A small sneak preview !!!

Its Honda Classic time!  The first Florida swing PGA Tour event of the 2013 season gets underway tomorrow.  We walked over to "The Champ Course" yesterday and today to catch the practice rounds and take some photographs.  Have a look !

                     PGA National Club house, grounds and Honda tents.

Here with "TW" teeing off on hole # 8.

Those tall Fla. pine trees are actually in our back yard.

Past Honda winner, Ernie Els......

2012 winner Rory Mcllroy

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods out of  # 9 green side sand trap...

Rory tees off on # 14....

A distraction on # 15 green for Rory !

Rory out of the trap!

Dustin Johnson tees off on # 17.

Rickey Fowler waiting to put on # 6.

Justin Rose approaches 15th green.

The Honda Classic has dedicated the 17th hole to US military personnel. An armed forces member is the honorary caddy.

Tiger Woods give his "caddy "an autography and a smile.

That is it for today from Palm Beach Gardens.... Enjoy!

John & Connie

                                     

A short drive down the road!

Sunday past, we drove to Lake Worth to experience the 19th Annual Lake Worth Street Painting Festival. After that, we drove on to Boca Raton to visit the Boca Ration Art Museum and lastly we attended a concert of the Boca Raton Symphonia.

I think after you have seen pictures of the street paintings you will agree it is a very colorful and interesting event.  

The event is a two day, 10 AM to 7 PM, affair. On Saturday, the day before we attended an evening deluge of rain wiped out the first day's art creations. Sunday, the dozens of artist were repairing their water damaged work or they were doing new works.

Take a look.............

We ran into Bonnie, Ron, Joyce, and Pat...

This was a very unique street event.  There was plenty of food,  refreshments, entertainment and it is worth going back next year to see these talented artist at work.

ckk/jpk

ArtiGras in Abacoa Town Center, Jupiter

Another fun event is the annual outdoor art fest or "ArtiGras" in Abacoa, just north of Palm Beach Gardens.

Hundreds of artist of all types participate in this three day event....

Ceramics, drawings, wearables, glass, jewelry, metal, mixed media, paintings and photography....

Foods of all types, just one of the amenities...

jpk/ckk   2/18/13

Our neighbor "The Big "O" !

Several weeks ago we took a day trip some 70 miles due West to the town of Clewiston.

Clewiston is located on the SW shore of Lake Okeechobee aka as "the Big O" or "The Lake."  The Lake is some 730 square miles and contains 1 trillion gallons of fresh water. It is 1/2 the size as the state of Rhode Island.  With hurricane Sandy still fresh in our minds, I wanted to see the site of the great hurricane of 1928 when over 2,500 people drown. 

I also wanted to see what was done to prevent another such disaster.

The storm of 1928 came in over West Palm Beach proceeded  west inland, turned  North and days later fizzled out near Toronto, Canada. 

It had torrential rain and winds up to 165 mph. It breeched the existing dike around the lake and flooded hundred's  of miles of rich Florida farmland.

Shortly after the clean up, the government built the Herbert Hoover Dike around the lake to prevent another such calamity. That levee still stands today. There are  people today who say it will not stand the force of a Category 4 hurricane.  We went to take a look for ourselves.  Come along with us.

The Herbert Hoover Dike built around Lake Okeechobee after the great hurricane of 1928. 

Note grassless areas where the levee has been recently reenforced with rock's and boulders.

The song says,"we drove our Chevy to the levee and the levee was dry." Well, this levee was so dry they water it to keep the grass growing to hold the soil in place.

  No Chevy, but our Honda on top of the levee.

Immediately, next to the levee is a canal, Lake Okeechobee is in the far distance.

A sport fishing boat returns from the lake.  This area is known for its bass fishing.

We stopped at Roland and Martins for a lunch of catfish fingers and slaw.

 Clewiston is also know as Sugartown. The local areas are filled with sugar cane fields.

We also stopped in the town of Pahokee where there is a large modern marina on The Lake...

              A local fisherman fishing in the levee canal.

Palm Beach County is the largest country in Florida by area and the third largest by population.  Most of the land between Palm Beach Gardens and Lake Okeechobee is fertile farm lands.

jpk/ckk  2/18/13

Where myth and history are reenacted!

Sunday afternoon we went to the 2013 Florida Renaissance Festival in Deerfield Beach. We were prompted to attend because this event was the site of a "meet up photo shoot" for the photography classes of the Delray Center for the Arts where we have been enrolled.  Our assignment for the day was portraiture.

Sunday was like nothing we have done before.  It was an reenactment of the cultural movement of the 14th - 17th centuries. Eat, drink and be merry was the theme. There were sword fights, jousting, minstrels, music, crafts, games, food, wine,  beer and lots of interesting people of all ages.  

The participants were all camera friendly....The loved to be photographed, and we snapped away...Lots of smiling friendly faces in costume.


Take a look. As with all of these blog posting, if you click on a photo it will enlarge for better viewing!

Enjoy !!!

Jousting !

Not Florida's usual Sunday afternoon sport !!!

The fans were asking for blood !!

There was entertainment at the Beer Garden.

Smiley faces!!!!

Interesting faces!!!!

High fashion!!!

A harp player !!!

A lady of centuries past !

An interesting lady pirate!!

More faces, men and ladies !

The good sisters were part of the fun too!!!!

Needless to say, it was an interesting homework assignment and great place to practice portraiture and street photography.

jpk/ckk  2/16/13