The first Elton John melody I heard was "Your Song." That was my first year in high school, in late 1970 or early 1971. The song's opening keyboard riff came over the car radio as my sister drove us to our aunt's house west of Pensacola. I was gripped by the newness of its sound, … Continue reading The Sound Track of My High School & College Years
One of the most unusual types of plants Jim and I saw yesterday at Bok Tower Gardens was the tropical carnivorous plant called Nepenthes. Several were hanging in pots in the garden shop at the visitors center. And a large metal sculpture of one was located on a small island in the tropical lily pond near the … Continue reading Nepenthes & Other Flesh-Eating Plants
The children's garden at Bok Tower is a fanciful place. In one of its play sites a giant stone replica of a Florida indigo snake coils around a children's sand box. In another, huge stone acorns lie scattered on the ground under real live oaks that shade several play stations. Instead of monkey bars, a … Continue reading Children’s Garden at Bok Tower
At its start, Bok Tower might have become just another 1930s Florida roadside attraction in Depression-era America. But it quickly became so much more than the other tourist stops nearby. No, it would not be like the pyramids of athletic youth on water skis waving from a lake or the squawky parrots in a make-believe … Continue reading Bok Tower Gardens
Today's front page of the Tallahassee newspaper took my breath away. It made me think about Florida's last statewide election recount 18 years ago when its botched presidential race led to the series of legal cases known to history as Bush v. Gore. So I pulled out some photos from the Florida Supreme Court archives. … Continue reading Florida Recount 2018
When I was a child in the South, places like Jefferson Davis' retirement home Beauvoir in Biloxi were everywhere. Only a few remain today. -- Shrines to the Lost Cause. Monuments to the Confederacy. Centers that explained why our people lost the Civil War and with it, the entire basis of our regional economy for … Continue reading A Monument to Denial
The Catholic Monastery of the Holy Spirit is a Trappist religious community in Conyers, Georgia, founded in 1944. It was an offshoot of another monastery in Kentucky. The brothers who first came here faced hostility from local farmers unaccustomed to the centuries old traditions of Catholic asceticism. Religious men farming the red clay wearing white … Continue reading A Monastery in Georgia
The Longest Table, October 14, 2018 I love this photograph. It shows the "Longest Table," an occasional event when Tallahassee comes together as a community to break bread and give thanks. The City decided to hold one yesterday after the stress and strains of Hurricane Michael last week. The long table set out for a … Continue reading The Longest Table
All but the last three hurricane shutters are closed on my house now. The weather is still calm but overcast here in Tallahassee. It looks as if a lot of my neighbors have left, including one with a front yard full of Halloween decorations. Trick or treat!
Sometimes songs from decades ago capture memories of past events better than anything else. -- Even when the lyrics have little connection with what actually happened at the time. For me, the most memorable was Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I first heard this song at one of the most pivotal … Continue reading The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Robert Craig Waters 