WICKHAM PARK, MELBOURNE, FL' 09

This is Wickham Park in Melbourne, Florida. We spent a lot of time walking the dog and riding our bikes through the park. Wickham Park is a public county park located at 2500 Parkway Drive and contains diverse recreational facilities.

This is the view as you come through the gate. if we ride our bikes it is about 2 miles from Bill's moms. By the time we ride through the park and campground and back "home" we cover 7-8 miles.

Bill and Ceilidh taking a break. The park has an off leash dog park, horseshoe pits, disc golf course, campground, equestrian center, archery range, exercise trail, nature trails, ball fields, playground, walking and jogging roadways, event pavilion, picnic pavilions, and swimming lakes.

The off leash dog park has several enclosed areas where dogs can run and play.

One of several lakes in the park. This particular lake is part of the disc golf course. A lot of discs end up in the lake and periodically you see someone wading in to retrieve their disc.

One of the lakes with the campground in the background. This lake is FULL of turtles. One day I counted 22 turtle heads in the water.

Barb and Ceilidh in front of the turtle lake.

Evidently the ducks can't read the "No Swimming" sign!

The day before we left Melbourne (March 29) we took one last ride to the park. I had several crusts of old bread and some stale cornbread to get rid of, so why not feed the turtles?? There were only a couple of turtles when we started feeding. By the time we were done there were about 18 heads bobbing in the water.

Of course this squirrel was hungry too and really liked my cornbread.

Just before you complete the circle around the park you pass the equestrian center. They were setting up chutes for a rodeo the day this picture was taken.

FT. CHRISTMAS, FL BLUEGRASS FEST MARCH '09

Fort Christmas, Florida has been used as a gathering place since the late 1880s. The original 10 acres of the park were officially donated to Orange county by M.M.Smith on June 6, 1930. A pavilion was built by the WPA during the 1930s. Since that time the park has expanded to 25 acres.

Mom and Bill enjoying french fries and pork bar-be-cue at the Bluegrass Fest on March 21, 2009. As you can see it was a beautiful, sunny day.

One of several bluegrass bands performing on the stage under a canopy of oak trees dripping with Spanish moss.

Bill standing at the entrance to Ft. Christmas. On Dec. 25, 1837 a force of 2000 US Army and the Alabama Volunteers arrived near this spot to construct a supply depot which was aptly named Ft. Christmas. The USA was in the midst of the Second Seminole Indian War, with the battle of Okeechobee also taking place on Christmas Day. As the war progressed, military action moved southward. As a result supply ships had to reroute through Jupiter Inlet. It was no longer timely for ships to utilize the St. John's River. For this reason, Ft. Christmas was abandoned in March of 1838,

This is a picture of the inside of the fort. Notice the Spanish moss hanging from the trees. In 1776, as a bicentennial project, Orange County Parks and Recreation Dept. along with the Army Corp of Engineers began construction of a full-size replica of Ft. Christmas. The new replica was completed in Dec. of 1977, one mile south of its original location, exactly 140 years later. (Do the math, the original fort was used for 3 months. It took over a year to build the replica.)

In 1990, the Ft. Christmas Historical Society developed a master plan to create a living history settlement at Fort Christmas Historical Park. The society has become instrumental in the preservation of rural heritage, the "Cracker" legacy of east Orange County.





This is a tree prepared for turpentining. Part of the bark is cut away and a series of "Vs" are cut into the tree. This would injure the tree and cause the gum to "bleed" out of the wood. A metal gutter was placed in the cut so the gum would drip down into a hanging clay cup called a Herty cup, collecting the turpentine.

This one room house with attached kitchen was home to a family with 10 children. When the boys reached the age of 12 or 13 they went to the barn to sleep. Notice the netting over the bed.
Originally beds were lined next to each other on this wall of the house.

This is the fireplace located opposite the bed area. It is constructed of mud and wood (stone being very scarce). Of course in time the wood dried out and would catch on fire. The fireplace was built so that when it caught fire it was simply pushed out of the wall and would burn outside and not catch the house on fire. They would simply build another fireplace to replace it.

A picture of a living room in one of the later houses. This house was lived in until the 1950s.

As you can see, some of the residents were rather well off and had many "fine" things.

Kitchen area. Earlier I mentioned the "Crackers" The term "Florida Cracker" refers to the original colonial era American pioneer settlers of the state of Florida. The first Florida Crackers arrived in 1773 when Spain traded Florida to Great Britain.

Bedroom furniture including a cradle.

The term "Florida Cracker" is now used as a proud self-description. Since the huge influx of new residents into Florida from the northern parts of the United States and Latin America, in the late 20th and early 21st century, Florida Cracker is used by some Floridians informally to indicate that their family has lived there for many generations and/or they were born and raised in the state of Florida. It is considered a source of pride to be descended from frontier people who did not just live but "flourished in a time before air conditioning, mosquito repellent and screens."

The ranch house kitchen.

BILL'S BIRTHDAY

MARCH 12, 2009


Bill recently celebrated his birthday with his mother for the first time since 1975! Mom said this was the first time she could wish him "Happy Birthday" in person in 34 years. After going out to dinner at Red Lobster, we came "home" and enjoyed a delicious angel food cake with creamy pineapple frosting. Yum Yum!!

WATCHING THE "DISCOVERY" LAUNCH

While in Florida we have been fortunate to watch the Endeavor return to KSC on the back of a 747 and now to watch the Discovery launch.

Just a thought as we sit waiting for the launch. Just a few days ago the resident astronauts of the Space Station had to "nudge" the station over a bit to avoid being hit by a 1/3 inch (yes one-third inch) piece of metal that is orbiting the earth at 18,000 mph. (That's equivalent of being hit with a 400 # refrigerator at 60mph.)

This piece of debris is from the Soviet military satellite "Kosmos 1275" which broke up somewhat mysteriously shortly after its 1981 launch. There are 310 pieces of debris from Kosmos slowly falling into lower orbits and NASA seems to know where they all are at any given time, not to mention all the other debris they keep track of. Maybe NASA should be in charge of Homeland Security or Immigration since those departments don't seem to know where anyone is!

Flight STS 119 Discovery is the 125th space shuttle flight, the 28th flight to the International Space Station, 36th flight for Discovery, and the 1st flight in 2009.

Lift off. It was 7;43 pm so it was not quite dark yet, but it still made a brilliant take off.

Still gaining altitude. There were lots of "ohs" and "aahs" from the crowd on the beach.

Commander Lee Archambault leads the Discovery crew of seven on this mission.

Heading out over the Atlantic.

The crew of STS 119 will deliver the S 6 truss equipment and install the final set of power-generating solar arrays to the ISS.

The S 6 truss completes the backbone of the station and provides 1/4 of the total power needed to support a crew of six. The truss weights 31,000 pounds and, after completion, the truss will be 335 feet long.

There will be space walks on days 5,7,9, and 11 of the mission, each lasting about 6.5 hours.

Also on board was a Urine Processing Assembly to remove impurities from urine which they haven't been able to get to work properly. Maybe that's a good thing, I know I'd have a hard time drinking purified urine!!

What a beautiful tail Discovery left in the evening sunset as she headed for outer space!

What we've been doing....

Our latest project was painting Mom's house!

See, we really haven't been on "vacation" all this time.

Mom outside the front door.

Front door complete with new lights and little chair for flowers.