We stopped at Tomoka State Park near Ormond Beach. This park has a very interesting history. Learn more here. Here are some photos.

From Sanford we swung over to one of the biggest arts and crafts show in the Southeast, ‘Fiesta in the Park’ in Orlando at Lake Eola. I helped with the mad rush of artisans turning in cash and checking out. I had to put on my mathematical hat and make sure I put the right envelopes and cash in the right places. Sandra parked the car and made her way to where I was and did her best stay out of the way as the show was closing all around her.

Nell Atkins is the leader and primary organizer of the entire event and has been for many, many years. She is incredible. No bureaucratic nightmares. No stifling egos. She handles this gigantic effort with grace and sure-sightedness. Way too many events are handled more and more by the immature control freak mentality. Especially by younger folks. Event organizers would do themselves well by observing Nell’s ability to pulloff a world-class event.

Nell brought out the piece that got the Best-Of-Show Award. The title is ‘Gnome Home’. It’s made of camphor and has an unbelievable amount of drawers carved into it. One drawer opens to 4 that opens to 2 that… Well, you get the idea. Gary Smith, of Melbourne, is the sculptor. He said it took him FOUR YEARS to carve. That’s patience. IF I don’t get a piece of art finished in 15 MINUTES I get antsy! The drawing above is of the ‘Gnome Home’.

Sunday morning we were in Sanford and joined quite a crowd on the Rivership Romance to celebrate friend TexAnn Ivy Buck’s birthday! We were all gathered at various tables and Sandra and I found ourselves seated with Grace Chewning, former-Mayor Carl Langford, his son Tom and his wife, Pam. With the exception of Sandra, we are all former Orlando City Hall employees. We had a great time talking about “Silly Hall”, as Grace aptly refers to it.

Grace is the most amazing person I know to remember names and stories! She just remembers everything!

During the cruise in the St. Johns River, I sketched various scenes we went by. Here are two of those.

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After the cruise we quickly poked around Downtown Sanford so Sandra could update one of her guidebooks. In an art gallery we found old friend Pam Treadwell helping out. We got a chance to catch up with the always nutty-cool-dude happenin’s of the Treadwell domicile.

We joined a group hiking across the state, from the Atlantic to the Gulf. Specifically there are 4 taking the trip. The rest of us were just cheering the quartet on. The reason: All four are over 80. Check out Sandra’s site for more info. by clicking here.

It was Marshall Swamp that Sandra and I joined the group. Along the hike I sketched the drawing above from a boardwalk over precious water in the swamp. The image is of a tree that broke near the trunk, spun around and fell into the water. The large piece sticking up is part of the massive root system that is above and below the water. To the left is a small tree growing from the tree trunk’s center.

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After the hike we spun over to ‘The Stage Stop’ restaurant for a late breakfast on Silver Springs Boulevard in Ocala. The restaurant was of the many western themed commercial businesses in the area of the once great tourist attraction, ‘Six-Gun Territory’. ‘Six Gun’ was less than a mile away where folks could experience the “Wild West” with gunfights, dancing girls and train rides. The attraction has been shuttered and demolished for thirty years but is fondly remembered and many of the namesakes still exist.

The drawing is of a saddle that hangs up in the corner of the restaurant.

‘Gator Creek’ by Carol Overstreet tells of the well-known Overstreet name, the people who have carried it and of the reason we should hold them in such high esteem.

The book tells the story of the Overstreet family from the 1800s to present. The Overstreet family have been major cattlemen for generations and have had major landholdings all across Central Florida.

It was odd for me to go from one book focussing on the life of Charlie Wall, gangster and all around bad egg, to Charlie Overstreet, just the opposite. Oddly their parents were very similar. It was very much like looking at what might have happened to one person depending on the direction they took.

Unfortunately, this book is going to be tough to find. Though, I do urge you to see if your library has it if you live in Florida. Mrs. Overstreet could’ve used an editor and there are too many loose ends. I admit the book is frustrating in that way. However, it is a great tale – Very uplifting – of people and their practical and realistic approach to the ups and downs of life. I wish children were made to read this to read what hard work is all about.

Another personal aside: My friend Susie Noell let me borrow this book to read ( I can’t find it) and is featured in the book. She was a connecting force that brought the Overstreet family together again after an accident that then only made them stronger.

After returning to land from the island lunch we headed over to Homosassa Springs State Park. Sandra had frequented the park often through her life. She has seen it as a tourist attraction and, after the state bought it, as a state park. This was my first visit inside the park. Lots of animals everywhere. Even the hippo Sandra had fed lettuse to as a young girl was still there. The hippo’s name today is Luce. The name is not honoring the creator of Time magazine, it’s a shorter version of his original name, Lucifer.

We went into the underground viewing area of the river and saw mostly snook and a few other fish. We were surprised by the giant figure that filled the plexiglass window. A mantee rounded the viewing area twice. It was a quiet day at Homosassa Springs and Sandra and I had the underwater area pretty much to ourselves. The drawing above is of one of the snooks.

Our lunch for this day of the Florida Outdoor Writers Association was from a restaurant that is only accessible by boat. We were part of a group that were taken over by pontoon boat to the island. There we had bar-b-q outdoors and a lot of heat. I guess I’m too cooped up in the art studio and the coffee shop and the heat was really getting to me…and there was more to come!

We were at the annual Florida Outdoor Writers Association meeting in Homosassa Springs. We started off with an outdoor steak dinner. It also started the toughest part of the event: The Heat! Gosh, it was hot. But there was more heat to come.

The event was held at the Riverfront Resort. Sandra and her family started staying at it more than 35 years ago when visiting Florida.

‘Hurricane Punch’ is Tim Dorsey’s 9th novel about his comdeic serial killer anti-hero. The more you know about our great state of Florida, the funnier the books are. This has some great scenes. Covering everywhere from Everglades City to Bok Tower in which the state is understtack by innumerous hurricanes.

We were out in Big Cypress again for the annual Clyde Butcher Muck-A-Bout! I assisted Sandra with a few swamp walks over the three days. as always: IT WAS GREAT! If you haven’t gone and would like to next year, e-mail me and I’ll give you more info. Or click here in the spring of next year. Click here to see a bit of someone’s swamp walk posted at the YouTube site.

This is an actual sketch made in the swamp. The digital color I added later.

I was in Fort Pierce Inlet State Park for most of the day. This is one of three large parks along the coast in Fort Pierce.

This is a drawing of a cluster of sabal palms in the picnic area.