N. Apollo Blvd & Sarno Rd
Melbourne, FL
GPS: 28.121442, -080.638535
Today we went to Melbourne, FL (about 45 miles south of The Great Outdoors RV Park) to visit with Burt and Dori Staman at the christmas tree lot they operate between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We met Burt and Dori during our 2014 summer workamping job at Yogi at Shangri La Campground in Milton, PA. We resolved to meet up while we were all in Florida this winter.
Last summer Burt gave me the address. I used Google Maps to pinpoint the intersection and get the GPS coordinates which I included in my contact list as part of the address. When we reached the intersection there was no mistaking their location. Wolf Pack (the name of their Fifth Wheel) is always easy to spot.
Wolf Pack is always a prominent landmark
Operating a tree lot is a 24/7 job, but most of the traffic comes in the afternoon and evening. The job at night is to protect the inventory. Their dog Pepe is in charge of that. They advised us to come in the morning and join them for an early lunch. We did.
About noon, customers start showing up
Hauling the tree to the car
is part of the job
The tree lot is owned by a North Carolina tree grower and the supply of trees is refreshed every couple days.
Tree prices range from $20 to $350. $350!!!!! Yep – and they sell. People with really big houses and businesses such as auto dealers and banks buy the big trees for their lobby and don't even blink at the price.
The Stamans operate the tree lot from Thanksgiving to Christmas eve. They spend January to March at their home in Lake Placid, FL before heading back to Yogi at Shangri La Campground in Milton, PA for their summer job.
Dori made a delicious chili for lunch. Michelle brought a really good cherry filled Rugula pastry that she picked up at the Farmers Market in The Villages yesterday. Since Burt and Dori were "on duty" we ate outside amid the aroma of freshly cut Christmas trees. It was cold.
Chili, Cornbread, Rugula, and good company
makes a cold damp day feel just fine
It was good to see Burt and Dori again. We had a nice visit.
Dori, Burt, Michelle
A thorn between two roses
Fayetteville, NC
Do something that will make thousands of people stand up and cheer ...
... 100 years after you are dead
Every Christmas I realize that Peter Tchaikovsky is one of very few people to achieve such stature. He is hands down my favorite composer. No one else even comes close.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 -- 1893) was a Russian composer whose works included symphonies, concertos, operas, ballets, chamber music, and a choral setting of the Russian Orthodox Divine Liturgy. Some of these are among the most popular theatrical music in the classical repertoire. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally Wikipedia. His piano concertos and ballet music are known world wide. Even those who don't know his name or his work recognize the tune to such pieces as the 1812 Overture and of course the Nutcracker.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The complete Nutcracker has enjoyed enormous popularity since the late 1960s and is now performed by countless ballet companies, primarily during the Christmas season, especially in the U.S. Major American ballet companies generate around 40 percent of their annual ticket revenues from performances of The Nutcracker. Amateur ballet companies and dance studios do the production as a fund raiser and as their major event in celebration of the Christmas season.Wikipedia
More than a few youngsters begin dance lessons after marveling at the ballet's swirling snowflakes and flowers, mischievous mice and regal Sugar Plum Fairy. Generations of dancers have emerged from the ranks of these students to play the ballet's children and then, as professionals, principal and character roles. Kids who will never become dancers will carry that music in their brain for the rest of their life.
Our annual reconnect with this wonderful music happens in Fayetteville, NC where our granddaughter's ballet studio joins with two other studios to become The Dance Theatre of Fayetteville to put on their annual performance. We have this event carved in stone on our calendar and happily look forward to the visit and her performance each year. Ava, our granddaughter, has been at this for four years – each year growing in the number and complexity of the roles she dances.
This was an important year for Ava. She reached the age, size, weight, and strength to get her "Toe Shoes". I did not realize how big a deal this is in the world of ballet. She is very proud and we could see an obvious increase in motivation as the year progressed.
Getting toe shoes is important
All the kids start as one of the children guests at the party
Some start as one of the mice
This year Ava had four parts
Act 1, Scene I, Christmas Party
Act 1, Scene VII - the Battle Between the Nutcracker & the Mouse King
Act2, Scene X - the Magic Castle on Candy Mountain
Act2, Scene XII - Divertissement, Mother Ginger & the Clowns
Our daughter Tricia, Ava's mom, has been a closet Thespian (pronounce carefully and check the definition) since high school. She has been supporting this annual production as Costume Mistress (Chief Seamstress) for the last couple years. When she told the boss (Miss Leslie) that Mother Ginger needed a new costume, Miss Leslie agreed to buy it if Tricia would wear it. Oh my, a star is born!
The Costume Mistress morphs into Mother Ginger
Peter does it again. All three performances got standing applause during the curtain call.
and this year the Costume Mistress got special recognition.
After the performance was time for staged photos ...
... some fooling around ...
Performance tensions evaporate and everyone relaxes
... and parental pride.
Dad's job is to be proud. Tony does it well.
Thank you Mr. Tchaikovsky for another chance to stand up and cheer.
Titusville, FL
Linda and Michelle were off on a girl's adventure, so Jim Leibold and I took advantage of the day to get him started Geocaching and Letterboxing. We introduced Jim and Linda to Geocaching, Waymarking, Letterboxing, and Munzee very briefly last winter and resolved to do more when we returned to TGO in the fall. Today was a perfect day to start. Last night I logged into the Geocaching Website and identified a half dozen Geocaches in our local area that appeared to be "interesting". By interesting I guess I mean lazy. I'm not interested in Micros. They are too small for anything but a rolled up log sheet, so why bother. I also mean reasonable Difficulty and reasonable Terrain. Climbing Mount Everest, wading through patches of poison ivy, and reaching into a rattlesnake den does not excite me. I like caches big enough to hold some SWAG (Stuff We All Get) with a log book big enough to write something worth reading. Reading past log entries is part of the fun. I printed out the description sheets on these caches. I also printed the clue sheet for a set of four letterboxes that I already knew about to give Jim a bit of a letterboxing experience. All of these I loaded into my GPS Receiver. This is the unit I use.
DeLORME Earthmate PN-40 handheld
We met up about mid-morning. Jim wanted to drive but I insisted he navigate. Geocaching is a game of navigation not driving. Our first stop was Walmart and Staples. Jim needed a log book and I have been agonizing over replacing mine. I have been using a very small spiral notebook with cheap paper. Low quality paper is not good for letterbox stamp images and I have found a few letterbox stamps that were too big for the small pages. We checked out Walmart then opted to try Staples. We both settled on a Bienfang Mixed Media Spiral Notebook with 5.5" x 8.5" pages of acid free 90 pound paper. Spiral binding is important.
From Staples, we set out in search of our first Geocache. I selected GCZGXQ -- "Just Do It!" which is on a multiuse trail not too far from home. Jim and Linda are hikers and bikers so Jim noted that this is a trail they will revisit on bikes in the future.
Sometimes Geocaching puts you upclose and personal with ferocious wild creatures like this tortoise just minding his own business.
Reaching the cache required a short walk; that gave Jim a chance to get familiar with my handheld GPS receiver. After arriving at the coordinates, and a few minutes of tramping around in the bushes, I heard Jim shout out "I FOUND IT!". Success!
Jim Leibold's first geocache
Back to the car and off to downtown Titusville for our next search. However all that searching had made us both weak with hunger so we had to pause for lunch. Jim's expertise took over here. I didn't know that Jim was the go-to-guy for restaurant information. He is – and he guided us to Caffe' Chocolat Restaurant, Coffee Shop, Gift Gallery, Chocolate Factory. I had a Reuben and Jim a Portabela – both delicious. If you're a sucker for sweets, better stay out of this place.
Caffe Chocolat, Titusville, FL
Refreshed by that fine lunch we walked the two blocks to Space View Park. This park has become one of my favorite places in Titusville. Quietly understated, it is a tribute to the very early days of the space program – Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle. When I brought our grandson Andrew here last spring, I discovered he had no knowledge of those early space programs. I felt very old and very sad. Alan Shepard's first sub–orbital flight to Neal Armstrong's first steps on the moon is the space program of my life. Both Alan Shepard and Neal Armstorng are gone.
This quiet little park commemorates so much
We entered from the west so we traversed the park in reverse order. Starting with the Space Shuttle
Mission: Build and supply a space station with a reusable vehicle
We recovered a letterbox in the Space Shuttle area and logged its stamp.
Then moving to Apollo
Mission: Walk on the Moon
We recovered a letterbox in the Apollo area and logged its stamp.
Then to Gemini
Mission: Work in Space
The geocache and letterbox in the Gemini area are both missing.
Finally to Mercury where it all began
Mission: Put a Man in Space
We recovered a letterbox in the Mercury area and logged its stamp. An interesting side note here – the clue to the letterbox location directs one to a tall lone Palm tree. The tree has been cut down since I was here last spring. However, the letterbox was hidden in the shrubs that now surround just the stump of the palm tree. If I hadn't been here before, I probably would have missed it.
It was getting late and Jim had an evening commitment so we headed back home where we got him logged into and signed up with Geocaching.com. He chose "snailonthetrail" as his geocaching name. He told me there was a story behind that. I'll get that some other time. Jim logged his first "Find" and we called it a day.
It was a good day Jim. Let's do it again.
GC4652A,The Camo Bug Inn
Titusville, FL
GPS: 28.552499, -080.854722
My mission is to carry the Project Healing Waters message to flyfishermen in all 50 states.
Mr. Muddler the Muddler Minnow
This is a second life for Mr. Muddler the Muddler Minnow. This time it is a laminated business card with the tracking code displayed prominently on the face of the card and a message on the back. In the first life, this travel bug was a piece of paper inside a film canister, yellow body, green top, attached to an actual TB. I launched Mr. Muddler the first time in Fayetteville, NC in May 2010. It disappeared sometime in 2012 after having logged 6,327 miles and 25 posts. I pulled back the travel bug number and relaunched Mr. Muddler in GC4652A, The Camo Bug Inn, in Titusville, FL on 30 Nov 2014. I guess there is some slim chance that the original might show up.
First Launch
The Muddler Minnow was spawned, so to speak, by Don Gapen of Anoka, Minnesota in 1937, to imitate the slimy sculpin. The Muddler, as it is informally known by anglers, was popularized by Montana, USA fisherman and fly tier Dan Bailey. It is now a popular pattern worldwide and is likely found in nearly every angler's fly box, in one form or another. Due to its universal appeal to game fish, the muddler minnow will remain as an integral tool in sport fishing.
The Muddler Minnow
Mr. Muddler is one of twelve characters created by artist Kirk Werner for three books designed to introduce children to fly fishing.
Book Series by Kirk Werner
I have created a Trackable for each character. If you would like to see them all, here are the Geocaching Travel Bug Numbers: TB3E3X5, TB3E3Y2, TB3E3X7, TB3F6AD, TB3F69B, TB3F6AW, TB3F69V, TB3F69Z, TB3F6AV, TB3F6A3, TB3F6A5, TB3F6A0.
MEET MY FRIENDS
TB3F69V – Andy the Adams
TB3F6AD – Billy the Blue-Wing Olive
TB3F6AW – Ernie the Elk Hair Caddis
TB3F6AV – Gilbert the Gold-Ribbed Hare's Ear
TB3E3X5 – Mr. Muddler the Muddler Minnow
TB3E3X7 – Olive the Woolly Bugger
TB3F69B – Pete the Prince Nymph
TB3F69Z – Polly the Partridge & Orange
TB3F6A3 – Randal the Royal Coachman
TB3F6A5 – Sally the Yellow Sally
TB3F6A0 – Stan the Stimulator
TB3E3Y2 – Zachary the Purple Zonker
Pictures of all of us – just pictures
LINKS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT
Geocaching (and other GPS games)
Project Healing Waters
Miami Valley Fly Fishers
Kirk Werner
