07. June 2011 · Comments Off on Florida Discoveries #14: Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: florida discoveries
This past weekend was the Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival at Fort Walton Beach Landing…about 20 miles east of where we live. Dave suggested we hang out at the festival on Friday night, so after the boys got off the school bus, we went to the base to pick up Dave and headed eastward.
The boys put on their favorite (read: their only fitting) pirate t-shirts and brought their toy swords.
At 5pm on a Friday, the parking was surprisingly easy — we parked only a block or so from the festival. Timmy wanted his face painted right away, after that we had some dinner and enjoyed the evening out.
Go ahead, say it…”What is that thing on Timmy’s forehead????”
Jacob was good with his eye patch and hat. The hat is actually from Colonial Williamsburg, when he was 5 years old.
Most of the boats on the water had pirate flags flying on them!
Part of bringing 3 pirates with me to the festival: lots of mayhem! We got those popper things that you throw onto the ground. My kids were annoying everyone….
Dave was no exception!
We had about 15-20 minutes of thunderstorm right when Billy Bowleg’s ship was supposed to come into Fort Walton Landing. This giant mast thing blew down near us. Our family hunkered down in one of the vendor’s tents and were fine.
Right after the weather cleared up, the Krewe of Bowlegs pulled up and all their crazy pirates disembarked.
Yeah — part of me wonders if this is just an excuse to celebrate Mardi Gras in June…
They perform this every year — Billy Bowlegs (right) comes ashore and attempts to make a deal with the Mayor of Fort Walton Beach (walking on the left).
The ladies throw out beads to the spectators. Those are my three boys’ hands all asking for beads!
Ask and you shall receive….
Who else noticed that Timmy’s makeup is now gone? After all, we got a real bandana for him 🙂
My boys enjoyed the ladies who were handing out the beads….I wonder if the young lady on the left is Miss Billy Bowlegs or something like that….
Jacob’s dessert — a New Orleans Sno-Ball with a do-it-yourself syrup tap. Really!
Dave was having the BEST time!
A band called “The Bilge Pumps” performed sea chanties and pirate songs. They were a lot of fun. Download their songs on iTunes.
We waited for the fireworks, but there were a couple of problems with the launch control system and then there was a disabled boat too close to the fireworks barge and the show ended up canceled.
I have loved these pretty trees since I was a kid in southeastern Virginia…this one is blooming right up the street.
I’ll take my iPhone along on runs so I can listen to tunes, but about once a week I get distracted so much by the pretty flowers, I stop to take some pictures with the iPhone camera. It does a pretty decent job.
So I took several pictures of this “mimosa” tree and was all set to write up not just about the tree, but also about the delicious Sunday brunch staple: The Mimosa. I’ll get to that particular Mimosa in a minute.
In case you hadn’t noticed after all these years, my posts about pretty flowers, cool trees or curious critters on this blog never lack at least a cursory round of research and web links for you to learn more. This will be no exception.
Right away, I learned that these trees I’ve called “mimosas” for decades aren’t really “mimosas”. They’re Persian silk trees. The geneses Mimosa and Albizia are both in the family Fabaceae. Many folks are familiar with the mimosa species whose flowers quickly contract when touched. You might know it as the “Sensitive Plant”, botanically known as the Mimosa pudica, seen in this video (you will get the gist of it in the first 10 seconds).
It seems so theraputic, doesn’t it?
Okay, okay, since the point here is that this ISN’T a mimosa, let’s focus on what this IS.
According to my buddy Wikipedia, the Persian silk tree is native to much of Asia, from Azerbaijan to China to Korea. It was brought to the U.S. in the 18th Century as an ornamental tree and has become an invasive species in the eastern U.S., particularly in the northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. It is commonly confused with both mimosas and acadia trees, because of the similar patterns of their respective leaves.
In true Internet-geek fashion, a short series of click-throughs led me to the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council, whose mission is to manage the spread of invasive species in Florida’s natural areas. Every two years the Council publishes a list of Florida’s invasive plants, placing each species in a Category I or Category II. Category I is more dire, meaning the species is capable of altering a natural ecosystem if left unchecked.
Nonetheless, I grew up thinking these trees are so pretty, and I won’t change my mind on that. What I WILL change my mind about is trying to get one for my own landscaping one day.
Let’s shift gears and talk about another Florida Discovery my Dear Husband and I have made: The Mimosa.
Within a week or two of our arrival, our family had a hankerin’ for some seafood, and ventured out to Pensacola Beach, where we were met with several choices. We chose a touristy joint called Crabs — We Got ‘Em. It was Sunday early afternoon and we were given a brunch menu that included several brunch-ey entrees, and all-you-can-drink Mimosas! We ordered right up and the Mimosas were so delicious!
Now Dave and I want to keep a bottle of inexpensive Champagne on hand just so we can enjoy them on weekend afternoons.
So what is in a Mimosa? Very simply put, mix equal parts Champagne and chilled orange juice in a Champagne flute. Stir and serve with a light brunch.
In our house, we enjoy “Indian River”-brand orange juice, which is found at our local Publix supermarket, at a cost comparable to other national brands, but is MUCH more delicious!
Like the glass? One of our Vegas souvenirs from 2006. We stayed at the Flamingo.
We moved here in November, and by then most of the growing season was over. So we’ve been greeted with all sorts of surprises over the past several weeks. I’ve been taking lots of pictures of the pretty flowers blooming around here.
Unfortunately, these past few days all my photography has been with my iPhone camera, which is pretty good quality (for a smartphone camera)…but doesn’t give me the same flexibility as our Canon. Dave had taken the Canon to Pennsylvania last weekend.
Magnolias are blooming here right now…so when I’m running in the neighborhood, I will pass a magnolia and enjoy the delightful fragrance…that awesome smell of “The South”. On a run this past week, I decided to snap a few pictures of a pretty magnolia flower.
Any magnolia flower. Anyone? Anyone?
Oddly enough, after my run during my cooldown, when I decided to pull my iPhone from the sleeve and get the camera ready, I couldn’t find any easily-accessible magnolia flowers on the couple of blocks near my house. I saw several in the distance in peoples’ backyards (I don’t walk through peoples’ yards to get photos), or else deep in the woods.
So I gave in — I went traipsing through a wooded lot towards a HUGE tree in full bloom. You can see the tree in the first picture, with the large oval dark glossy leaves. It smelled wonderful!
I was wearing shorts and a tank top walking through this thick brush. My skin wasn’t happy with me after this little adventure.
Isn’t it pretty there? There’s a reason why those creamy white flowers are so popular in hotel room art…
This flower is about the size of my fist. And it smelled SO GOOD!
I can’t wait to get out with my good camera for some photos! This simply isn’t cutting it. We’re totally missing the petal detail here…
As the title suggests, I’ll also be talking about oleander. The first time I really encountered oleander was in Eastern Florida in 2002-2005, I was dealing with an infant/toddler all the while never forgetting “Oleander is poison!” There were oleander hedges everywhere! But I didn’t pay it much mind…
We now have a tall hedge of oleander in full bloom as a boundary between my yard and my neighbor to the right:
For the first time, this week I got up close and personal with these flowers and was impressed with the detail in the blooms! We have white, pink and fuschia flowers.
Who here has read the book “White Oleander” by Janet Fitch? I remember reading it when it was an “Oprah’s Book Club” selection. Who remember’s Oprah’s Book Club? Ha ha!
Loving the ragged-edged inner petals!
Finally, enjoy some other flora I’ve seen around…
Loquats, anyone? This was in full production on the edge of a house’s yard that I run past at least once a week. Thanks to a couple of Facebook friends who helped me verify what these are.
Gardenia! This is in my front yard — I cannot WAIT for it to open! I’ll be out there as soon as it does — with our good camera!
I call it “Pulling a Maryann”. I see something while driving down the road, so I pull over and take some pictures.
When it’s in my neighborhood, that’s one thing. I don’t have many problems doing that when I see some pretty flowers. But today I screeched onto the shoulder off Highway 98 (4-lane, speed limit 55) to get pictures of this building and the historic marker in front of it. It’s a little scary doing ANYTHING other than driving in a straight line, eyes on the road, when on U.S. 98 between the base and Navarre.
But I’ve been wanting to learn more about this building and today I finally had the time to do it. It’s right on the Santa Rosa County/Okaloosa County line on the north side of U.S. 98.
This is a house that looks seriously out of place on the highway. It really stuck out and I wondered why it was there. There are businesses near it, and you can see the recently built homes behind it (on the left edge of the picture). I don’t lose sleep about it or anything, just an observation.
About 2 weeks ago a blue historical marker appeared. Today I decided to check it out and here’s what I learned:
Unfortunately, I can’t find anything else about this building or Dr. Beal. The Summerhouse Restaurant is now closed. There’s a Beal Blvd. in Fort Walton Beach, likely named after this guy.
Here are other pictures of the house that I took today.
My next post will cover the strawberry jam I made out of about 3/4 of the berries we got!
If you’re east of the Mississippi, chances are you’ve had a chance to enjoy some Florida strawberries. Plant City, Florida is the “winter strawberry capital of the United States”, shipping about 3/4 of the nation’s berries throughout the country in the midwinter months.
Right about now the Florida harvest is wrapping up and folks are getting less Florida berries and more California berries. I personally think there’s a HUGE difference! Florida berries are bigger, redder and tastier!
Can’t you tell here?
I can’t believe how beautiful these are! Sorry, no smell-o-blog.
One of the neighborhood moms put out a Facebook invitation over the weekend to meet at the local Publix parking lot, and then car pool up to the berry farm. Akers of Strawberries is about 40 minutes northeast of Navarre, and it was a fun trip. I took a couple of the older kids in my truck along with Jacob and Timmy, and they enjoyed watching Return of the Jedi on the ride.
There was a Navarre area Moms group also up at the farm and we were invited to join in on their group rate, which was $5 per child to fill a small microscopic container with berries and then get a small frozen strawberry yogurt. Here’s Timmy showing the container the kids were given:
The berries were so big, you couldn’t fit that many into the pint-sized container.
This wasn’t as great a deal as it sounded. At $1.50 per pound, and $2 for the frozen yogurt, this was more like $3.50 worth of product for $5. Many of us put down the money without realizing what we were getting into. Oh well, the kids were happy and that’s what counted, right?
Right?
So…we picked out about 9-10 lbs. of berries total. Jacob and Timmy, despite not really liking strawberries unless it’s in Go-Gurt form, really enjoy looking for that perfect berry.
MANY of the berries had this siamese-twin thing going on. Made the berries much bigger, however….
…you were left with this gaping hole that seemed like it would be a breeding ground for mold, bugs and other yuckies.
Jacob couldn’t help but laugh at the “funny berries”
We filled up the two small microscopic containers and part of a cardboard flat with some HUGE berries, enjoyed our picnic lunch we brought, and then had the frozen yogurt. I had mine on top of a strawberry shortcake (homemade shortcake) and it was one of the best I’d ever had. I’m sorry I didn’t take a picture of it.
Here’s our stash of berries, about 1/3 of which were made into jam 6 hours later! But that’s for another post!
*I’ve had to do some re-numbering with my Florida Discoveries posts, so instead of re-numbering everything, I just stuck a “0.5” in there.
How many of you remember this video from Sesame Street?
For years and years and years this was my perception of kayaking. Â Being sealed into this fiberglass tube-thingy as if you have no legs and navigating river rapids. Â And of course being able to flip around like this guy (allegedly Jim Henson) does at the end.
Last week as a surprise for my sister and nephews, we borrowed a 2+ man ocean kayak from our friend/neighbor/former commander Mike D. Â This is different than the traditional, competition kayak that I was more familiar with (but had never done).
I’d been canoeing many times — Girl Scouting, in college, in Louisiana on the Sabine River — but kayaking is somewhat different, and in many cases it was easier.
The first day we took the kayak out to Navarre Beach, we were mortified at how tall the waves were in the Gulf (it was chilly and windy), so we packed everything up and ran about 500′ across the parking lot to the Santa Rosa Sound side where things were much calmer! Â We all took turns taking short trips out.
After my sister’s family left last weekend, we took a trip to the beach again, this time so Dave and the kids could try out the kayak. Â The gulf side was nice and calm, and we all got a chance to paddle out towards the dolphins!
Here are pictures from our two kayaking trips.
I believe it was a 130″ long kayak (just under 11′). Â So here’s how it looked packed into our suddenly-small-looking SUV. Â Luckily we were only transporting it about 5 miles, or 10 minutes drive.
Today I was in downtown Fort Walton Beach to pay a visit to the local running store. Between the parking lot and the store you walk through a pretty camellia garden. These variegated ones caught my attention.
Enjoy! Â Click the picture to see it in better detail.
My sister Margaret and her 3 sons were in town most of last week. It’s always really wonderful when my sister’s family visits. All 5 of our boys are almost like a pack of wolves, they rarely fight, and Margaret and I can talk talk talk talk talk talk talk…..
Did I mention we talk? We were up till 1-2am every night they were here…
Ironically, the weather was fabulous for the 5-6 days prior to their arrival, and on the day they left, it was once again sunny and warm. They were greeted with windy, cloudy days, complete with a severe weather outbreak on one of the days!
But that didn’t stop us. I’ll write about our chilly kayaking trip in my next post, but for now I’ll discuss the activity we did on the one day I took the boys out of school. It thunderstormed most of the day, so we visited the Emerald Coast Science Center in Fort Walton Beach, which is about 30 minutes east of us.
It’s a small operation, probably about 2 hours total to see the whole thing. And that was with 5 very curious, geeky boys. They enjoyed it just the same, they were especially interested in the hands-on activities, such as the bubble tables and the interactive health and anatomy areas.
Enjoy some pictures from our afternoon. After we visited the museum, we met up with our friend Lisa who lived nearby. By then, the rain had stopped and the boys enjoyed a couple more hours at Fort Walton Landing park.
Just off Highway 98 in old historic Fort Walton Beach.
The kids didn’t seem to care that this “Hot Hands” exhibit didn’t really work anymore.
Playing with the Van De Graff machine.
This was fun…you open/close the mirrors to make the mice multiply.
Timmy trying to figure out how the color lights work for this exhibit.
The bubble room was by far the most popular area!
Quite a face, huh?
The boys were having contests to see who could make the longest bubble!
This had the makings of a really great picture, except for the little ones having their eyes closed….
So we suggested they shade their eyes and this is what we got….
Do we look like a bunch of pretty little azaleas to you? Nah, didn’t think so…I still have my dress today, but can’t zip it up past my belly-button.
At first I was just going to post pictures of the all the beautiful azaleas I’ve seen on the Florida Panhandle these past couple weeks. I’ll stick those at the end of this post. Not since Norfolk — where I grew up — have I lived somewhere with so many azaleas gracing us. Norfolk has always had a special affinity for azaleas, and they’re celebrated extensively. The flowers are huge, and the pink hues are more vivid than I remember than even 20 years ago…
…and speaking of 20 years ago, while I was remembering the pretty azaleas from Norfolk, it triggered a memory.
NATO has a headquarters in Norfolk (no, not THE headquarters), so there were representatives from each of the member nations and they would choose young ladies native to each of the member nations. In 1991, there were sixteen member nations that would contribute a queen and 15 princesses.
Then each of those ladies would have an “attendant” selected from the community. Norfolk and Virginia Beach interviewed ladies at the local high schools and would submit one from each high school. I was my high school’s selection in 1991. I can’t say how other high schools did it, but I had a rather intensive interview where I remember questions about my plans for the future, knowledge about the local community, and one of those “if you could change the world” kinds of questions. It seriously reminded me of a Miss America kind of thing and I didn’t think I’d get it.
But I did, and I had to get fitted for dresses, shoes, and was provided the list of events we’d be part of, and what kinds of outfits to wear for each of them.
I wasn’t used to this…I wore jeans and sweatshirts every day, usually. Now I had to have cocktail dresses, business casual clothing, professional clothing, and evening gowns at the ready. Luckily, the pink dresses you see above are the evening gowns, provided by the festival itself. Air shows, receptions, meet-n-greets, a parade where each country was to be featured on its own float, the Azalea Ball and the coronation ceremony.
The pictures I have are only from the coronation and one picture of a some “cocktail dress” event that I’ll save for another time. I wish I had more…I cleaned up pretty nicely 🙂
The escorts were brought in from the Virginia Military Institute. Handsome, huh? Too bad it’s a “free” weekend for the guys, and most of them were drunk the whole time, including my escort. Ugh…
But…easy on the eyes 🙂
When I sought out the Norfolk International Azalea Festival website so I could share the information with you, I was really surprised at the changes that had taken place over the years. Starting with the name of the event: it’s now the “Norfolk NATO Festival”. Other changes include: the Azalea Queen is no longer. Starting in 2008, the position migrated from daughters of prominent military members to military members themselves. There are now “Festival Ambassadors” chosen from active duty military. Starting this year, a MALE will be serving as a Festival Ambassador.
The princesses and attendants program also fell away, being replaced by a Youth Ambassador program set up to learn more about the children of the foreign NATO personnel assigned to southeastern Virginia.
I don’t know what to think of this…I’ve always been a stickler for tradition. I’m sure there’s been a movement to lessen the “exploitation” of young ladies, and perhaps a concern was raised from the military community — the princesses usually were daughters of high-ranking NATO-nation military members. I was assigned as attendant to a Canadian girl, her father was an admiral.
As promised, here are some pictures I’ve taken this week of the pretty azaleas in the area. Most of them were taking with my phone while on a run.
It’s a 12.3 mile drive on U.S. 98 between our neighborhood in Navarre, and Dave’s base to our east. That road is a nightmare a lot of the time; it’s the only east-west artery along the Gulf Coast connecting Pensacola with Fort Walton Beach, so the majority of businesses set up on this road, and it’s extremely congested. Dave probably has a dozen traffic lights on that 12.3 mile stretch (perhaps I’ll count it the next time I make the drive and report back to you).
As I wrote about recently, living on the Gulf Coast opens up a new world of flora and fauna. This being our first springtime here, it’s been a surprise every week seeing what does grow in this area. We’d spent time on the East Coast of Florida in Melbourne years ago, and went from there to central North Carolina. The differences in flora between the two locations was profound.
This area seems to be a blend between the two. Banana trees will grow, but so will bradford pear trees. This week brought out the wisteria.
For those familiar with this invasive species, wisteria typically spreads their vines very aggressively, and many American cultivars don’t flower until 10-15 years after first seeded.
That being said, most of the wisteria I’m seeing in this area are in undeveloped plots of land. In my neighborhood itself, there aren’t a lot of wisteria. Most of what I’m seeing is along that 12.3 mile stretch of U.S. 98. In these photos below, the wisteria vine has been allowed to grow for several years without any pruning, and it’s growing up the telephone pole and draping itself over other large trees.
I also noticed that this particular one wasn’t as purple as others I’ve seen around. I’ve seen one very pretty plant in someone’s front yard in my neighborhood, the only one that appears to have been planted in a particular spot “on purpose”. It’s clearly well-pruned every year, and it looks very attractive. I haven’t gotten a picture of that one, I don’t want to freak out the homeowners.
I wanted to also discuss a book I had read with a book club I was in when we were living in North Carolina. But I can’t remember the title or author! One of the “characters” in the book was the centuries-old wisteria on the family’s property. It told the reader a history of the protagonist family…I thought it was clever and creative. If anyone knows the name of the book I’m talking about, please remind me!
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