Hot Art

The second Saturday evening each month in St. Petersburg the city holds the Artwalk.  Forty studios around town open up for 4 hours to visitors to view, experience, and buy their art. The city has a free bus service that covers the disbursed group of studios. I quickly realized that there was no way all of these could be visited in one or two visits. So the Turk and I focused on one area so we could check out the experience.

all handblown glass

First, it was hot. Not warm. Not balmy. Just hot. So that trolley came in handy. And the heat became an issue when we visited the Duncan McClellan Glass  studio where we could watch them make glass, in a hot oven, in the hot evening air.! But they had amazing pieces there from many different artists.

a heat source, in addition to the sun

examples of some of the amazing glass at this gallery

Of course the Turk was more fascinated by the garden around this studio compound. This is because there were huge mango trees with the largest mangos he's evern seen.

extremely large mangos EVERYWHERE

beautiful glass art in the gardens

 And I was fascinated with the succulent wall in the patio area.

why cant my succulents look like this?!

We headed over to the Morean Arts Center located in an old train station. There were many artists located here and we saw mostly different styles of pottery work. Outside of the station was an large area where a number of kilns are located. One of them was HUGE!

Not an ancient ruin. This is a huge kiln.

And of course I found pigs!  I like the sense of whimsy of this artist. 

Pigs with instructions

Overall we enjoyed the experience and will do it again, when it gets a bit cooler. We discovered areas of St. Pete we didnt know about. I saw so many little restaurants to try that I dont have enough St. Pete days to try them all. And there are so many breweries!  We'll be back.

Sails, Snorkles, Sunshine and RUM

BVI sunset

sailing!!!

Julie and Chris - the organizers and captains!

The Turk and I were invited to join the sailors this year on their BVI trip. Of course we jumped at the chance. This time we were a big group of 13, with two boats - a catamaran and a mono-hull. All but 4 of us were relatives of Julie and Chris, the organizers. Old friend Karen and her daughter Danielle, me and the Turk rounded out the guests.

The conch knows ALL!

our spacious cabin

Good Morning!

Highlights of the trip?  Danielle and I jumped in the water with a dolphin who played with us for almost an hour. It was an amazing experience that reminded me how intelligent these mammals are.  We also got to see giant sea turtles at most of our stops. They look scarier when you are swimming and pop your head up to take a breath and see a reptilian face looking at you.

one of our turtle friends

getting ready to hook up to a mooring for the night

the mainsail is not easy to maneuver on this French catamaran

the Turk takes his duties seriously

The Turk was helping...but the fuel backed up all over the deck. It was a mess!

At night, everyone came onboard the catamaran for dinner. Lots of people, some strong and expressive personalities, and much laughter.

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Of course there is the sailing and island hopping and snorkeling, and even hiking at the Baths. Each island has its own personality and its own reason for a visit...typically oriented around a bar.

the monohull guys are racing us...and winning

 

Of course there is the sailing and island hopping, and snorkeling, and hiking at the Baths. In the BVIs you never sail alone, even in the off season of the summer! We saw some interesting boats and wondered about their stories.

In the morning, everyone is on their way out to another island

beautiful!

a shower! on the dock.

flat Anegada Island

fun colors in BVI

winding roads

The Turk practiced his 'yoga'

No Idea what this means, but it is one of the lines at Customs coming into BVIs

How About 60 For A Number!

Birthdays are a great time to reflect on the journey past and the journey to come.  60 is a number that means different things to each one of us. For me and the Turk, it means that we move on to our next phase.  Jobs are not our focus. Self discovery and fulfillment ARE.  We kicked the year off with our Italy/Greece/Turkey vacation over the summer and then started planning our joint birthday celebration - in April because the weather is good.

 I was thinking that our friends all come together for big events, like weddings and funerals. I dont see any weddings on the horizon and I certainly dont want to wait for any funerals. So we asked our friends to come together for this celebration - which is really a celebration of FRIENDS!

Planning was extensive with logistics and coordination of schedules.

Dollar Store birthday wine glasses!

amazing appetizers

Hog fish was the favorite

Tulin flew in from Seattle to help us out and join the fun.

 High school was represented with Janet (Jake) coming in from Arizona.

Farkles were almost all in attendance with Jackie coming in from San Francisco. Joanne was traveling in her Airstream out west.

Becky, Pam, Jackie

Orlando days had Karen from Maryland to remind me of all of our adventures through the years.

Deloitters were in the house with Dave and Judy from Atlanta and Jessica and Kenny from Sarasota.

pre party activities

Kenny is welcomed by cousin Jan

Client SAP even had good friend Michelle in from Vancouver to get some well deserved Florida sun and sand.

Florida travelers included Marco and Katrinka, and Sandy and Scott from Brevard County.

Marco and Katrinka

Arthur, Scott and Sandy

The parental units came in from Lakeland.

 Susan and Jim drove in from Valdosta GA when they heard 'party'!

Our local peeps showed up with their party shoes.

Ted and Jim giving the Turk shots!

Tom and Diane

Hugs from Ted

Jan, Camille, Jess

Diane and Laurie catch up

Tules sees Camille and Glenn

Pam and Arif!

We pulled together all of us who graduated from FTU, now UCF. Quite an alumni group!

Jackie, Becky, Jess, Jake, Pam

It was so much fun to get people together who have heard 'the stories' about each other, but have never met.  It got confusing after a while trying to remember who needed introductions. From our viewpoint, they should all know one another!


The cake was cute - though not tasty. It was decorated with objects that represented the Turk's and my hobbies: kayaking, wine drinking, hiking, traveling, beer, fishing, BBQing, vegetable gardening.

By the end of the evening, we were quite relaxed!

Tulin wears the table centerpieces

And the party continued to brunch on Sunday!  But at the end of four days of entertaining, cooking, eating, drinking, the Turk was POOPED.

The end!