Ode To 2022

 Ode To 2022

My ode to 2022,

in which I penned blog posts way-too-few.

My son Joe's promotion to Naval LTJG,

My brother Michael's time on Earth, too short for me.

Pinch pots of a mermaid and a bird,

watching cattle run down the street in a herd.

En plein air painting and picnic alongside Fisheating Creek,

watching a one-of-a-kind, mermaid, burlesque show, not for the meek.

3-D printing and painting Calusa Cats for a museum,

so like the ancient original, you really must see 'em.

I have more to share from this year and past,

maybe 2023 will be the year I share them at last.

Here Kitty, Kitty

The Colonel and I, with Yam's assistance, created three replicas of the Key Marco Cat. Two replicas will be used in educational programs by the Boca Grande Historical Society on Gasparilla Island. The third replica is Yam's.

The Key Marco Cat was discovered in 1896 by anthropologist Frank Hamilton Cushing. It is a six-inch figure carved from Florida Buttonwood, using shark's teeth and shells as scrapers. It is a half human and half panther figure and may have been a spiritual icon of the Calusa Indians. It may have been carved between 500 to 1,500 years ago. The Calusa were Native American people who lived on Florida's southwest coast before and during first European contact of the 16th and 17th centuries. The Colonel and I have portrayed Calusa Indians in past educational programs.

The real Key Marco Cat is on display at the Marco Island Historical Museum on Marco Island, FL. The Colonel and I saw it there about 3 years ago. This is a photograph of the real one.

Photo credit: Dept. of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institute (A240915)

Yam printed the replicas with our 3-D printer. 

It was then up to me to paint them, hopefully making them look much like the original figurine. The Colonel and I had gone to Michael's earlier, looking for paint we hoped would be a good match.

I used my museum giftshop replica (I had purchased it several years ago) as a guide for my paintjobs. 

The brown paint The Colonel and I chose was pert nigh (uh-oh, my Hoosier is showing) a perfect match. I first used black paint to outline some of the figurine's features and then painted the rest with the brown.  They were turning out much better than I had anticipated. They looked very nearly like they were made from Florida Buttonwood.

When I finished painting them and they were dry, The Colonel sprayed them with a clear sealant. The two smaller figures are the 3-D printed ones and the larger one is my museum giftshop purchase. The third printed/painted figure (Yam's) was completed a day or so later.

When Yam saw the completed 3-D figures, she jokingly said they looked so good that I could make more and sell them on the black market as the real thing. Ha! 

One of a Kind

 

The Colonel and I took an overnight trip to Ft. Lauderdale (June24/25) to see a one of a kind show. This show is the Mermaid Burlesque Show...the only underwater show of its kind in the world (so we were informed). We had planned to make this trip earlier but then the pandemic hit.

The show can only be viewed through windows, while in the Wreck Bar (made to resemble a wrecked Spanish Galleon inside and out) located inside the B Ocean Resort. The B Ocean Resort is now what used to be called the "Yankee Clipper" hotel. It was built in 1956 and is shaped like a clipper ship. Many stars stayed in the hotel such as Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. to name a few. Two movies have been filmed in the hotel, Where the Boys Are (1960) and Analyze This (1999). One of the scenes of the 1999 movie was filmed inside the Wreck Bar and featured Robert DiNero and Billy Crystal (The Colonel and I may have even been sitting in the same chairs).

The Colonel and I booked a room at the resort for the night. We wanted to be able to watch the show and enjoy a couple of drinks and then just go up to our room after the show. Our show tickets included a $35/each credit towards drinks and/or a dinner. The showtime was 8:30 p.m. with the doors opening at 6:30 p.m. We checked into our room around 4:00 p.m., so had time to burn. We walked on the beach and then had a light dinner at the resort (sandwiches).

After dinner, we went back up to our room to change out of our travel clothes and wait for the Wreck Bar doors to open. Our room and views from the windows...

When we had changed into our "evening clothes" (those who know us, know we are casual people), we headed back down stairs and sat in some chairs across from the Wreck Bar to wait for the doors to open. A very nice lady who worked at the bar said she would give us the high-sign when the doors were about to open. The Colonel and I were the first ones in the bar. We asked the nice lady which were the best seats in the house and she showed us two seats at the bar. She was right, the seats were the best ones for watching the show. The Colonel was "staking our claim" while I took pics of the bar.

Throughout the evening, The Colonel had a beer or two and of course I had to have a (two actually) mermaid themed drink, a Mermaid Blue Hawaiian. It was coconutty and yummy. 

Before the show began, The Colonel and I shared a dinner at the bar. It was a delicious chicken dish and we also split a crème brulee for dessert. There was a great DJ playing music before and during the show. We could see resort quests through the windows as they swam in the pool. I don't think they were aware that we could see them. They closed the pool to guests before the mermaid show. The bar was filling up fast and it was full to capacity. There was a birthday party going on as well as two bridal parties. The place was loud and energetic to say the least. So glad we got out seats early. 

Finally, the show we had been waiting for since before the pandemic was about to start. The woman who created the show came out amongst the crowd and told us a little about the show's history.

She had been the only one swimming for years and then one day she thought, why not get other ladies to swim too and make it an underwater burlesque show (she also has mermen shows)? She said to make sure we made lots of noise, as the ladies under water could hear us and the music played by the DJ. She left the bar and it was showtime.

The lady was the only swimmer in a mermaid's tail (she would shed that later). She was joined by three other ladies.

There is no total nudity involved with burlesque and the ladies stripped down to pasties. The show lasted just under an hour and when it was done, the ladies came into the bar for photo ops when tipped.

The evening was entertaining (a bit racier than I was anticipating...I was thinking Weeki Wachee mermaids). I really liked the Wreck Bar's Spanish Galleon design and watching the underwater show from my seat at the bar was quite the unique experience. Check that off my bucket list. 

The next day, before we headed back home, The Colonel and I toured some more of the resort. We visited the pool where the mermaids swam the night before. You can see the windows of the Wreck Bar under the water.

We got our car out of hock (only valet parking at the resort) and headed for a place in town we discovered on Atlas Obscura. It is a huge piece of art entitled Thrive by an artist named Daniel Popper. He created it in 2020.

We were getting hungry and wanted to eat something before we hit the road for home. I had looked up places to eat in Ft. Lauderdale and one was a Cuban place that sounded good. It was called 925 Nuevo's Cubano's. Back in the 1970s it used to be someone's private home and now it is a restaurant. The front of the restaurant was for carryout and dine-in was in back, outside and under cover.

The food was good, the service friendly and fast. The woman who seated us kept speaking Spanish to us. I could understand most of it with my scant amount of high school Spanish. I had a beef empanada and The Colonel had black beans and rice with pico de gallo. The kitchen had to make the pico de gallo special for him as it was not on the menu. Our waitress did not know what it was. It ended up that she knew it by a different name and said that the "ensalada" was one of her favorites. Must be they call pico de gallo by another name in Cuba. Lunch was over and now it was time to make the 2-1/2 hour drive back home. 

We had a fun time while in Ft. Lauderdale but it always so good to get back home to our little town. 

Artists on Fisheating Creek

 

On April 6, 2022, The Colonel and I hosted a family picnic along the banks of the Fisheating Creek in Palmdale, Florida. Yam took the day off from work to join us and my sister Jennifer and her husband Jim came up from their home at Ave Maria. This was a "last hurrah" before Jennifer and Jim, who are snowbirds, were getting ready to head back north.

Fisheating Creek is known as Thlothlopopka-hatchee in the Creek Indian language. It is translated to mean "creek where fish are eaten".

Early people, the Belle Glade people, were mound builders. They built mounds and other earthworks along the creek around 1000 and 500 BCE. They netted fish, harvested turtles, snakes and alligators as food sources. The creek was a canoe highway to Lake Okeechobee for the Belle Glade people. We saw about seven alligators and a couple of modern canoers in the creek the day of the picnic (we did not see snakes, YAY, or turtles).

But, before we could have a picnic, we had to have some food for said picnic. The day prior, The Colonel and I made some Puerco Pibil (slow roasted, seasoned pork). It is a recipe I got from the movie, Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

I cut up some pork loin (I used loin this time because I wanted it very tender and easier to cut...no bone to mess with). I also ground all of the spices and then blended them with the wet ingredients.

Once the spice mix was well blended, I poured it over the bite-sized pork loin.

I covered the pan with foil and baked the dish at 325 degrees for four hours. Once done, the pork is very tasty and tender. 

We opted to make tacos with our puerco pibil. We packed the meat, all the taco fixings and two kinds of beans up to take to the picnic. We also had chips and salsa and of course drinks. Jennifer brought macaroons for dessert.

The Colonel wanted to break-in our new camp stove/oven. He, Yam and I arrived at the campsite early for set up and get the stove/oven on. Jennifer and Jim showed up not too long after. Our picnic table was situated in a beautiful spot along the creek.

Once the food was warm, we fixed our plates and sat down to eat (while keeping an eye on the alligators in the creek).

The food was delicious, the company exceptional, the campsite and weather beautiful but there was still more to come. Jennifer and Jim did not know about the surprise awaiting them.

It was time to paint our beautiful surroundings. We were going to paint plein air. I had packed everyone a painting kit. It contained brushes of various sizes, a canvas board and a paper plate for a paint palette. I had packed several colors of acrylic paints to share. We had toted some water too and plastic cups to clean our brushes with (also plenty of paper towel).

Jennifer and Jim were pleased with the picnic's extra curricular activity. Everyone picked out a spot, and began painting.

Everyone was quietly creating their works of art along the banks of the creek. It was peaceful, sunny, warm and there was a lovely breeze. It was the perfect place to have a plein air, artistic experience. We all had an enjoyable time. Below is a photo of our paintings.

This is a close-up of my painting. It is supposed to be the view I had across the creek (I am more of an impressionist painter...that is my story and I am sticking to it).

It was a lovely day. We all had a great time. It was the perfect "last hurrah" before Jennifer and Jim headed back north. The Colonel and I will have to begin thinking of something fun to do for next snowbird season.