The Flight Home

My sister Susan and I flew back to Denver from Stuart, Florida this past Thursday, a fun-filled eight hour and five-minute experience, not counting the drive to President Donald J. Trump International Airport (I still can't believe they did that) and the rather pricey Uber ride from Denver International Airport back to my condo across the street from the University of Denver. The problem, of course, is that there are no direct flights between Denver and West Palm Beach during the summer, and so you have to change planes, either with a long layover or a very short one, desperately trying to get to the opposite end of the airport to make your connection. Frankly, I prefer driving, even if it does take 3 full days to get from Denver to Stuart. Much less pain and stress, and a lot of interesting places to visit along the way, with brewpubs now in almost every town. Perhaps just that happy fact is worth putting 4,000 miles on your car each round trip. It's all how you look at things, right?

A Final Visit To Stuart Beach Before Heading Back To Denver

It has been pretty damn hot and humid here in Stuart this summer, but then again, this is Florida, so what do you expect? The good thing about summer down here is that you do not have to fight the crowds to get a table at a restaurant, or, when visiting places like Palm Beach, having to wait in long lines to cross the drawbridge over Lake Worth in order to get back to reality. But best of all, when you are at Stuart Beach, as seen in the photograph above, or even along the St. Lucie River on the patio at Sailor's Return, you get a breeze off the water that makes August very tolerable. And definitely laid back. Sadly, since the tourists and the snowbirds are afraid to come down to South Florida this time of year, fearing they might melt, there are no festivals or events taking place. There used to be Dancing in the Streets every August here in Stuart, but that is long gone, and don't get me started about that 30-year tradition being killed off back in 2017. But no matter - things will start happening again down here around the end of October, including the 2026 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, the largest in-water boat show in the world. I definitely plan to attend that event and finally pick out my "forever" Superyacht. Can't wait. I am sure I can arrange an affordable payment plan. They are probably desperate for sales.

The September Issue Of Chicago Magazine

As I have mentioned (complained about) several times before on this blog, Chicago Magazine is no longer doing mail subscriptions, only delivering their magazine by newspaper carrier (the magazine is owned by the Chicago Tribune). And so, the only way for me to read it is the e-edition, which is just not the same, but not the end of the world, I suppose. In any case, I checked out the September issue online, and the cover story is "The Case for a Parking Revolt." Back in 2008, Mayor Richard M. Daley and the city council signed rights to 36 thousand parking meters to a group of investors for a term of 75 years for 1.16 billion dollars. So far, those investors have received a return of almost twice its investment, with 57 years still left on the contract, while Chicago faces massive deficits. Understandably, people are still upset about this deal. One local citizen is trying to get people to simply not pay for parking at those meters, and if they get a ticket, just pay it, since the City of Chicago gets all the ticket revenue. He claims it actually winds up costing less than feeding the meters. Also in this issue, the "City of Big Questions" column recounts the adventures of Lar "America First" Daly, who ran for office in Chicago from the 1930s to the 1970s, often wearing an Uncle Sam suit. He ran for the senate, governor, mayor, and many other offices, and never once won. His last campaign was in 1978, when he ran in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, received 15% of the vote, and died the next month. I remember this guy from back when I lived in Chicago but never gave him another thought from that last campaign until now. Not surprisingly, he was a pretty strange ranger.

And of course, there are lots of articles on restaurants, bars and other food places, including the Guillotine Bakery (owned by three French ex-pats), Kitty's Cosmopolitan Club, and All Well, which has fine dining but gives patrons the ability to choose their ingredients, which is evidently a revolution in dining. And no, the tavern in the photo on the right was not mentioned in the article. It is a tavern I used to walk past on the way to the "L" when I lived in Forest Park years ago. I took the photo back in 2010 when I last visited Chicago. I used to drink Old Style when I lived in Chicago and cannot for the life of me remember why. In the "Chicago Stories" section, there is an article by Meaghan Garvey titled The Torch Singer, which tells about her finding, when a teenager, a binder with 8 x 10 black and white photographs of Helen Morgan, all personally inscribed. Morgan started out as a singer at various nightclubs in Chicago before going on to Broadway and Hollywood, only to descend to Skid Row. Evidently both Garvey's father and grandfather were involved with Morgan, and her father was one of the pallbearers at her funeral. An interesting story of someone who became briefly famous only to come to a sad end. There is also an article titled "Seven New Reasons to Get Away this Fall," which includes Big Sur, which I get, but then also lists Bentonville, Arkansas to visit an art museum, Saugatuck, Michigan for a food and wine festival, the Wisconsin Dells for a medieval themed resort (I would pay big money NOT to go there), New Buffalo, Michigan for a wellness retreat, Indianapolis for its new biking trails (Indianapolis - my God!), and Reykjavik, Iceland in order to "embrace winter adventure." One word of advice for all you people looking to get away this fall - Big Sur or Bust.

Peacocks Are Running Wild In Fort Pierce, And Nobody Thinks It's Unusual

I drove up to Fort Pierce, Florida yesterday afternoon, and just for fun, I decided to drive over to the Peacock Arts District to see if I could spot a peacock. This arts district is centered around The Peacock House, built in 1926 and which Jackson Crain and his wife Mary Lee Steinhoff-Crain made their home. They also operated a travel agency out of it for 29 years. The Crains liked peacocks and brought 7 of them to Fort Pierce to put in their backyard. When they passed away, the estate was fully restored and is now the home of The Peacock House Art Foundation, which offers art education, exhibitions, and creative spaces for artists and visitors. They also have a half-acre dedicated garden space for peacocks, the number of which has grown substantially since those original 7. The estate is open for tours three days a week and charges a $6 admission fee. I have never toured the house but have occasionally seen a peacock or two in a park-like space across the street. Sometimes I didn't see any, but yesterday peacocks seemed to be all over the neighborhood. I took the photograph on the left of two peacocks, along with two babies, right around the block from The Peacock House.

What really got my attention was that people in the neighborhood pay no attention whatsoever to these birds. In fact, I got the feeling that some of the neighbors were surprised that I was actually bothering to photograph them. The photograph on the right is of two adults and one baby walking up the sidewalk to someone's house. They walked around that house and proceeded toward the greenspace behind it. After I got in the car and was driving away, I saw some other peacocks hanging around that grassy lot with a rooster, no less. We never used to see anything like that when I was growing up on the South Side of Chicago, and if someone did, they would be taken away for psychiatric evaluation. But it is just another day in Fort Pierce.

And just for fun, I took the photograph on the left of the male - I think - peacock walking along a wall The other birds totally ignored me and went about their business, but this one evidently did not want its photo taken and kept trying to avoid me. I was lucky to get the photo I did. What I want to know is whether these birds live in that half acre garden behind The Peacock House and just walk around the neighborhood during the day, or if they make their home in vacant lots, green spaces, or people's backyards. And do they cause problems for the neighbors, or do the people who live there just consider it part of life, like the weather? Questions, questions, and no answers. Unless I pay the $6 and go on the tour. I'll think about it.

A Roger Dean Baseball Tradition: Burgers And Beers Before The Game At Das Beer Garden

My sister Susan and I went to see the Palm Beach Cardinals play the Daytona Beach Tortugas at Roger Dean Stadium in the Abacoa neighborhood of Jupiter, Florida this past Saturday night, and as usual, stopped at Das Beer Garden, located just across the street, for burgers and beers before the game. This is Abacoa's neighborhood hangout and taproom, and is a very lively place, especially on Saturday nights. Inside, it was packed with a diverse group of patrons - young families, singles, seniors, groups of friends getting together, you name it. The outside patio was actually pretty quiet, given that it was hot and humid and the fans in the ceiling did not seem to reach the tables. It was no doubt hardcore natives who sat out there, braving the elements. We joined them for a brief time before Susan suggested heading inside for a bit of air conditioning. And as you can see from the photograph above of Susan, Das Beer Garden caters to the sports crowd, and there were plenty of television showing all the college football games going on. Lively, but also hard to hear what Susan was saying from across the table. But no matter - definitely a fun place to hang out before the game. If you happen to be in the South Florida area, I definitely recommend stopping by.

Watching The Palm Beach Cardinals Play The Daytona Beach Tortugas In Jupiter, Florida

My sister Susan and I went to Roger Dean Stadium in the Abacoa neighborhood of Jupiter, Florida Saturday night to watch the Palm Beach Cardinals play the Daytona Beach Tortugas in the next to last game of the Florida State League's regular season. The stadium is located right across the street from that neighborhood's downtown area, which makes it an ideal spot to have dinner at one of the local restaurants and then just walk a short distance to the ballpark. There was a nice breeze blowing, and little humidity, and so it was a perfect evening to go to a game. Palm Beach won 8-7, surviving a comeback attempt by Daytona that had the tying run at third base in the top of the 9th inning. The Cardinals won yesterday's game, too, by a score of 13-5, and finished with the best overall record in the Florida State League's East Division. But are they going to the playoffs? No, since the FSL is divided into first and second halves. The winners of the first half play the winners of the second half, and the overall record does not matter. Which is why the Daytona Beach Tortugas, the second half winners in the FSL East, will be playing the Jupiter Hammerheads, FSL East winners in the first half. This despite the fact that combining the results of both halves, Palm Beach finished in first place and Daytona in last. Does this make sense to you? Me either. I'm sure there is a reason why it is done this way, but no doubt a pretty stupid one.

Lake Worth Beach - Good Value For The Money Or Total Ripoff?

I drove down to Lake Worth Beach, Florida, both the city and the beach itself, a few days ago. I have never been to downtown Lake Worth Beach - formerly just Lake Worth - but recently read on the internet about its wonderful Bohemian atmosphere. And so naturally, I headed right down there to check it out. And found that downtown Lake Worth Beach is very attractive, but in my opinion, not Bohemian in any sense of the word. Of course, this is South Florida, and so South Florida Bohemian is perhaps much different from what people back on earth believe it to be. In any case, to not make the drive a total loss, I drove to Lake Worth Beach Park, right on the ocean and home to the Lake Worth Pier, as seen in the photograph on the left. I parked in the lot closest to the pier and tried to pay for 15 or 20 minutes of parking in order to take a few photographs. And when I put my card in the meter and tried to lower the time to 15 minutes, I couldn't do it. The rate was $3.50 an hour, and as much as I tried, the only rate I could get was for 2 hours, at a cost of $7.00.

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What is the deal with that? Do they assume that everyone wants to spend a minimum of 2 hours at the beach, or 2 hours dining at Benny's on the Beach, one of the biggest attractions on the pier and seen in the photograph on the right? I then remembered I came here last year and wound up actually paying that $7.00, remaining very bitter about it the entire drive back home to Stuart. And is it worth it to pay that price, when parking at virtually every other city along the ocean is free, with the exception of Palm Beach, which has turned ripoff into an art, just like its most famous resident? In point of fact, the beaches in every other city in South Florida are just as good, if not far better, since every weirdo in the State of Florida seems to hang out around that pier. And weirdos do not enjoy having their photographs taken. I know that from bitter experience.