Brass Bowl

This sculpture sits inside County Center (601 E. Kennedy).  It was purchased in 2000 by the Board oF County Commissioners through the public art program.

(click on photo to view larger image)

Late note on this post being late:  Life has a tendancy to change your plans.  That happened last night.  I was late getting home from helping my folks, and was late getting up this morning.  So this post is late.

I hope everyone has a good safe weekend.  The Bowl is heading out to Melbourne to for a birthday party.  Look for some Brevard County flotsam on Monday!

I have always admired this building.  The small ornate touches showcase the craftmanship used to build it.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to find out much about it.  The Hillsborough County Property Appraiser website indicates it was built in 1900, but that could be the earliest date the website can enter.

It looks well-tended, and I’m sure there was a restoration done sometime recently, but no information pops out of my searches.

If anyone knows more about this structure, please leave a comment. 

Cool cars count as flotsam, and a Corvair Monza Spyder definitely counts.  Only made three years, 1962 to 1964, this special edition of the Corvair featured turbo-charging, a radical concept for production passenger cars at that time.

(click on image for 1200 x 900 picture)

For more on this car, you can go to http://www.corvaircorsa.com/spyder.html

The commute in to Tampa this morning was highlighted by this display across the western sky.

At first I thought it was shadow rays from the rising sun.  Then the higher brain functions kicked in and I realized I was facing west, and the rising sun was behind me.  So I’m at a loss as to what exactly caused this.

This was taken on Adamo, waiting to cross 50th street westbound.

Text follows image.

War’s End

“They are taking us beyond Miami,

They are taking us beyond the Caloosa River,

They are taking us to the end of our Tribe,

They are taking us to Palm Beach,

Coming back beside Lake Okeechobee,

They are taking us to an old town in the West.”

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“We are going with Washington [government].

What boat do we get in?”

Seminole laments

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The years following 1858, the end of the 3^rd, & last, of the Seminole Ware were time of sad reorganization for Florida’s Indians. Their families had been torn apart, their ceremonial cycles had been disrupted, & their agricultural base had been destroyed. In their main objective, however, they had been successful. Those few hundred of the people who had fought so valiantly to remain had found refuge in the wild & harsh Everglades, where no others dared venture. They were profoundly weary, but they were alive, & still in their homeland. By the 1880′s they would once again return to Tampa, to the Cotanchobee of their ancestors. They would meet white settlers in peace asking, once again, only to be left alone to live their lives. This time, they would find understanding.

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Note:  The bronze plaques are no longer there.  The raised wall is no longer there.  It was bulldozed shortly after I took the pictures, and now construction trailers sit on the spot.  I can only hope that the plaques are installed in the new History Museum being built.

In the near future I hope to be able to move the series of posts to a separate page for easier viewing in its entirety.  There will be a few more items I will add to the story, and hopefully I can report good news on these plaques.

We see and say the names daily, but we rarely know who they were.  Adamo Drive is one of Hillsborough county’s main roadways, traversing east and west across most of the developed area.  But who was Adamo? 

This marker is located on Franklin Street, next to Tampa’s New City Hall 

LT. COL FRANK S. ADAMO, MD

———————-Bataan’s Medical Hero——————–

 This distinguished native Tampan served with courage, honor and personal sacrifice as an army surgeon during World War II.  He was captured and made a prisoner of war when the Japanese overran the Philippines.  Afflicted with Beri-beri and other diseases he performed heroically serving his comrades as doctor, friend and lifesaver.

 Dr. Adamo discovered a revolutionary method in the treatment of gangrene using hydrogen peroxide and saved thousands of gangrenous limbs.  A grateful nation decorated him with the medal of the Legion of Merit.  When he returned home he found that First Avenue, a major thoroughfare, had been named Frank S. Adamo Drive in his honor.

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  Col. Adamo passed away in 1988 at the age of 95.