#withlacoochee river

[staticglow]

This coral fossil looks like an intricate cave and I love it. 

[perpetualodyssey-blog1]

Bike Ride to Withlacoochee State Park

[green-flymedia]

Explore the Withlacoochee River...

Explore the Withlacoochee River…

Explore the Withlacoochee River…

Check out this beautiful presentation of the Withlacoochee River  presented by Southwest Florida Water Management District

Withlacoochee River photo by Alice Mary Herden

View On WordPress

[dianesdiscoveries]

The Nature Coast Inn:  A B&B for visitors, tourists and locals

I met the owners, Tim and Patti Haines, and the Innkeepers, Wendy and Terry Brennan, recently when I was writing about this place for an article in the local paper (Citrus County Chronicle).  The chemistry among them is just one of “let’s have fun” with a desire to share it with their guests.  Always thinking about what can we do today?  What can we add to our repertoire of bedrooms, meals, local activities, and casual evening entertainment.  The guitar and banjo on the mantel in the lobby have led to brief musical interludes with proprietors and guests.  The front porch bench and swing are places the owner, Tim, has envisioned as a spot for drinking before dinner.  Dinner at a bed and breakfast?  Well, that’s what Tim and the gang are thinking about.  They invited me to Easter brunch, which was a combination of healthy local vegetables and southern cooking (turkey and gravy on waffles with a fried egg on top, accented with asparagus and some warmed grape tomatoes). They make a nice yogurt with sliced strawberry and granola, fresh orange juice, and tea or coffee for starters.  The next brunch will be on Mother’s Day and they are planning to add room packages that include dinner and breakfast. They already host parties at the Inn with custom decorations and menus.  They say if you want an “Old Florida” type wedding, just let them know what you want, and they can do almost anything, limited by the space of the place.  

They have about a dozen kayaks on the premises and a canoe that they rent at very reasonable rates, as well as bikes for guests that are free of charge.  They will prepare a picnic lunch if you want to kayak to one of a couple of islands they own, where you can relax or even camp overnight.  

There is a firepit, a smoker, an outdoor burner for cooking and barbecuing out back--a pool, hammocks, gazebo and a screened-in porch for hanging out in the open air.  Check out the chicken coop, where they get their daily eggs.  Chickens are treated like guests, with a chandelier, paintings, a swing and climbing apparatus (a ladder).  Whatever keeps ‘em happy.  

They are at 649 West Highway 40 (Follow Your Dream Way) in Inglis, Florida.

See the rooms and prices at www.naturecoastinn.com      Call Wendy at 352-388-8044 for more details

[davidrussellschilling]

Sewage and Health Issues

Sewage and Health Issues

See up to 10 related YouTube videos at end. C O N T E N T S: KEY TOPICS Sewage cleanup is extremely dangerous as the waste water can contain deadly parasites, fungi, bacteria, and viruses that can cause diseases such as hepatitis, legionnaire?s disease, severe asthma, and many other health issues.(More…) A Public Health Perspective on Onsite Wastewater Systems – Article discusses public health…

View On WordPress

[withlacoochee]

Water is a huge part of the culture that I grew up in. From conservation to entertainment, it permeates our lives here at the edge of the continent's outcrop. 

I've been focusing on wood and the patterns in it but in my mind there's always this relationship between wood and water that I just need to express. For the majority of my wood pieces, there's been an element of hermetic portraiture, so the wood will act as a substitution for the body being recalled (usually my own). So from here I want to continue to use wood as a representative of the body. I've got some carvings and smaller pieces to continue the series I've started on the front burner right now but there's still this water element that I feel like I'm ignoring. 

I've been trying to conceptualize the experience of being under and in Florida's waters for a while now. Nothing tangible has arisen yet because I can foresee the technical issues I would have with some of the ideas in my sketchbook and none of them are quite to the point where I love them for much longer after the initial spark in my head that gets me to write them down.

But now I've just thought of something awesome and probably improbable (because nothing is impossible) but definitely a step in the right direction if I want to be really ambitious in my senior thesis. I've been thinking more and more about earthworks, especially Spiral Jetty, and art as an experience rather than something just to look at. For a while I tinkered with the idea of recreated an experience, but the more I think about it, the less confident I become with that concept. Because bringing a piece into a gallery is one thing, but asking an audience to understand what they're experiencing is another task in and of itself. I want to force the audience to be there to see my work. Right now I'm toying with the idea of creating earthworks under/in water. We have springs clear as glass (with distortions of course) near campus that might lend themselves well to the project.

The piece will have to be monolithic but permeable so it can exist for more than just a few hours in water with currents and tides. Ideally, I'd like to do it in the river for which this blog is named and the place where I grew up and get a lot of inspiration from but practically it might not work out. The Withlacoochee's river bottom is limestone and small freshwater clams and tree branches wedged into the limestone that bob with the current and catch water plants as they flow downstream. That bottom is what would make it easy (compared to sandy bottomed waters) to install a piece there. 

As far as any concrete ideas of the piece I'm dreaming up, I don't have any beyond the idea that I want the viewer to be in the water when they're viewing it. It's not just something you can stay dry to fully experience like the mermaids behind the glass at Weeki Wachee or the manatees beyond the human fishbowl at Homossassa.

Usually I'll begin with a concept, play with materials and ways to go about it, and then decide on the image or pattern being depicted. I'm in between the first and second stages now, but it's exciting and I think this might work out in a way that I'll really be proud of. I'd present it as photo documentation, like most earthworks have to be for the general public to experience them on some level (though some might argue that it's less of an experience. 

[oldflorida]

It's quiet in the Withlacochee, 1925.

[oldflorida]

My Florida, 1971.

(Alvin Lederer Collection)