Friday Meanderings

Happy Simplicity Day!

July 12, 2019 by KTgreen

I’ve decided to start celebrating more holidays. Today, July 12th, is Simplicity Day. How do I know that? I googled it of course. So this should be a simple post. But it’s not. I have pics and things to say!

Speaking of holidays, it’s Christmas in July! Time to get all those Christmas projects started so you can panic two weeks before the BIG holiday because they STIll aren’t finished. (I have a project I bought all the fabric and supplies for two years ago and it still sits unfinished. Maybe that’s what I should complete before I start something new!)

And back to Old Homosassa, if you have been watching the progress on the Old Homosassa Water Tower…….the landscaping has started.

Now there is a big pile of aggregate sitting there which will be spread around. Landscaping, fencing, and adjusting the lighting is all that remains! Yippee!

Yesterday was the dedication of the Yulee Sidewalk! Most of the people that showed up were those that get the Citrus County Chronicle and all the important people from the county government, the park service, some reps from state, and the contractor. Of course Terry and I rode our bikes down. Someone had to represent the bicycle riders!

Yulee Sidewalk Dedication — There’s Rosey Rendueles–commissioner on the Homosassa Special Water District! And our bikes!

The county publicity person took a photo of all of us. She requested that the dogs be on one side and the bikes on the other. Yes–people do use the sidewalk! Mike Wright, the reporter, showed up and did some interviews. Maybe we’ll be in the paper again!

Again, you say?

Here is a article from this week’s Hometown Happenings!

Old Homosassa has been getting some good press lately. The free camp, the scholarship kids, and now the fitness program! Yeah!

I was out taking snaps of all the pretty plants in my yard for my OTHER blog this past week. And decided to share a few here.

SQUIRRELS IN THE HOOD!

Damn Squirrel — Hey, when are feeding the birds???

deedo — This is Deedo, the squirrels don’t respect him either.

Just some pics of giant boulders or manatees in my back yard.

After a recent piano lesson, one of the students got bored waiting for Mom to finish a project that she was working on. New uses for yoga blocks!

Sarasota Slim was at the Shed on Sunday. Really great band with a huge following and it’s usually standing room only. Lucky for us, it looked like rain and not as many people showed up. We actually got to sit at a table!

One last thought. I posted about the price war over parking last week in Old Homosassa. The American Legion did very well for their post despite the private owners dropping their price back to $10 per truck/boat trailer. I’m sure we haven’t heard the end of it!

Have a great weekend! Could be some rain!

Friday Meanderings

February 1, 2019 by KTgreen

Happy first day of February and super bowl weekend!

First. The big news. Captain William Toney is holding a seminar at the Homosassa Civic Club.

Back in May 2017, Captain Toney held the same seminar in the Old Homosassa Learning Center. The civic club board was new at this and concerned that we would not have a good turnout.

HA!

It was standing room only and the AC units could not keep up with the masses of people. It was SO hot in there. But no one left and people were massed outside the doors just to catch a word or two. Captain Toney was very gracious and talked for over an hour and took questions from the audience.

This time the event will be held in the Homosassa Civic Club’s main building which can hold at least a hundred people. And it’s February so it will more likely be cold than hot and humid. But if you plan on attending and getting a seat, you may want to come a little early.

Next Subject.

I have had so many people inquire as to what’s going with the construction on Yulee Drive.

SIDEWALKS!

I first posted about the sidewalks in Homosassa way back in July of 2014. I heard about them when I went to a “Meet and Greet” with Commissioner J.J. Kenney. I believe that there were six people at the political event. I didn’t know any of the people at that time. But I know them all now! Iris and Bill Rose. Bill Garvin. Jim Bitter. Terry and I. The commissioner told us we were getting sidewalks so the local residents could walk or ride bikes to the Homosassa Library. Iris Rose pointed out that there are no sidewalks on the busy street, Groover Cleveland Blvd. where the library is. I thought that was amusing.

The sidewalks again came up at a Town Hall meeting at the Homosassa Library on July 31, 2014. A sidewalk design would be made in Fall of 2015 and construction could maybe possibly almost assuredly start in 2016. Ha!

J.J. Kenney was soundly defeated by Ron Kitchen but the story continued.

February 2015 the new 60% plans came out and the county was planning to cut down seven of our beautiful oak trees that form the canopy over Yulee Drive. That’s when Terry and I kinda sorta became activists. Through this blog, going to meetings, and hanging out in a few bars, we let everyone–along with the county commissioners, county adminstrator and county transportation people–know that cutting trees down was not acceptable.

The 90% plans came out in May 2015 and the sidewalk was going around the trees. Victory.

And now, finally, after almost 5 years, the sidewalks are going in!!!!! And the trees have been spared!

I should have taken pics of the sidewalk construction but it’s been a crazy week. I didn’t even do a pic a day. So I’m going to present you with four snaps of one day!

Those kids are the Homosassa Junior Ukers. They are beyond adorable. Miss Anita is teaching them to play chords, pick notes, and how to read music. She is amazing. The kids usually act like they aren’t playing attention but they all get up and play solos and can write their notes on the board. I love it!

Alright that’s it for this week!

Have a great weekend!

Kathy

Friday Meanderings

November 23, 2018 by KTgreen

Happy Friday!

I’m still trying to get over the Homosassa Arts, Crafts, and Seafood Festival. It was such a great event again this year. But it really wears me down. So much planning goes into every little detail!

I want to make a big SHOUT OUT to all of the volunteers. There is no way that this festival could be run as efficiently and as cost effectively as it is without the volunteers. Everywhere you look, orange shirts. And I ran out of shirts this year so we had a few people incognito!

Terry and I tried to put a list together of all of the volunteers because we have a dinner every year to celebrate their efforts. Our list went to well over 70 people! Pretty good for a small community with only 110 members in the Homosassa Civic Club that sponsors the event.

Terry with Clyde, two of our over 70 volunteers!

Now….let me tell you about the festival. I do the photography (and the t-shirts, website, and social media). So on Saturday morning I was snapping photos for the judging. This guy got best of show. I think he got it last year, too.

The Homosassa Arts, Crafts, and Seafood Festival is run by the Homosassa Civic Club and it is always the second weekend in November. All proceeds go back to the community–scholarships, youth groups, veterans, and more. Terry and I started volunteering for the festival in 2015. He became chairperson in 2016. We’ve come a long way since then!

There were a lot of complaints about the quality of the vendors going down back in 2015 when we first started volunteering. Also the food was all deep fried. It was a nightmare for the arts and crafts vendors to set up and tear down. The arts and crafts committee now juries all the entries. While there is still deep fried food, there are also healthy alternatives. Now there are volunteers that take the vendors to their spot when they first arrive and parking people to direct traffic for the tear down.

We first started having musical entertainment in 2015 with two bands each day. This year we have a professional musician who volunteered to run the entertainment. It was non-stop music from 10 am to closing both days.

And we allowed pets in this year!