DANGLES--

Lots
and
Lots
and
Lots 
of Dangles



Brian Boardman, a veteran square dancer from Lawrenceville, GA, shows a "small part" of his collection of dangles while enjoying the 2013 Florida Winter Festival, a state-level square dancing event held recently in Lakeland, near Tampa.

His collection caught my eye as one of the largest I had ever noticed.

Dangles are usually about an inch or less in size and given as souvenirs to folks dancing for the first time at a square dance club or event.  Sometimes they are awarded to folks for their first time dancing to an individual caller.

My lady Sue who has been dancing almost 30 years has a collection of dangles which commemorates nearly 30 years of "Octoberfest" dances alone, conducted by our home dance club, The Johnny Appleseed Squares in Mansfield, OH 

All of her collection are red and show the year of the dance.  They are displayed in three columns abreast and over a foot long which she usually wears at the following year's event.

Brian was surprised when I knew his town was in Gwinnett County GA.  I remembered that from long-ago visits with my late wife Carol's older brother Denny and family who lived there.

Small world.

Speaking of a small world; at this weekend event Sue and I were traveling with Mike Friedman and Linda Adkins dancing friends of ours from the Delaware, OH area who are visiting in Vero Beach.  Also at this event we were pleased to encounter Al and Bonnie Putnam from Galion, OH who winter just a bit south of Vero Beach and former Appleseeds Cris and Barb Harding from Ashland, OH who winter south of Tampa.

And, we had just danced a week or so ago in Vero Beach and Fort Pierce, FL with Ashland friends Bernie and Frank Phillips who were passing through the area on a short visit.

And, at one of those dancing events we helped celebrate Al Putnam's first-ever calling of a square dance.

Small world indeed.

AN EARTHCACHE CALLED GIBSON'S FOLLY--

Earthcaches are my favorite form of geocache.  There is no little container out there waiting to be found.  Rather these caches are designed to highlight some interesting geological or historical feature for example.

In this case, Mr. Gibson's folly comes to us from Sebastian, FL.  Back in 1885 Capt. David Gibson organized a team of volunteers to dig an inlet through the barrier surf to allow ships to get to the growing villages of Sebastian and Malabar.

The work was a success, but--a few months later the canal was slammed shut by what we now know as a category III hurricane.

Today's version has a modern steel and rock seawall protecting both the north and south side of the inlet, the north one curved nicely to divert the ever moving, sand-laden ocean currents from filling the navigable channel.

In the top photo you can see plainly the fairly smooth canal water at ebb (outgoing) tide boiling as it collides with the open ocean which, itself, is fairly smooth in the distance.  In the smaller photo below, a slow shutter speed helps reflect the velocity of the outgoing tidal water as it sluices past a bridge abutment.

In an Earthcache the person who creates the cache usually posts a small series of questions designed to help participants learn about the cache features and, with their correct answers, prove they actually visited the cache location.

In this case there were questions about tidal flow, cause and effect.  Measurements also were required on the beach of a swimming cove to see how our results compared to other geocachers.

We also were asked to provide other interesting photos which reflect critters we might have encountered for example.

The one to the left shows an aquatic worm, exposed by the low tide on the beach, busily doing some home construction.  Below it is a photo of interesting sand geometry created by the outflowing water of the ebb tide.

The bottom photo shows some seabirds flushing from their lunch table as we slid by only to circle, land and resume their lunch behind us--again part of life's cycle influenced by tidal action.

The only thing we revealed in our log posting for this cache was the distance we measured of the size of the swimming beach.  Other questions were answered directly to the cache creator via email.

Based on our on-line log, our emailed answers and our photos the cache owner then chooses whether or not our effort is worthy of being awarded a little smiley face--acknowledging the legitimacy of our claim and adding one more official "cache found" to our growing, personal history of success in this delightful activity.

As of January 24th our count of caches "found" was 510.

By the time of this story being published our cache count has grown to 570 including a "Smiley" for this earth cache.

SNOWBIRDING POTPOURRI--

"No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem."  That's my kind'a place!  ...Archies, across from the beach, Ft. Pierce, FL where Sue is enjoying some casual--very casual--dining with friends Mary, Dee and Dick.  We had just finished one of our regular visits to the classy, weekly arts and craft show on the waterfront in downtown Ft. Pierce and while meandering back to our wheels we stopped to watch...

...this manatee and three or four of his or her friends frolic in the city marina's boat basin.  Locals tell us gobs of lettuce often fall overboard much to the delight of this crowd of loveable sea creatures.  The one visible by the piling seemed to be savoring the warm sunlight on his or her back--which is about all you see of them other than two nostrils and a bulbous nose when they take a sniff of air or that huge, round and flat tail when they put the propulsion in gear.

Ladyfriend Sue (center) is enjoying a display at the nautical museum of the Sebastian Inlet State Park where recently we accomplished an Earthcache; one of my favorite segments of the delightful hobby of geocaching.  Please stop by Saturday and we will tell you all about that latest adventure.

THE RON JON SURF SHOP--

Located in Cocoa Beach, Florida, they bill themselves as the World's Most Famous and that becomes believable when you begin seeing their billboards almost continuously along I-95 on the way to the sunny south.

That store, the "flagship" of their retailing outlets, is 52,000 square feet, in its own class of whimsical, Disneyland architecture, filled floor to ceiling with everything for the beach lifestyle.

It's open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The company started on the New Jersey shore when Ron DiMenna discovered his passion for surfboarding.  When his father heard Ron wanted to buy a new sufrboard from California he advised, "Buy three, sell two at a profit and yours will be free."

Turns out dad was right and the retail surfing empire was born.  He opened his first shop there in 1961 then headed to Cocoa Beach, FL two years later.

The original store continues in operation in nautical-sounding, Ship Bottom, NJ.  There are a pair of stores in Myrtle Beach, SC and another half dozen or so sprinkled around FL from Panama City to Key West.

While my Syracuse friend Dick Weeks and I are hardly part of the beach culture and our chicks didn't spend a lot of time in the string bikini department, I did leave with a spare, shark's tooth necklace and a visor emblazoned with the surf shop logo.

I have no idea what the girls purchased.  And didn't ask.

Life is good.

A HUGE GEOCACHE--

The Space Coast Geocaching Store, Merrit Island, FL is home to Florida's favorite geocache.  It has been gifted 327 "Favorite" awards by cachers.  That's Sue signing the cache's log book with its pen; also suitably scaled.

The cache fronts the store which is small in size but loaded with goodies sufficient to keep any geocacher stocked with material and supplies for his or her favorite hobby. 

Proprietors Dale and Barb were on hand and ready with friendly smiles and good advice to many cachers who stopped by during our recent visit.  Click here! for their web site.

If you are headed that way the cache is here:  N 28 21.316 / W 080 41.835.

It's Geocaching.com alias is GC15RQB and its common name is A Cool Cache.

That it is!

The Imaginative Creations of

World-renowned Flamework Glass Artist

Hans Godo Frabel...

presented by The McKee Botanical Garden,Vero Beach, Florida

...and the Bamboo Pavilion at night

Photos, tw

 

GEOCACHE #500

WooooHoooo!

 

This milestone in my geocaching career happened Jan. 21st in Vero Beach, FL.  The cache name was Australia.  We were curious about that name until we noticed, in the fenced field to my left, lots of horses and--an ostrich, or more likely an emu which is the largest bird native to Australia.

Should have looked closer to see if there was a kangaroo or two loitering within the herd of horses.

 

The cache, to which I am expressing my appreciation above, was a small tube attached to a stiff wire; both covered in camouflaged tape.  It was hiding in a crevasse in the trunk of the little palm tree behind me and was concealed by scraps of the tree's woodsy debris.

 

Our Garmin Oregon 450 GPS is in my left hand along with a very handy Mini-Maglite flashlight.  We use the car GPS to find our way from cache to cache then zero in on its specific location with the hand-held model.  The flashlight is a big help in illuminating the often dark hidey-holes cachers seem to enjoy using.

 

Saturday we take a brief break from geocaching stories to bring you a nice photo display of glass art at the McKee Botanical Garden in Vero Beach.  We hope you stop by and take a peek.