We've heard from a number of people about the closing of the Citrus Festival. The articles in The Ledger and News Chief both quote Winter Haven officials, Citrus Festival officials, and local residents.

However there is one group that we haven't heard from. The citrus industry. After all, it's their festival. I use the word 'their' loosely here. They seem to be conspicuously silent in this matter?

Add a Comment

So the Citrus Festival is no more......I'm not saddened by the loss. How about you? Will you miss the 'fair'?

Add a Comment

Funny, but also somewhat sad.

Add a Comment

Saturday, February 23, Polk Museum of Art hosted its annual black tie benefit event, The Gala. And believe me, the night lived up to its theme: Floating Away on a Perfect Florida Evening. Sure the weather was a little drippy to begin with, but who cares when you're having such a great time?

This year's event Chairs, Steve and Carol Boyington (pictured left with Lynda Buck and Museum Board of Trustees President Steve Buck), along with The Gala Committee, planned a fantastic party for the nearly 300 people who attended. With real trees scraping the 16 foot ceilings, and beautiful moving skyscapes projected onto cotton "clouds" overhead, the atmosphere was set.

I was there, as usual, with my camera in hand to document the event. As I worked through the crowd, I kept hearing over and over again how great the event was and how much fun everyone was having. And the food? Incredible! The event was catered by Black Tie to Barbecue, and they proved what pros they are because not only was the food great, but the service was amazing as well.

So congrats to the Boyingtons and committee for putting on such a great party! And congrats to Polk Museum of Art for another successful Gala! It truly is one of the best parties in Central Florida.

Add a Comment

Growing up I can remember one of my favorite things about going to the doctor was talking to the pharmacist, Dr. Frakes. He was a nice man and pretty much knew everyone that walked into his store. I hadn't experienced his level of service until recently when I went to the Publix pharmacy.

Let me interrupt my story first by sharing with you how I got switched to Publix. I had been a Walgreens customer since I went to college and could have my prescriptions filled at any Walgreens from Las Vegas to New York City. This was quite a convenience but came at a cost of customer service. My last straw was when I has my wife's Z-pack antibiotics filled at Walgreens. A Z-pack is a small package of 6 pills that the pharmacy simply needs to stick the label to and hand to you. I was told at 10AM that it would be ready at 12 Noon. Seemed about par for the course. I returned at 1PM, waited in line of 6 cars for 30 minutes, making it 1:30 when I got to the window to be told that it wasn't ready yet. I asked that since I had waited in line for such a long time if they could just grab the medicine for me, no luck. We returned at 6 PM (time spent NOT getting my wife better) to finally pick up the medicine. The next week my son caught what she had and was put on antibiotics as well. This time I went to Publix, who filled it quite quickly and to my surprise FREE! I had heard about the free antibiotics program Publix had started, but never got to experience it.

Back to my original story, this weekend I fell to what appeared to be the same bug the rest of the family had. By the time I got out of the First Care center, it was 6:40 and the Publix pharmacy closed at 7. We rushed over to see if they could fill it for us (not being very hopeful, but definitely not wanting to go back to Walgreens). The lady was very friendly and said "of course" and we were on the way home with my meds in less than 5 minutes! WOW, what a difference! Needless to say, we've switched our other prescriptions over to Publix now.

Add a Comment

If you regularly read news and articles online (you're reading one now) and haven't used RSS feeds yet, why not? Its a very simple way to keep track of your favorite sites, read posts, and stay informed!

I use Bloglines as my RSS reader of choice. Some others include Google Reader, My Yahoo, and Newsgator.

These are the RSS feeds that are currently in my "Local" folder, if you have any additions or suggestions, please comment:

Continue reading "Local News Feeds" »

Add a Comment

I tried to look up the cost of a single business phone line on Verizon's web site. Here's what happened:

Add a Comment

After the blogger meet-up last night I spent some time in downtown Lakeland taking some night photos. Here's what Munn Park looks like to a fish.

Add a Comment

Last Friday night, February 1, a crowd gathered at Polk Museum of Art to celebrate Judy Barger's retirement after 21 years at the Museum. The highlight of the evening was the unveiling of a photograph by Florida artist Jerry Uelsmann. The piece, called The Philosopher's Desk, will be housed in the Museum's Permanent Collection in honor of Judy's years of dedication and service.

Judy has been a fan of Uelsmann's work for many years, and when she officially retired at the end of December, Daniel E. Stetson, the Museum's Executive Director, told her that funds had been donated to puchase a piece in her honor. He asked her for a list of artists or pieces that she found appealing. It was from that list that the Uelsmann was selected, but Judy was unaware of which piece was chosen until the unveiling.

Jerry Uelsmann creates photo composites by layering negatives and manipulating them in the darkroom. He has been creating his surreal images for over forty years -- and long before Photoshop was even invented! He is considered one of the best artists in his field, and Judy is thrilled that one of his pieces will be in the Museum's Collection in her honor.

Add a Comment

Great to see such a large turnout for the blogger meet-up tonight at Black & Brew in Lakeland. I had to use my fish-eye lens to get everybody in the photo (joke). Actually I couldn't fit everybody in.

Add a Comment