“What would life be like if you could step away from shore and live your life on the sea? To find out, we jump aboard WOLF, a 74 foot topsail schooner commanded by Admiral Finbar Gittelman, a 75 year old master sailor from Key West Florida. Finbar weaves tales of his adventures at sea as we witness the open water like never before. Finbar’s family fled Cuba during the height of Castro’s revolution, now he returns for the first time in 50 years to walk the streets and see what remains of his former home.” Visit The Old Man and the Sea: Return to Cuba official website.
Author: reweidman50
Save Split Oak Forest
“A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself.”
– Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
Bear Island Nature Trail, Moss Park, Orlando
“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” ―
Trimble Park, Mount Dora
“I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.”
– Henry David Thoreau
Riverbend Park, Jupiter
Two days. Thirteen miles. 11 deer sightings. Many osprey sightings, among other bird species. Riverbend Park. Jupiter. Don’t miss it!
Split Oak Forest
I hiked about six miles at Split Oak Forest, first heading South along the North/South Trail and then taking the Lake Loop Trail that winds by Bonnet Pond and Lake Hart. A very enjoyable hike and I saw two deer and two Sherman’s fox squirrels. An amazing wilderness area, Split Oak Forest deserves to be preserved for future generations to enjoy!
The Master (2012)
“One of the stories in the film comes from Jason Robards, who famously fought in the war, was in the Navy … I worked with him on Magnolia. And he told me the story of coming back. I don’t remember what boat he was on, but he was coming back, and V-J Day was announced, and they’d run out of booze. And they broke into the torpedoes and drank booze [i.e, fuel] out of there. And the way he tells it, he woke up the next morning on the mast of the ship, and an inch either way he would have fallen to his death. And that story just stuck with me as a great story … something to get into the film.” – Paul Thomas Anderson, NPR Interview, 2013
Lettuce Lake Conservation Park
We enjoyed a pleasant stroll along the 3,500-foot boardwalk at Lettuce Lake Conservation Park in Tampa over the weekend. Don’t miss the observation tower, which offers some great scenic views of the Hillsborough River. Highly recommended!
The Longest Journey
“The longest journey begins with a single step, not with a turn of the ignition key. That’s the best thing about walking, the journey itself. It doesn’t much matter whether you get where you’re going or not. You’ll get there anyway. Every good hike brings you eventually back home. Right where you started.” – Edward Abbey
Encyclopedia of North Carolina
Billed as “The first single-volume reference to the events, institutions and cultural forces that have defined the state,” the massive and highly informative Encyclopedia of North Carolina was edited by the late, great William S. Powell (1919-2015) and published in 2006. I was fortunate to make a small contribution on several topics in the Encyclopedia, including:
- American Indians – Part 1: Introduction
- Caves and Caverns
- Military Installations, Civil War
- Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve
- Swannanoa Gap Tunnel
- Woodcarving
Wandering Florida 