The Boathouse Oyster Bar

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The return trip to Orlando from Louisiana involved a stop over in the pan handle of Florida. Breaking up the drive made the trip much easier. This was the first time I was allowed to drive Terry’s new Porsche. I don’t think it is a good idea for me to have that much power in my hands. I revved the engine loudly on some quaint gulf-port town startling people walking on the sidewalk.

We stopped in Destin and walked along the docks. For lunch we went to The Boathouse Oyster Bar,  288 Harbor Blvd, Destin, FL. Locals refer to the place as Destin’s best kept secret. Dollar bills covered the walls. Locals crowded around the bar watching a football playoff game. Terry and I decided to sit outside overlooking the water. Sea gulls swooped down hoping to grab our lunch. I put a sketchbook over my sandwich when I wasn’t eating it so it wouldn’t disappear.

Terry was trying to identify a sea bird and an older couple next to us identified it for her. The bird kept diving down looking to catch fish. Terry wanted to snap a photo with her iPhone but the bird would disappear under water right before she could click the shutter.

Fishing

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We went on the bayou one more time, to catch fish. Most everybody had to get fishing licenses except me since I knew I would be sketching. It was a long drive to a spot down near Houma Louisiana, a town on the bayou leading into the Gulf. A friend of Clare Brown‘s brought his kayak which we tied down inside the Sea Ark. As we got close to the destination, our two car loads of people piled into a 7-11 for a bathroom break and lunch supplies.

It was a cloudy and cold day. The boat launched without a hitch. We motored to a spot where two tributaries converged. The thought was that the swirling currents would be a good feeding ground for the fish. Terry cast out and quickly her fishing pole bent. She reeled in and the pole kept bending down. She must have caught a whale! What came on board was a twisted tangle of ropes from a fishing net. Her hook also kept catching on the bottom. After several hours, Clare’s instructor actually caught a fish. It was too small to keep however. Clare’s classmate in his kayak also didn’t catch anything.

The lunch food was in the other boat, and they threw some food over when we pulled side by side in the middle of the bayou. There was cheese and crackers and some fruit. The bottom line is that no one caught any fish. Joseph Brown, being an experienced fisherman is used to the disappointment. What is important to me is that is did catch the sketch.

The Range

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Clare Brown took her parents, Terry and I for a tour of where she does her research and work on the Louisiana State University. We started in the basement where she showed us huge freezers that house thousands of tiny test tubes full of bird muscle samples. These samples are used to find the birds DNA sequencing. Another basement room was full of formaldehyde filled jars with birds inside. That room would have made a good sketch.

Upstairs, Clare showed us her office which was a tiny cubicle. About four other researchers shared the same room. On the walls of the cubicle were hints of the exotic places the researchers travel to. On the same floor were the schools art class studios and stepping into those made me feel quite at home. The hallways were full of nude figure studies. Since it was a student break, I suspect only the worst paintings were left behind.

We then went inside the LSU Natural History Museum on campus.  Large dioramas with stuffed animals inside recreated environments from natural settings. The display for birds of the word was a tight hall where stuffed birds in flight were enclosed in glass cases. Only a stuffed owl had escaped the glass enclosure and he flew up towards the ceiling. The star attraction of the museum was a stuffed tiger. The school athletics mascot is named Mike the Tiger.

Mike I was born in 1935, he was purchased from the Little Rock Zoo
with money raised by collecting 25 cents from each LSU student for a
total of $750. Originally named Sheik, the new mascot was renamed in
honor of Mike Chambers, LSU’s athletic trainer at the time, who was the
person most responsible for bringing him to the school. Mike assumed his
duties as the living symbol of LSU only three days after arriving on
campus in 1936. Mike was kidnapped by four Tulane students. He
was not abandoned, the cage was not painted Tulane green, but decorated
with green and white crepe paper. A return
was negotiated, and escorted by police, Mike was returned shortly before
the game. Mike I lived for 20 years before dying of kidney disease in 1956.When you press a button next to the display, Mike I roars.

A huge room next to the museum is known as “The Range”. The room is filled with row after row of metal lockers. Inside metal drawers can be pulled out to inspect stuffed birds from every continent. Rachel is an avid birder so this was a birder’s paradise. Terry refused to go in the range. She had been here once before and Clare showed her the stuffed Cockatoos. They reminded Terry of our pet cockatoo, Zorro, and thus saddened her. She likes to argue with her sister that cockatoos have feelings just like humans. That debate raged for our whole visit. Rachel and Joseph inspected drawer after drawer of birds. Rachel got to hold and inspects birds she had never seen before. The birds plumage remains vibrant and bright and if kept as they are they will last hundreds of years. Some specimens are already that old. They say the eyes are mirrors to the soul. These birds eyes were missing. Cotton hinted at what filled their inner void.

Hotel Lobby

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We spent Christmas day in Baton Rouge Louisiana. Clare Brown‘s college professor invited several students, who couldn’t go home for the holidays, over his house for a lavish Christmas Dinner. Clare’s parents, Rachel Lawson and Joseph Brown as well as Terry and I were invited as well. After dinner the professor showed Clare a blow dart weapon he had picked up on his travels. The blow tube was perhaps three feet long. The darts were lethal metal with a plastic disk expansion at the end. He put a cardboard box across the room as a target and raised the tube to his lips. He exhaled quickly and the dart ripped through the box leaving a tiny clean hole. Students in his class study ornithology and they travel the world looking for exotic birds. One of their tasks is gathering specimens and that means cleanly killing birds.

Apparently Clare is rather good at killing, documenting and properly stuffing the birds for display. Using a gun to kill a bird would result in a highly damaged specimen with a large hole ripped through it. Nets capture most birds which are then killed by hand. Clare described one gruesome situation in which a bird just wouldn’t die.  A quick clean kill is preferred to reduce suffering. Clare took a turn with the blow dart. She missed the box. Terry, who had once been a professional French horn player, wanted to test her chops. Sure enough all those years of blowing into a horn payed off. Her dart ripped cleanly through the center of the box. There was talk of darting the foot high Santa statue but the fun was stopped short by the level headed.

We ended Christmas day in the lobby of the hotel. Clare discussed the premise of her thesis research and Joseph seemed intrigued to use the population estimate theories to figure out how many Sock eye salmon migrate to the rivers of Washington State each year. The more varied the genome sequencing in an animals DNA, the larger the population. So with a rather small sampling of genome sequences it could be possible to estimate a species population. 

On a different note, Rachel gave me a stuffed animal monkey whose arms are made of rubber. He has a red cape and if you wedge your fingers in his hands, you can pull his legs and tail to slingshot him into flight. The first time I did it I was shocked when he screeched loudly as he arched in flight. This was definitely a memorable Christmas present.

Weekend Top 6 Picks

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Saturday February 15, 2014

9am to 11pm. Free for spectators. The Chocolate 5k. Jay Blanchard Park 2451 North Dean Road, Orlando, FL. NR Road Racing presents a chocolaty good time. We are offering you a sweet treats to keep you going throughout the 5k. Yes there will still be water stations, but for those of you with a sweet tooth, you can also have a little piece of joy. Enjoy a family friendly three mile course with your friends, family, and other choc-aholics strangers. Doesn’t matter how fast or old you are; everyone is welcome to participate and join in the fun!

1pm to 3pm. Free. Family Days at the Maitland Museum. Maitland Art Center 231 Packwood Ave W, Maitland, FL. Families will enjoy making Jasper Johns style flags together as they learn about this unique artist. Families are encouraged to stay and enjoy the A&H museums after the program concludes. Family Days at the Museum is held on the 3rd Saturday of every month, and each program is held in a different location within the A&H Museums. Join us for this afternoon of family fun!

6pm to 11pm. $25 Nude Nite. 639 W. Church St. (Large Blue Warehouse) Orlando, FL. The largest nude art show in the
country. Since 1996,  Nude Nite represents a new class of art show
inspired by the original inspiration, the nude. A nouveau art event
showcasing hundreds of fresh and sophisticated works and performances to
quicken the pace of your heart. Held annually in both Orlando and
Tampa, Florida the 3 nite visual event you don’t want to miss.  Visit http://www.nudenite.com or Become a fan at the Nude Nite Facebook page or keep up with NN on Twitter @nudenite. This is one event I never want to miss.

Sunday February 16, 2014

2pm to 4pm. Free, just grab a beer. Got Game? 😉 Red Lion Pub 3784 Howell Branch Rd, Winter Park, FL. Poker, board games, card games, Twister, etc. If you have a particular game that you want to play, bring it. I have poker chips, Scattergories, Scrabble, Pictionary, Fact or Crap, a question game (can’t remember the name), Uno, and a few others. Don’t have Twister anymore (you don’t want to know why, trust me). Oh, and feel free to bring your pet. ♥

5pm to 9pm. Free, but get some food! Orlando Food Truck Bazaar. Orlando Fashion Square, 3201 East Colonial Drive, Orlando, FL. A parking lot full of food trucks! http://www.thedailycity.com/2011/05/thedailycitycom-food-truck-bazaar.html

9pm to 11pm. Free. Comedy Open Mic. Austin’s Coffee: 929 W Fairbanks Ave Winter Park, FL.  Free comedy show! Come out & laugh, or give it a try yourself.

Whiskey River

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Terry and I had been to Angelle’s Whiskey River once before. When we returned to Louisiana this is the one place Terry wanted to share with her niece Claire Brown. This Cajun dive bar can only be found by driving over a dirt road over the levee. Terry’s iPhone apple maps sent us in a round about way through trailer park suburbs. Finding the dirt road was tricky because it forked back making it impossible to see the sign from behind. There was a five dollar cover but the band played tirelessly hour after hour.

Whiskey River is a ramshackle place built on stilts right next to the river.  The floor is just plywood planks and the place shutters when everyone is dancing. The band ironically was the same group Terry and I danced to last time we were there, called “Gene Delafose and French Rockin’ Boogie.” This weekly Cajun dance hall was once again packed. The dance floor was always full for every dance number. Older gentlemen in cowboy hats knew every Cajun dance move and the whisked a new woman around the dance floor for every number. Terry danced with several men who spun her ceaselessly as I did this quick sketch. For some dances, everyone knew to dance in sweeping circles clockwise.

Men lined up to dance with Claire and one asked her for her number, but she has a boyfriend. When the sketch was done, I joined Terry on the dance floor until we were both exhausted. Huge fans cross ventilated the dance floor but with so many heated bodies the place was hot despite the cold temperature outside. The dance floor would always empty the second the band stopped playing. Terry was the one person who wanted to remain on the dance floor waiting for the next song to begin. She loves Cajun music. We even had a Cajun band perform at our wedding. My family seemed confused by all the dancing but Terry’s family danced the whole time.

By the time we left we smelled like cheap beer and cigarette smoke. The fans kept the air breathable but the smoke seeped it’s way deep into our jackets. Claire offered to wash our winter jackets at her place and the next day we smelled squeaky clean.

Sea Ark

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One of Clare Brown’s instructors offered to take us out on his boat.The Atchafalaya River was perhaps an hour drive from the Louisiana State University. The river has thousands of islands and inlets making an easy place to get lost in. It was incredibly cold as well. The boat ramp was under a highway overpass, making a less then ideal natural setting to start. Once we lost sight of the highway however, the river was gorgeous. Everyone had binoculars. Clare is working on an ornithology Theseus. Terry like to bird watch when she is around experienced bird watchers. I’m sure she added some life birds to her list.

Clare was seated next to me with her little dog, so they didn’t make it into the sketch. Clare was baby sitting the pup, so she had never taken the him onto a boat, and was a little afraid that he might jump in the water. He knew better. When the boat traveled at top speed the wind whipped right through my several layers. When we traveled at top speed, my gloved hand got wet when the bow spray caught me by surprise, so I had to ditch that glove. I just kept blowing into my drawing fist to keep it working. Terry and I aren’t used to this kind of cold, but we survived. Periodically we cut the motor and everyone looked for movement in the trees. Birds were everywhere. As the sun set, the light grew golden illuminating the tree tops. As it grew dark the temperature dropped quickly. Luckily we got off the river before it got too cold. What a great way to discover the Louisiana Bayou.

Christmas Eve Bonfires

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On Christmas Eve, the Mississippi levies in Louisiana have over 100 teepee shaped log structures that are ignited creating a ten mile long series of bonfires. Different families are responsible for building and igniting their bonfires. Building these structures is a family tradition that has been passed down the generations. Cane reeds are added inside some of the structures. The cane reeds explode when on fire acting like a poor man’s fireworks. Of course many fires also had fireworks inside. The homes near the levee had tents set up and large spreads of Gumbo to share with neighbors.

Claire Brown drove her parents along with Terry and myself to a parking spot a few blocks away. We walked to the levee and got there just as they were all ignited. It was a freezing cold night and I immediately started sketching as everyone else explored. When my fingers got to cold to move, I walked to the nearest bonfire to warm my hands and then I would go back to work. Huge professional grade rockets were being fired into the air only a few yards from me. It felt like a war zone. Traffic along the levee road was bumper to bumper with the red brake lights blazing.

Someone unfolded a long sheet of black plastic creating a trail down the steep slope. Children were given cardboard sheets that they could use as sleds and they barreled down the hill. The cold breeze blew the embers from the fires over the Mississippi river. Teepee bonfire structures began to fold and collapse inwards. Orange embers floated up to the star filled sky. This was truly a once in a lifetime experience. It is worth a trip to the Saint James Parish to experience it first hand.

Drive to Louisianna

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On December 21st, Terry and I left for Baton Rouge, Louisiana to visit her niece Clare Brown who is studying Ornithology at Louisiana State University. Terry just purchased a Porsche Boxster that looks a bit like a shark with its black gill intakes and sleek styling. This was the first long road trip for the car she now calls Enterprise. There is no storage available in the passenger area although the fold out cup holders came in quite useful. The interior is surprisingly spacious considering this is such a compact sports car. It is a convertible, but the cold temperatures guaranteed that the roof stayed up. Terry handled the entire drive which took us all day. The temperature dropped drastically when we got to the Florida pan handle. A nice feature of the car is that the seats can generate heat if needed. That feature felt so good when we got back from a pit stop.

The school colors for LSU are purple and yellow, so Terry fit right in with her purple hair when we arrived. Clare took us to a nice Cajun restaurant on the campus and later, Rachel and Joseph, Claire’s parents, joined us. From the hotel, Terry and I hiked to the LSU book store where we hoped to find some warmer clothes. We were ill equipped for the frigid temperatures. Scarves and gloves were insanely expensive however so we braved the weather in out spring denim jackets and sweat shirts. Terry had warned me but I didn’t listen.

Clare has a quaint run down shack on the wrong side of the tacks right off campus that she shares with her boyfriend. Of course after a long day on the road, Terry and I were quick to crash in the hotel room.

Third Thursdays

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On Thursday December 19th, I went downtown for Third Thursdays. On the Third Thursday of every month, all the downtown galleries open new exhibits. At the City Arts Factory, artists rent wall space. In the large courtyard between The Rusty Spoon and Urban Flats, Brad Michael Biggs rents out spots where artists can set up a table to sell their wares. Brad is the founder and owner of Art for All Spaces. Parker Sketch, who is a regular of the street sales scene, had a large display of his splashy pop imagery. In the past Parker had his work on display in the Thornton Park neighborhood on Third Thursday.

A young couple had a table full of tiny steam punk party top hats. There was an entire table full of paintings of bright boxy robots. A glass display case full of jewelry had a huge canvas poster behind it of a couple making out. Arts and crafts of all shapes and sizes were on display.  When the sketch was finished, I hiked back downstairs and ended up photo bombing a family photo.  On the way out, I passed Dresden Kincade‘s handmade jewelry. All her jewelry is handmade using wire and natural minerals. My wife Terry’s favorite color is purple and I saw a lovely Amethyst crystal necklace that she would love. On impulse, I bought it. Dresden wrapped it up along with a card describing the crystal’s powers. If it had the power to bring a moment of happiness it was well worth it.

Mark your calendar, the next Third Thursday is February 20th from 6pm to 9pm or so.