Category Archives: Sarasota Places and Parks

Sarasota is # 1

Posted by Lesley on May 22, 2012 None comments

And that’s not just local boasting.  First Dr. Beach named Siesta Key the number one beach, and now American Style Magazine readers voted Sarasota the number one best small art city.  John Ringling would be so proud.

The Tampa Bay area as a whole dominated the magazine’s poll.  Bradenton came in second to Sarasota in the small art city category, and St. Petersburg came in first in the mid-size city category. Tampa came in third.

The Ringling Estate was the main focus of the American Style article, and rightly so, but there are so many other reasons Sarasota deserves the title.  There’s ballet, opera, and theater.  Festivals cover the gamut – blues, film dance, and chalk.

And then there’s the art that just surrounds us lucky residents in our every day lives.  Mosaics are inserted into the sidewalks under our feet.  Sculptures line the bayfront, and murals are scattered throughout the city.  This one greets visitors heading into the city from the airport; it’s on the east side of U.S. 41.These two murals can be seen from Pineapple Avenue.  The camera was painted during last year’s Chalk Festival.

This is the most talked about mural of the moment – “Dr. Robin” by artist MTO.It’s painted on the side of Sarasota Architectural Salvage on Central Avenue and is a replacement for MTO’s first mural “Fast Lane.”  The building’s owner painted over it after much local controversy.  Some interpreted the image of two hands with the words fast life written across the knuckles to have gang-related undertones.  “Dr. Robin” is MTO’s response; the doctor’s badge leaves no need for interpretation, “Dr. Robin – Specialist for leaders and haters bullshit oooops crisis – City of Sarasota” Art isn’t art without controversy, or is it?  This is an abandoned building on the corner of 10th and Central in the Rosemary District.Even the boarded up windows look good to me…life is pretty in Sarasota.

How far would I bike for International Museum Day?

Posted by Lesley on May 18, 2012 None comments

15 miles.  It was either that or wimp out and visit G. Wiz, a children’s museum with a round-trip distance of only 8 miles.  Instead I opted to not wimp out and bike the 7 1/2 miles each way to the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art.

Although I’ve visited several times, it was still well worth the work out.  The banyan trees cooled me down immediately upon arrival, and bikers always get the best parking spots.

I packed lunch and a blanket to picnic, but the latter was entirely unnecessary thanks to some lovely chairs and umbrellas lined up along the bay next to the Ca d’Zan.  This is where I lunched.Boats passed and mullet jumped as I nibbled on my favorite sandwich – ham, brie and Dijon.  The breeze and umbrella were as effective as an air conditioner…perfect weather outside of the sun.

Mable’s roses take the heat better than most people or plants.  The garden was brimming with blooms.  I entered through a rose and statue-lined corridor, and the scent struck me immediately.  As I got further inside the garden, the numbers struck me – the amount of blooms and the height on some of them.  The Tiffany rose, in particular, was towering above me at eight-feet tall.  With exhibits coming and going there’s always something new to see in the art museum.  My favorite of today’s visit was John Ringling’s collection of Asian and Cypriot art.  Ringling made news with his purchase of 2,300 pieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1928.  The exhibitions don’t allow photography, but among the resident paintings, this one I never seem to miss – The Blue Madonna by Carlo Dolci.  Now here’s something that I’ve seen and missed every time – this room, meaning the panels, mirrors and sconces, was once in the Astor mansion in New York.  Ringling bought the interiors of two rooms before the mansion was demolished in 1926.And then there’s the courtyard, the big, grand, beautiful courtyard…always a highlight.

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Do one thing every day that scares you,” and this bike ride was it for me today.  Beforehand my brain was on a loop of I can’t do this, but in the midst of pedaling, the loop changed to I’m doing this!  Great feeling, great day…so glad I was brave!

Dream Job

Posted by Lesley on May 13, 2012 1 comments

I’m now working weekends at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.  I’ve been freelancing for them for a few years now, and although it is still freelance work, it’s steady writing.  And instead of writing about parking garages and mall expansions during the week, and of course barring the occasional psycho who buries someone in his yard, I’m paid to visit local attractions and attend festivals and parties.

It’s a dream job and the anecdote to my recent handwriting discovery.  A couple weeks ago, I came across an article from Real Simple magazine, “What Does Your Handwriting Say About You?”  It was shockingly accurate for both my and John’s handwriting and personalities.  Here’s what it said about my S’s:

Open at the bottom: You might not be following your heart. For example, you always wanted to be an artist a writer, but you have a career in finance insurance.

There are no plans to leave insurance, just plans for some fun on the side to close my S’s.  The editor handled the the terrible real-life news of murder for my first weekend while I stayed in dream land floating from one beautiful place to the next.  It was Five Points Park on Saturday for the Harvey Milk Festival and Selby Gardens on Sunday for Mother’s Day.  I had about ten minutes to waste in between brunch seatings at Selby, so I couldn’t resist wandering with my camera.

Bromeliad

 

Green Staghorn Fern

I may be wrong, but I think that staghorn fern is a new addition since my last visit, not to Selby because the sign reads 2008 but to that particular spot.  The enormity of it is amazing.  It hangs like a grand chandelier in the archway, and those archways I never miss.  The tree limbs have twisted and turned into these gorgeous open door frames over the walking path.

Under the trees were clusters of bright pink bromeliads dotted with purple buds that had me wishing for a lot more shade in our yard.  Between the shade from the banyans and the breeze off Sarasota Bay, it must be ten degrees cooler at Selby Gardens than in the rest of Sarasota.

Moms, here’s your garden freebie for next year: Selby gardens offers free admission to moms on Mother’s Day – no proof of children required, so don’t feel obligated to bring them along. :)   Happy Mother’s Day!

Shade Avenue Letterbox

Posted by Lesley on May 10, 2012 2 comments

My bike route to the office is a straight shot down Shade Avenue, so at this point I pretty much know every house, tree, dog, mailbox, and pebble along the way.  But there’s one thing in particular that kept catching my eye and peaking my curiosity – an old train parked just North of Novus Street by the Alta Vista neighborhood sign.     A dash of fear only intensified my curiosity.  I kept wanting to stop but was worried it may be a homeless camp.  After finally getting up the nerve, I was back on my bike the second I spotted an open door.

It was too creepy to be there alone even in daylight…although I do partially blame the Investigation Discovery channel for my immediately thinking I could be murdered in one of those boxcars.  Tune in; you’ll see what I mean.  But paranoia aside, I wasn’t completely off-base to bug John for two weeks to ride over there with me.

The signs were there, but we didn’t see anyone…just an old train covered in rust and graffiti.

The train has been stored in this spot for over a year now, and even though the Seminole Gulf Railway has assured residents they have security patrolling the area, the surrounding neighbors don’t seem as inspired or pleased by the old boxcars as I’ve been these past few weeks.

Thoughts of the old train combined with HBO playing Water for Elephants over the weekend led to a letterbox.  Looking for a play on the movie’s title, I googled Sarasota elephant and came up with an image of a water skiing elephant from the movie, Honky Tonk Freeway.  Parts of the film were shot in Sarasota in 1980, but it wasn’t anything this town hadn’t seen before.

Sunny, a 1,300-pound Ringling Brothers elephant, was the first elephant to water ski in 1956.  The 200-pound skis were made in Sarasota, and the shows were also performed here at a long-closed tourist attraction, Sunshine Springs and Gardens.       I found Quick Point Preserve through letterboxing, and that’s exactly why I love it so much: it takes you places you may not have gone or even known about otherwise.  And carving stamps is fun too; it’s a very easy craft project – no artistic talent necessary.

For this stamp, I traced a smaller version of the photo off my laptop.  The laptop acted like a light box under the paper making it easy to trace.  I made a few small adjustments to simplify the carving like changing the shape of the boat, and when the pencil tracing was finished, I transferred it onto the rubber by placing it face-down and rubbing the back of the paper with a penny.  Once the drawing was transferred to the rubber, I carved in and around the pencil lines to create the stamp.

Now, clearly this letterbox comes with a disclaimer – be aware of your surroundings; don’t visit at night; and use the buddy system when searching – but it’s a fun hunt; I haven’t planted the letterbox far from Shade Avenue; and Payne Park is right around the corner if you want to extend your outing.  So go for it; here is your final clue:

And there’s a hitchhiker waiting for the first visitor.  Happy letterboxing!

UPDATE: The train left the station! No more letterbox…sorry.

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{this moment} One Wheel Away from Amish

Posted by Lesley on May 4, 2012 None comments

Soulemama, {this moment} needs words.  Without them, years from now, I could forget what’s missing in this photograph – me on my bike.  This is the third week of blogging my biking experiences, and since I live in Sarasota, to leave out the Amish would be remiss.  We live in Southgate but are close to Pinecraft, a mixed Amish and Mennonite neighborhood where matching clothing and a slower pace are the norm.

Drive Bahia Vista Street between Tuttle Avenue and McIntosh Road.  You’ll pass by two Amish restaurants, three markets, an ice cream shop, and Everence Federal Credit Union, formerly named Mennonite Financial.  There’s even a teeny-tiny Amish-run post office.  And I’m not sure what goes on at the corner of Bahia Vista and Tuttle, but there are two dozen plus tricycles gathered there at times.  Although a few are equipped with small motors, wheels don’t exceed three in this neighborhood.

So I fit in really well…well, not really and that’s what’s missing from this photo.  I was riding home from the doctor’s office this morning and pulled up to the corner of Bahia Vista and Beneva next to three young Amish girls wearing matching blue maxi dresses and white lace caps.  I smiled; they smiled back.  As we waited, three more girls dressed in similar clothing pulled up–two on tricycles, one on a bicycle.  The girls greeted each other, and for the first time in my Florida life thus far, I felt out of place wearing shorts and a T-shirt.

As my bright yellow bike rolled over the crosswalk in between the two sets of girls–behind the riders and in front of the walkers–I wished that the car sitting at the light would snap that picture.  It would have been a good one.  Instead I grabbed my cell phone and took a photo from my place in the line.

More on the Zebra Longwing

Posted by Lesley on April 25, 2012 None comments

I’m still obsessing over my butterfly experience yesterday.  If my car was running, I’d be walking the woods right now looking for them.  I’m curious to know if we happened upon something special for Red Bug Slough or if the park is a regular hang-out for zebra longwings.  Although I was awed by the sighting, everything I’ve read so far is leading me to the conclusion that the sighting wasn’t very far from ordinary for this species of butterfly.

At night, zebra longwings cluster together on tree branches to stay safe, and according to Peterson First Guide to Butterflies and Moths, “It’s preferred habitat is the understory of dense tropical or subtropical woodlands and hammocks.”  The latter certainly describes that section of Red Bug Slough.  I’ll be back there searching again soon, but if any Sarasota locals have spottings to share, please, please leave a comment and relieve me of this itching curiosity.

Zebra Butterfly Encounter at Red Bug Slough

Posted by Lesley on April 24, 2012 None comments

I had never seen a zebra butterfly in Sarasota until today.  Despite the fact that it’s Florida’s state butterfly, I’ve only seen one in 17-years of living here.  It was at Maclay Gardens in Tallahassee and was only around long enough for one quick picture.

Tonight, walking through Red Bug Slough with John and Luke, we saw a gaggle, a swarm, a herd ??? of zebra butterflies.  It was a more amazing sight than any butterfly garden has ever delivered me.  There actually is a designated butterfly garden near the entrance of the park, but I’ve never seen anything like this there.

That spot is man-made.  It’s a garden next to a parking lot and jungle gym, but that’s not to make it sound sub-par.  It’s a beautiful park, one of many in Sarasota County.  It’s simply the section where nature had to be cleared to accommodate the park.  The butterflies were in a section where nature had to be kept to accommodate the park.  It’s one of two shaded areas and has walking trails throughout an otherwise undisturbed Florida forest.  Houses run along the back of the woods and condominiums along the other two sides, yet somehow nature prevails regardless of the small space.

As we walked along one of the paths, we spotted about a dozen zebras butterflies twirling around in a patch of sun.  I’ve had a few other odd and awesome animal run-ins in my suburban life–a hummingbird looked me in the eyes in Balboa park without pecking them out and my brother and I rode our bikes parallel to a stunned deer for about five strides through Lakewood Ranch–and now the zebra butterflies in Red Bug Slough are adding to that list.

It was as if we stumbled onto a butterfly birthday party.  They were drunk from the sunlight and spinning in circles.  We were under a hammock, so the sun’s rays were compacted into one bright spotlight piercing through the trees.  It was a totally unexpected and welcome moment.  There were butterflies settled on the ground and hanging from the trees, but mostly they were playing in the sun flitting in and out of the spotlight.  I tried to get a video, but it wasn’t capturing the moment; and I didn’t want to miss it myself by fooling with a camera, so I settled for a few still shots.

School Avenue Recreational Trail

Posted by Lesley on April 18, 2012 None comments

I’ve passed this sign and trail-head off Weber Street a hundred times by car always wondering where it led, yet it never entered my mind as I pedaled my bike parallel down Shade Avenue to the post office on Siesta Drive last week.  It was only a lack of good sign posts in front of the plaza that led me to the back parking lot to lock up my bike around a parking sign.  After mailing my package, I couldn’t resist taking the long, quiet back alley exit.  Always trying to avoid traffic, at the very least, it would bring me back out to Siesta Drive past the busy entrance to the Southgate mall.  Instead, the alley led me straight to the other end of the School Avenue recreational trail.

What a find!  I traded the smell of exhaust for Jasmine and the sound of car horns for woodpeckers.  The trail crosses over a few streets, but they’re residential and quiet.  There are street lights and benches along the way.  It’s the perfect short-cut.  I’ve used it twice since.

The trail starts on the South side of Weber Street between U.S. 41 and Shade Avenue and ends on Siesta Drive.

Sunset is for the Birds

Posted by Lesley on October 23, 2011 None comments

Last Sunday, I started my day on Siesta Key Beach.  Today, I ended my day there.  Every once in a while John and I like to feel like tourists, and Sundays at sunset always offer a great opportunity for that.  A drum circle forms on the public section of the beach, so unlike my last trip, there were people everywhere.  But regardless of the sunrise, sunset, drums, dancers, it always seems to be the birds that get my attention lately.

That last picture just doesn’t do the experience justice.  A flock of hundreds was right over our heads, and the birds were vocal.  The chaos of all those chirps together translated into extremely loud screeching.  As I was snapping a picture, my neck and eyes faced up in amazement, John the germaphobe was hunched over shielding his head and face.  It’s supposedly lucky to have a bird s@$# on you, but he deemed us the luckiest people on earth to have that many birds fly over our heads and not s@$# on us.  Finally, the universe gave us one.  :)

I normally sleep through this stuff.

Posted by Lesley on October 16, 2011 2 comments

As a former waitress, I’m a night person that rarely goes to bed before midnight.  Accordingly, I’m not the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed type.  I may get to work at nine but don’t really function until ten.  Still my reputation has been somewhat exaggerated over the years.  When my mother missed my call at 8:30 in the morning about six-months ago and she didn’t reach me when she tried back, that alone warranted a call to my sister to see if I was okay.  Seeing as I’m now an adult who holds a day-job, I found this a tad much.  But when I complained to my sister about our mother’s clear overreaction, all she said was, “Well, it was weird that you called so early.”  Geesh, you just can’t shake a reputation with your family, so here’s the proof that the police should not be called if I’m awake before noon.  Due to guests, stress, life, whatnot, I was asleep by 10:30 last night which had me up at 6:30 this morning.  It’s quite the mixed bag when you wake up before dawn… A wolf spider in the bathroom wasn’t exactly encouraging.  Through one squinted eye, had I not heard rumors about it from John’s sister already, I would’ve sleepily assumed this massive spider was a leftover dream fragment.  It was almost the size of my hand, had spikes and was missing a leg.  I’ve never been scared of spiders, but there was no way I was messing with this one…so it was tap, tap, tap with my finger and the sweetest little whisper, john, john... Thirty seconds and a little mumbling later, the bathroom was sans spider and it was off to the beach……much better and most definitely worth getting up in the dark for…at least every once in a while.  That early, the canopy of umbrellas and labyrinth of towels haven’t been established yet, and human foot prints haven’t obliterated the triangle trails of webbed feet in the sand.  The birds outnumber the people fifty to one…  …and it was really nice.