A Fort Pierce Mystery

I drove up to Fort Pierce, Florida yesterday afternoon and took a few photographs around the City Marina and Marina Square. Fort Pierce has done a good job of reviving its downtown, with thriving restaurants, a large marina, and a really nice park right along the Indian River Lagoon. Unfortunately, the city has always had a reputation for having some high crime neighborhoods but has been working to tackle those problems over the past few years. In any case, I decided to take the photograph on the left of a pelican sitting on a post next to some boats in the marina. I was pretty far away, and I did not get the result that I wanted. But still, it was a pleasant, laid-back kind of image.

Just for fun, I decided to crop the photo even further, even though I knew it would be pretty blurry. And when I finished cropping it on the computer, I noticed that there was a human skeleton hanging from the back of a boat just behind that pelican, as seen in the photo on the right. It reminds me of the plot of the movie Blowup, which I have never seen but involves a photographer who thinks he has captured a murder on film. I'm not saying that the skeleton is a murder victim, although if it is a Halloween decoration, they are either extremely early putting it up or very late in taking it down. Perhaps Fort Pierce still is a little rough around the edges. And if you do happen to walk past that boat, try not to get on the wrong side of its owner, just in case.

Driving Past Mar-a-Lago On A Tuesday Afternoon

My sister Susan and I drove down to Palm Beach this past Tuesday afternoon to see what it is like during "The Season," and while we were there, drove past Mar-a-Lago, home of none other than Donald Trump. If Trump is in residence, the road in front of the estate is closed to the public, but since Trump was in Washington, busy Making America Great Again, I was able to drive past and take the photograph above. Unfortunately, Making America Great Again seems to involve destroying everyone's 401K, not to mention annoying the hell out of our neighbors to the north. I am not sure why Trump's own party does not step in and stop him from carrying out what everyone knows are crazy and destructive policies, but perhaps most of them are crazy, too. And I hate to say it, but since more than half of all voters voted for Trump, that means they are probably crazy, too. I personally believe the only hope we have is that the reality of a Trump presidency and its consequences for the country will finally wake these people up and force them to stop the madness before it is too late. Trump needs to be back home permanently at Mar-a-Lago, lording over his estate, not the country, hopefully under the care of a team of psychiatrists. I can dream, can't I?

My Father's Birthday...

Today is my father Nelson's birthday. If he were alive today, he would be 116 years old, making him one of the oldest - if not the oldest - person in the country. Sadly, he passed away back in 1983 at the age of 74, but was still able to have 7 years of retirement with my mother Mary down in Stuart, Florida. I took the photograph on the left of him making breakfast during one of my sister Susan and my visits to Stuart sometime in the late 1970s or early 80s. Dad hated being a dentist, but was finally able to retire to Stuart in 1976 and play golf every day, including with my Uncle Bill (my mother's brother), just like they did for 2 weeks each year when the families would vacation up in Canada. My Uncle Bill and Aunt Elsie moved to Stuart in 1972, and after visiting them a few years later, my parents decided to move to Stuart, too. A wise move indeed. And happily, Susan and I still have the condo, and lots of happy memories.

Sunset Bay Marina: Living The Good Life On The Water

Whenever my sister Susan and I go to the Sailor's Return's outdoor patio for a beer, located in the Sunset Bay Marina, I always admire the many yachts that are berthed there. Many of them appear to be live-aboard vessels. People can be seen walking their dogs, bringing back groceries from Publix or just hanging out on their boat decks. The marina is just a few blocks away from downtown Stuart, Florida, and so is a perfect location to live. This lifestyle does not come cheap, of course. However, if you want to save money, you can always moor your boat out on the river and take a dinghy back and forth when you need to be on the mainland.

Two very nice-looking cabin cruisers (or yachts - I can't actually tell) are tied up right in front of the Sailor's Return's patio, both of which are for sale. The Nautical Yacht Group is the listed agent, and I tried to find those boats on their website, without success. Not that I am in any position to buy one - I'm just curious about what they are selling for. One is the Avanti out of Boston, and the other is called the Scampo Al Mare out of Newport, Rhode Island, as seen in the photograph on the right. I even put those names and locations into that group's search engine, with no results. What I did get is a list of yachts for sale at prices that blew my mind. A number of them are located here in Stuart and priced in the millions of dollars. Others are actually priced from 80 to 100 million dollars, although you might have to fly over to Italy to pick them up. Hard to believe there so many people in the world who can afford prices like that. We are definitely living in a new gilded age, with the rich becoming super-rich, and more and more people just hanging on by their fingertips. And will Donald Trump, the great populist president and hero to the working class, fix this imbalance? Yeah, right. I am sure he will fix everything but good. And has already started.

Close, But No Cigar

I thought I would take in the 35th annual ArtFest by the Sea in Juno Beach, Florida yesterday afternoon. This show takes place on an oceanfront road and features 300 artists and craft artisans from 30 different states. It received a lot of press from the local television newscasts and looked like it would be fun to attend, even though I already attended the Under the Oaks Art Festival up in Vero Beach the previous day. I drove along Juno Beach's waterfront and parked in the beach parking lot as I approached the "road closed sign," which I assumed was where the festival started. However, when I got back to the road, I saw that the festival was actually blocks away. I have been battling what I think might be sciatica lately, and during this current episode, it hurts like hell to walk more than a short distance. And so, I decided to turn back once I reached the Juno Beach Pier, as seen in the photograph on the left.

In any case, since I already posted photographs of the Under the Oaks Art Festival on yesterday's blog, I reasoned the Juno Beach Pier would certainly be an acceptable substitute for today's blog post. I did not walk out onto the pier itself, however, not only because of my difficulty with walking, but also because they actually charge money to go out there. Talk about painful things. Therefore, I took a few photos of it from the entrance and hobbled back to the car, none the worse for wear. There is always next year for ArtFest, after all.

The 74th Annual UNDER THE OAKS Fine Arts And Crafts Show

I attended the annual UNDER THE OAKS Fine Arts and Crafts Show at Riverside Park in Vero Beach, Florida yesterday afternoon and really enjoyed it. This is a major art festival and features over 200 artists. It is considered one of the top 200 art show in the country. The emphasis is on fine art, and this festival very much reminds me of the Cherry Creek Arts Festival back in Denver. In fact, I noticed that Scanlon Windows to the World, a family of fine art photographers who specialize in photographs from around the world and have a booth at Cherry Creek every year, have a booth here, too.

There was not a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was a very pleasant 80 degrees, and so there were a lot of people walking around viewing the art. The setting for this show is very beautiful. Riverside Park is located along the Indian River and filled with moss-draped oak trees, which provide lots of shade for art patrons. I was expecting to have a hard time parking, but amazingly enough found a spot directly across from the entrance. Perhaps my parking karma is back. After visiting the festival, I headed to the beach, located just a short drive away. There are a number of beachfront restaurants and bars to visit off Beachland Boulevard, including the original Mulligans Beach House and Grill. And just to the north is an historic boardwalk lining a very popular and crowded beach. I did not see a single parking spot available there, and so perhaps my parking karma is simply just plain dumb luck. In any case, the UNDER THE OAKS Fine Arts and Crafts Show continues today from 10:00 to 4:00, so if you happen to be in the area, be sure to check it out.

The March Mutt Of The Month

I took the photograph above of the March Mutt of the Month while waiting for the light to change at the corner of Colorado and Buchtel Boulevards in Denver. That dog seemed especially interested in interacting with me, and so I quickly got my camera out and snapped a photo. I have no idea what kind of dog it is, but to me it looks like a hound dog (is that an actual breed?). And so now, thanks to taking that photo, I will have Elvis' song "You Ain't Nothing but a Hound Dog" going through my head for the rest of the day, if not for weeks. Nevertheless, thanks for posing for the portrait, guy.