Blogs from Jacksonville, Florida, United States, North America - page 4

First let me say: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JENNA! We love you. We’ve spent the last five days in Jacksonville; two at Ortega Yacht Club Marina and 3 at the municipal docks next to the Jaguars’ stadium, which is called EverBank Field (Gator Bowl.) The municipal docks are free (except during events,) we just pay for electricity. It’s pretty nice, but a long way from any stores, and there is a heck of a current going past and through. There’s a lot of water going in and out of the St. Johns River here. We get rocked a lot from the wakes of passing boats. Today we were entertained by the local marine law enforcement stopping boats and writing citations for speeding in a no wake zone. The Fire & Rescue boats and the Sheriff’s boats are kept ... read more

Contemporary Art Museum of Jacksonville My first target today was the Contemporary Art Museum of Jacksonville. Some people consider it a miracle that this museum exists. Jacksonville is very conservative culturally, so edgy contemporary art is a hard sell. Somehow, it works. The museum is located in an old office building downtown. The building has been renovated to create soaring spaces with white walls and plenty of natural light. Calling the museum “Contemporary” is a bit of a misnomer. It has a permanent collection of modern art that dates back to at least the 1960s. Only a small selection is on view. It is organized thematically. Some of the themes worked better than others. One wall, for example, contained “geometric form”, which is a collection of abstract art that has nothing i... read more

Woohoo! Dec. 1st is the first day of the boater friendly half year in the south. That doesn't mean there can't be a severe storm, but the chances of the tropical variety are very slim. There haven't been any serious warnings in Florida for weeks. Now we start with the winter gales and chilly (read COLD) weather with wind warnings at night. That's only fair for December. It's strange to have a 60 degree Fahrenheit range,; more continental weather than coastal. We have had weather in the 80's one day and 20's F with hard frost warnings the next night. Hard frost is at least 4 hours below 27F. Considering our Canadian context... we are NOT complaining. Just happy when the sun shines. The diesel stove was lighted for the first time in months this week, ... read more

I am starting to call on apartments or en espanol, departamentos. I bought a calling card online - bad choice it sucked my money fast. So I went to a Mecican tienda and bought a tarjeta de llamada, y it was mucho barato and lo tiene mucho minutos. I have been emailing back and forth with this guy who lives in San Diego but has a departamento for rent en San Jose. He tells me to call his sister who speks ingles very well. But when I call on the online money sucking tarjeta de llamada, the connection is so poor, and she does not speak ingles at all. So we are trying to converse on a very static line en espanol. We ended the call with the agreement that I wil call her in three ... read more

Well, it looks like our trip to Europe is a go! The flight restrictions were lifted at 5pm EST and I just finished packing. My backpack is incredibly full and I already know I'll be shipping back souvenirs. I was debating whether or not to bring my cowboy boots which take up a lot of space, but I couldn't imagine 1 month without at least 1 cute pair of shoes, so they're packed!! Next blog will be from London (I hope). Wish me luck!... read more