Brass Bowl

Saturday we went out to our secret lake to help a friend celebrate a birthday.  I took a break from having fun to snap a few pictures.

This weekend Spousal Unit (aka Pepper) and I took to the General James Van Fleet Trail. We pedaled through the northern portions and just relaxed a bit. This is our favorite paved bike trail in the local area.

This weekend the Bowl rolled down to Ruskin to see what we could see at the Tomato Festival. Well, we saw a lot. And we liked it. Live music all day long, as bands rotated onto the stage. The gang filled bottles with colored sand, each to their own fancy. There were free tomato slices, and of course there were BLT’s. I wouldn’t even want to guess how much bacon was cooked during the festival, but I’m considering investing in pork bellies. And while the food was mainly all about the tomato, there was standard “fair fare”, i.e., funnel cake and cheese fries, plus some not so normal stuff, like swamp cabbage and conch fritters.

In addition to all things tomato, there were Heritage items on display, such as a 1948 CO-OP #3 pictured here.

Some folks were there to show and pass on their skills, such as the Blacksmith of Coyote Forge.

We spent several hours there, walked and ate, ate and walked. Bought some trinkets and the obligatory tee shirt. This was worth the 5 bucks a head to get into. Look for this next year. We will.

Escaping the suburbs, Spouse and I traveled across the bay to view the splendors of the Vatican, as presented at the Florida International Museum in St. Pete. Never having been to this particular venue before, I wasn’t familiar with the timed entry format. You buy a ticket for a specific time, and you can only go in during a short window for that time.

Once we did gain entrance, the wait was worth it. Among the items on display are weapons and uniforms of the Swiss Guard, a review of the recent notable Popes, some of the pieces of equipment used in the building of the current Bascillica (a bit of a misnomer, as it is over five hundred years old), and of course, some very nice works of art (most of the everyday items in the Vatican are pieces of art).

If you are in anyway interested in art or the Vatican, I would recommend this exhibit to you. We enjoyed the chance to view these selected items. Since this is a limited engagement, if you are considering see this, you should do so quickly.