“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while you could miss it.”
-Ferris Bueller in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”
“LIFE MOVES PRETTY FAST”
Author: carpediemcaye
I am a married mother of one teenage girl, a vegetarian, and love to travel. Among my travel bucket list items are to visit all 50 states in the USA, to go to Egypt and the Holy Lands, Antarctica, and to go to Greece. I have been to Germany, Greenland, Canada, Mexico, Tahiti, Bora Bora, Italy, England, Scotland, Holland, France, Bermuda, the Carribean, the Bahamas, Hawaii, the Arctic Circle and have traveled by RV across the country in the US. I also love to raise butterflies.
FINDING “THE GREAT PUMPKIN” IN DUNNELLON, FLORIDA
Autumn in Florida is really so much different from my childhood in New England. Bound and determined to pick a pumpkin here in Florida off the vine instead of one piled upon pallets of wood at some make-shift “pumpkin patch”, I reckoned there must be SOME place to do just that here in Florida. After searching through the internet for a few days, I found a farm that grows its own pumpkins here in Florida. I thought it might be too good to be true, but we set off on a road trip to the Pickin’ Patch recently in Dunnellon, near the Ocala Drive-In and Rainbow Springs. As a gardener from the northeastern part of the United States, I knew that pumpkins don’t typically grow well here in Florida because they need a cool, dry climate to thrive. Florida, with its wet and hot climate, is not even close to the ideal place for growing pumpkins.
As soon as we arrived at the Pickin’ Patch in Dunnellon we knew it was worth the almost two and a half hour trip. This place is first rate and well kept. It is the epitome of a good ol’ fashioned family farm, complete with good ol’ fashioned fun for a day. There is a different bluegrass band playing under a shady tent for some foot -stompin’ music to set the tone.
There are fields of white pumpkins, blue pumpkins, pink (ish) pumpkins, and traditional orange pumpkins. There are many opportunities for photo ops, too.
Upon entry to the farm, we encountered an area with bales of hay along with fall-inspired decorations for multiple photo ops, along with a concession stand (with a BIG jug of hand sanitizer). There is a five dollar admission fee to go into the pumpkin patch and corn maize, and it was well worth it. The employee who guided us to the entrance used riddle-filled sentences to greet us and explain where to go and what to do. Pumpkin prices are good and not exorbitant prices like you find at some pumpkin patches.
The family that runs this place is not shy about giving glory to God for the miracle of the pumpkins that grow there in Florida. Each season, they select a Bible verse that captures their sentiments about the bounty of the season, and these Bible verses line one of the walkways into the patch.
There is a gourd tunnel right in front of the corn maze that invites visitors to write a thought, prayer, or sentiment on a piece of paper to hang from a gourd.
The family that owns the farm and its employees are welcoming to all but don’t throw religion into your face. No one spoke about religion there to us, but the family’s dedication to God was evident throughout. I admire this family at a time where one’s personal, political, and religious beliefs are so negatively targeted in our current society. Each pumpkin is quietly tagged with a Bible verse, too, to inspire hope and peace at a tough time during the pandemic.
While walking out of the farm, I noticed a person who appeared to be in charge. I stopped her and told her how much I admired her dedication to God and her religion, along with her gutsy displays of glory to God. Her name was Sarah Thomas, and she was so very warm and friendly. I admire her hard work and her humility as well.
While walking in the pumpkin fields, it brought me along a stroll down memory lane, too, as I couldn’t help but think of our late grandmother who used squash flowers to fry up in the frying pan whenever they were available as a snack from time to time.
The Pickin’ Patch is open on Fridays from 3-7, Saturdays from 10-7, and Sundays from from 12-7 and is well worth the trip.
https://dunnellonpumpkinpatch.com/
While we may not have found the “The Great Pumpkin” at the Pickin’ Patch, we found many GREAT pumpkins there!
Life is good; carpe diem, friends……….
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A NIGHT OF NOSTALGIA AT THE OCALA DRIVE-IN
We enjoy going to the movies but not during this pandemic. We’re just not there yet, so we decided to take a long drive to go to the Ocala Drive-In in Ocala, Florida. It seemed like a good idea, as we could socially distance from the car or from our chairs in front of the car. There are two screens there, and three of the screens played first-run movies (“Tenet”, “Spontaneous”, and “The Last Shift”). We opted for the Halloween classic “Hocus Pocus” with Bette Middler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker.
The movie start times varies according to the time it gets dark, so be sure to check the movie start time seasonally. When we visited on October 3, the movie started at 7:45 PM, and the gate opened at 7:00 PM. I highly recommend getting there early, as close to opening as possible to get a good parking spot, as the drive-in appeared to be nearly sold out by the time the show started. The price is six dollars per adult and three dollars for children from six to twelve. Children under five are free.
The man at the gate entrance was very pleasant and gave us brownie “Z-Bars” with our receipt, which was a welcome surprise. I am a big fan of the “small good thing” one receives unexpectedly. When I voiced my surprise and thanked the gate keeper, he gave me a warm and genuine smile in return.
We have been to a few drive- in theaters in Florida in the last ten years or so, and a few are in less than desirable neighborhoods and looked a little worse for the wear. Ocala Drive-In, however, is in a pleasant and safe neighborhood and has been kept up well. The rest rooms have been updated a bit, very clean, and the owners take pride enough in their drive-in to place a decorative item on the vanity in the women’s rest room. I was happy to see the door to the restrooms propped open to allow adequate exchange of air during this pandemic, too.
The concession stand delivers food to your car if you want, but there are newer patio chairs and tables for those that wish to eat at the concession stand.
During the height of the pandemic, cars were parked in every other spot to allow for maximum social distancing, and at the time of our visit, only a few blocked spots remained for social distance. However, cars appeared to be parked four or five feet away, and the distance from driver of one car to passenger of the adjacent car appeared to be well over six feet.
I appreciated the proprietor’s request to stand when the National Anthem was played on the screen and had forgotten this happened before every movie I saw as a child in the drive-in. I also was pleasantly surprised to see a black and white Popeye clip play just before the movie, along with a kitschy concession advertisement like those I remember advertising the “hot buttered popcorn” at the concession stand from my childhood.
The quality of the movie, even though it was old, was great. The sound coming through the FM radio of our car was equally great. Patrons were all well-behaved, and we viewed no sketchy characters there.
All in all, it was a great outing to the Ocala Drive-In, and we will definitely go again. I highly recommend this particular Drive-In, too, as the attention to detail the owners provide for this old but in good condition theater shows.
Life is good; find a way to do something different today. Carpe diem, friends…………..
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THE MAGIC AT MEAD BOTANICAL GARDENS IN WINTER PARK, FLORIDA
There is a little secret I can share about Mead Botanical Gardens in Winter Park, Florida. This 47.6 acre park is an oasis in the midst of a city and is home to lots and lot of butterflies. The real secret, though, is that if you lift up a Dutchman’s pipevine plant leaf you are likely to see LOTS of polydamas caterpillars congregating together.
These polydamas swallowtail butterflies lay lots of unfertilized eggs in clusters, as Darwin’s survival of the fittest takes over. Even though these caterpillars can be cannibalistic, they stay together in groups while they grow for some reason. It defies logic to me, as I would want to get as far away from the other caterpillars if I were in close proximity to other cannibalistic caterpillars. However, maybe they do this because there is strength in numbers, and any one caterpillar is less likely to meet its demise from a predator if they group together..
There are many trails at Mead that provide a brief respite from the world, a certain intermission from the pandemic.
I have so many happy memories of Mead Botanic Garden from this past spring while we socially isolated from others and I first discovered this wonderland. The place is wide open and beautiful, and one can stay away from others if one sees fit. If one is lonely during the pandemic, there are multiple picnic tables that have a sign that invites folks to chat.
The park is open daily generally from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM. There is so much to explore here, and all free of charge.
If you are looking for something to do on “date night”, Mead Botanical Garden is a great venue for the company “Our Dream Date” from Orlando that offers “date night” packages there with a picnic. This is perfect for a special birthday, proposal, anniversary, or special date.
https://ourdreamdate.com/orlando#cdf1ac8a-ef58-4fa4-8f3c-87e8a6cb5f22
Life is good; find a way to capture some magic today or defy logic, especially at Mead Garden if you are in Florida.
Carpe diem, friends…………………….
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A CELEBRATION OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT IN ENTERPRISE, ALABAMA
A few weeks back, I ventured to Enterprise, Alabama and saw for myself a profound celebration of the human spirit. It seems that Enterprise, near Fort Rucker Military Base, has a love relationship with the boll weevil, a beetle that feeds on cotton buds and cotton flowers. As the story goes, it also seems that many years ago Enterprise depended on cotton crops for their economy. Cotton was grown successfully until somewhere around 1915 when the boll weevil first appeared in the town. This boll weevil devastated the cotton crops and put a damper on the economy for quite a while.
But, because sometimes adversity is a catalyst for change, the people of Enterprise decided to try their hand at peanut farming in response to this crop devastation. Diversification of crops from cotton to peanuts lead to greater economic prosperity to the area, and in 1919 the people of the town erected a thirteen foot statue of a woman holding up a trophy with a boll weevil on top of it over her head in deference and in celebration to the creature that almost ruined the town’s economy.
The trophy confirms that the town had won the battle against this pest, and the pest was something for which to be thankful. The statue is a celebration of the human spirit and its triumph in times of adversity.
Throughout the town today, there are constant reminders of the boll weevil’s importance to the town. In fact, there are many whimsical statues of the boll weevil in front of various businesses.
As the story goes, peanuts became very important to the town from thereafter, and there are reminders of the importance of peanuts throughout the town and adjacent areas.
The can-do spirit of this tiny little town, this work-the-problem-to-find-a-solution mentality is inspiring today, one hundred years later.
Life is good; find a “work around” to whatever problem you encounter today and any other day; find a way. You CAN do it with the same mentality of those spirited and courageous folks in Enterprise, Alabama a century ago.
Life is good; carpe diem, friends……..
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OF AUTUMN
“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
― Albert Camus
Life is good; carpe diem, friends……..
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LIFE IS LIKE A CAR WASH
An anecdote from not too long ago to share:
My daughter and I went into a drive through carwash not too long ago, as I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time yet to clean the house this week, never mind my car, and decided it would be a quick little thing to check off my list. We pulled into the car wash and stopped on the designated area, indicated by the red “stop” sign. After all, I’m a rule follower. After a minute or so, the “arm” of the carwash collapsed onto the side of my car and got “stuck” against my car after we heard the loud bang it made against the car, not moving for a minute or so, or at least for what appeared to be an eternity. My daughter and I looked at each other and immediately burst out laughing. The arm of the carwash retracted, went back to the “starting position”, and the car wash stopped with soap ALL OVER my car. We could barely see out the windshield. We immediately laughed a little harder. I decided to drive through the car wash slowly to check my car, then decided it likely would be a good idea to go inside to speak to the clerk. She came out, re-set the car wash, and the car wash worked fine the second time. It was, just “one of those things….”
After we stopped laughing, I immediately realized the parallels to life. Life is truly like driving into an unknown car wash like this at times. We do what is expected and what we need to do, yet we have no control over what happens while inside that car wash. We even pay money to help sway the odds in our favor that the outcome in that car wash is what we expect for that moment. However, every now and again in life something happens, and we don’t get the car wash we expected, or planned on, or needed, etc…It is clear to me that life with all its uncertainties happens as it will, and we most often don’t have any control over the outcome. We do, however, have control over our choices about what to do about it. That is, what we do about that car wash IS well within our control. If we explore our options, we see that we can cry, we can get angry, we can become paralyzed with indecision about what we must do, OR……..we can choose laughter. Laughter truly is the “best medicine”. I chose laughter whenever I can, although at times one has to look hard to find it.
I am happy to report that my car no longer has soap on it, it was not dented, AND we had a GOOD laugh over the whole thing. Someone very dear to me once told me, it is the “end of the story” that really matters, but certainly the middle of the story is where the fun is sometimes. After all, life is far too important to be taken so seriously.
Life is good; choose laughter every time you can. Carpe diem, friends………
photo/dreamstime
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OF TULIPS
Growing up in New England, I have a strong fondness for tulips. I remember looking out my bedroom window each and every day in the spring when I was a little girl with anticipation while I watched the tulips below my bedroom window with my Mother. Watching and waiting. Watching and waiting. Watching and waiting for that exciting day when the tulip transcended from popping up from the cold spring ground to achieve a brilliant bloom sometime later. My Mother inspired joy and so did the flowers.
The fall reminds me of countless hours throughout my lifespan selecting and planting tulips in the yard. There was something about the deferred gratification of planting something in the fall that would bloom many months later in the spring that appealed to me. Looking for and finding the “perfect” tulip bulb in the garden center brings back such fond memories. Some years it was a parrot tulip. Some years it was a black tulip. Some years it was a bright and bold tulip color, yet other years it was a soft pastel color or two to blend harmoniously together. Thinking of those days puts a smile on my face and a song in my heart today as I remember sharing those beautiful days with my husband when life was a little simpler.
One of the things I love about tulips is how they grow, arching toward the light even after they have been cut and placed in a vase. Watching them stretch toward the goodness and warmth of the light always fascinated me, and if I close my eyes I can see them right now in my mind. A beautiful memory soothes the soul and provides peace somehow in a chaotic world of pandemic.
Life is good; look for a memory to make you smile today. Look for a way to stretch yourself toward the goodness and light just like the tulips if you can. Enjoy the magic; enjoy the moments. Enjoy all the moments.
Happy Fall Y’all. Carpe diem, friends……….
photos/dreamstime
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OF PERCEPTION AND PERSPECTIVE
“What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.”
― C.S. Lewis, “The Magician’s Nephew”
Life is good; recognize today that you see things differently than others and embrace your perspective today along with the perspective of those around you. Sometimes it seems as though we live in a “house of mirrors” where life can look so very different from different angles .
Carpe diem, friends………….
photos/Dreamstime
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THE CIRCLE OF LIFE AT SILVER SPRINGS
I know kayaking is all the rage, and I do like a good kayak trip. Sitting “IN” the water has its allure, but there is something about being in a canoe that I like so much better. Perhaps the canoe brings to my mind days of long ago when our ancestors hollowed out a tree to make something they could use in the water to get from place to place. Perhaps it is the hard work and ingenuity of those same people that I admire. Maybe it’s because paddling a canoe can be quiet and peaceful while it glides sleekly ON the water. Maybe it’s because using just one paddle to move the canoe around takes a certain degree of skill, and maybe it’s because using a double paddle on a kayak somehow feels a bit awkward. I’m not sure WHY I like a canoe better; I just do.
This week end we went paddling at Silver Springs State Park in Florida, where numerous movies were filmed. This place was THE theme park where Floridians flocked in days before Disney. This is “old Florida” at its best. Of all the springs I’ve traveled to, Silver Springs is my favorite because of the allure of the possibility of seeing wild monkeys, because of the beautiful butterflies flying about, because of the crystal turquoise waters, and because of the large blue fish found in the waters.
We started our canoe journey at the Fort King Paddling trail, a partially shaded narrow waterway flanked with beautiful foliage that looks like a jungle and is 1.1 miles long. This is an easy paddle, allowing one to stop, look, and listen, along the way. I love pulling over to the side of the waterway to close my eyes so I can hear the birds in the distance. Along the journey, old abandoned buildings that used to be part of the theme park on the site in previous days are dotted along the shore. Upon exiting the Fort King Paddling Trail, we entered the Silver River for an easy upstream paddle for a while in more open waters in the direct sun. Paddling by the hundred year old glass bottomed boats still in operation at the park gives a sense of continuity and connection to the past while peering into the depths of the water at some point where there are a few underwater sculptures (and site of the filming of a movie scene in the movie “Thunderball”).
After leaving the Silver River, we paddled again through a more narrow waterway like at the beginning, shady and flanked by beautiful foliage on either side and then under a bridge. The trip brought us in a circle to where we started.
I can’t help but draw a parallel of this circular loop canoe course to life in my mind while paddling quietly through the waters where Native Americans paddled before me. The shaded narrow waterway at the beginning of our journey reminds me of the protected years of our youth, where the “paddling” is easy. After the narrow waterway, when we entered the Silver River in full sun, I am reminded of our adulthood when we are out in a larger environment with more people and experiences, sometimes “paddling upstream” when things get a bit complicated in our lives from time to time. We are more exposed to so many things during this part of the paddle, including an alligator or two either sunning itself on the shore or in the waters to our sides like we are exposed many new experiences, both good and bad, in our adult lives. From time to time we are surprised and delighted upon seeing something unexpected like turtles sunning themselves on a log in the water while paddling, and we are surprised and delighted in our lives in general when we encounter something new in our adult years as well. After leaving the wider and exposed Silver River, we paddled back to a less complicated place in some ways, like the Alpha and Omega of our lives. Things are a bit simpler and quieter in some ways with less commotion as we age, and the narrow water way at the end of our canoe journey reminds me of those calmer years, closer to home, when we need quiet and tranquil “waters” around us more than ever.
Life is good; find a way to enjoy today. Carpe diem, friends………
Carpe Diem with Caye 