Month: July 2017

We got up early on the 29th of June because we had a date to swim with the Manatees in Crystal River at 10:00. Greg drove his rental with Kelly, Jakes and Lindsey riding along with him. Di and I followed him in through all the little towns and never got lost–  and we were traveling at quite a clip. I was excited about the Manatees and curious.   As children we knew the Manatee as “Sea Cows” in the St. Johns River. It was exciting to come upon a pod of manatees in the river. They were mythological and glorious in their grandeur and we didn’t know much about them other than the myth of the sirens who sang Jason to the rocks in his pursuit of the Golden Fleece.  Other’s thought them to be mermaids.  They were munching on river grasses and came up for air once or twice and that was the only time we would see them. They have relatively small heads and noses, and I had never see the entirely of the manatees’ body!  I was a bit afraid of the size of the manatee – they are huge mammals without any natural enemies.They grow from small newborns to 2 to 3 tons in weight and 12 to 20 feet in length.  We were excited out of our minds at the prospect of swimming with them!  Paradoxically, I was a tiny bit uncomfortable with the idea of invading their space. There is a spiritual feeling for me that accompanies getting close to the splendid grandeur of Mother Nature–in any form, whether a beautiful sunset, the roar of the ocean, or a peacful summer rain. Essentially I feel awe and I am honored to share in the beauty of nature, and this was one of those times. Respect nature and do no harm.

Once we arrived at Crystal river we were invited to watch a short file about the rules and process of swimming with the manatees.  We were not to approach them in any way. Dead man’s float is the rule if they are approaching you. The guides were excited because they heard there was a pod just a short distance away that included a mother and her baby.  You can not reach to touch them, but if  you are lucky they will slide their body by you– if you are still and not aggressive.  (Still we saw one man chasing a manatee like a jerk. Our guide warned the jerk it was  against the law and the guides made him get out of the water.)  Greg, Lindsey, Jakes, Di and I were lucky and the manatees were amazing. Especially as their bodies slowly swam into your view.  Because I was snorkeling and the water was murky, it was my singular experience, as if the manatee would magically emerge from the depths and appear right in front of my face.  It was  awesome.  We stayed out on the boat or in the water for 3 hours. A truly amazing experience we all agreed.

When we changed back into our clothes and left for the 3 1/2 hour ride north to Wakulla we were all pretty exhausted.  We stopped at Subway and grabbed a bite then drove through afternoon thunderstorms and beautiful countryside till we arrived at Wakulla Springs State Park at about 5pm.  We checked in to the Ed Ball Lodge and headed for our rooms for a rest and to clean up for dinner and watch for the panhandle portion of our family to arrive.  Soon enough my younger sister BC and Roy showed up with her daughter Bessie, her husband Jessie, grandson Jackson,6,  and granddaughter Kellan,3, and we began another portion of our Fabulous month long Road Trip.

Stay tuned for alligators, sink-holes, diving towers, and

 

Road Trip…3

July 24, 2017

I realize that a few of you may have been offended by my ending of the last blog. I’m overly fond of what Gloria Steinem said, “If you haven’t been called a bitch by the time you are 30, you aren’t trying hard enough”. Anyway it would likely be good to consider that conflict and difference of opinion are quite common in families, and often about religion in particular. In my own family my older brother, Buddy, reported to be an atheist at a young age. I believe he was more of a pantheist by the end of his life. My older sister argues about everything and she goes to Bible study and church four or five times a year. I believe she is more of a biblical theologian than anything else. I believe in God. I do not like the rigid judgmentalism of organized religion- the ostracism of whole groups of people because of who they love and how they love. The racism that was so endemic in the southern religious communities in the south. The refusal of organized religion to consider anything different from church doctrine offends me. Their dogma ran over my karma, as the old bumper sticker used to say. My younger brother, David and sister Rosie are Christians whom I respect and admire, as is my youngest sister, BC. The conversation reminds me of an old joke, where Jesus and the devil were walking together in the garden. Jesus sees a scrap of paper on the side of the path that appears to be a list. He picks it up and reads the word “religion” out loud. The devil tears it out of Jesus’s hand and says, “Give that to me, I’ll organize it!

So that is that and I make no apologies for it. However, I was unkind to my cousin Judy, and I do apologize to her. I have a new mantra,  Honesty without kindness is brutality.

As I think I stated earlier some of us eventually had to go back and forth from the beach to my hometown of Palatka, Florida,. (The name Palatka comes from the Seminole for “cow Paddy”) It sits on the banks of the St. Johns River about 20 miles inland from St. Augustine. The main street has seen better days, but the people are mostly sweet and kind and fond of fishing. We arrived just in time to see David’s grandson, Syler, win a bass fishing Championship for the State of Florida in his 10- year-old age group. He was grinning from ear to ear as he stood at the city docks to receive his trophy. We then headed to Corky Bells Fish Camp to celebrate. We were blessed during dinner with a good old-fashioned Florida frog- strangler, otherwise known as a thunderstorm! Judy showed up and couldn’t find us, so I jumped in a car and drove 500 ft. to McDonalds to lead her to Corky Bells After stuffing ourselves with fried fish and hush puppies we headed to River Road where David and Rosie’s home is nestled among the old live oaks filled with Spanish moss.

News Flash! We crammed so many activities into our three and one-half days I cannot get the order of events straight. So, I’m just going to take the liberty of cramming in all into what ever space I can find.

One of the crazy days going back and forth to Palatka, we went to the best fish fry I have ever attended at Kelley and Cliff’s barn. They’d built a huge boat garage and off to one side they made a bar and kitchen outside. They installed a fryer for all the fish Cliff brings home. Cliff Prince is in the top 100 bass fishermen in the world. It is an international competition and he makes a nice wallet of winnings. Kelley and the kids follow him around as his groupies when he competes and they say a lot of fishy prayers. It’s a given that Syler follows him everywhere, but so does their beautiful daughter, Gracie! Cliff is a real celebrity. All the cousins were at the fish fry and afterwards did some skeet shooting. They had a blast. They were all sun burned from the beach, and Jakes was jet-lagged from just getting home from his school trip to Spain. Needless to say they were exhausted. Now Syler is a champion fisherman at 10, and Rosie just called to tell me Gracie is fourth in the world in Archery in her age group. What an amazing family!!!

Also, I forgot to tell you that after the fish fry we ALL went with Jennifer to YOGA class in Palatka. All of us including David, Rosie, Dianne, Logan, Chrissie, Mia, Jennifer, Kelley P, Gracie, Kelly S, Jakes, Lindsey, Syler, Greg, and me. We made up the entire class- though some were more active than others! The Yoga instructor was great. Cousin Judy also was there, but decided not to push fate and participate. And to celebrate our perfect Yoga class, we all went out for ice cream! Make sense out of that?

Oh, and one dau we went to lunch and ran into Jo Carol Meltzer! Didn’t recognize her. Brought back bunches of uncomfortable memories. Ah well.

Oh, and that morning, or one of the mornings, , Leigh Trescot brought her mom, Nancy to visit for a few minutes. Nancy lost the love of her life, Jack. He lived spryly into his 90’s, I don’t think Nancy is doing very well. She is as beautiful as ever and loves to see all of us-and we her, Hugs went all around—but she looks pretty frail. Nancy is in her 80’s. It is so damn hard losing all these wonderful people who so mightily influenced our lives just by their presence. Nancy was definitely one of those (along with Phyllis DeGuerre.). Nancy stayed to visit about 30 minutes or so, then she and Leigh left with many hugs and kind words.

Shortly after Nancy left, my son Greg showed up and we all greeted him with great enthusiasm. We said goodbye to Judy as she headed over to the beach so she wouldn’t have to get on the road so early in the morning. She was headed back to Atlanta with our love and devotion and prayers for Aunt Bunny and Gene.

We were leaving the next morning to cross the state to the Gulf for Chrystal River and Wakulla, so it wasn’t long before we bedded down for the night.

 

Next edition the saga continues : Swimming with the Manatee and Wakulla!!!

Did I mention? Rosie and David’s girls have four children in various srages of teen and adolescent years. They were all at Summer Haven too. We arrived there June 24th and the next day I drove to Jacksonville airport and picked up Kelly, my daughter-in-law, and my two grandchildren, Jakes and Lindsey.  I really had to pee and there was no where to go.  I knew this was a disaster waiting to hahppen. There appeared to be no one in the lot so I opened two doors on one side against an empty car, quickly pulled down my pants and peed, and what do you know, the guy in the car next to me came up to get in his car. I quickly finished and pulled up my panties, we smiled at each other and he drove off. I felt so much better I didn’t even care.

The cousins were all delighted to see one another. Also, my cousin Judy Grosvenor, who had just lost her Mom and brother within the last three weeks, (which means I should be kinder to her), drove from Atlanta to Summer Haven to celebrate with us all. That made for 16 people, at least, 16 people were staying in the house. If it hadn’t been for the expert hearding skills of Rosie, somebody would have slept on the floor. So half of us went back and forth  to Palatka and the other half stayed at the beach. We had great fun playing in the water–once we old folk got out past the undertow and could stand up without help! How to feel old in 30 seconds or less!
Jennifer cooked 3 kinds of fish in 3 different ways…one of which was African Pompanno. It was all delicious. I made a banana pudding and Rosie made slaw., while Dianne sat on the poarch doing nothinng but holding court. The first day, Jennifer made some Minorcan Clam Chowder for anyoone who wanted to snack. Anyway, food was plentiful and the weather was fabulous.

The kids, on the second night, went into town on their own and Jakes was given the keys to David and Rosie’s Lincoln SUV that seats eight. He was delighted as he had his license for all of 6 months and he was careful. The kids really enjoyed each other.

My cousin Judy, Diannne, Rosie and I were sitting on the porch rocking and talking. Judy and Rosie are the more fundamental Christians . Dianne and I are not. Judy asked me to cancel her reservation in Wakulla (our next destination) because she needed to get back home for her mother’s memorial service. I told her I would, and Judy is a bit of aa talker so she kept telling me to call and cancel and I told her I was doing it online. She said she would prefer I call and she kept talkng. I was cancelling her reservation and talking with Rosie about something, and Judy kept talking over me so I kinda lost it and told her “G…dammit! If you want to do it then do it but shut up talking. She then informed me that I was going to hell for taking the Lords’ name in vein. I Told her to shut-up and she was wrong. I was not going to hell and I didn’t believe in hell. I don’t even worry about hell. I told her my God is generous and kind and doesn’t send peoplle to burn to death in hell! How can anyone believe that! Well, we got into a long discussion on the meaning/metaphoric or otherwise of the Bible as God’s word. Di and I upset our more fundamental relatives most of the time when we get together. The Bible is a nice book. Families are nice places to disagree and still get back to loving.

Thursday/ June 23, 2017
Road Trip
Entry 1 from a series of 6.

Temperature is up from 117 in Vegas, so I called my sister, Dianne, to take a road trip. She is up for it. I hopped a flight to Charlotte, and here we are barreling down I77 to Florida to meet David and Rosie at Bud’s old beach
house at Matanzas Inlet where we all spent many happy days of our childhood.

I thought it might be fun to take you along with me, especially since our car trips often turn into Uncle Wiggley adventuress. In the interest of simplicity I will introduce the players in the order they appear.

We’ll begin with my older sister, Dianne, who was born thirteen months before I got here. She is my closest, best friend and for good or for ill we know just about everything about each other. That means we fight like we might kill each other and, so far, eventually get back to loving.

There will be one sibling who won’t make an appearance. Our precious older brother who was so sensitive to the cruelties of life, killed himself about eight years ago. It wasn’t much of a shock since his entire life led him to that point. He had a horrible accident with a chemistry set and very badly burned himself when he was fifteen and was wrapped in gauze from head to toe for six to nine months. He was in excruciating pain. This was back in the 50’s, and he was on hospital narcotics for a very long time- the beginning of his end.

So, anyway, we’re driving to Summer Haven to meet with the family. We head with delicious anticipation to the Florida/Georgia line looking for The Georgia Pig as our first stop. Oh No!!! The world- famous roadside barbecue stand is gone!! Best pulled-pork in the South, served with slaw and beans or chips. It is with great grief we pull back on the highway headed for Savannah. We don’t know where exactly, but both of us are sure we will find another unique and memorable, new favorite barbecue in Savannah.

We took the second Savannah exit off the freeway and drove straight into Tripp’s in an old corner gas station deep in the heart of Savannah. A group of beautiful mahogany men and women, and one old, befuddled white guy. He was cackling as he circled the ladies who were sitting in the shade cooling themselves with church fans. We left 30 minutes later with enough barbecue to feed half-a-dozen people and good enough to leave them moaning for more.

Back on the highway, driving while distracted eating ribs and chicken and headed straight to Crescent Beach and Summer Haven where the Atlantic Ocean roared into our hearts so many summers ago. Arguably the most beautiful meeting of the sea and sand in the universe. Hyperbole aside, it is my vision of the powerful God of my youth. At times peaceful, warm and seductive. At times angry, dangerous and all consuming . This is the place where the meaning of family fell apart and came together again. The big wrap-around porch with the rockers lined up and the hammock hung on the corner. Many a sunrise was met in that hammock. Hurricanes and storms and racing to shut the shutters and batten the house down before the storms arrived. Many a drama played out within those walls…

David, my younger brother by two years, met us at the top of the stairs of the A1A house in Matansas. It was so good to see him. My heart is always warmed when I see his face and kiss his cheek. My sister Rosie too, who was the “girl next door” until they married after they were graduated from the University of Florida in 1966 or so. They fill my heart right up with love and peace. Together they created three fabulous women, Jennifer, Chrissy and Kelly, all of whom are there to greet us! Yea, Family!

A small rant about family:
Families are fantastic for reminding you of your limits. They will love you unerringly and then toss you about picking at and pointing out your faults.
Everybody comes from somewhere and someone. As Robert Frost said, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”

When we come together life happens then in predictable stages.

Beginnning: How great to see you. You look wonderful. How’s the kids?

Middle: You voted for that ass? You always were crazy. I love you but you’re nuts.

End: I love you so much. I’ll miss you terribly. Come see me in Vegas!

Families bring out the best and worst of us. and like it or not we all come with one.

To Be Continued …..I apologize for the lapse of time between this entry and the last.