Category Archives: Nostalgia

A Mother’s Day Tribute

By Ron | Published May 10, 2012

My favorite writer – and oh yes, my childhood sweetheart, and wife of 48 years, and mother of our two children – has just published “To the Mothers of the World ~ I Pay You Tribute” on her web site. She honors the mothers of the world. Regardless of differences in language or culture, a mother’s love for her children, regardless of their age, is universal. Thank God.

Women to women
Worlds Apart
We are the same but different

Different culture
Different religion
Different education
Different language

But the same within
Same search for justice
Same search for dignity
Same belief in family values
Same journey to personal fulfillment

Be sure to check out On the Go With Lynne for more great (though I am definitely prejudice) travel writing.

Also posted in Lynne Mayhew, Moms, Travel | Tagged Lynne Mayhew, Mothers, Travel, writing | Leave a comment

Post Card 5 ~ The Indian Coffee House, Kolkata, India

By Ron | Published October 15, 2011

The Indian Coffee House has been a landmark on College Street in Kolkata since the early 1940′s. It was and still is a favorite meeting place for students, poets, artists, writers, and other intellectual types. Now owned by the Indian Coffee Workers Co-operative it looks much the same as it did in the late days of the Raj. One goes there for the ambiance and not the coffee which, either hot or cold, is much like dishwater.

Click on the thumbnails for large photos.

Also posted in India, Kolkata | Tagged India, Kolkata | 1 Comment

Fish House ~ One of the Few

By Ron | Published September 16, 2011

click to enlarge

Getting crab pots ready for the season at Jug Creek Seafood, which is one of the few remaining fish houses in Southwest Florida still in operation. Commercial fishing used to be a way of life in this part of the world but not anymore. Cheap imported seafood, net bans, and strict catch limits has all but eliminated the industry. Jug Creek seems to be surviving by offering famous Pine Island clams, as well as awesome stone crabs and blue crabs, mullet (if you can get it, the smoked mullet is most excellent), fresh fin fish, and, of course, shrimp.

Great images of this old fish house.

Also posted in Fish Shacks, Pine Island | Tagged Fish Shacks, Florida, Pine Island | Leave a comment

POD ~ Abandoned Beulah

By Ron | Published July 18, 2011

Click photo to enlarge

Copeland, Florida, was once a thriving logging town on the edge of the Everglades in Southwest Florida. The Tidewater Cypress Logging Company harvested virgin cypress trees from the area’s swamps in the 1940s and 1950s. The Beulah Baptist Mission, Copeland’s historic black church, is all that is left and it is slated for demolition.

Also posted in Everglades, Florida, Photo of the Day | Tagged Everglades, Florida, POD | Leave a comment

The Red Shack

By Ron | Published March 30, 2011

Uniquely Pine Island, the Fish Shacks of Pine Island Sound are relics of bygone days when commercial fishing was a way of life. These stilt houses located between Pineland and Captiva Pass were home to fishermen and their families. They would fish for mullet or pompano by night and repair their nets and rest during the day. Their catch would be sold to fish companies that would call on each shack by boat.

A favorite photo subject of mine, the shacks are accessible only by water. For me it is an hour boat ride, but well worth the effort. Six shacks are all that remain of a once vibrant commercial fishing industry in Pine Island Sound and Charlotte Harbor. Most are rather ordinary looking but one stands out. The Red Shack is by far the most interesting photographically. Painted a bright red, it would seem to be the oldest one with its painted metal roof, separate outhouse, and water reservoir. Built on an oyster bar it has a very long pier stretch out to deeper water and a favorite resting place for the many pelicans, cormorants, gulls, and skimmers in the area.

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There are many more pictures of the Fish Shacks here.

Also posted in Fish Shacks, Florida, Pine Island, Red | Tagged Fish Shacks, Old Florida, Pine Island, Red, St James City | Leave a comment

POD ~ Awaiting

By Ron | Published November 8, 2010

Awaiting

This fine old home sits abandoned, awaiting its fate, the blade of a gigantic bulldozer. It is located just off I-95 near Savannah, Georgia, surrounded by chain motels, restaurants, and gas stations. And everyone knows we need more motels, restaurants, and gas stations. All in the name of progress.