We went to the local Dragon Boat Festival in at Wooten Park Tavares. We had errands to run later in the day so we were mostly interested in seeing the opening ceremonies. Particularly the Taiko drummers. They were amazing and we videoed some of the performance. You will have to excuse the people walking in front of us. The video is long so skip to the middle when the drummers really start getting down.
When entering they stamp your hand with a dragon and then you can wonder around the different tents. Viewing the teams or checking out the vendors. Or the big tent with tables where the drummers were and then you can also lay out a blanket and picnic while watching the boats race.
We decided we wanted to see those drummers and headed straight to the big tent with tables.
Dragon stamp
Dragon
Dragon's head
Friday the first day they have a big ceremony with fireworks and everything. We always seem to miss it. But I think next year we will try to go to the ceremony before the races so we can see the dragon moving.
Famous train from O' Brother where art thou?
We had followed the train tracks in and didn't miss seeing the famous Tavares train the Orange Blossem Cannonball. If you come to Tavares you can ride on the steam powered train that was in all the movies. It's a lot of fun. The Planes, Trains and BBQ will be going on in a few weeks and we will put some pictures from inside the famous train up.
One of the teams getting ready to go.
The dock for the dragon boat racers to start is right in front of the gift shop which looks more like an old Florida beach shack.
Our spoiled dog with his lei around his neck.
It's not that our dog is fat or out of shape. He thinks he is a Chihuahua and he gets scared and wants to be carried. It's really quite a site because if we don't pick him up he will get behind us and start jumping up and down smacking us on the butt then people start starring. So, it's just better to carry him. Also some times he will be shaking just like a Chihuahua. But the Dragon Boat festival is definitely dog friendly.
Boat's all lined up.
And they are off!
The race is on!
We decided to walk out on one of the docs to get a better look at the boats. And we found a little gator hiding in the grasses.
Baby Gator!
Hiding from the commotion of the race.
Walking the dog on the doc.
The lady behind me has a real chihuahua and he did not like Reese.
There were a lot more boats to see than just dragon boats. Recently Tavares put in a lot of extra docks and there were all kinds of boats parked around.
Party barge or gator tour? It didn't have any info so I'm guessing it was someones private boat.
Also think this was someones private boat. It was a neat one.
Pick me up!
This boat would be great to camp on.
This boat was floating four pallets lashed together behind it. His own private floating party dock.
We also saw plenty of sea planes in the sea plane city. For a small fee you can even catch a ride with one of these guys. An air tour of the town.
Sea plane! Circling for a landing.
We realized we had to head back and finish our errands. So we walked back toward the new Lakeview Inn and our car.
You can see the two new Inns right across from the lake. Boy they look like the place to stay.
We were all getting hungry even our little friend.
Lunch just ahead!
We followed the tracks back to our car.
Live band at Al's out back BBQ. No time!
Was that the cannon ball?
Our faithful hound stiffed every car before finding ours.
Ruts we left after getting the car unstuck from the sand.
It's finally Spring! Or is it? Every time we think "that's the end of winter" we get hit with another frost. But I am hear to announce it is officially finally spring and with 100% certainty because I have seen the signs.
We have babies!
We have a family of baby cranes living down by our lake.
They are very protective and wont let us get any where close at all. This is about the best picture I could get. Notice how dad shows the chick how to forage for food.
It's such a beautiful sight to see among the spring wild flowers.
One parent always keeps and eye out while the other eats. If they think there is danger they make a loud warning call.
They don't stray too far from the taller weeds. and once they are in those weeds you can't see the babies at all.
Another sign that spring has sprung are these tiny little purple flowers.
And this strange plant.
The cabbage patch is looking good. We will be up to our armpits in cabbage in no time.
I also had a picture of a snake that I think the cranes killed but for some reason it will not let me add the picture so sorry you can't see the dead snake. These cranes are good for aeration of the lawn and getting rid of grubs and other bugs but also I guess they are snake killers.
Dead snake that the cranes killed.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter! And a great spring.
Husband and I went to start up the old rototiller and found it dead. So with shovels in hand, we dug what we thought was a pretty good size patch for our garden. It was about half the size of last year but we thought it would be adequate. Then I planted all the cabbage that we had started and nope. It turns out it was only large enough to be a cabbage patch.
Just a cabbage patch!
We planted red and white cabbage. We found last year it grows pretty good in this area. I don't know about my yard... where nothing grows but we are going to try. We've got about 12 plants. That's a lot of kraut.
Red and white cabbages.
We also started squash and radish and lettuce and sunflowers and some black eye Susan's. The squash is growing strong it wont be long and it's got to be in the ground too. So I hope we can get the old rototiller to work before then.
These will need to be planted soon
These guys come visit us and our little pond just about every day now. I don't know if they have a nest out there in all those marshy weeds or not. It sure will be neat to see some baby sand hill cranes walking around in a month or two.
First we had Valentines Day and then the husbands birthday and ending with Presidents Day. Not sure what your suppose to do for Presidents Day but my plan it to put some of the plants in the ground for the garden. A couple of weeks a go we started seeds in peat pots and now I've got all sorts of seedlings coming up in my starter pots and I've got some really nice sized cabbages, that I bought already started that have to go in the ground. The cabbages are by the back door because of a chance of freeze. When my dog wants to go out he jumps up and down at the door. He sort of landed on them this morning so... I hope they aren't too damaged.
Seeds being started.
A couple of these guys came by to wish husband a happy birthday. Then the dog chased them off.
This is becoming a family tradition. For the last couple of years we go to the Art festival. We have a great time walking up and down the streets looking at all the art, listening to all the music and collecting as much free stuff as we can get away with and then coming home to eat a fancy fest, with dainty little sandwiches and quaint deserts. There are around 250,000 people who attend the festival every year so you never know who you will run into. A lot of people we know go but we rarely run into them unless we call first and find out where to meet up.
As a disclaimer. These photo's are my property any copy of them or use of them must be accompanied by written permission from me. Many of the artist do not allow photo's and if I snapped one by mistake I apologize and will be glad to remove from this blog.
The Husband's camera phone photo. You can see the slope of the road. And why it is called Mt. Dora.
Lot's and lot's of people this year. The weather was just perfect. The high was 70 and sunny.
This is the featured painting that was used for the festival promotion.
Festival flyer.
The Husband being Kermit the frog next to a giant man made fossil of an actual lilly pad.
not sure what this was but it sure stood out.
I loved these glass bowls but the Husband didn't so much. Guess each art lover loves different things.
We both loved this. So whimsical.
My eye was drawn to this burst.
And then I found another burst.
There was a lot of sculpture. Some of which we didn't get but still found it interesting to look at.
These tables are amazing too bad they are soooo... much.
Most booths the artist wasn't to far away.
My best fish face.
I really liked these. Not sure if they could be used for serving food on. But my fancy fest would look great on this as a platter.
The Husband really liked this crystal sail boat.
There was a lot of beach themed art. This boat was nice.
This face was captivating.
Fairy's, humming birds, dragons and the Husband.
This guys sculptures were amazing!
We loved everything he did.
So did the judges.
These glass sculptures were fun.
The Husband really liked this one
Me and the judges really liked this one. All glass.
We decided to check out the historic train. And later got a free print of it.
Not exactly sure if this is stained glass or what but the photo didn't do it justice. Very pretty. I don't know if I could just leave it out side though.
This guy decided to have a garage sale. What a location for it.
Chris called this bedazzled art.
Here is his old nemesis. With rhinestones.
Hey alligator.
There were all types of art and all mediums. There was a lot of jewelry which I did not seem to get photo's of.
For the kid. It's a Nor wall!
Once again I loved this stuff and the husband didn't get it at all.
Nice vases.
We stopped for a break and listened to the Tavares High School jazz band.
After the festival we have a tradition of having a fancy feast. And yes those are chocolate truffles.
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