Dali Museum Revisited

Most people have been shown this picture at some point and asked what they see--a young girl or an old hag.  Try as I might, I can only see the young girl.  Last week at The Dali Museum in St. Pete, I went through a similar challenge while viewing Dali's "Hallucinogenic Toreador."  But first, a bit of background.

Maggie, my friend and bridge partner, came down from Rochester for a visit so that we could play some bridge in a tournament in Sarasota and do some exploring.  After a somewhat frustrating morning session, we decided to take the afternoon off and head up to The Dali Museum.  Both of us had been to the Museum before but felt that the collection was worth a second look.   

The first thing we discovered upon our arrival was a cool "Avant-Garden" area that I missed entirely on my first visit.   Maggie was a cooperative visitor, posing with a sculpture of Dali's signature moustache and other displays in the garden.  Then we were off into the Museum proper.  

We opted for a docent-led tour and it made the experience wholly different from my first visit when Louise and I wandered through on our own.  Docent wannabes study for six months and have to pass four tests before they graduate to interacting with the public, so you can imagine how extensive their knowledge is.  We learned that Dali's inclusion of grasshoppers in many of his paintings is a reference to when he was bullied as a child, with grasshoppers being put down his shirt and squished.  (Yuck!!!  That's enough to make anyone a bit twisted!)  We also learned that his wife, Gala, was a cougar both before and after their marriage, prowling for young men to provide some excitement.    Gala's prey included Manolete, a young Spanish matador who is featured in "Hallucinogenic Toreador."  

Frank, our docent, covered approximately 30 paintings during our one hour tour so we just got snippets of information about most of the works.  He spent a good bit of time, though, on three of Dali's 17 "masterworks" that are on display.  (In order to be considered a "masterwork," the painting has to measure at least five feet in each direction and have been worked on for over a year.)  After hearing about Gala's dislike of bullfighting (if not the bullfighters!) and how how the colors of the painting are references to the Spanish flag, our guide pointed out  the dying bull and the matador that are hidden in the painting.  I could see the bull immediately, but the matador eluded me.  (When Dali was creating the painting, it was on display in a gallery in New York with an illustration called "How to See the Toreador" that matted out the irrelevant areas. That would have been of great help because telling me that the green cape is his tie; the breast of the Venus de Milo is his nose; etc., etc. just wasn't getting me there.)  I eventually gave up and decided to leave it for another day.  We were lingering by the painting when a security guard approached us and asked if we could see the matador.  I confessed that I couldn't, and he made it his mission to help me see the hidden figure.  As we tried from different angles, I was getting a bit embarrassed and contemplating saying I could see it so that I could make my escape when the toreador suddenly became visible.  A loud "aha!" escaped from my lips.  Victory!!!  

Aktar (the guard) then led us back to a painting which we had previously viewed entitled, "Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea."  He asked us if we saw Lincoln in the painting.   Of course we did as there is a small painting of Lincoln's head in the lower left quadrant of the picture.   He asked Maggie to turn her back to the painting, hold up her sunglasses, and look into them.  From this angle, the entire painting becomes a portrait of Lincoln.  Astonishing!   We were equally astonished at how much Aktar knew about the painting and how much enjoyment he took at showing us the hidden aspects of Dali's work.  It turns out that he was a civil engineer and army major in Pakistan before he came to the United States and that he was the person at the Museum who discovered the trick of seeing Lincoln in the painting through the use of a convex surface.  (The Museum's management told him to mind his own business when he suggested that a convex mirror be installed for the benefit of museum-goers viewing the work.)

Our visit to the Museum was great fun, and we agreed that it is worthy of more visits in the future. With 80 docents on staff, there are a lot of different perspectives to hear about the collection.   After checking our watches, we realized it was time to head home to rest and rejuvenate for more adventures.   Another successful outing was in the books!


Postscript:  If you're interested in reading about my first visit to the Dali, just click on the "Art" heading of this blog and scroll down to the post from February 13, 2011.   As you'll see, it was like I visited a totally different museum!  

Kayaking with the Manatees

When I was growing up, I remember watching  TV commercials for Save the Children with spokeswoman Sally Struthers.  For a small donation, you could help a child in a developing country.  You would get a picture of the child and could become pen pals with him or her.  (As I'm writing this, it strikes me how quaint that all sounds.  Watching commercials rather than fast forwarding through them? Writing physical letters?  Those were the days!)   You are probably wondering what the possible connection could be between kayaking with manatees and Save the Children.  It turns out that when my friend Susan was growing up in a little town in Ohio, she saw an ad for the non-profit organization Save the Manatees (co-founded by Jimmy Buffett and then-Florida Governor Bob Graham) and "adopted" a manatee.  Just like with Save the Children, she got a picture of "her" manatee, but I don't think they became pen pals.  Susan was obviously destined to live in Southwest Florida, and even more obviously couldn't pass up the Groupon offer to join Manatee Guides on a kayak adventure.  

You can tell that Tim is the
 shy and retiring type! 

Manatee Guides operates out of two locations--Manatee Park in Fort Myers and Lovers Key near Estero--depending upon where owner and guide Tim Martell thinks you can get the most sightings on a particular day.   Susan and I joined him last Friday at Manatee Park on the Orange River for our outing, and it was a blast.

Before we hit the water, Tim started with a kayaking tutorial,  the first I've ever had.  After going over the basics--wide grip on the paddle, wide feet to maintain balance--he talked about the importance of not leaning over the side of the kayak to get a better look at the manatees.  The objective of the day was to kayak with them, not to swim with them!  (After he told us about the aquatic parasites that live on manatees and how they can get into your system if you come into contact with them, I was all in favor of staying safely on top of the water!)  Then we were off!

Once we got underway, Susan started singing an old camp song that I had never heard.  "My paddle's keen and bright, Flashing with silver, Follow the wild goose flight, Dip, dip and swing."   We probably could have come up with a funny adaptation for manatee watching, but by the time she was through with the song we were in the "manatee zone" and had to focus our energies on spotting our prey.  It didn't take long before we realized that there were manatees swimming all around us. They have air holes like dolphins, so if you sit patiently and listen, you can hear them come up to breathe.  Since a full-grown manatee weighs around 1000 pounds, I wasn't sure that I wanted one to surface near me--and I certainly didn't want one to come up for air under my kayak!  So I was perfectly happy watching from a bit of a distance as the manatees' tails and hairy looking backs broke through the water.

While we were floating around, Tim gave us some manatee fun facts.   As Susan learned at a young age, manatees are endangered.  The manatees we were sharing the Orange River with were of the West Indian species, and there are between 3200 and 4900 left in existence.   Manatees in captivity (like at the Mote Aquarium in Sarasota) will live approximately 65 years; in their natural habitats, their life expectancy is reduced to 25 years due in part to encounters with boats.   Manatees generally travel between five and seven miles an hour (so they can travel the 22 miles from the Gulf to where we were in a morning's time).   They ARE in fact hairy, and the whiskers (vibrissae) that sprout from their snouts are attached to nerve endings and are put to use while scavenging for food.

After hanging with the manatees for a while, we paddled up the River, stopping at a number of "education stations" along the way.  (Tim is a Florida naturalist and was eager to share his knowledge with the group.)   The most memorial tidbit that he shared is that Spanish moss is part of the pineapple family (if you can figure that one out, let me know!) and was used for stuffing car seats, pillows and mattresses until people realized that the moss carries pesky little insects known as chiggers.   (As someone pointed out, they might have been the original bedbugs!)

The day really was about the manatees, though, and it was lots of fun. Neither Susan nor I was successful at snapping a picture of a manatee surfacing so we had to settle for having out photo taken with this landlubber near the gift shop.   We headed home quite satisfied with our outing and with little manatee Christmas tree ornaments to remember our adventure by.   Keep an eye on Groupon for your own opportunity to kayak with the manatees.  Manatee Guides was named one of Groupon's top 25 businesses in Fort Myers, so Tim will be periodically offering discounted tours to Groupon subscribers.  He told us that he actually prefers the Lovers Key location because you often see dolphins and turtles and other wildlife while you're on the water.  Maybe I'll see you there!  

Chocolate Festival 2012

When I talk with people about our work at the Adult Learning Center,  I like to start with a couple of basic facts.

• The functional illiteracy rate in Charlotte County is approximately 18%.  
• Thirty percent of the adult basic education students in our program read at or below a third grade level when they walk through our door.
• Since the Florida Legislature mandated last July that adult ed programs charge tuition, enrollment in adult education across the state is down 38%.   

The need for a vibrant adult literacy literacy program in Charlotte County is clear.  After a few months of reduced enrollment, Leslie Isley (director of the Adult Learning Center) realized that we had to make a choice.  We could either raise money for a tuition hardship assistance fund or we could continue to turn prospective students away for economic reasons and struggle to find money to permit established students to continue their studies.  The decision to hold a fundraiser was not a hard one when faced with those options, and the result was Chocolate Festival 2012.

Cake Concepts' Table

The Festival had a tropical theme to add some visual stimulation to all that sugar.  As people walked through the heart-festooned trellis, the first thing they saw was Cake Concepts' gorgeous table.  In addition to providing 450 fabulous cupcakes, Lynn took the Best Decorated Table competition seriously and her tiered chocolate cake with a floral design was a knock-out.  (And yes, they won the award, along with second place for Best Chocolate Treat.)   

Brazilian Chocolate Mousse

 Finding over 15 vendors to participate in the Festival was no mean feat.  Leslie knocked on a LOT of doors, learning a lot about the civic-mindedness (or lack thereof) of local businesses along the way.  I was thrilled when the Isles Yacht Club agreed to participate.  When you have lunch at the Club, you get a complimentary plate of cookies at the end of your meal.  When I approached IYC, I mentioned how good the cookies are and that I was hoping it wouldn't be too hard for them to bring something like that to the Festival.  Randy Madsen, Food and Beverage Manager, said that they could do much better than that (an  understatement if I've ever heard one!)  Randy was up until all hours of the night making his Brazilian Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry Infusion, and walked away with the prize for Best Chocolate Treat.

Margarita Truffles

The final competition was for Most Creative Chocolate Treat, and Charlotte Technical Center's Culinary Arts Program won the award for its margarita truffles.    Since we have several former students in CTC's culinary arts program, we were particularly pleased to see them do so well (plus the chefs-to-be were very cute decked out in their white chef coats and hats.)

Of course, the tutors and instructors from the Adult Learning Center had our own table, and we have some great bakers in our midst!  We might not have won any of the official prizes, but we certainly had the largest selection of any of the tables!   My voice was hoarse by the end of the afternoon after saying to many of the approximately 400 guests,  "We have Ghiradelli chocolate cookies, Grand Marnier truffles, peanut butter chocolate bars, fudge, double chocolate brownies with fudge in the center, chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips, red velvet bombs, etc., etc. What strikes your fancy?  And thanks for supporting adult education!"

My personal box of treats!

At the end of the day, we raised approximately $6,000 in cold hard cash and--we hope--a much greater awareness about the need for adult literacy programs in Charlotte County.  With tuition rates of $30 per trimester for students who have been Florida residents for at least one year and $120 per trimester for all others, these funds will help a lot of students.  And Festival-goers walked away with a box of chocolate treats that should tide them over well past Valentine's Day.   What can I say?  It was one sweet event!  

Some Enchanted Evening, Compliments of the CSO

It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but I had never heard of the famous composer/arranger/conductor Annunzio Paolo Mantovani until last year when Maestro Wada announced that the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra would be the first orchestra to perform a full concert of Mantovani's music other than the Mantovani Orchestra.  So, while I was looking forward to the concert, I honestly had no idea what to expect.  With each piece of information that the CSO released about the evening, I became more and more excited.   And I have to say that the "Best of Mantovani" brought out the best of the CSO and Maestro Wada, making it my favorite CSO concert to date.

As always, the evening began with Katherine Caldwell's pre-concert lecture, which focused on Mantovani's life and career.  It was particularly interesting to learn that when "Monty" decided to establish his own orchestra with its centerpiece of 28 strings, he wanted to create a "signature" sound for his music.   With the assistance of creative arranger Ronald Bilge, the "cascading" sound of the violins that you hear in many of his pieces (the first of which being Charmaine) was created. After telling the audience about Monty, Caldwell put the audience to a "name that tune" contest and told us a bit about the movies and plays that featured many of the songs from the evening's performance.   It was great fun and created a lot of anticipation for the music we would be hearing.  Then it was show time!!!

The program featured 20--count them, 20--songs spanning the scope of Mantovani's career.   The evening was a wonderful mixture of classical and pops music, and I'm frankly shocked that people were not dancing in the aisles (although, with the overcapacity crowd, that definitely would have been a fire hazard!)  The concert opened with Strauss' Overture to 'Die Federmaus' and Francis was practically waltzing as he conducted the piece.  We were off to a great start!  It's hard to say what my favorite pieces of the evening were.  I tried to take some notes during the concert but I was swept away by the music so they aren't as detailed as I might hope.  I scribbled that Till There Was You from the musical "The Music Man" was "stunningly beautiful" and that concertmaster Stewart Kitts was fantastic.   I loved the accordion throughout the evening, but particularly in As Time Goes By from "Casablanca."  Next to Hungarian Dance No. 5, all I've noted is that it was fabulous (really, does one need to say more?)  One of the most unexpected numbers was Cielita Lindo which, of course, provided the basis for the Frito Bandito jingle from days gone by.  The first half of the show closed with Seventy-Six Trombones (also from "Music Man'), and my friend Louise and I marched into the lobby to stretch our legs while the orchestra took its break.

My notes for the second half of the evening are even more sparse as I resorted to making large stars by my favorite songs.   (There is a virtual constellation on my program!)  The depth of the strings was amazing in Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody, and I would be highly remiss not to mention Alan Evans' performance on the trumpet throughout the evening, but particularly in More 'Mondo Cane'.    How could you not love Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets from "Damn Yankees" (even though the Maestro proclaimed that this was the one song he had not selected for the concert!) or the fabulous and romantic Besame Mucho 'Kiss Me'? And Some Enchanted Evening from "South Pacific" was, indeed, enchanting.

Fifty years ago Maestro Wada first heard Mantovani's records and fell in love with the recordings.  He shared with the audience that having the opportunity to conduct the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra playing Mantovani's music was truly beyond has dreams.  I, for one, am glad that the Maestro dreams big!   It was a magical evening, and I left the concert feeling not only thrilled for the Maestro, but also proud of "our" Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and amazed at the wonderfully high caliber of music we have in little Punta Gorda.   I can't wait to hear what's next!
 

Spontaneity Test - Jim Morris at the Nav-A-Gator Grill

Dorrit, Susan and I have been subjecting each other to "spontaneity tests" over the last few months.  You get an unexpected call.  "Spontaneity test!  We are at X.  Can you come meet us?"  So far, nobody has failed.   I got a call yesterday from Dorrit. "Spontaneity test!  We just decided to hop in our boat and head up to the Nav-A-Gator for a quick bite and to hear a few Jim Morris tunes.  We will be back in plenty of time for the Superbowl.  Can you come?"    Having determined that the fact that I hadn't showered yet would not be an issue for this venue, I was out the door in minutes.

What a great afternoon!  We had a pleasant ride up the Peace River at 25-30 mph with Captain Bruce at the helm.  After about an hour, we arrived at the Nav-A-Gator.  Having never been there before, I wasn't sure what to expect.   "Rustic" is a bit of an understatement.  You are greeted with welcoming signs such as the one pictured here as you make your way into a courtyard area (for lack of a better word) where people have set up their own lawn chairs to listen to the music.  (Nav-A-Gator is known for its "trop-rock" and Jim Morris is the trop-rock king.)

Dorrit, Bruce and Lindy

We were lucky to find four seats at a table and settled in for some music and food.  (Perhaps anticipating the Patriots' performance in the Superbowl, Bruce wasted no time getting beveraged up.)    We managed to resist the appetizer of the day (onion battered deep fried green beans) and went instead for some hot dogs.  Trust me when I say that New York street vendors do not have anything to worry about!  Really, though, the outing was about the music, not the food, and I thoroughly enjoyed my first Jim Morris experience.

Jim Morris

As we came in, Morris was singing one of his classic tunes, "Booze is the Duct Tape of Life."  (I surmised that it's one of his classics because there was a guy at our table wearing a t-shirt with the expression.)  Morris writes most of his own music, and he has a massive following.  It was really quite hilarious--given the demographics--to see the audience bopping its collective head along to lyrics such as "Drink 'til the girls get pretty."   (As an aside, I was a bit surprised to see Morris' clean-cut, almost preppy appearance.  I envisioned at least a loud Hawaiian shirt and some facial hair.)

Kazoo Time

The last song before we had to leave was another Morris classic (with lyrics something like, "Hop on the boat, It's a Nav-A-Gator afternoon, Come on and enjoy the show") that he invites the audience to play the kazoo along to.  Bruce miraculously pulled four kazoos out of his pocket so that we could play along.  I guess that I have never played the kazoo before since I kept blowing into mine rather than humming despite Dorrit, Bruce and Lindy's instructions.  I eventually managed to belt out a few notes before the song was over (much to the amusement of those around us.)  We laughed and danced our way back to the boat, and made it home in plenty of time for me to enjoy the Giants' victory over the Patriots.  A great ending to another great day in Southwest Florida!

IYC Happenings

Work has been so busy the past couple of weeks between preparing for tomorrow's tutor training and working on next week-end's Chocolate Festival that I've barely had time to participate in the non-work events on my calendar, much less write about them.  Rest assured, though, that I've managed to fit in a few fun outings.  Here are the highlights:

Bike Ride to Webb Lake.  The featured event during the last day of my friend Wendi's visit was a bike ride at Webb Lake.  I clearly hadn't explained to Wendi that this was an IYC event because I heard her say on the phone that we were going on a ride with "a couple of people."  Yes, the ride was with 43 of my closest friends!  Dorrit and Bruce did a great job organizing the outing, and the ten mile ride along 395-acre Webb Lake was peaceful and pretty.  Wendi hadn't been on a bike in about ten years and her experience gave credence to the expression "it's like riding a bike!"

IYC's Got Talent.   When I was growing up, I took piano lessons.  I loved it at the time, but can't even read music any more.  Some IYC members have kept up their skills, however, and they put them on display at the Club's annual talent show.  Jim Griffiths' banjo playing was terrific, and I loved Marsha Carpenter's rendition of Eileen Quinn's "If I Killed the Captain."  ("...if I killed the captain, really, who would know, we're two weeks out of port, we've got one more week to go, and all that it would take is a timely little shove, how swift the course the heart may run to hatred from true love, true love, true love...")  Commodore Rick Kilmer's comedy act got a standing ovation (and only a bit of trickery was involved!)  And Courtney's steaming hot performance of "All that Jazz" brought the house down.

Cooking Demo with Chef Phillip.  The "Admirals" meeting this month featured Chef Phillip sharing his "boat friendly" gumbo recipe with the ladies.  Chef's instructions say that "[the roux] needs to be the consistency of wet beach sand, smell a bit like toasted nuts, and be as dark brown as you can possibly make it without burning.  Some Cajuns will tell you this process takes about three beers or forty minutes..."     With his toasted flour, though, it didn't take long to create a beautiful golden roux that provided the base for a chicken and Andouille sausage gumbo that the ladies greatly enjoyed.

The next few days promise to be exhausting but fun, with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra tomorrow night, the Superbowl on Sunday (go, Giants!), and final preparations for the Chocolate Festival.  The Festival is being held at the Port Charlotte Town Center Mall from 1:00 - 5:00 on Saturday, February 11th, and is being sponsored by the Adult Learning Center to raise money for our tuition hardship assistance program.  Over 15 local businesses and organizations, including IYC, will provide chocolate treats for attendees, and there will be music and raffles and chocolate making demonstrations and probably some other surprises along the way.    (To hear more about the Festival, tune into the Golden Hippo's radio show on 1580 AM on Tuesday morning around 8:10.)   It will be a fun event for a good cause.  Hope to see you there!