Go Rays!

WOW! The World Series being played right here! It's cool to see the excitement all around this area. Now if I only had a ticket...

An October Evening

The Florida Orchestra presented a "Pops in the Park" free concert on Saturday night in Vinoy Park. Earlier in the afternoon Wayne and I went to Mazzaro's to get a few things to bring along with us for a picnic. Naturally, we had to have lunch while we were there. Around 5:00 pm we walked from my apartment with beach chairs on our backs. (Nicely designed with straps to carry like backpacks, including a large pouch in the back.)

I was reminded of the Park Playhouse evenings up in Albany during the summers when we used to go to the free plays. And way back, we used to volunteer as ushers and sell 50-50 raffle tickets. The kids used to compete in the "Light up the Park" competition; one year, neon, another red, white and blue: remember, Mia? But I digress...

Yummy selection of olives . . .

There was a very good turnout. The clouds threatened a little, and it even drizzled for a few minutes about an hour before the concert was to begin. But, then it cleared out and was a beautiful evening, although probably a bit cool for many Floridians.

I practiced using the zoom on the new camera. These were taken from the spot where we were seated.

There was a booth that children, and a few adults too, could play various instruments. I made a bee-line for that tambourine, and thought I'd impress Wayne with my "Reflections". Needless to say, he was not impressed!

I caught Wayne relaxing to the following piece.

The Orchestra ended with, what else?, the 1812 Overture and fireworks. It was a nice evening to spend outside in October!

A Trip to Winter Park

Gina was in a concert at her school tonight. The Winter Park High School Performing Arts Department presented "An Evening of Jazz. Wayne and I took a trip over to Orlando after work to attend.


We ran into traffic going thru Tampa and again thru Orlando, but made it in time to get a quick bite to eat at the nearby Whole Foods market.

The concert was excellent! Winter Park has an excellent music program based on what we saw tonight and a lot of very talented students.



Gina sang one of the solos in Java Jive. The clip is attached below.






We had a wonderful evening! After the concert we headed up the street to the Starbucks for coffee, hot chocolate, and desserts!

A New Album

Well, my point and shoot digital camera has bit the dust. Display won't work, and pictures will not record. It's lasted me a good long time. I've been keeping my eye on this Nikon Coolpix P80: 10.1 Megapixels and 18x optical zoom. (My old Canon had a 2x optical zoom.) We went to Best Buy yesterday and I got it!

We took a brief walk last night around the neighborhood to try out the night pics. Lots of homes decorated already for Halloween.

These condos are near North Shore Park along Tampa Bay in St. Pete.

These shots are from Mirror Lake area, not far from downtown St. Pete.

This was the old Saint Petersburg High School, now gone condo.

Some details.

A nearby building.

There is an ice cream store in this building, but it wasn't open yet. This was taken around 10:00 am.

Then I went over to the Coliseum where an antique show was going on this weekend. Did a lot of browsing but no buying. I guess times are really rough. Many of the booths had almost everything half price. One vendor was telling me that he just made the cost of the booth, and this was the third day of the show!

Saw this apartment building on the way.

This house is near Round Lake, not too far from the Coliseum and Mirror Lake.

On Round Lake.

House for sale.

Six blocks from my apartment. I paid $3.51 last Tuesday!

Front steps of the house next door.

The old homestead taken with new eyes.

Quick Trip to the Beach

I wanted to try my camera out at the beach, so went to Sunset Beach for about an hour around 3:00 pm. Loved the zoom!

I ran into Gary and Billy, so set up my chair and umbrella next to them. It was a bit warmer than normal...felt around 90.