Pine Island Music, Art, Lots To Do

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Friday and Saturday (before our departure from Pine Island) were amazing = it was raining; and since we both still work - Friday was a good "catch up" morning for client stuff - then the Flea Market in Fort Myers - which has a very invigorating mix of cheesy (ACTUALLY FUGLY if you catch my drift) and cool stuff - we got fresh fruits and veggies and a few things to further enhance our lives like special cloth dusters and things to make it easier to maintain plants when one isn't home to do so herself! Back in Matlacha, we stopped at Julie's, an amazing, not to be missed Art Gallery that we had missed on Art Night, and had delish "Queenies Home Made" ice cream at Great Licks. We ate "at home" from the amassed collection "styrofoam jungle" in our fridge and hied ourselves to the Friday Night event at the club house at Pine Island RV Park (newly named "Encore" / known formerly as KOA! What a treat on Friday night - a band composed of Pine Island RV Park residents and visiting musicians made us so happy - we sang along to songs from Mustang Sally to Amazing Grace (with a 95 year old harmonica player taking the lead); including Ghost Riders, Dicky Dicky High, Wake Up Little Suzy, Good Night Irene, and listened to an amazing accousitc guitar rendition of Beethoven's Fir Elise (which I actually once could - sort of - play on the piano). As children, we always love the Berl Ives song - "Big Rock Candy Mountain" and a man from Kentucky did it great justice, albeit a different, but satisfrying, version, at the jam tonight. We usually are too busy for the "activities" at the "parks" we stay in ... but this was fun! On Saturday we caught the Yard Dogs at Woody's, their high energy, irreverent beach and Cajun mix was a great way to say bye, bye Pine Island and Woody's grouper Po' Boys were yum! Pine Island has great bike paths, hiking trails through preserves, great wild life(human and animals), museums, and fun "fund raising events like a duck race, mullet toss, mayoral election (votes tallied by number of 25 cent beers each candidate has credited to her), painted utility pole contest (very cool local artists show their stuff), bibycle poker run and more. Sunday was a travel day across Florida to Jensen Beach. Lots of agriculture and sadly lots of rural poverty.

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Photos

The Yard Dogs at Woody
Kevin plays the Rhumba Box, looks like a suitcase with fun stickers on it, and "keys" played like a thumb instrument - Kevin plays wearing work gloves and a beer bottle is perennially in his left hand.

The Jeep at Ice Cream Stop
Great Licks has home made Queenies ice cream - delish - the Jeep really fits right in to
Southern Florida!

Singing Ladies of Pine Island
This trio was such fun - sang a spoofy & loopy - rendition of Harry Bellafonte's Deo with the refrain - "Kaopectate and I Wanna Go Home!" One of the "costume accessory pieces" involved some TT rolling out from under a skirt!

Boys in the Band
- Friday night at the KOA Club House

Eden Vineyards
We ran into some agri business as we traveled between Fort Myers on the Gulf Coast to Jensen Beach on the East (Atlantic) Coast. Sugar cane, oranges, beef, corn, and more.

The Body Shop
There is a body shop at the Fort Myers Flea Market - you can leave your battered vehicle off while you shop the flea market and it will be like new when you return.

A "fugly" but fun aspect of Florida
The Flea Markets must be taken with a grain of salt and a discerning eye - we came - we saw - we bought!

Pine Island Art Poles
Like the horses of Saratoga, cows of Chicago, rockers of Ballston Spa, etc., Pine Island has enlisted its artists to paint some of the utility poles. People get to vote on their favorite pole.

Comments

[Kay]

Your descriptions make us jealous---and longing for warmer weather. BUT pictures are just black squares on my screen! What am I doing wrong!!??

[D MJ Binkley]

We love Pine Island
We have some good friends who used to live on Pine Island. They sold years ago after the hurricane-- they were lucky that nothing happened to their property.