It’s been almost a week since I last blogged, and all I can say is, it’s summer. To the rest of the country, summer is a good thing. To Floridians, it’s damn hot! But I did find a few ways to cool off this week—riding my bike early in the morning, walking Luke late at night, and a rainy-day pool party at my brothers’ new apartment. Last night, it was listening to reggae with friends at O’Leary’s. 
And it wasn’t just the people enjoying the cool respite of the evening. We saw this yellow crowned night heron upon parking the car.
And we followed this black Labrador from the entrance of Bayfront Park into O’Leary’s. The owner was a few paces behind, and the Lab made sure of it, stopping to look back a tad impatiently every few steps. John and I were both clearly impressed by the dog’s knowledge of the park, so his owner says to us with a grin, “If I could only get him to order a beer for me.” Now, that’s a dog trick.
Tag Archives: bayfront park
Staying Cool
Fourth of July Fireworks at Bayfront Park
Fourth of July in Sarasota is one of those times when having a car is over-rated, so John and I left the new car in the driveway and rode our bikes over to Bayfront Park. The city closes the bayfront section of U.S. 41 from Orange Avenue all the way around to Gulfstream Avenue for the fireworks, so even with the huge crowd, it’s easy to find a spot to stop and watch. We left our house at ten to nine and didn’t miss so much as a bottle rocket. We stopped twice on 41 to ooh and aah and watched the finale from inside the park. It was so loud I could feel the pounding in my chest—impressive display!
Happy Fourth of July!
Outdoor Art at Bayfront Park
Mark this down on your May to-do list: “Embracing Our Differences, a fabulous outdoor art exhibit recommended by Lettuce Share.” Because by June 1, Bayfront Park will have transitioned back from an art gallery to just a park. Although the park alone is worth visiting. The breeze off Sarasota bay and the sprawling banyan trees that shade the paths make it one of my favorites walks for Luke. Compared to other parks, Bayfront feels about 10 degrees cooler to me, and Luke’s tongue doesn’t hang quite so low to the ground.
Banyan Tree Trunk(s)
Still, combining the park with an art gallery makes strolling under the banyans that much nicer. Embracing Our Differences is an annual exhibit. Each year professional artists, art students, school kids, and community members submit artwork and quotations based on the message, “enriching lives through diversity.”
The piece above was submitted by a 4th-grader and is called, It Doesn’t Matter. I love this exhibit more and more each year I visit. It’s a must-see with a must-live-by message.
For more photos from this year’s exhibit, visit Lovely Ordinary Days.
{this moment} Bayfront Park at Sunset
{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. -Soulemama
Seagrapes and a Sonic Boom
Sea grapes have always bugged me. It’s weird and I don’t know why, they just always have. There’s a hedge around the corner that seemed more and more out of place and pointless every time I walked by it…until recently. My visit to De Soto National Park has had me rethinking my stance on the sea grape. I gained a new appreciation for them that day - their history, appearance and usefulness. Now I can’t stop noticing sea grapes…in a good way.
An odd tidbit of history is what initially drew me in. Apparently, long before the stringent postal regulations of today, sea grape leaves were used as postcards. Tourists would write messages on them and mail them home. You could affix the stamp straight to the leaf. And before tourists, it’s believed that DeSoto and his comrades were using them as playing cards.
As sea grape leaves die, they harden. They’re as thick as heavy paper and easy to write on or decorate. The one flaw is that they become brittle and can snap. The live leaves won’t snap, so they open up a whole other realm of craft possibilities. First I found this how-to blog post on crafting the leaves into plates and bowls. Then I saw a Q and A in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune with local Master Gardener Jane Smith:
Q: What’s the oddest thing you’ve ever done with a plant?
A: I was invited to create a costume for a fashion show at the Art Center Sarasota. I made a dress out of sea grape leaves, which I embellished with gold leaf and some paint. The last I heard the “dress” made it to another fashion show at Selby Gardens.
I tried to find a picture of the dress somewhere but no luck; surely, it was gorgeous. The live leaves are so much prettier than I ever gave them credit for. Before they die, they turn red. So for living in the South, sea grapes are as autumnal as they come.
The trunks are equally as impressive in all their multiples.
Sea grapes are salt-tolerant and wind-resistant, so they’re often found along shorelines. That explains the “sea.” The “grape” is derived from the fruit it bears, which forms in grape-like clusters. They’re edible too; this link will take you to a recipe for sea grape jelly.
Sea grapes line the pathway between Bayfront Park and Selby Gardens.
But sometimes living in Florida is so much cooler than sea grapes and sunshine. I got to experience a sonic boom today! I heard and felt the space shuttle Discovery reentering our atmosphere for the last time ever. Incredible! If only I had know what it was at the time. It wasn’t until an hour later when a friend asked me if I had felt it that I knew immediately I had. It stopped our conversation the clap was so jarring. Our office is on a busy street, so the initial thought was that someone got rear-ended at the stoplight. It’s funny now to know what it actually was. Oh, and the high was 82 degrees today…it was a good day to be in Florida.
The Best of Bayfront Park
The cold weather today had me wishing for warmer days and thinking of one in particular that I forgot to blog about. On a sunny day about two weeks ago John was feeling antsy, so he swept me away from the office over to Bayfront Park, better known as Marina Jack. We did two loops around the park and mostly talked about work anyway, but the conversation was made so much more interesting and upbeat with bay views in the background! The next warm day, wherever you are, find a spot and enjoy the weather for at least 10 minutes. It’s too good to pass up. But that’s not the reason for this blog post, the restroom is.
That’s right, I want to talk bathrooms. Why? Because with a garden on the roof and a hand-painted octopus, Sarasota boasts the coolest public restroom around. The garden is a green roof that reduces and cleans stormwater runoff and also helps keep the building cool. Planted by Tecta America and funded by the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, the flowers and greenery include weeping lantana, wallyberg and aloe.
Two large cisterns collect the excess rainwater to irrigate the garden, but they’re not your purely functional, plain Jane cisterns. In pure Sarasota style, the Bayfront Park cisterns were hand-painted by art students from the Ringling College of Art and Design.
When I finally get a rain barrel, it must have a pink octopus.
