How to make your vote count

Let the mudslinging begin. Clinton blames Obama for holding up Michigan re-vote. Obama’s minister makes racist comments and somehow that makes it Obama’s problem. McCain goes to Jordon, gives a speech, says Iran is training Al-Quaeda when in fact they don’t. The Democrats seize the moment to attack.

Ger out your waders. You will need them. The mud fight is going to get deeper much our disappointment. Why shouldn’t we be a bit bitter? We are entitled. After all, the 2008 campaign started so well.

Strange, isn’t it? Only a few months ago a wave of enthusiasm swept the country and beyond our borders. Voters turned out in droves for primary ballots. Candidates were talking about the war, health care, housing, immigration – subjects that need solutions.

The presidential hopefuls have an ethnic and minority diversity many folks thought they’d never see in their lifetime. The voters spoke in the primaries. Left standing are Obama, an African American, Clinton, a woman, McCain, a senior citizen, and Ralph Nader, another senior citizen.

Even though the election is seven months away, we already have that déjà vu feeling – been here, done this in 2000 and 2004. Gone are the discussions of solutions to housing, health care, education. In their place – accusations, past life episodes dredged up to set wildfires, an unforgiving righteous attitude towards opponents and mud slinging taking us down to tabloid level.

But wait. Don’t drop out. Hang in there. Our votes do count. Your voice makes a difference (do you remember how close Bush and Gore were?). If you are not registered to vote, do it today. You want to be proud of America? Then step up and be part of the process. Vote in November.

Here’s a surprise. There is another way to vote. Not at the ballot box – but at stores, at home, at work and church. We vote with our pocket books. Let’s say you need legal pads and a box to store all those tax returns the IRS says you must keep for X number of years. Off we go to the office supply store.

You have choices (hopefully between the regular stuff made from virgin pulp or products made from recycle paper. The other day I picked out recycled legal pads and a recycled cardboard box. I cast a vote and made a difference.

The cash register went Ka Jung. And deep in corporate America a green light went on. A recorded voice said “Customer bought two recycled products, paper and boxes. Buy more. Restock.”

Okay, I made that scene up. But it is happening. I’m seeing recycled products in places like Staples that NEVER had them a few years ago. In my area of Florida, the Publix grocery stores have tripled their organic products. Now, if they would just embrace free trade . . .

And you vote with your daily actions in combination with your wallet. Want to save Mother Earth? Start at home. At my home the light bulbs are all changed from incandescent to florescent. I took a class on rain barrels and have one, full of water, in the back yard. My clothes are drying a clothesline instead of sucking up power by using a clothes dryer. Reduced pressure on resources. It matters!

Many people are doing their research and then voting with their pocketbook and lifestyle changes. These votes affect our future, just like researching the political candidates then picking the one to lead us for four years.

While the political scene gets muddy, the personal scene gets clearer. Everything is connected. We make choices every day. Vote with your wallet. Vote for Mother Earth. It is the green thing to do.

Lucy Beebe Tobias is a writer, photographer and artist in Ocala, Florida. Her book 50 Great Walks in Florida was published by University Press of Florida, February 2008.

You are invited to book signings in Ocala and Gainesville, Florida

You are invited to book signings for
50 Great Walks in Florida by Lucy Beebe Tobias*

* Sunday, Feb. 10, 2 – 4 p.m.
Barnes & Noble, 3500 SW College Road (SR 200), Ocala

* Wednesday, Feb. 13, 6:45 – 8 p.m.
Marion County Public Library, 2702 E. Silver Springs
Blvd., Ocala. Slide presentation/book signing
Sponsored by the Friends of the Library**

* Thursday, Feb. 14, 11 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Books Inc. & Book Lovers Cafe, 505 N.W. 13th St.
Gainesville

* Saturday, Feb. 16, 8 a.m. – noon
Silver River State Park,1425 NE 58th Ave. (Baseline),
Ocala. Pancakes in the Park ($5), walks, book signing
Sponsored by Friends of Silver River State Park

* Sunday, Feb. 17, 2 – 4 p.m.
Chelsea Coffee Company, 3217 E. Silver Springs Blvd.
Ocala

* Thursday, Feb. 21, 12 – 1 p.m.
Bag it at the Brick. Bring a brown bag lunch to
MCA, 23 SW Broadway St., Ocala.
Slide presentation/book signing

* Friday, Feb. 29, 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m., Primary
Oven, 306 Southwest Broadway, Ocala

* Books at all events. Cost: $24.95 plus tax = $ 26.50
** Checks & cash only at this event

Pancakes at your table, then wildlife and nature

Breakfast. Just hearing the word conjures up images and aromas for me of coffee perking, turkey bacon on the grill, eggs scrambling, pancakes sizzling. You can tell I love breakfast any time of day. Apparently I am not alone in my admiration.

At The Old Spanish Sugar Mill grill and griddle house located inside DeLeon Springs State Park, breakfast is served all day until 4 p.m. Who needs lunch? Well, they have sandwiches and salads too but breakfast is the most popular item on the menu.

Here’s why: Every wooden dining table has an electric griddle embedded in the middle. You can make breakfast right at your table. And people of all ages come from north, south, east and west to do just that. Pancake batter is brought in big pitchers to your table. You pick from five different flours, all stone ground on the premises with their French buhr millstones. Pancake breakfast is $4.50 per person, sides are extra.

Pour and flip. Add blueberries, peanut butter, pecans, chocolate chips or apples. Cook sausage, bacon, ham and eggs on the side. Order homemade breads. Did I mention bring an appetite? Good idea. Plus dial yourself in leisure mode. Gear down. Turn off the cell phone. Put the watch away. No need to hurry. Linger. Cook one more pancake. Have an extra cup of coffee. Enjoy this unusual experience.

You look out the restaurant windows and see a lovely natural landscape – DeLeon Springs. Flowing spring water was the power source for the sugar mill built back in the 1800s. After breakfast, make this your next destination.

DeLeon Springs is without question a beautiful place and always has been. Native Americans agreed. They started coming here at least 6000 years ago and lived at the springs and the spring run area. Two dugout canoes found in the spring area date back to 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, making them two of the oldest canoes ever found in America.

In 1821 the United States acquired Florida. This area was called Spring Garden. Col. Orlando Rees bought the spring property in 1831 then planted sugar cane and built a mill to make sugar. Just four years later the Seminoles destroyed the mill and plantation.

Thomas Starke bought the plantation and built a second mill in the 1840s. He converted the mill to grind corn. Along came the Civil War and the Starke plantation produced food for Confederate troops. Northern forces seized the area in 1864 and demolished the mill.
By the late 1880s the area hosted recreation, becoming a resort area, and farming became a thing of the past. In the 1920s the spring was damned to become a power source.

Once again the mill was rebuilt, this time as a tourist destination. Even with all the changes, the bricks and kettle are original to the mill built in the 1840s. Peter and Marjorie Schwarze opened a restaurant inside the mill in 1961 and the pancake tradition began. Generations of families have come to make the Sugar Mill a family affair.

Last to arrive in the history of things was the state of Florida. The state purchased the property in 1982 and it became DeLeon Springs State Park. There is an admission fee of $5 per vehicle up to eight people.

Canoe, paddleboats and kayaks are all available for rental. Or just bring your bathing suit and try the waters. In the 1880s winter resort tourists were told the water was a fountain of youth sprinkled with soda and sulphur. That claim came from the local folklore that says Juan Ponce de Leon found the Fountain of Youth here. But then, several other places in Florida make the same claim. De Leon definitely got around. Swimmers are advised: Spring temperature is 72 degrees all year.

A water tour called Fountain of Youth ECO/History Tour is giving aboard the M/V Acuera. There are two choices, a 45-minute tour ($10 all tickets) or a 1 ½ hour tour (children $9, adults $14, seniors $12), both leave daily from DeLeon Springs State Park and go through the Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge downstream.

To work off all those pancakes, consider walking the five-mile Persimmon Trail that goes through oak hammocks, a flood plain forest and old farming lands. Or just take a short walk uphill from the restaurant to the sweet Butterfly Garden where winged masterpieces flit among a large variety of plants and vines.

By now you’ve realized that coming here is an event for body and spirit. You’ll be joining a long history of delighted guests, including Ponce de Leon. If he were still around, he’d come back for the pancakes.

This article first appeared in the January 2008 Observer. Lucy Beebe Tobias is a freelance writer and photographer in Ocala, Florida. She is the Authentic Florida expert for www.visitflorida.com. University Press of Florida has published her book 50 Great Walks in Florida. The book price is $24.95 plus shipping and tax where applicable. To order a book, contact Lucy at: Lucy@Lucyworks.com

TO KNOW MORE
• DeLeon Springs State State Park, 601 Ponce DeLeon Blvd., DeLeon Springs, Fl. 32130, phone (386) 985-4512. Web: www.floridastateparks.org
• Old Spanish Sugar Mill (inside state park), phone (386) 985-5644. Hours: Monday through Friday, 9-4; Saturday, Sunday and holidays, 8-4. Web: www.planetdeland.com/sugarmill
• Fountain of Youth ECO/History Tours (inside state park), phone (386) 837-5537. Web: www.foytours.com

When the sun goes down, light displays go up

When the sun goes down during the holidays a number of nearby cities and parks light up, sometimes in quite spectacular displays.

St. Augustine, the nation’s oldest city, celebrates with Nights of Lights. It begins in mid-November and continues every night until January 31, 2008.

“This is our fourteenth year,” said Jay Humphreys, communications director for St. Johns County Visitor and Convention Bureau. “We have two million lights. People hear that and say ‘oh, that’s overwhelming’ but then they come and everyone agrees it is very tastefully done.”
The lights, all two million of them, are tiny white electric lights. The tiny lights have a historical refection.

“During the First Spanish Colonial Period (1565-1764) the Spanish settlers in St. Augustine would put a single white candle in their windows,” said Humphreys.

While Nights of Lights is a free event, the effort of parking in historic downtown St. Augustine used to be an iffy issue. Those days are gone.

“There is no parking issue. We have just opened a 2,000-space parking facility behinds the Visitor’s Center. It is well done, the style is Spanish architecture,” Humphreys said.
The address is 1 Cordova Street, St. Augustine. Parking is $1.25 per hour with a maximum daily rate of $7.50. The facility is open 24-hours a day and personnel are always on duty.

Mayor Rick Baker of St. Petersburg threw the magic switch on November 23 to light up on twelve different holiday displays in Straub Park. The park is located on Bayshore Drive between Second and Fifth Avenues. The waterfront holiday display lights up every night until January 1, 2008.

Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo puts their plants in a whole different light with Illuminated Gardens. This free holiday experience started November 22 and continues nightly from 6 to 10 p.m. through January 3, 2008.

Family-themed nights called Friday Nights and Garden Lights take place on Friday, Dec. 7, Friday, Dec. 14 and Friday, Dec. 21. These nights have free music, refreshments and children’s activities from 6 to 9 p.m.

At Silver Springs Attraction in Ocala the Festival of Lights started on selected days in November and continues December 7-8 then December 14-30 from dusk to 8:30 p.m. Admission after 4:30 p.m. is $12.99 for adults and $8.99 for children ages three to ten.
“It is a wonderful time for families to come visit the park together,” said Steve Specht, Silver Springs Marketing Director. “The natural attraction during the day is transformed at night into a winder wonderland.”

In addition to lights and neon scenes, there is a Lighted Boat Parade nightly along with carolers, community choirs and musical stage shows.
Train buffs will want to stop at the Pavilion Gift Shop and see the holiday display of a 38-foot-long HO gauge model train set with two trains running through miniature scenes of a 1950′s Florida town.

Rainbow Springs State Park in Dunnellon welcomes Santa and Mrs. Claus who arrive by pontoon boat nightly on Dec. 7-9. Thousands of lights decorate the headwaters of the Rainbow River. Santa Over the Rainbow run from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 7-9. Santa and Mrs. Claus will also be at the park on Dec. 14-16. December 21, 22, 26 and 27 the park is open from 6-8:30 p.m. for lights only event. Entrance fee is $1. Children ages five and younger are admitted free.
‘Tis the season to be illuminated. Go forth and enjoy.

This article first appeared in the Observer, December, 2007.Lucy Beebe Tobias is a freelance writer and artist living in Ocala. Her book 50 Great Walks in Florida can be pre-ordered from www.upf.com. The publication date is February 17,2008.

CONTACTS FOR LIGHTS
• St. Augustine. Web site: www.getaway4florida.com, phone: 1-800-OLD-CITY
• St. Petersburg. Web site: www.stpete.org, phone Parks Department (727) 893-7335
• Florida Botanical Gardens, Largo. Web site: www.pinellascounty.org/events, phone (727) 582-2247
• Silver Springs Attraction, Ocala. Web site: www.silversprings.com, phone (352) 236-2121
Rainbow Springs State Park, Dunnellon. Web site: www.floridastateparks.org, phone (352) 465-8555

Dive into Tarpon Springs

By Lucy Beebe Tobias
TARPON SPRINGS – Two pieces of history sit about a mile apart in Tarpon Springs – the Sponge Docks and downtown. A red trolley connects the two. For a dollar each way, or three dollars for all day, you can ride back and forth between the historic Sponge Docks and historic downtown. Both areas are very walkable.

Get a free walking map of Tarpon Springs at the Tarpon Springs Chamber office (727) 937-6109) downtown at 11 Orange Street and also at the Chamber’s Visitor Center, a small white building at 100 Dodecanese Boulevard at the Sponge Docks.

In the late 1800s wealthy northerners began migrating to Tarpon Springs in the wintertime. Victorian homes rose up several stories tall around Spring Bayou. Tarpon Springs incorporated as a city in 1887.

One of those winter visitors was the American landscape artist, George Inness Jr. His large religious paintings are on display at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tarpon Springs (727) 937-4682, 230 Grand Boulevard, from October through May.

Seven blocks of downtown are listed on the National Register of Historic Places Restaurants, antique stores, coffee shops, art galleries, a winery with wine tasting, a cultural center, a cathedral and a train station with a museum are all in the downtown area.

The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Depot (727) 943-4624), 160 Tarpon Avenue, built in 1909, is restored. Inside the Depot the Tarpon Springs Historical Society Depot Museum is open for tours Tuesday through Saturday.

Next to the Train Depot, the old railroad line is paved and now is part of the Pinellas Trail covering 38 miles from St. Petersburg to Tarpon Springs. This is a popular trail with bicyclists and hikers. See their Web site at www.pinellascounty.org/trail/gd
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral (727) 937-3542), 36 N. Pinellas Avenue, began as a small church in 1908 seating 250 people. Building of a new cathedral, a replica of St. Sophia in Constantinople, Istanbul, began in 1941. The church was consecrated on the feast of the Epiphany in 1943. Sixty tons of Greek marble went into the construction.

The cathedral is open to visitors at no cost. The stained glass windows and the ceiling paintings inside are spectacular works of art. Think of the year it was finished – 1943. World War II raged, shortages were everywhere, jobs scarce. But for Greek Orthodox families, their church is the center of their lives and this cathedral reflects the deep commitment of the Greek community to their faith and connecting the Old World with the New World.

In 1900 small sea creatures called sponges were discovered in the Gulf of Mexico. When cured and dried, different kinds of sponges have a multitude of uses. The worldwide demand was, and still is, quite high. Discovering vast sponge beds on the Gulf floor led to a gold rush of sorts, only this was a sponge rush.

Within a few years over 500 divers arrived from the Greek Islands. They brought with them mechanized diving methods – sending a diver down with an oxygen line, heavy rubber suits and lead weights to keep them on the bottom. Before that, sponges were hooked from the bottom with long poles lowered from the water’s surface.

A Greek fishing village, complete with the traditional white buildings and blue trim, sprung up on the banks of the Anclote River. It is still a working port today. Sponge boats and fishing boats are tied up the docks. Across the street shops sell the cured sponges.

Within a few blocks of the docks there are 15 restaurants serving Greek food and an estimated 125 family owned stores. Many put their wares out on the sidewalks for colorful display.
Towards the end of the Sponge Dock area is the Tarpon Springs Aquarium (727) 938-5378 at 850 Dodecanese Boulevard. Shark feeding shows are held daily.

The sponging industry has ebbs and flows. In the 1940s, a blight appeared and wiped out the beds but the sponges returned to the Gulf of Mexico in the 1980s. Most sponging is done during the summer months. During the 1920s, spongers began taking tourists out on the sponge boats in the winter season, a tradition that continues today.

St. Nicholas Boat Line (727) 942-6425) at 693 Dodecanese Boulevard, started the tourist sponge diving exhibition and half-hour round trips continue the family tradition. The diver dresses in the original equipment, goes down, finds a sponge in the river and brings it on board.

Tarpon Springs will call you back for seconds – you’ll want a second helping of everything, including Baklava, my personal favorite.

Lucy Beebe Tobias is a freelance writer, author and photographer living in Ocala. Her book “50 Great Walks in Florida”, University Press of Florida, is available for pre-order at www.upf.com. The book will be in bookstores February, 2008. This article first appeared the The Observer.