Some new development going on here? Or what? Does this sign apply to the football and other nearby fields? Enquiring minds want to know.

I mean, of course, the suggestion that high-speed rail, as in Europe, mentioned by our President when he was in Europe I thought because his teleprompter told him to say something nice about Europe that they had and we didn’t, is the way to go for improving the infrastructure of our transportation system. I heard this rumor again via the radio this morning.

Well, maybe I won’t go so far as being an Obamaniac. How about being as fair to him as our friends and enemies on the left were fair to George Bush? Yes, that sounds fair. I think I’ve talked about this before. Forgive me for repeating myself. The only problem that I can see with the above map is that huge space with few railroad lines running east and west and none running north and south. I did say something about this here and also here

The map above was lifted from this article in the Washington Post, which should know what it is talking about. Who knows our President may be able to get the trains running on time once again. Oh wait a minute I think those kudos have already been handed out to someone earlier in the 20th century.

He Is Risen Indeed! Hallelujah!

Oratory in middle of central piazza

About 25 miles to the east of Naples and Fort Myers, really a long way out in the boondocks, there is a new town going up. In Florida that may not be such big news but this town is being built around a new university rather than a golf course or a riding stable or even an airport: a new Catholic university called Ave Maria. This is the first new Catholic university in the USA in about 50 years, a dream that Thomas Monoghan, of Domino’s Pizza fame, first imagined into being along with the Barron Collier family of Southwest Florida. The latter provided the land and Monoghan provided much of the money.

From the altar end

From the balcony looking toward the altar

That oratory has some distinctive architecture, reminding me of a lovely stone-trimmed missile silo on first glance. Then, when you walk around it a little it starts to grow on you, especially when you go inside. It is still unfinished as is most everything around here.

The university now has about 600 students, not sure how many it will eventually support, though the Wikipedia article on the town mentions 5000.

I will be home to Billings soon. Have they started playing baseball there?

One of those things to do is to go fishing. In the Crystal River area, a little below the bend on the inside or Gulf Coast of Florida, just below the Panhandle, April 1st was the opening of grouper season. These gentlemen got their limit of two each by mid-morning.

The various parts of the Florida Coast all have their own names: e.g. the Nature Coast here in the Crystal River area, the First Coast on the other side, that is the Atlantic side from Jacksonville down through Saint Augustine, the locals put the accent on the first syllable, and so forth.

Manatees migrate to this area and they don’t move very fast and don’t have much room to move either in this very shallow but surprisingly clear water. Hence the slow motion of the boats in certain areas. Lots of birds too as you can see. Herons, ibises, pelicans, anhingas, ospreys were some of those I recognized.

We used an airboat to get around, kindly provided and ably handled by Capt Adam McCormick, of Nature Coast Outfitters. Check out their website for all they can do for you in this part of the world. We had a great time.

Spent some time in Lakeland Florida, including a baseball game at Joker Marchant Stadium on this last day of March 2009. Of the half dozen or so baseball stadiums we attended during the last 10 days this one has to get our highest accolades. They have a large parking lot right next to the park; decent seats in the shade cost only $16, and hot dogs were only $3.50! Those are very fair prices down here this spring.

The Tigers played the Washington Nationals. Both had young pitchers starting who looked very good the first time through the lineup but then the Nats started hitting in the 4th and 5th innings. We should have left at our usual time in the 6th inning as the 7th saw a ton of water falling very quickly. It was kind of fun watching the ground crew wrestle the canvas over the infield.

Lakeland is a nice old town too with a fairly prosperous downtown area, though not as well off as Sarasota and Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers. Amtrak comes through town too. This might be a good place to come back to.

Of course, most of them will be coming from the Caribbean and various colleges.

The picture above left was taken at an Oriole game in Fort Lauderdale earlier this month.

Actually now that I think about it for awhile there must be various Legion and Little League players warming up right now in Billings, bad weather and all. I know because I saw some of them trying out at Urbaska Field before I left. Now there was a guy, Fred Urbaska, dying way too soon.

Can you taste the pretzels to the right?

There is a marvelous collection of paintings and statuary collected by the youngest Ringling brother, John, who died in the 1930s, and given to the state of Florida on his death.

It is located in Sarasota in the midst of a university campus and a splendid repertory theatre,  a little Shakespeare with The Winter’s Tale, and some Moliere, a play by Steven Dietz and maybe some others that I have missed. Recommended.

We saw one of Steven Dietz’s plays at the last: The Invention of Van Gogh. Of course, he played around with time as always seems to do, sometimes so quickly the characters had to change right on stage. A minor problem was that you needed a little art history to understand some of the stuff and there was a fair amount of gentle poking of fun at the post-moderns who hide out at our college campuses. Dan Donoghue was a brilliant Vincent Van Gogh. Pretty good stuff.

The top one is a David, I suppose a copy of the famous one in Florence. The one to the right is a copy of that famous ending of WWII picture in Life Magazine.

And the one to the left was in the courtyard of the Ringling Museum. Don’t know who it is by or when but I couldn’t help seeing some similarities with the one above.

If anything, the one to the left is a little more startling and eye-arresting.

This is only a small sample of the things to see and marvel at in this very nice place. The Ringling Bros Circus Museum is worth the price of admission right there.

Yes, of course, you guessed it. It is a Roman Catholic Church built about 50 years ago. The inside was only slightly better than the outside.

The priest was elderly of course, as was the congregation, and seemed to have some peculiar speech impediment which made him sound intoxicated at times.

This is a major church on Ocean Blvd in Fort Lauderdale where I have been doing a little spring break.

While walking on Ocean Boulevard in the cool of the evening earlier today I saw a number of street lights covered on the beach side. Naturally I was puzzled.

When I asked some kind looking ladies of a certain age who happened to be walking behind me they pointed to this sign pictured below.

I guess every one in Ft Lauderdale is allowed some privacy.