Finally back to it after a layoff of several weeks. Sorry for the lapse.... but I was off having fun. Last time I wrote was around the 1st of February and there has been a lot going on since then. I'm not going to try and catch up on everything that has happened since then, at least in a day by day way, but I'll be posting photo's of some of what has been happening, and there should be some explanation's along with some of them.

   My girl friend Rima flew down on the 1st of February and we spent a couple of days here around Gainsville exploring some of the local sights. On the 4th we drove over to the Orlando area and spent the night with a friend of mine, Janet, before taking off for the island of St Croix in the Caribbean for a little more than a week. We spent that time laying on the beach, snorkeling and of course, contra dancing to the sounds of Wild Asparagus.

    We got back to the mainland on the 12th after hoping desperately that we would have out flight out cancelled like so many of our friends did who live further north of here. But alas, we made it in okay and spent another night with Janet before heading out to a couple more days of exploration. One day in St Augustine, another at the Dali Museum in St Petersburg and then a last day here in Gainsville looking at alligators and armadillos and having a night out at the local theater.

    There was a lot of fun going on, but I finally put Rima on a plane home to Virginia yesterday morning. She went back to more than 20 inches of snow blocking off the road into her house. She could get the rental car she had to hire, because no one could get out to pick her up, within a half mile of her driveway, but finally had to get out and wade through the snow for the last part. I heard they finally got the rest of the road plowed out today, only 4-5 days after the snowstorm and just in time for another storm that is suppose to come in a couple of days from now.

     I came back to the trailer last night and started putting everything back together. We had to move a surprising amount of stuff I have stuffed into various nooks and crannies just to have room for Rima's stuff. So I got all of that stuff put away and got all my dirty clothes ready to take to the laundry mat today.
Got all of it done today and put away already as I'll be moving a few miles up the road sometime tomorrow and it all needs to be stowed. There won't be any hurry to go, as I actually have a couple extra days left here if I want, having signed up for the whole month even though I knew I wouldn't need it. Made reservations at the local state park a few months back though so that is where I'll be heading tomorrow afternoon. It will be about 10 miles closer to Gainsville, and that will come in handy for going to and from the dance this next weekend, plus, it's just a nicer place to camp. In the mean time though I'm pretty much ready to hit the hay. I finished up some photo's from late January of this year when I was over on the east coast of Florida for the 'Orange Blossom' dance. These are from a trip I took over to Ponce de Leon Lighthouse. Enjoy!

Ponce de Leon Lighthouse near Daytona Beach Florida January 2014 

A view of Ponce de Leon Lighthouse near Daytona Beach
on Florida's east coast.

I think this is one of the prettier lighthouse's I've visited. 

Looking up from the bottom of the lighthouse. It kind of looks like the inside structure of some shells I've seen.

At one time this lighthouse would of had a class I Fresnel lens like this one to produce the light. This one, like most lenses of that period, was built in France and shipped over here in pieces. Weighing more than a ton, the light source was a oil, paraffin or kerosene wick that wasn't a whole lot bigger than some candles I've seen. 

I find these things to be truly beautiful.

Several sizes of Fresnel lenses from a 6th order, the little one in the middle, to a 1st order on the left. 

One last photo to show how bright a light would be if it was running. The bulb in the 6th order light is about the size of a automobile light and could be seen for several miles on a clear night.