to the New Circus Museum |
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| Anniversary wagon in Old Circus Museum |
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| Anniversary wagon in Old Circus Museum |
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| Anniversary wagon in Old Circus Museum |
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| Anniversary wagon 1933 |
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| Guide John Fisher and circus wagon |
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| Ben and circus wagon |
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Ca'd'Zan mansion
(House of John in Venetian dialect) |
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| Mansion facing on Sarasota Bay |
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| Mansion as seen from the bay |
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| Grounds of the mansion |
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| Tram to ride around the grounds |
We had supper at Barnacle Bill's Seafood Restaurant in Sarasota, which was very good! Eileen enjoyed the Seafood Steamer Pot which consists of 8 clams, 10 mussels, 6 jumbo shrimp, alligator sausage, red bliss potatoes, and corn on the cob. She shared the last three items with me (and I had my entree, too).
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| Barnacle Bill's Seafood Restaurant |
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| Barnacle Bill's Seafood Restaurant |
Back at the Sleep Inn I downloaded Eileen's 248 pictures onto both laptops after charging her camera battery. It died when we got to the Ca'd'Zan mansion. Eileen took a nap while I charged my iPhone which had been down to 10%. Later we looked at the two souvenir books and watched baseball games on TV.
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| Ca'd'Zan Souvenir Book |
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| Circus Miniatures Souvenir Book |
On Thursday 7 August we had breakfast at the hotel. We drove to the South Florida Museum which includes the Bishop Planetarium and Parker Manatee Aquarium, arriving moments before 10 am. (www.southfloridamuseum.org). All the many pictures from the museum will be in a separate blog entry.
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| Manatee Aquarium |
We filled up along the way for $3.309. That was the credit price but I thought it was a good deal until I saw $3.249 later.
We enjoyed the museum and saw the three manatees in the aquarium at 11 am. Snooty is a permanent resident and is 66 years old. In the wild manatees live 5-8 years! We had a nice presentation as they were fed romaine lettuce. We enjoyed the presentation "Passport to the Universe" in the planetarium at noon.
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| Refrigerator magnet |
We drove back to the Ringling Museum complex to see if they had a booklet in the gift shop about the miniatures on the second floor of the Ringling Circus Museum but they did not :( Then we drove further south to go to d'Lites Emporium but it wasn't there any more! However at that location now is Brooklyn Bagels & Deli so we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch there!!
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| Owner Jack in front of Brooklyn Bagels & Deli |
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| Ben at Brooklyn Bagels & Deli |
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| Brooklyn Bagels & Deli |
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| Eileen at Brooklyn Bagels & Deli |
Eileen had a Ruben on Rye sandwich and I had a Hot Pastrami sandwich. They were delicious! (When Reuben is spelled wrong, I spell it the way it is on the menu!) Eileen got an ET (Everything) bagel to go. We enjoyed the Brooklyn items on the walls and had a nice chat with the owner Jack. We'll send him a Book of Mormon as a nice LDS meetinghouse is right across the street!
We checked into the Comfort Inn, an older one that is a motel, not a hotel (no inner hallways). The clerk changed our room from the second floor to the first floor as they have no elevator. The room was quite nice. I found two pictures from the Choice Hotels website as I neglected to take pictures!
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| Comfort Inn Near Ellenton Outlet Mall |
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| Breakfast area |
We went to Walmart later to get some jalapeño cream cheese and shared the ET bagel for supper.
I worked on our pictures downloading Eileen's photos and mine from my iPhone on iPhoto's Photo Stream.
On Friday 8 August we had breakfast at the hotel. Then we returned to the South Florida Museum to have our picture taken with the newspaper again as the one yesterday was blurry. As it turned out, so was this one :( From there we drove to St. Petersburg, crossing the Sunshine Skyway (I-275) across Tampa Bay and visiting the Fort De Soto County Park and the historic fort there.
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| Ben at Fort De Soto |
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| Ben at Fort De Soto |
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| Fort De Soto Armament |
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| Fort De Soto Armament |
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| Fort De Soto Armament |
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| Fort De Soto |
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| Fort De Soto |
We drove north on I-275 and got gas at Race Trac for only $3.149! We visited the Books at Park Place where Eileen found two books by Patrick Taylor that we'll check out ("An Irish Country Village" and "An Irish Country Christmas"). They are books two and three in the series, so we'll have to order book one, "An Irish Country Doctor." Next door (and the reason we went there) was the d'Lites Emporium. We both enjoyed the swirl of chocolate cake batter and turtle cheesecake in a medium cup. Very good!
We went to the St. Pete Pier but the building is closed. The fellow at the Comfort Inn told me later that it was in bad shape and deteriorating.
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| Welcome to the St. Petersburg Pier |
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| St. Petersburg Pier column |
So we checked into the Comfort Inn & Suites, another motel type with three floors and one elevator. I was able to park by the pool and use the luggage cart to go straight to the elevator in an outside hallway. There were very few electrical outlets. The light on one nightstand had two outlets built into it, but the other nightstand light and the one on the desk did not. So I switched the desk light with the nightstand one with the outlets. When I returned the luggage cart, I told the woman at the front desk in case they are backwards in all several hundred rooms. One needs outlets on the desk! This room was quite nice.
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| Comfort Inn & Suites at Tropicana Field |
We walked next door to the Vashti West Indian restaurant for supper where we were adventurous as we had to google lots of the menu items on a single sheet of paper. We were so full when we left!
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| Vashti West Indian restaurant |
I worked a lot more on photos to select the hundreds that will go in my blog as well as downloading new ones from both our cameras.
I finished reading "Don’s Great Escape: Life in a German POW Camp" by Donald E. Phillips which I began on 12 April.
On Saturday 9 August we had breakfast at the hotel. We enjoyed visiting the Chihuly Collection near the St. Pete Pier, then went to the Morean Arts Center and on to the Morean Center for Clay where Eileen bought two pottery items. All the many pictures from the Chihuly Collection and the Morean Arts Center will be in a separate blog entry.
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| Haslam's Book Store |
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| Haslam's Book Store cat |
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| Colorful rhino across the street |
Then we returned to the Morean Arts Center's Glass Studio & Hot Shop where Eileen got a little glass heart.
As we traveled we saw these other photo-worthy sights.
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| Antique Car |
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| Colorful building |
We crossed Old Tampa Bay on the Howard Frankland Bridge into Tampa and stopped at d'Lites Emporium. Eileen got a mango and blondie swirl and I got a mango and chocolate caramel. Then it was on to Orlando (Kissimmee, actually) at 2 pm.
We arrived at the Vacation Village at Parkway resort about 3:30, getting rained on for the first time on I-4 since arriving in Sarasota. We saw palindrome 79697 on our odometer on the way. We are in building 3 room 601-B. We were able to check in quickly at the Annex before it closed. After unloading a lot of our stuff in our room, we went to the regular check-in building and got our parking pass for our entire stay (4-day, 3-night) and made our appointment for Monday to hear their spiel and get our $150 Visa gift card (we made an initial $150 deposit over the phone after taking precautions that it was all on the up-and-up).
We were so glad to hear from Colleen as she crossed the country and that she arrived at home in San Tan Valley, Arizona, this evening (though it is three hours earlier there).
Seen near the Morean Center for Clay
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