I Knew Things Were Old In Florida......

But this is something else.

These are two beautiful, very old, Banyan tress.

 When you get up close, they really are works of art.

Now most of what you see here are called aerial roots.

And that's all I know. 

So now with some assistance from my friend Mr. Wikipedia; "the aerial roots grow down and around the stem of the host, their growth accelerating once the ground has been reached.

Over time, the roots coalesce to form a pseudotrunk, which may give the appearance that it is strangling the host."

"They grow into thick woody trunks which, with age, can become indistinguishable from the main trunk."

"The original support tree can sometimes die, so that the banyan becomes a "columnar tree" with a hollow central core".  

Especially on an old tree like this.

Beautiful, but I wouldn't want to be caught out late at night underneath one of these.

They look as if they should be throwing apples at Dorothy.

But from a distance, they look like just two ordinary trees.

Ordinary, that is, until you get close.  And the sun goes down........

Only In Florida...

"Those gall durn, young 70 year olds are always terrorizing everyone!"

Oh My Lord!

A fitting tribute to the First Baptist Church of Naples.

It was their place of worship from 1923 (just about the beginning of Naples) until 1998. 

It has been vacant since that time.

But so that history is not lost, another fitting tribute to honour all things Baptist is now in place.

Oh Sweet Jesus!

They turned it into a bar!  (And restaurant.)

Now they've tried to disguise it with the fluffy name "The Chapel Grill".

But there's only going to be one thing grilling in there - your soul!


And to compound it.....

Happy Hour?!

Drinks?!

Music!?

But not the music they are used to, I expect.

It's actually very nice in there.

If you go, you'll find a well appointed bar, big screen TV and a large enclosed air conditioned seating area.

But enjoy that A/C while you can - because there won't be any where you are going!

So see you there!

[Ed. note: I think we know which one.]

Finally, The True Story About Him

Gawker wasn't able to get "the video"!

Either was the Toronto Star!

But my source - and Big Joe, don't worry, your name will remain confidential - somehow unearthed this!

So enjoy a sneak peak of........

Rob Ford - The Movie

(Uhh....click on "Rob Ford - The Movie", not the picture.)

I Don't Always Drink Beer, But When I Do, I Drink A Lot Of It

The most resilient (does that mean dishevelled?) man in the world.

Different Town - Same Result

Progress is everywhere!

Apparently no matter where you go.

So what likely used to be.....

Will soon be.......

Now, this certainly isn't as bad a some monster concrete and glass c-c-c-condo, but a lot of the charm of old time Florida is slowly - or in some cases, not so slowly - disappearing.

Of course, if you talk to an alligator or an Osprey, they might say even the old style charm is long gone as far as they're concerned.

Then one would bite your leg off and the other would poke your eyes out.  Now that's Florida!

Then you would stagger into a swamp and a poisonous Water Moccasin would bite you and thousands of malaria infected mosquitoes would also bite you.

A friend one told me that when most people think of Florida, they think of the little one mile strip all along the coast.  When in actual fact [Ed. note: as opposed to your normal made-up facts?]  99% of it is scrub brush and what I've just described.

Oh yeah, and recently, this like....

As Florida - well, the Everglades anyway - is being overrun with huge pythons.

Florida recently had a contest to try aned catch as many of these snakes as possible.  As they ere eating just about everything they come across.

1,500 "Python Hunters" signed up and the contest and it went for six months.

Result;  only 68 pythons captured.

The picture above being one of the 68.  It's claimed they said, "You should have seen the one that got away."

Regardless, I better get used to a lot less of.....

And a lot more of......

Which is still better than.....

And......

Come On! Give Him A Break!

If it isn't enough that national talk show hosts and comics are taking daily pot shots at Toronto's major, now small local columnists are also jumping into the fray.

But wait.  This isn't about Rob Ford, Toronto's mayor.

This is about a Florida congressman, who was just caught buying coke in a "Buy & Bust" sting in Washington DC.

However, there are a lot of similarities with Rob Ford.  This fellow is also a very popular figure.  And has now admitted he has a drinking and a drug problem.

But people are standing behind him because they believe in the policies he was implementing.

Sounds familiar.  So although Rob Ford has been disgraced and stripped of powers by city council, his popularity among Torontonians still remains remarkably high.  Likely for the same reasons.

Now as part of the US TV coverage of this "Buy & Bust" story, stations are reviewing past indiscretions of other US politicians.  Whew! Take a number - the segment went on and on.

So this congressman is in good company.

Not the least of whom - luckily for him - is Marion Barry, Washington's former mayor, who was convicted of cocaine possession - and reelected as mayor after serving his federal prison sentence.

He was also responsible - much to the delight of the junior congressman from Florida - for reducing cocaine possession to a misdemeanour.  Which resulted in only a year of probation for the aforementioned junior congressman.

But on a personal note - regardless of whether you agree with Rob Ford's politics (and I think I know the answer to that one for most of you) - when they say he is a distraction to city council, I say, keep distracting!

Anything that keeps other politicians distracted from spending more of my money or making more laws that tell me what I can't do is fine with me.

Befuddle-duddle the lot of them!

The Southernmost Thoughts In The US

Although old Satch wasn't from there, it sounds like he could have been from Key West.

And one just leads to the other.

The unofficial motto of Key West.

Ahem (oops......Amen) to that!

I Told You He Did It!

As I mentioned - quite recently, in fact (See He's Done It! for refresher) Toronto's mayor, Rob Ford, one upped the US President last night.

On Saturday Night Live.

SNL was going to lead with a skit on Obamadon'tcare, but come on, Ford trumped him and stole the opening stage with this newscast; click CBC Toronto for video.

They did a pretty good job, although the "CBC" reporter does sound a lot like he's from Minnesota.

You don't get much more world class than this......eh?

"You Are Mine! All Mine!"

He's just missing a newspaper.

And this little guy didn't seem too fussed about me coming right up to him.

So you could also title this;

"What Chew Lookin' At, Willis?"

This guy also has that edgy, street cred attitude.  Hey, you from Toronto?

He's Done It!

Everyone has said he is a buffoon, not fit to lead a world class city.

But he's done it!

 He has put Toronto on the world stage!

Of course, the usual suspects are all over this like Rob Ford on his wife's....never mind.  The usual suspects being the Toronto Star and the CBC (above pics).

 But CNN is also having a field day with it (above).

Even the stogy BBC can't resist these titillating details.

And, of course, every Late Night talk show host had better be lining up lots of very nice Christmas gifts for him.

In this piece, Jon Stewart was talking about the disaster the roll out of Ombamacare has been. But he said, for every cloud there is a silver lining.

Because although the roll out has been rocky for president Obama, it has not been Mayor-of-Toronto rocky.  Or as he is now known, as he played a clip from a recent newscast "the crack smoking mayor of Toronto."

So there you go.

For everyone who complains that Canadians are perceived as polite, bacon eating beer drinkers, we now got some edgy, street cred!  People will now look at you and say, "Dude, you're from Toronto? Right on!"

Recent example; was on a bus tour of a US city and as we were talking, I told the guide that I was from Toronto. Five minutes later, as we pass a building that was an ex-bordello and drug den, the guide said, this has been patronized by pirates and reprobates. And maybe the mayor of Toronto.

So hold your head high, Torontonians!.  And your crack pipe higher.

Good News For Señor Jubilado

Save The Whales?

Or spend your money on this?


Sorry little whale dudes.......

Guess What's Going Up Here?

Yup.

A 58 storey....uhhhhh....condo.

Now this building does have some historical significance.

It was Frogley's Bakery.  Built in 1885.

A young George Westin actually found employment at CJ Frogley's first bakery on Yonge St.  Just down the road from, this, his third location.

And it will be kicking out the venerable Cookbook Store.  Which has been here for over 30 years.

And here is a sneak peak at what will be replacing it.

Lovely.

 And will just fit nicely in one of the remaining areas of blue sky in the area.

The reason I am mentioning this, is that it will just block nicely my last remaining slice of direct sunlight.

View from our courtyard.

View from my dining room.

Won't have to worry about that annoying sun shining in here for much longer.

Rarer Than Haley's Comet?

Less frequent than a Blue Moon?

What the heck am I talking about?

There.  Does that make it clearer?

No?

Okay, this is the only time in the recorded history of all mankind, that it is the first of November, and......

The Leafs are in first place.......

The Argos are in first place and.......

And the Raptors are tied for first place!

There is a rift in the time-space continuum and I'm buying a Lotto ticket!