Last Tuesday night, we had the last blast of winter here in Ohio. Driving home from Starbucks, I was scared to death driving 20-25 miles per hour on a major road where I couldn't tell one lane from the other. I was constantly afraid that I might slide off the road at any time from the snow that was coming down in buckets.
After I got home, I found out that there was more to come that night, up to a foot of snow in some places. It reminded me of a similar early March final winter blast five years ago when there was 12-16 inches of snow falling to the ground all over Ohio.
Only that time, I was lucky. I wasn't in Ohio. In early March 2008, I was basking in 76 degree heat in Homestead, Florida while the snow was flying here. I had just found out about BlogTalkRadio, and started writing commentaries for my "Gene On The Scene" BlogTalkRadio show while still in Florida. So naturally I did one on Homestead. Here's how it went:
"This is 'Gene On The Scene' in a tropical climate in the middle of the winter, while absorbing rich Florida history and culture...from Homestead, Florida between Miami and the Keys, where the average daytime temperature in February is 77 degrees. It's been in the 80s since I've been here. For a couple of days, it's been as high as 89 degrees. After the coming rain, it's due to fall into the upper 60s by day and the 40s by night-cold by South Florida standards. But even on a hot and humid day, the sea breezes are blowing from the Atlantic Ocean. So the effect is a perfect climate. It feels balmy here.
"I'm staying at the Everglades Motel, the most reasonably priced accommodations I can find in an area where most motels and hotels charge as much as they can get away with. The owners, Amit and Arti Patel, are hard working and nice people, and so's the motel. Most importantly, it has Internet access in my room, so I can work. There's a Walmart store nearby where I can buy my groceries.
"But the most interesting places are in the historic district of Homestead, which is just a walk down the street. That street is Krome Avenue. From Everglades Motel, here at 605 South Krome Avenue, I take a good walk down to 806 North Krome Avenue, where I can have breakfast at Royal Palm Grill and Deli, and take home a turkey sandwich for lunch or dinner. It's country cookin', reasonably priced, and friendly service, seven days a week from seven in the morning until four in the afternoon. On my way back, I usually stop by a little Haitian grocery called La Sagesse Food Market at 281 South Krome, where its friendly owner, Jacobo La Sagesse, is from Haiti, and whose native language is French, once sold me vanilla juice. Not the extract, but the juice, which he recommended I use for making cookies...
"But today, I also meet Ruth Campbell, who served on Homestead's City Council for 24 years, off and on, from 1963 to 1997, and now works as a hostess and reference person at the historic Homestead Town Hall Museum on 41North Krome Avenue. At a healthy and athletic-looking 87, she moves with an easy grace, while telling me that she knew Everglades legend Marjory Stoneman Douglas from her years on the city council-and shows me books written by Douglas and others. She also reveals that John Rothchild, who helped Douglas write her autobiography, lived with the Everglades legend for three years to compile his notes and observations into her life story.
"I sit at one of the tables at the town hall museum, taking notes on one of their white paper pads, while reading through the books there that are part and parcel of local Floridian history and culture. One was the 1947 national bestseller "The Everglades: River of Grass" by Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who remained active as the foremost Everglades conservation activist until her death at the age of 108 in 1998. There are others by Douglas, and by Seminoles author Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, and by Patty West, among others."
In her 1959 children's book, "Alligator Crossing", Marjory Stoneman Douglas "describes the plethora of inhabitants of the Everglades: the snowy egrets, the brown pelican..., cormorants, green herons, the great white heron, the American egret, the blue and white heron, the roseate spoonbills (those are pink birds). And a bird called a stilt, which has red legs..."
"Although I drove through the Everglades so I couldn't see these birds from the road, I did see some of these birds at other places. I saw a pelican at a gas station in Okeechobee. And of course, I saw pelicans diving into the crashing waves of Daytona Beach...I also saw a lot of pelicans in Everglades City-in a boatyard. While I was staying in Everglades Motel in Homestead, I saw a green heron fly out of a tree in front of the motel."
All the Florida authors I learned about were very interesting, and I resolved to read their books at my local public library, or though Inter-Library Loan when I returned home to Ohio. You can find out about them at www.worldcat.org too.
