Spite Highway

In the 1950's,  Florida was rapidly being developed as more and more Americans took vacations to Florida,  fell in love with it and wanted to move there.  Plans were made to develop the northernmost of the Florida Keys (which are ancient coral reef islands).  These plans included the dredging of 8000 acres of bay bottom to create a jetport.  Bridges, roads and buildings were all in the beginning stages.   Everything looked very much the way that the rest of Florida was being developed but something wonderful happened, something that so rarely does happen.   A small group of people worked against this development and wanted these keys and the water around them to be a haven for wildlife and a place of nature for people to enjoy.  (One of them, Herbert Hoover, Jr., the vacuum cleaner magnate, brought delegates from Washington, D.C. and took them over the islands in a blimp, absolutely convinced that if they saw the beauty of it, they would be on his side to save them.)  The wonder of it all...the ones who wished to save it, actually prevailed and it is now and has been since 1968, Biscayne National Park.

What does my title, "Spite Highway" have to do with this story?    As a last ditch effort to stop this park from happening, the developers brought in bulldozers and cut a road right down the middle of one of the keys.  It was on Elliott Key and it was 6 lanes wide and 7 miles long.   It became known as "Spite Highway".   It did no good: the plans for the park went ahead anyway and President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law and it became the beautiful national park it is today.  The Spite highway?  It is all overgrown by trees and has become a popular walking trail.  The image of that road stays with me, it was meant for spite but has become something good.
   You really can't stop meaness and cruelty and greed in the world, you can only do your best and try to make it into something better.  It pleases me greatly to read of this small group of people behind this national park and that those who built the Spite highway were defeated.

The Very Thought Of You

One of our favorite movies is "The Very Thought Of You" and stars Monica Potter, Joseph Finnes, Rufus Sewell and Tom Hollander.  It's really a sweet old fashioned kind of movie. Filmed mostly in London, it is fun to recognize bits of London that you may know.  Originally, it was a TV movie by the name of "Martha- Meet Frank, Daniel and Lawrence."  It involves all those gorgeous men  that I have listed and they meet a beautiful blonde American and all fall for her and laughter and trouble ensues.  I found a trailer for this movie on Youtube but since it is only a short movie, it showed a lot of the funniest bits, so I didn't want to ruin it for you.  If you are looking for a movie to watch for Valentine's Day, I would suggest this one to you.  It's not just a "chick flick" either, as my husband and son like it very much too.  Did you know that my son's major at college is Film?
It's very interesting to watch a movie with him as he points out so much to me that I have never considered. 
Movies are really just stories brought to life, either from books or from a screenplay.  So, if you like to read, then you really should like movies too, especially good ones that I can recommend to you.  I only like the good ones!  I really like "The Very Thought Of You" because it is so well written.  It is by Peter Morgan and he is the same one who wrote "The Last King of Scotland", "The Queen", and "Frost/Nixon".
You may think that I just love this movie because it is about a beautiful American girl with English guys fawning all over her.  Oh yes, that has ALWAYS happened to me anytime I am in England!
Come to think of it though, I was serenaded once on the London underground after the young men involved made fun of my bright (Kryptonite) raincoat, does that count as fawning over?

Peanut M&M's are gluten free!  Happy Valentine's Day!

Arabia Mountain/Wondrous Beauty

 Last weekend, it was unseasonably warm.  This weekend, it was cold, very cold.  Did that stop us from going to Arabia Mountain? No!  We went both Saturday and Sunday.  The wind was fierce but we hurried to get to the top and to the side of the mountain, out of the wind, near the lake... on the way, we saw these  purple wildflowers blooming.

 People arrange the rocks in different patterns.  I made the heart above and told Richard it was his Valentine's present.   The rocks in the other photo were at the beginning of the trail and I almost didn't see them.  I love this and am glad that we were able to photograph it! (Well, Richard again, he's the best photographer, don't you agree?)

We were hoping to see some ice and we were not disappointed!  I love this photo that Richard got, just at the beginning of the walk near the base of the mountain.  There was also ice in the vernal pools at the top, but we couldn't linger there for very long since it really was cold.  I think it was in the 30's...Sunny, but cold.

 This is the red diamorpha.  It is growing more and more and will soon have white flowers...

 Is there anything more pleasing to the eye than sunlight dancing on the water?  Like diamonds to me...

 You can't tell but I am really moving in these photos.  I wish I had remembered my hat and gloves!

  I know that I write about Arabia Mountain a lot, but it truly is a place of wondrous beauty and we find it to be so in all sorts of weather and seasons.  Hope everything is going well in your part of the world and ya'll are staying warm!
Well, hey!  I almost forgot to say... I found a note in one of my handbags and on it I had written, "Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating in space."  I asked my son about it and he said that it is a song...when he brought it up on his computer, I was very surprised to hear it since the woman's voice at the beginning sounds so much like me!  Well, like me when I attempt an English accent anyway...
I found it on Youtube, so have a listen!

Berlin Memories For My Daddy

"Look this up for me, Kay"...that is what my Daddy will call and say.  What I am asked to look up is usually pertaining to a recipe he is making or a food that he planning to can or freeze.  (He usually knows the answer, but he likes to verify it sometimes!)  I have talked of his memories from Germany before He was stationed in Germany, just after World War II ended and he has never forgotten his experiences there. He said that the German civilians would come into the army camp and clean and sweep until everything was spic and span.  This week he told me that they also came in and played a song called "Ein , Zwei, Zufa!" and the men really enjoyed it and he has never forgotten it.  He asked me to find it and I have done the best that I could so I have a couple of versions on here. The first one was filmed in Germany but the second one looks as if it was filmed in the USA, right down to the fake yodeling at the beginning! But I loved the oompah of the tuba!  I see why my Dad remembered this, it is very catchy...I have been singing it all day!  (It looks as if it is really a drinking song, and I am afraid that most of everything I found on Youtube involved a lot of  drunken noise!)  The Germans that played for the American soldiers did not not play for money but for cigarettes.  "Didn't you give them any money for the music?", I asked him.   His reply was, "No, they didn't want money, they wanted the cigarettes. They could sell the cigarettes for $10.00 a piece!"  He said that a pack of cigarettes sold for $150.00.   If I am not mistaken, the American GI's would have gotten cigarettes for free as part of their ration. 

Recently on the news, I saw the story about the German who still had lard as part of a package sent to Germany just after the war.  He decided to open it and try it.  After all these years, it is still edible. I don't know anyone who eats lard now.  I know my Grandmother, my Dad's mother, did use lard in her cooking.  It is so unhealthy I know but guess what, she lived to be 96!

 My Dad says that he really enjoyed sailing on Lake Wannsee in Berlin.   I have found a few photos of the lake and posted them here.  Hopefully, he will enjoy this post and the memories they bring back.  There must have been very few moments of fun while he was there.  Maybe that is why these  remembrances are so fond for him.  Oh, and by the way, when my Dad calls and asks me to do something for him, you know I will, he's the best!  LOVE YOU DADDY! (If I knew how to say it in German, I would!)

My Thanks To Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born two hundred years ago this past Monday.  There was a ceremony to honor him at Westminister Abbey.  You can read about it on the BBC website or any of the British newspapers.  Most of everything that I read was quite nice and respectful except for an article in The Guardian which was titled "Enough of the Charles Dickens hero worship".  You may read it here:   http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/06/charles-dickens-hero-worship-bicentenary   Well, there ain't no pleasing you, darling.    It is true that Charles Dickens wrote for money.   He knew what it was to be poor  and once you have known poverty, you never forget it.  It is true that he married again but so what, he seemed very happy so I say good for him.   Of course there are wonderful writers from England that we can also honor, but it wasn't the anniversary of their births, was it?  Besides, how on earth can anyone NOT like Charles Dickens?  He only created characters that seem as real to me as people that I have known all my life.  My favorites are "A Christmas Carol" and "David Copperfield".    It pleased me greatly to read that "David Copperfield" was his personal favorite of all the books that he wrote.

Charles Dickens began his writing career as a journalist.  I personally can always tell a journalist's writings simply because they are such good writers!  Even if they go on to write novels, they never lose that mantra which was written by Rudyard Kipling but which all good journalists follow:
"I keep six serving men,
they taught me all I knew,
their names are what and where and when
and how and why and who".

Many of his novels were written in serialized form and I have read that crowds of people would wait at the docks in NYC and Boston for the next installments to come in by ship from England.  These books were meant to be read aloud.  On Feb. 9, 1858, Charles Dickens gave a reading from "A Christmas Carol" at St. Martin-In-The Fields Church hall to raise money for the then struggling Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.  Not only was this a great success and raised a good deal of money but it also brought much needed attention to the hospital so they were able to buy more property and the hospital was doubled in size.

"Without his commitment, there may not have been a Great Ormond Street Hospital, filled with descendants of those first patients".   

That is a quote from the Historic Hospital Admission Project.  My husband spent a lot of time in that same hospital in early 1960's as a young boy and his mother has always credited the hospital and his doctors with saving his young life.  So, I am very grateful that Charles Dickens helped to save Great Ormond Street Hospital and thereby, all the children who have benefited from that wonderful place, my husband being one of them.  Thank you, Charles Dickens, for writing books that act as mirrors upon mankind and thereby help to make us better people and for saving the hospital that saved my husband.  

I would like to think that Charles Dickens would appreciate Chas and Dave.  He seemed to enjoy good times.
    

Arabia Mountain/Super Weather!

 SUPER WEATHER! Rain was forecast for the Atlanta area for this weekend. That was not a surprise. What was the surprise was this: they got it wrong. It was BEAUTIFUL and I do mean beautiful! I had to buy some new walking shoes but when we came out of the shop and saw the sky, we knew we had to go and climb a mountain. Arabia Mountain it is...let's go!

 I asked Richard to take a photo of these clouds, just in case they were gone by the time we got to the mountain.  This is what the sky looked like from the parking lot of the shopping center. "Look at that sky!"  Poor Richard, I must have said that a dozen times...don't you feel sorry for him?  But look at it!

 This plant is Diamorpha Smallii and it is as bright red as you can imagine. (People ask "What is the red stuff?)  I wanted to wait and show you these red photos on Valentine's Day as they remind me of bright red hearts, but I just couldn't wait to post them.  Consider this an early present, and it won't make you gain weight!

 That's Richard's shadow in his nice hat that makes people think that he is from Australia!

 We sat on one of the rock ledges and had our coffee.  This was our view to the right  and the sun was warm on our faces.  So much so, we had to move over a bit and get into some shade, in February!

                                   And this was our view right in front of us.  By this time, the clouds were moving
                                    by very quickly indeed.

 Now can you see why I had to buy some new walking shoes?  Richard caught me treading carefully!

 I wish I could post the videos that Richard has taken of these waterfalls. Sometimes, after we have gone after a heavy rain, they have been quite full...other times, just a gentle splashing, but at all times, a very lovely sight and sound.

 I was very excited to spot the moon after we came down the other side of the mountain.  The sun is going down now and we are just getting the last slanting rays of the sun.  It's still warm and the air is lovely with the smell of pine...

 We decided to walk back up the trail to the mountain, just a bit, we wanted to be in the sun as long as possible.  This photo above?  That area with the pebbly rock was underwater for one of our visits, but just the once, and we wondered what made it do that?  We have had heavier rain since, but the water has not pooled up there...it is a mystery.

 Now, the sun is going down and can you see my ghostly self looking up? What is up there?

Moonlight through the pines again!  What is this, Georgia or something? Yes, and it must be near Atlanta too, do you see the airplane?

Dances With The Daffodils

Wonderful to see my Dad and to see his daffodils in bloom.   My Dad is retired now, but he worked for years in road construction and as they were digging up the earth for paving, he saw these bulbs and he didn't even know what they were but he carefully wrapped them up and saved them.  Lo and behold, some of the prettiest daffodils that I have ever seen.  I think they rival the ones in England, and I don't say that lightly, since I think those are so beautiful.  Did you have to memorize the first stanza  of the poem "Daffodils" by William Wordsworth?  I did, but I also memorized the last part just because I liked it so much...

For oft, when on my couch I lie,
in vacant or in pensive mood,
they flash upon that inward eye,
which is the bliss of solitude.
And then, my heart with pleasure fills,
and dances with the daffodils.

They really were dancing since they were fluttering in the breeze so much that it was hard to take a photo of them! 

Daddy had a wonderful meal prepared for us.  Fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, green beans, cornbread and butterbeans from his own garden!  Afterwards, we sat outside on his front porch and rocked in his rocking chairs just looking out at a beautiful day with the temperature about 70 degrees!

Now, I meant to say in my last post that one of the few movies that my Dad has ever enjoyed is the movie, "O, Brother Where Art Thou".     I really meant to put this in my last post about him, so here it is!  That is not George Clooney singing of course, it is Dan Tyminski, and he is a solo artist but you might recognize his voice from Union Station with Alison Krauss.  Oh, and the actress who plays George Clooney's wife is Holly Hunter.  Holly is from Conyers, Georgia!  She gradutated from high school the year after I did and of course, she was in all the high school plays.   Someone from Conyers has won an Academy Award!  I used to do airline tickets for her sweet mother when she used to fly up to NYC to see Holly perform in her plays there.  Holly Hunter is in California now, of course, but she is a Georgia girl too!
  
Let's see...William Wordsworth, My Dad, Southern food, O Brother Where Art Thou, Dan Tyminski, Alison Krauss, and Holly Hunter... can I cram anything else into this post? Oh yeah, how about have a wonderful rest of the weekend!