Bike Florida 2011 -- High Springs Adventure, Day 1

Pam, Nanette and LaNae outside Santa Fe Bicycle Outfitters

One of the nicest things about living in Florida is being able to spend time outdoors year round.   Last fall, my friend Pam suggested that we plan a spring bike trip.  I was all in favor (especially since this replaced her idea of running a tag-team half marathon of some sort!)  She spent some time looking around and came upon Bike Florida's annual spring tour, which was being held in the Gainesville area this year.  We had the option of riding for a week or doing the two day High Springs adventure.  We decided on the shorter trip and, with our new bikes and Pam's longtime friend LaNae in tow, headed off last week-end.

Gary and LaNae

We kicked off our outing with a visit to the historic town of Micanopy (population 653--what a zoo it must have been when Michael J. Fox filmed Doc Hollywood there!) and a warm-up 18 mile ride on the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park.    The trail was paved, the scenery was nice and we were rolling along quite nicely until the chain came off LaNae's rental bike.   I have to admit that my desire to be self-sufficient comes to an abrupt halt when the prospect of anything mechanical rears its ugly head.  LaNae and Pam are not so old-fashioned, however, and rolled up their figurative sleeves and tried to sort it out.   After a few minutes with little success, I began contemplating how we would get the bike back to the car (now approximately eight miles away).  LaNae is a woman of faith, though, and she wasn't ready to give up this fight.  Moments after she uttered the words, "Lord, please send us someone to fix this bike," our new friend Gary rode onto the scene.  As you can see from the picture, his outfit was quite striking (it actually had a little zip-up jacket that he was wearing when we flagged him down).  I know, I know, it's serious bike wear but you have to admit that it's pretty hilarious looking.  He did know his way around a bike, though, and fixed the chain with no problem (the trick was to yank on it before putting it back around the gears).

Needless to say, we worked up quite an appetite with all this excitement so we treated ourselves to a lavish dinner at a Tex-Mex joint in Gainesville before heading to our hotel in High Springs.  Participants in the Bike Florida trip have the options of camping out, camping in (in this case, in the hall of the First Baptist Church) or finding local accommodations.  If you choose to stay in a hotel, Bike Florida transports your bags for you from location to location during the week.  Camping is definitely not our style, so we booked the Zebra and Panda Rooms at the aptly-named Rustic Inn.  (I was quite stressed when I found out that they didn't have wireless internet but somehow survived three days without checking my e-mail.)  As you might be able to guess, each room was decorated with an animal theme (which was not nearly as kitschy as it could have been) and included a light switch designated for "mood lighting."  (I still haven't figured that one out).  The beds were comfortable, though, and the showers were hot with good water pressure so all in all there were no complaints.    After a good night's rest, we were ready to start on the official portion of our outing.

Spring Awakening at the Van Wezel

It's official--I'm no longer a New Yorker!  Last week-end (quite aptly, on the first day of spring) I went to a touring company production of the hit Broadway show Spring Awakening.    The show won eight Tony awards when it premiered in 2007, including Best Musical, so when the tour's itinerary included a stop in Sarasota, I decided to check it out.    

All I knew about the play going in was that it was a rock musical and had something to do with German teenage kids.  The advertisements for the show included cautionary language that there would be profanity, partial nudity and adult content.   The play from which Spring Awakening was adapted was banned after a few performances in Germany due to its portrayal of themes such as abortion and suicide.  This was in the 1890s, though, and times have changed.  The partial nudity consisted of two scenes in which you saw the well-toned rear end of one of the cast members--nothing that you haven't seen on TV or in the movies.  (Remember how controversial it was when Dennis Franz' derriere made its appearance on NYPD Blue?)   And the profanity was incorporated into the play in a way that was natural and funny.  In fact, one of my favorite songs of the evening was entitled "Totally F****d."

All of the actors had strong voices and the band (which sat onstage) was really good.  Elizabeth Judd and Aliya Bowles, who played Wendla and Martha, respectively, were particular stand-outs.  I was surprised to hear one woman say that she thought Bowles played a better Martha than the woman who played the role in Tampa.  I had assumed that touring companies have a single cast that gets on a bus after the performance and heads off to the next location.  Apparently, this is not the case.  Knowing this makes the performance even more impressive.  There was really no indication that these actors had not performed together for an extended period of time.  

One interesting note on the staging that was different than in the Broadway run.  (I checked with a friend who saw it on this point!)    A small area of tiered seating was set up on each side of the set (which was quite cool--it looked like a coffee house with exposed brick walls and interesting photos and art).   As I made my way to my seat, I jokingly said to the ushers that my seat was on the stage--little did I know that some audience members actually would find themselves sitting up there!   It didn't turn out to be such a good idea on this occasion, however.  At one point during the first act, one of the actors suddenly said, "Is there a doctor in the house?"   It took a couple of minutes for the audience to realize that this was not part of the production (it wouldn't have made sense but it still takes some time to process) and that medical attention was required by one of the audience members sitting on the stage.  It turned out to be nothing serious--she probably felt faint from the hot lights on the stage--but the play was stopped for a few minutes so the actors could regroup.  I have to say that they maintained their composure, picking up easily where they left off after the unexpected break, and that the show was none the worse for the excitement.

All in all, it was quite an enjoyable evening.  If this is the caliber of performer and production that goes on tour, Broadway doesn't actually seem quite so far away!

Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

Now that I am an official employee of the Charlotte County Public School System, "Retirement 101" did not seem appropriate to include in the name of my blog.   The Jimmy Buffet song "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" came to me during a sleepless night (some things don't actually change!) and it seemed like an appropriate tag line. 

Just a few words about the final step in the employment process with the School System.  As is typical when you start a new job, I had to attend an orientation.  There were a few twists, though.  In the pile of paperwork that had to be signed, I came upon a Loyalty Oath.  What???  Yes, because I will be paid out of public funds, I had to swear loyalty to the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Florida.   (At least I think I was swearing allegiance to the Constitution of the State of Florida and not to the State itself--I'd hate to think I might lose my job if there are things that I like about another State better!)  Then there was the acknowledgment that my personnel file could be viewed and copied by anyone who makes a request (with my social security number and other confidential information redacted).  This is mandated by the "Sunshine" Law, which requires all state, county and municipal records to be open to the public for inspection.  (This brings to mind the song, "Let the sun shine in!" from the musical Hair.  Maybe the State of Florida would like to make that song its official tune.)

It was then on to the exciting video portion of the orientation.  The first two videos were pretty standard and covered the Drug Free Workplace Act and sexual harassment in the workplace.  (Having worked with my husband at Republic National Bank, this is always a bit of a sticky topic.  My boss was overheard at our wedding saying that he was glad that we were getting married because our relationship was a sexual harassment suit just waiting to happen.  I'm still not clear who would have been harassing whom, but it's worked out okay so far.)   The final video was a first for me--dealing with blood borne pathogens, like HIV and hepatitis.  This isn't an issue that I've ever had to think about, although it's a bit surprising that blood wasn't shed on the trading floor from time to time with the size of the egos of many of those guys.  The health risks posed by these pathogens are a real concern, though, for many employees of the School System.

The process of getting hired has been a bit comical at times and I certainly have made a joke of it in this blog.  All kidding aside, though, I am thrilled to be working at the Center and am excited to have the opportunity to help adults achieve their literacy goals.   Don't tell Leslie, but I would have done it for free! 

Pedal and Play in Paradise

Yesterday I participated in the Pedal and Play in Paradise Bicycle Tour sponsored by Team Punta Gorda and the Isles Yacht Club to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Riders had several different routes to choose from:  15 miles, 30 miles, 60 miles and the 10 mile mystery bike tour.  I opted for the mystery bike tour (not only because it was the shortest option!) and it was a great morning.

I met my friends by the Club at 7:40 just as the sun was rising.  We pedaled to Laishley Park to register for the ride and pick up our route and instructions.  The event was extremely well organized, with tables for each of the route options, a station for tee shirts and towels and a continental breakfast.   The mystery bike ride required us to go to four locations in Punta Gorda--Ponce de Leon Park, the Nature Park, Fisherman's Village and Laishley Park--and find the answers to five questions in each location.   We decided to start at Ponce since it was the furthest away, hopped on our bikes and set off.

Upon our arrival, we immediately found the answer to the first question--What animal has the most pictures on the Peace River Wildlife Sign and how many times does it appear?  Can you guess the answer?    We learned at the recycling center in the Park that an aluminum can can last over 500 years if it is not recycled.  (Yikes!) And we found the Code of Ordinance sign that for some reason has the restriction on carrying firearms in the Park taped over.   Very bizarre.  While in the Park, we also came upon Ponce himself.  Given the population of Punta Gorda--and my impending 50th birthday--I personally think that a search for the fountain of youth would have been a nice element to incorporate into the ride, but that was left for another day.

From there we were off to the Nature Park, which none of our group had previously explored.  It is a nice little park with lots of info about local flora and fauna.  The most interesting factoid that we learned while there is that female armadillos always give birth to quadruplets of the same sex.   Who knew?  Then it was off to Fisherman's Village where, among other things, we began an elusive search for a pay phone that was removed two weeks ago!

The final stop on our tour was back at Laishley Park.   One of the questions involved the sculpture The Spirit of Punta Gorda.  The picture definitely does not do justice to this interesting piece of art.  As you might be able to tell, the sculpture is comprised of two palm trees, one that is blown nearly horizontal and another that stands tall and proud.  In the foreground of the sculpture is a sun dial that is stopped at 4:39, which is the time at which Hurricane Charlie struck.  The first palm represents the impact of Charlie on Punta Gorda.   Even though it has been seven years since this hurricane hit our area, its effect on Punta Gorda is still frequently a topic of discussion.  Team Punta Gorda was formed in the aftermath of the hurricane and its mission is to bring together residents, business and property owners, and government officials to rebuild and revitalize greater Punta Gorda.   They have done an excellent job.  We now have a vibrant downtown area and, from what I understand, a sense of community that is stronger than existed before Charlie hit this little town.  Thus the standing palm in the sculpture represents the rebuilding of Punta Gorda, the strength of its citizens and the pride that people feel in this community.  The Spirit of Punta Gorda was a great reminder of the nice community where we now live and ending our mystery bike tour there was the perfect ending to a great morning.

Spent the Day in Matlacha

Charlotte, Janice and me at Lema Lovegrove's studio

The title of this post only makes sense if you know that the pronunciation of Matlacha is "mat-la-shay" (so it actually rhymes with "day").  OK, so it loses a bit in the translation!  Anyway, yesterday I went with some friends to the funky little town of Matlacha, one of the towns on Pine Island.  With the crazy colors and funky art, it felt like a bit of Key West in my own backyard and I can understand why Greater Pine Island calls itself "Florida's Creative Coast."  We stopped in a number of galleries, with my favorite being Lema Lovegrove's studio.  Both the gallery and the outdoor space were filled with signs saying "no photos without permission," which was pretty daunting because I really did want to take pictures everywhere I looked.  (I did furtively snap a shot of some coconuts with greetings from Pine Island that are ready to be put in the US Mail, but it didn't turn out to be "blog worthy."  Definitely more original than the standard "my XX went to Florida and all I got was this lousy tee shirt" souvenir.)  The picture at the top was taken by the woman at the shop and will give you a sense of how colorful and original Lovegrove's work is. The artist lives next door to the studio in a home that has a glass six panel door that opens onto the street.  She apparently was tired of people peering into her house so she painted the panels of the doors.  She also is apparently a big Beatles fan as a lot of the art included Beatles lyrics and pictures of the Fab Four.  Very fun.

Almost every shop had something eye catching to look at, even if it didn't inspire us to open our wallets.   One gallery had these paper mache hanging fish that were quite crazy and reminded me of some of the art at the gallery downstairs from the LeHave Bakery in Nova Scotia.  (The fish are so unique they're hard to forget!  I should have taken a look at the artist's name to see if it was the same person or if there are two people who're doing the same type of work.  Perhaps there is a reason for the "no photos" sign at the Lovegrove Gallery.)

The buildings that housed the shops and galleries in Matlacha are these fun wooden houses painted bright colors.  I heard one proprietor telling a customer that the houses were originally "cracker houses," meaning that they were owned in the day by cowboys.  (I learned that they were called "crackers" because of the cracking sound made by their whips.  I have always wondered about the derivation of that term and now I know!)   I also learned that the word "Matlacha" is from the language of the Calusa Indians and that it means something like "water to the chin."  Apparently at low tide the waters in Matlacha are only a few inches deep.  When combined with some great birding, this makes Matlacha a favorite destination of kayakers.  Matlacha also hosts the annual Southwest Florida Blues Festival, which is already on my calendar for next year.  So many fun things to do, so little time! 

The Dating Game: Matching Literacy Students with Tutors

As I have been working to match students from the Adult Learning Center with our new tutors, I've felt like a cross between an old style matchmaker and someone writing a personal ad.   The enticing subject line to one tutor was "Englewood ESOL Student Looking for Tutor."   (The tutor lives in Englewood, and the convenience factor actually does make it enticing!)  Later on in the e-mail, I said "X likes literature, classical music and movies" and again the feeling that I was writing a personal ad came to mind.

Needless to say, helping students build their literacy skills and achieve their educational goals is serious business.  The process of putting students and tutors together, though, is a bit like setting up a pair on a date.  You need to find commonalities, with the most important being schedules that fit together in a location that works for both people.  Ideally, the tutor and student share an interest, be it a hobby or a career path.  Common interests are not, however, a prerequisite for a good match.   Often tutors develop interests in new things in order to work more effectively with their students.  I remember my Executive Director in New Jersey telling us that she started watching "Walker, Texas Ranger" because her ESOL student enjoyed the show and talking about it was an easy way to work on her student's conversation skills.   Just think of the vocabulary you could incorporate into your lesson--"saloon", "five gallon hat" and "line dancing" all come to mind! 

My own personal match came with the handwritten words "Punta Gorda."  I had been toying with taking on a student in addition to my volunteer coordinator role at the Center but  didn't know if I wanted to make the commitment to meet with someone weekly at a library in Port Charlotte.  When putting together the forms for students to complete with info about their schedules, interests and goals, I didn't even put the Punta Gorda Library as an option for a meeting place because the library is very small and doesn't have a logical space for tutoring.   When I saw that a student had purposefully written Punta Gorda in as a meeting place, though, I decided to explore the library as an option.  I spoke with the director of the library and she could not be more accommodating in helping me get set up.  So a match was made!   (To make it even more blind date-like, my student called the morning we were getting together to confirm where we were meeting since we don't know what the other looks like!)

I am looking forward to finding out if my matches will "take" or if I've made some miscalculations in pairing people up.  I think the match I've made for myself is going to work out fine.  After all, one of her interests is shopping!

Charlotte Symphony Showcases Prodigy Pianist Umi Garrett

Umi after the concert

Most people have had the experience of going to a child's piano recital at some time in their lives.  You sit in the audience hoping that the child you are there to see will successfully get through his or her piece without hitting too many wrong notes and applaud feverishly when they are done.  Saturday night's performance by ten year old Umi Garrett with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra bore no resemblance to this type of piano recital.  In fact, it was one of the most remarkable and enjoyable performances that I've ever seen. 

Maestro Francis Wada was first "introduced" to Umi when he saw her on the Ellen DeGeneres show.  You have to think that a bit of fate was involved since the Maestro doesn't typically spend his days watching Ellen.  Umi impressed him with her poise and her playing (which included playing over her shoulder with her back turned to the piano).  He immediately called her agent to see if she would be available to perform with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra.  Happily for us, the answer came back as "Why not????"

Umi selected Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23, K 488 as the piece to play with the Orchestra.  (During the pre-concert interview, she said this is what she is most "confident" playing with an orchestra.  For some reason, hearing a ten year old use the word "confident" made me smile.)  Her performance was nothing short of extraordinary.  Not only does she have incredible technical skills, but she plays with great emotion that is baffling coming from a child her age.  When talking with some people after the performance, they said that they'd discussed it and that the only "logical" conclusion was that she had been reincarnated.   

It was such a pleasure to watch Umi play (from my front row seat I had an up close and personal view of her hands) and to see the rapport that she and Maestro Wada shared.  It is hard to believe that they had never met before the rehearsals this week.  When Umi's turn to play was coming up, the Maestro would turn towards her and give her a smile and a nod.  She would beam back at him as she started to play.  In addition to being fellow musicians, Umi and the Maestro share their Japanese heritage.  This common bond was more apparent the night of the concert than it might ordinarily have been since the concert was held two days after the devastating earthquake and tsunamis that struck Japan.  Umi told the audience that her performance that evening was dedicated to the people of Japan. 

Umi's performance got a well-deserved standing ovation from the crowd.   She smiled, hugged Maestro Wada, bowed repeatedly to the audience and the Maestro and eventually made her way off the stage.  She returned for an encore, playing Liszt's Dance of the Gnomes.  I was able to find a video of her playing this piece on YouTube last year (when she was nine years old).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vMjzbMG3T4    The piece was nothing short of amazing. 

I neglected to mention that Umi won the second Chopin International Competition in Hartford, Connecticut earlier this month.  She was awarded perfect scores by each of the three judges.  Her prize is to perform at Carnegie Hall in April.   I wish I could attend! 

As I look back at this post, I realize that the superlatives I've used might seem a bit over the top, even for me.  Truly, though, it was that great of a performance.  Maestro Wada could not have chosen a better way to end the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra's season of classical concerts.  I'm sure that I'm not alone in looking forward to experiencing the music and guest musicians that he will introduce us to in the years to come.

Yeehaw! The Rodeo is in Town!

When I heard a few months ago that near-by Arcadia hosts a rodeo every year, I knew I had to go.  I've only been to a rodeo once before and it was quite the event.  I was dating a guy at the time who got a job in Houston and, like all things Texan, the rodeo there was larger than life. I remember not only the events like steer wrestling and bucking broncos, but also the 4-H kids proudly showing off their tremendously huge pigs and oiling down their cows so that they would gleam for the competition.

The 83rd Annual Arcadia All-Florida Championship Rodeo was not quite as grand as the rodeo I attended in Texas, but it was still an experience.  The first thing that hit me as I walked through the gates was the smell.  There is no mistaking that you are in the midst of livestock!   The second thing that struck me was the number of people wearing cowboy hats.  A lot of the people had clearly purchased them for the occasion but there were enough bow-legged, jeans- and bandana-wearing old guys walking around for me to feel like this was the real deal.  

The rodeo kicked off with bareback riding.  Cowboys come out of the "chute" and are required to have their feet above the horse's shoulders until the animal's front feet hit the ground. The horses buck like crazy and the cowboys hold on for dear life.  Some of them are thrown quickly; others held on for the entire time.  Our favorite was the guy who jumped off his horse after the buzzer sounded like a gymnast doing a dismount.  The ones who were able to lie almost prone on their horses seemed to score the best.  We figured out that if you start slipping to the side, you are toast.    The saddle bronc riding was a later event and--to my inexperienced eye--was basically the same but for the fact that the rider is in a saddle.   Either way, it's pretty crazy. 

Uncle Cap at Work

As I watched these guys, I thought about my uncles and cousins back in Kansas who broke horses for a living.  My Uncle Cap was a gruff old cowboy who always scared me to death when I was little. I will never forget the time we were visiting my grandmother and my sister and I went to a friend's house for a little ride on their horse.  It did not go well and we both ended up falling off, Suzanne onto the soft grass and me onto the gravel driveway.  To add insult to injury, Mrs. LeFever pulled down my pants in front of her kids (including boys!!!) to see how badly I was hurt.   Uncle Capp laughed and laughed when he heard that story, which I did not think was funny in the least.  But I digress.

 There were also a number of steer-related events at the rodeo.  (They say "steer" but they were certainly not full-size, although I expect they are plenty strong.)  First there was the steer wrestling, where the steer is let out of the gate followed by the cowboy on his horse.  The cowboy is supposed to grab the steer's horns from his horse, then jump off and wrestle the steer to the ground.   One guy accomplished this is less than 10 seconds, which was pretty amazing.  Others never even got near their steer (at which point a tune like Patsy Kline's "I'm Sorry" would play over the loud speakers.)   Then there were two roping events, team roping and tie down roping.  In the team roping, one of the pair is responsible for lassoing the steer's horns and the second is responsible for lassoing its back legs.  Time is added to your score if you only lasso one leg.   You really only get one chance to rope the little guy, so if your aim is off, that's it.  I think there was only one pair that was successful in getting the horns and both legs tied before the buzzer rang.  In the tie down event, the cowboy lassos the horns of the steer and yanks it back towards the horse.  When the cowboy reaches the steer, it has to be standing and he has to wrestle it to the ground, tie down three of its legs, throw his hands into the air (like at the end of a challenge on Top Chef) and back away for six seconds to see if the rope holds.   A couple of guys got their steer tied down in a blink of an eye; others gave you time to drink a cup of coffee before they had them under control.  

We also saw a "quadrille," which is eight pairs of riders who do the equivalent of a square dance with their horses, and the "calf scramble," where children up to the age of 12 are invited into the corral to chase steer around and try to pull the kerchiefs from their tails.  This looked kind of dangerous to me but lots of parents let their little ones--many wearing toddler sized cowboy boots--out for the fun and most of them even ran in the right direction (which is more than I can say for my nephew's little league football games).   At this point, Jay had had about all the fun he could take, so we left before the barrel racing and the bull riding.

All in all, this was quite an entertaining way to spend an afternoon.   It just goes to show that Southwest Florida really does have it all!

If You Build It, They Will Come

This is my mantra these days as we're getting our volunteer tutor program up and running at the Adult Learning Center.  Right now I feel a bit like Sisyphus with his boulder as we make small bits of progress towards helping our adult learners work more effectively towards achieving their educational goals.  Last week we ran three mini-tutor training sessions for our new tutors, one for teaching math, one for teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and one for teaching reading to adult basic ed students.  It was quite a bit of work to train a handful of new tutors, but overall I think it went well.  

One "highlight" for me was spending three hours in a dark hallway over a hot copy machine photocopying, collating and stapling the materials for the tutors.  (Where is that assistant when I need one?  Oh, right, I am now in the non-profit world where we don't have such luxuries!  Next time, though, I am going to go to a different location where I can at least work with a copy machine that will do the collating and stapling for me!)    An actual highlight was giving the training session myself on teaching reading to adult basic ed students.  I thought that the woman who taught the math portion was going to do this as well but during her session she kept saying things like, "I'm looking forward to hearing what Nanette has to say about working on reading tomorrow night." or "I don't have many reading resources so I'm interested in what Nanette has put together."  Thank goodness the reading session wasn't the first night or I definitely would not have been prepared!  

I find that I am quickly getting over any sort of fear about speaking in front of people and it is actually a lot of fun to share ideas with tutors about working with their students.  I remember how intimidating the prospect was to sit down with my student for the first time.  Not having any training as a teacher--or as a parent since most people have at least worked with their kids on their school work--it was scary to have someone sitting across from me looking for the answers.  In fact, when I went through my training at Literacy Volunteers of Union County to learn how to tutor, I actually became more concerned with each session that I was getting in over my head.   So, one of my goals is to help people come up with a solid plan for their first session with their student.  The primary objective is to get to know one another a bit and lay the groundwork for working together.  I am looking forward to talking to the new tutors to find out if we were successful.

I am now on to matching tutors with students, which is quite a complicated task.  I have not quite figured out the best way to do it but have created a form for our students to fill out that has information about their schedule, interests and goals.  I am lucky to have instructors who can work with their students to complete the forms (and who will be available as a resource to our tutors!)  Again, I am quickly developing a greater appreciation for the work that larger literacy programs like LV-UC do in putting tutors and students together.  They train 30 people at a clip.  I only have eight tutors to match and it is a bear to coordinate schedules and preferences of the tutors.  We have 30+ ESOL students who want to work with a tutor and only four tutors who have expressed an interest in working with an ESOL student.  I am fortunate to have one tutor who has experience teaching ESOL (he volunteered with an English language immersion program in Costa Rica) who is going to take on a group of eight beginning ESOL students.   That still leaves me with a bunch of students who have been told about the possibility of having a tutor who are going to be disappointed, and that's only on the ESOL side.    

This is where the "if we build it, they will come" mantra comes into play.  Although there aren't a huge number of new tutors getting started, we are actually doubling our tutor base.  (This sounds much better!)   Once we have a system in place for training tutors and matching them with students, we can spend more time getting the word out about the need for tutors for our adult students.   If we make the experience a positive one for the tutors--by providing resources and support and the occasional opportunity to socialize with the other tutors and instructors--hopefully their friends and family will want to get involved.  And as the "season" here in Southwest Florida starts to wind down, the schedules of our year-round residents will free up a bit so I'm hopeful that we will be able recruit a few more people to the tutor ranks before I head up to Nova Scotia in June.   Wish us luck!   

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

Ever since we bought our home in Nova Scotia, people have asked me if I've read The Shipping News by Annie Proulx.   This question makes me laugh.  The Shipping News is set in Newfoundland which, although a Maritime province, is definitively not Nova Scotia.  I say this with great confidence notwithstanding that all that I know about Newfoundland is that (i) it's supposed to be very beautiful, if isolated, and (ii) when you forget to pull your fenders up on your boat after you leave the dock, people say you're acting like a "Newfie."   (Our friend Paul, who is from Newfoundland, does not like this one bit.)  Nontheless, the book has been on my "to read" list for a few years now, so I finally gave it a whirl.

Let me say at the outset that I hate the way this book is written.  Proulx frequently writes in incomplete sentences and her sentences that are complete are often awkward in the extreme.  It's almost like she's writing in a dialect.  (Maybe books about the Maritimes lend themselves to being written in dialect.  Rockbound, the 1928 work by Frank Parker Day about life on Iron Bound, is another example.)    On the first page of the book, she introduces us to Quoyle, the protagonist:  "Hive-spangled, gut roaring with gas and cramp, he survived childhood; at the state university, hand clapped over his chin, he camouflaged torment with smiles and silence."   It took about all I had in me to persevere after that beginning, but over time the story grew on me and I found myself wondering what was going to happen next.

After a few chapters that set the stage for Quoyle's move with his two young daughters and "the" Aunt from upstate New York to Killick-Claw, the story -- and Quoyle -- settle in to life in Newfoundland.   Quoyle has made his living writing for a paper although he seems to have no talent to distill a story into the kernel that people will find of interest.  (The exception is when he thinks about his personal life, which he does in headlines, never in a flattering or happy way.  For instance, Stupid Man Does Wrong Thing Once More or Man Lukewarm on Ancestral Home Way Out on the Point.)   He manages to get hired by the Gammy Bird, a weekly newspaper put out by a bunch of old timers who punctuate their sentences with a pirately "Yar" from time to time.  Quoyle is given the job of writing about the shipping news, an ironic assignment for someone who doesn't know how to swim and has never been on a boat.   I had to laugh--ruefully--at one conversation between Quoyle and a colleague about boats.  "You may think that the equation is 'boat and water.'  It's not.  It's 'money and boat.'  The water is not really necessary..."  Over time, Quoyle expands his beat from reporting about the ships coming into port to tell the stories behind the vessels, which he writes about with a newfound elegance.

The characters in this book are characters in the truest sense of the word.  They are unlike any people I've ever encountered (with the possible exception of the folks who run Munsey's Bear Camp in Kodiak, Alaska).   Their resilience and self-sufficiency is remarkable and is exceeded only by their eccentricity.  But just when you least expect it, a pearl of wisdom will turn up.  At one point, Quoyle is worried about his daughter Bunny who suffers from nightmares and seems in a world all her own.  Quoyle talks with the Aunt about his concerns, who tries to assuage his fears by saying, "I agree with you that she's different....but you know, we're all different though we may pretend otherwise.  We're all strange inside.  We learn how to disguise our differentness as we grow up.  Bunny doesn't do that yet." 

Proulx entitles each chapter with the name of a knot and gives a short definition.  The knot that she's chosen cleverly anticipates how the story will unfold in that chapter.  Take for instance Chapter 3, which is entitled, "Strangle Knot."  Per the Ashley Book of Knots, "The strangle knot will hold a coil well. . . .  It is first tied loosely and then worked snug."   You can imagine that the events in Chapter 3 were not an occasion for celebration.

The story meanders about until it comes to a fairly natural stopping point.  I was ready for the book to end and to get on to something a bit more conventional.  In the words of the reviewer at the Boston Sunday Globe, The Shipping News is "strikingly original."   It won both the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 1993 National Book Award for Fiction.  I can understand the acclaim, but this doesn't make it a fan favorite with me.   Maybe this is one instance when I should have opted for the movie version (starring Kevin Spacey as Quoyle, Dame Judi Dench as the Aunt and Julianne Moore as "the tall and quiet woman".)   Time to update my Netflix queue!

Whoo Is It? The Burrowing Owls!

Punta Gorda is full of wildlife that I wasn't accustomed to seeing in the Northeast.  (Come to think of it, I basically never went into any natural habitat in NJ, so if an animal didn't come onto the golf course, I wasn't going to see it.)   I've heard people mention the "burrowing owls" that live in Punta Gorda Isles but never had actually seen any until a couple of weeks ago.

First, let me say that you do NOT want to have burrowing owls on your property.  They are a "species of special concern" in Florida, which "warrants special protection...because it has an inherent significant vulnerability to habitat modification, environmental alteration, human disturbance or substantial human exploitation which, in the foreseeable future, may result in it becoming threatened."  The bottom line is that if burrowing owls are on a piece of land that you own that has yet to be developed, you had better hope that they are tucked away in a corner of the property or you are out of luck.  In fact, I just heard that some people who are building a house around the corner had to reduce its size by 2200 square feet in order to avoid disturbing the owls. They were not happy campers.   (I did some research and according to Wikipedia there is a "passive relocation" program for burrowing owls that takes a period of months, but I haven't heard of that being tried here in PGI.) 

Having said that, these owls are pretty darn cute. They are about four inches tall and have brilliant yellow eyes.   They live in burrows similar to those dug by prairie dogs.  When my friend Maggie and I came upon them, they were cleaning each other with their beaks.   We found out that if you get too close to the owls' home, they make a hissing noise and spread their wings.  You can tell by the second photo that they are pretty intimidating--lol.  

That's it from Bird Central here in Punta Gorda.  Keep your eyes peeled--you never know what you'll see out there!