Romeo the Whooping Crane, Homasassa Springs State Park, FL

Romeo

Romeo the whooping crane became a bit of a celebrity this year. He was part of the migrating population that comes down from Wisconsin, but he fell for one of the Springs' year round boarders, named Peepers. Whooping Cranes mate for life, but Romeo lost his mate to a bobcat, and Peepers caught his eye.

Lu the Hippo at Homosassa Springs State Park, Florida

Lu the Hippo

Lu short for Lucifer was a Hollywood movie star in the 1960s, and Lu picked Homassasa Springs Florida as a retirement spot. Since State Parks can only have native inhabitants, former Governor Lawton Chiles made Lu an honorary citizen when the State bought the Park in 1991. Generally hippos only live forty or fifty years, but Lu already surpasses that landmark birthday. He was born at the San Diego Zoo, and turned 52 on January, 26, 2011.

Azaleas at Bok Tower

Bok Tower Gardens

The Book Posse headed to Lake Wales to visit Bok Tower Gardens, a National Historic Landmark. The Posse enjoyed the acres of flowers, tranquility and communing with nature. They also enjoyed the ice cream and the weather. But mostly they enjoyed not hearing the constant hum of traffic.

In the spring the azaleas are starting to bloom along with the magnolias and camellias. The Gardens cover about 50 acres. They were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted from 1924 -1928.

Visitors can thank the vision of Edward William Bok; because of him this piece of land has been preserved and the tower built. It stands 205 feet tall. Construction started in 1927 and was completed in 1929. It weighs about 5,550 tons, and is built of steel, marble and coquina, a type of limestone containing shell and coral fragments.

The tower’s bells play carillon music several times a day. It has sixty bronze bells ranging from sixteen pounds to over eleven tons. It plays a full concert at 1:00 and 3:00 pm as well as tunes on the hour and half-hour. Sit by the reflection pool, listen to the music, and watch a pair of swans frolic in the water.

The tower is located on one of the highest points in Central Florida, around 300 feet above sea level. There is some debate as to whether it is the highest point or the second highest point, but regardless, the vista from the hilltop is one of the grandest in Florida.

The Gardens sit on an ancient sand dune system called Lake Wales Ridge. The ridge itself sits on top of an iron deposit. The sand and soil display a reddish tint from the oxidized iron.

The Window by the Pond exhibit and the Pine Ridge Nature trail offer an opportunity to observe animal life. The Window overlooks a manmade pond, and provides bird watching opportunities. Along the Nature Trail the Posse spotted gopher tortoises, a raccoon and various reptiles. The Gardens are part of the Great Florida Bird Trail.

Edward William Bok (1863-1930) immigrated to the United States from the Netherlands at the age of six. He edited the Ladies Home Journal from 1889-1919. He won a Pulitzer price for his autobiography The Americanization of Edward Bok (1920).

We can thank Edward Bok’s desire to preserve Earth’s beauty making it available to others and for the existence of Bok Tower Gardens. They offer a beautiful place to visit, relax, and step back to a more sedate time.

Books for Valentine's Day

There may have been as many as three men named Valentine martyred by the Romans prior to 300 A.D.  Pope Gelasius recognized them by officially declaring February 14^th St. Valentine's Day. It wasn’t until 1381, that Valentine’s Day became associated with the holiday of amour. The grand master of words, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Parliament of Fowles to mark the engagement of King Richard II and Anne of Bohemia.

While there is little evidence the martyred Valentines were overly romantic, a pagan celebration of fertility, Lupercalia, also occurred in mid-February. As time passed the two celebrations became one. In 1969, Pope Paul VI removed St. Valentine’s Day from the Roman Catholic calendar, but this didn’t stop people from celebrating.

Readers may choose to skip the crowds at the restaurants and movie theaters, and spend the evening celebrating with a good book. Here are a few ideas for the romantics and non-romantics.

A couple of romantic classics include Gone with the Wind and Pride and Prejudice. Margaret Mitchell won a Pulitzer Prize for her story of love and the Civil War in Gone With the Wind. Scarlett O’Hara wants the man she can’t have and loses the one she needs in Mitchell’s historic tale. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice explores romantic love and familial duty through the eyes of the five Bennet daughters as their mother negotiates matches and marriages for them.

Try a combination of fantasy, adventure and romance in The Princess Bride by William Goldman. The story features pirates and giants, a kidnapped princess, and a dashing hero. For the adventure lover, there’s plenty of swordplay and battling evil on the high seas, and for the romantic love conquers all.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger combines the paranormal with love. The hero, Henry Detamble travels back and forth through time, meeting his wife, Clare, at different times and ages throughout their lives. More intriguing is Niffenegger’s use of point of view, moving smoothly between the stories of the protagonists and creating a complex story of love and “what if.”

For the historical fiction fan The Outlander Series by Diane Gabaldon feeds the love of history and the romantic at heart. Jamie and Claire Fraser were born two hundred years apart yet found a timeless love in the Scottish Highlands. Gabaldon entwines time travel with authentic historical events and likeable characters into a story that will make the reader laugh and cry at the same time.

Have a happy Valentine’s Day, and enjoy a good book.

The Christmas Chronicles, by Jeff Guinn

For the Holidays, I read The Autobiography of Santa Clause in The Christmas Chronicles by Jeff Guinn. The Chronicles are a collection of three books that also contain How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas and The Great Santa Search. Guinn writes three humorous 1^st person narratives of the history of Christmas.

Guinn did excellent research in writing the stories, and provides a historical perspective on Christmas from about 30 A.D. to the present. He introduces us to famous and influential figures along the way. I found the early sections of Santa’s autobiography especially interesting when he tells us about Christmas and Christianity during the Roman Empire.

I also liked the way Guinn intertwined famous characters, writers and other Christmas stories into his tale. We get to meet King Arthur, Attila the Hun, Ben Franklin, Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Santa Claus helps Charles Dickens write A Christmas Carol. Guinn also shows the influence of Washington Irving and Clement Clarke Moore in shaping the legend of Santa Claus in the United States. However it wasn’t until Thomas Nast’s artwork that we got our visual image of Santa Claus.

Overall I enjoyed the Autobiography of Santa Claus, but the story could have been improved by the pace and tone. To quote the writer’s mantra, “Show, don’t tell.” In my opinion, Guinn did too much telling. The book had too much first this happened, next we did this and so on. He used a lot of passive voice in the telling. A few more action verbs would have improved the story.

Dennis Lehane, Shutter Island

In Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island, he exhibits mastery in the use of description. He makes the scene visible to the reader by creating pictures with his words. The reader visualizes Shutter Island and the Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. The reader explores the island facilities with U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule in their search for answers regarding patient Rachel Solando.

In a scene from the early part of the book, Teddy and Chuck ride the ferry from the mainland to Shutter Island. A beginning author might write, “They approach the dock.” Lehane wrote it, “The dock appeared as if by trick of light, stretching out from the sand, a stick of chewing gum from this distance, insubstantial and gray.” Aspiring authors could learn from Lehane’s prose.

The reader soon learns the story contains more than a schizophrenic missing murderess. It also contains deceptive twists and turns, and psychological thrills and suspense. The story scares the reader by illuminating the degree to which the mind deceives itself, and questions the reality of our own existence.

Like many of Lehane’s books, Shutter Island takes place near Boston. Lehane grew up in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, and attended high school during the Government’s mandatory desegregation program. He grew up in a tough part of town during a troublesome era. Many of his characters come from working class neighborhoods and his stories pertain to social issues.

In Shutter Island, Lehane asks the reader to question the moral and ethical treatment of the criminally insane. Do the rights of the innocent victims demand cruel and unusual punishment of the guilty, and what determines cruel and unusual?