I manage to start most days with a 10-kilometer (6.2 miles) bike ride, and I usually snap a picture or two at some point during the ride. This morning, I snapped a couple of our corner just before heading out.
I love the view from our yard. Now that the weather’s cooling off (cool for Florida, that is) and becoming less humid (again, less humid by Florida standards), I can set up my office on our screened-in front porch again.
…unlike the office, you can microwave fish with absolute impunity at home! Today’s lunch was a salad topped with leftover grilled tuna steaks from a previous dinner.
Today, October 12th, is Hug a Bassist Day! Celebrate by hugging a bass player and watching this classic Kids in the Hall skit, The Bass Player:
Here’s a video from a couple of Saturdays ago, featuring Anitra running on a giant hamster wheel that uses human power to create sno-cones:
The sno-cone-making hamster wheel is the creation of Joe Donoghue, whose company, Be the Hamster, was providing its services to the Glazer Children’s Museum’s 11th birthday bash.
If you’d like to try out the giant hamster wheel for yourself, you can always attend the Glazer Children’s Museum’s Evening of Play this Friday, October 15th at 6:00 p.m.. It’s a chance for us grown-ups to explore the Museum without the kids, and take part in games and fun activities, including making sno-cones (with optional alcohol!).
From WFLA News Channel 8, Titusville, Florida (north of Cocoa Beach, northwest of Cape Canaveral):
Deputies say they were on active patrol when they spotted the flames on Craig Avenue in Titusville around 2:12 a.m. on Thursday.
According to police, the fire was in front of a man’s home who they visited around five times in the past six months for illegal burns. Officials say the fires ranged from being on the sidewalk, to taking up the entire street.
Officials say when they went to speak with suspect Scott Taylor he was sitting in his front yard holding a sword in his hand and had a knife in his waistband. Police say he was also actively drinking in front of them then began chugging from a half-gallon-sized Captain Morgan spiced rum.
Authorities say he dropped the knife and sword when asked but could not provide an answer as to why he started a fire in the roadway. He was arrested and taken to the Titusville Police Department.
The police encountered him at two in the morning, which means that the booking photo was probably taken at least an hour later. Very few people photograph well at that time — especially after drinking.
Do the police not give you “do-overs” for your booking photo? I figure that if you can ask to have your driver’s license photo re-taken, you should also have the same right for your mugshot.
Note to self: In case I succumb to the mysterious forces that cause residents to “go Florida,” I should work on my “mugshot face”.
I’m going to be playing the accordion — and a lot of games, too — at the Evening of Play at the Glazer Children’s Museum this Friday, October 15th! Join me there!
The Evening of Play is a fund- and awareness-raiser for the Glazer Children’s Museum, whose mission is to provide the children of Tampa Bay with a clean, safe, and fun outlet for imagination and discovery.
It happens this Friday, October 15th, from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the Glazer Children’s Museum (110 West Gasparilla Plaza, Tampa). You’ll have access to all the exhibits in the Museum, enjoy drinks and food, and play classic children’s games with grown-up twists. All the proceeds will go to support this non-profit children’s museum.
Play is central to all the activities at the Museum, and it’s important for development in children. It’s through play that children learn resilience, problem-solving, risk-taking, and empathy.
It’s all too easy to dismiss play as an unproductive use of a child’s time, but there’s a reason that we have the saying “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. It’s also important for healthy brain development!
It’s also important to remember that play isn’t just for kids. Research is increasingly showing that play is also good for keeping adults physically and mentally healthy. Part of the purpose of the Evening of Play is to remind us of that fact by letting us partake in play — and this time, without the kids.
We’re bringing this classic game to life! Grab a laundry basket, a flat scooter, and your friend’s ankles, and get to work collecting as many giant marbles as you can! The team that collects the most marbles wins the game! Goofiness and giggles guaranteed.
Channel your childhood playground energy and climb through our popular Water’s Journey Climber! Find a friend and challenge them to race you to the top of the climber, which is over two stories tall. The first one to ring the bell wins the game!
It’s like dodgeball without the gym class anxiety of being picked last, phew! Hop into our gaga pit and get ready to yell GA-GA-GO! Bounce the ball around the pit and try to hit the other players below the knee. If you succeed, they’re out! The last person in the pit wins the game!
Are you nostalgic for parachute day at school? Us too! Gather your friends and grab a handle to join in a game of parachute play. Run under the parachute to trade places with a friend before the parachute touches you! Then see how far the group can lift the balls up into the sky.
Joe Donoghue’s company, Be the Hamster, is going to be at the event, along with the machine that inspired the company’s name: a giant human-scale “hamster wheel” that powers a sno-cone-making machine!
You’ll get the chance to hop into the wheel and go for a quick run, which will power a machine that shaves ice and dispenses it into a cup. You’ll also operate hand cranks that will take the cup down a conveyor belt, a spring-loaded hammer to press the ice into your cup, and add flavors and optional alcohol to make a great evening sno-cone!
Tickets are $60.00 each, but if you bring a friend, it’s $100 for two tickets. Once again, proceeds go to the Glazer Children’s Museum, which is a non-profit organization.
Want to attend? Visit the registration site and set yourself up for an Evening of Play!