Jam Session at The Oaks

At times, it seemed like an American Idol audition, but without a Simon-esque judge cutting off the key-challenged singer after a few garish seconds. But most of the time it was an amazing array of talented musicians doing what they love best.

The hall was already decorated for Valentines Day, with red curly metallic streamers dropping from the ceiling and paper cupids on the restroom doors. The musicians filled the stage and then overflowed into chairs the front. There were 31 of them at the jam session last night, each with their guitar, banjo, ukulele, fiddle, or keyboard -- and, in one case, even a concertina. They took turns playing the song of their choice, with the rest of the musicians playing or not as they wished.

The opener was a woman who sang "And the Band Played On," ("Casey would waltz with the strawberry blonde...") which she probably knew so well because she remembered when it was in the Top 10. Then a woman yodeler, a succession of George Strait wannabees, and a beautiful rendition of "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" on guitar, all interspersed with serious fiddlers and pickers doing bluegrass classics. Canadian John played guitar and harmonica on "Bean Blossom Special" while the others did their best to make train noises on whatever instrument they had. Then an audience participation number -- we all sang the "Poor Old Charlie" line in the chorus of "(Charlie on the) MTA." You could almost see the snorting ghost herds during "Ghost Riders In the Sky," except they all skipped over the "Yippie Yi Yaay" part -- what were they thinking? Without a trace of irony, a portly redneck in a cowboy hat, his protruding stomach barely covered by a black t-shirt that declared, "Do Something With Your Life -- Get me A Beer" tearily sang a very long, emotional rendition of "One Day At A Time (Sweet Jesus)."

It has been fun staying at this "Music Lover's" campground, but tomorrow I am leaving for the Florida Keys and the Winter Star Party. I'll miss the music here, but not the tinkling of acorns falling on my roof!

Lawn Ornaments

Location: Bushnell, Florida

Bird baths, quizzical garden gnomes, mirrored "gazing balls" on painted concrete pedestals, ducks with propeller wings, and wooden cutouts of the backsides of country folk gardening -- these lawn ornaments pale in comparison to the mother of all lawn ornaments, the plastic pink flamingo. And if a plastic flamingo can make it big in the Lore of the Yard, why not other big tropical birds?

Snowbird roosts and seasonal RV park lots in Florida are often decorated with objects that can be described as quaint, homey, whimsical, fanciful and kitschy. That's when I'm feeling charitable. At other times, bizarre, laughable, eccentric, outlandish or perhaps just weird come to mind. So why not have a life size Sandhill Crane, one leg raised in the air, perched in the middle of your yard?

My first thought was, "if they're going to have a plastic crane, they should at least have a couple of them." But then I understood in a flash when the lawn ornament slowly blinked at me, and then set his raised foot on the ground.

It was a majestic Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) who had been standing perfectly still in the middle of the lawn, oblivious to the people fixing their roof behind him and the walkers, bikers and occasional cars on the road directly in front. Eventually he moved about 5 feet and then stopped again. He didn't seem to mind me being there, and when I finally moved off he had re-stuffed one leg under his body, and was again patiently waiting for ... whatever a Sandhill Crane stands in a yard and waits for. He wasn't telling.

A needed kick...

Sometimes I just need a kick in the you-know-where to get me moving, creativity-wise. I got that kick today at the Photoshop Seminar. The seminar was Photoshop CS3 for Photographers, taught by Photoshop guru Ben Willmore. I feel all inspired now!

For someone used to driving in rush hour traffic on the Baltimore beltway, the drive to Tampa this morning was not bad. I, however, am no longer that person, so I found it to be annoying and irritating -- especially when we all were clicking along at 70 mph, and then came to a stop for no apparent reason, only to again resume flying at a breakneck pace a short minute later (this series was repeated more than sanity would accomodate). I just kept reminding myself that I only had to do this drive once, and most of these other poor folks do it every day.

I got downtown after only getting lost once. Yes, I had the GPS on, but two highways run close together as you enter Tampa, and the GPS B*tch thought (and I use that term with a degree of charity) that I was on one moving-like-molasses highway when I was actually on a totally different, but parallel moving-like-molasses highway. When I realized my mistake, I could SEE the correct exit, but the huge cement railings did their job and kept me in my lane -- meaning I had to fight the traffic for another mile before I could turn around, most of it stuck behind a proud Southerner, his huge Confederate flag defiantly twisting and flapping from the pick-up's bed and pretty much blocking any hope he'd have of actually using his rear-view mirror as anything other than a fuzzy dice hanger. Finally, I got to the Convention Center, got parked, registered, and had a fine rest of the day at the seminar.

In addition to the great Photoshop things I found out, I learned:

• Adobe was named for a creek
• B & H photo was named for "Bertha & Herman"
• Ben Willmore is also a full time RVer!

Lizards

These little lizards hang out in the saw palmettos that cluster under the live oaks in the park. They are usually skittish, but sometimes they don't see the camera as a threat if you move towards them slowly and smoothly and don't let your shadow hit them.


Tomorrow I'm going into Tampa to attend a Photoshop for Photographers Seminar. Sadly, I'll need to set the alarm and battle rush hour traffic. I'm not looking forward to either, but I think it will all come back to me!