50 States,Day 290

  St. Augustine

"A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes."
~Mohandas Gandhi



For our final day in St. Augustine, we elected to tour a lighthouse and museum. The lighthouse was typical, a tall cylinder with 219 steps to the top. However, imagine the lightkeeper lugging up two five gallon buckets of warm lard every two hours to keep the light illuminated. Then he must clean the lens thoroughly, as the lard burned poorly and covered it with soot. 



What kept the lens rotating was a clockworks type of mechanism that worked via gravity, a weight hung from a cable through the center of the stairway. Mr. Lightkeeper would need to rewind this too.  

Back on the scooter (yes we rode a bit today) and we visited the Leichter Museum. Mr. Liechter used his significant wealth to buy up collections during the Great Depression at rock bottom prices. While much of it was interesting, he collected a lot of junk- er, stuff. Like dolls, spoons, china, vases... Some of them were interesting, and two paintings intrigued me. One I won't publish as someone will have a tizzy fit, but it depicted a very compelling story. 



The other, 'Help For a Friend,'you can see the schoolmaster with his switch, his latest victim, and a boy receiving a greatly appreciated helping hand. Great painting. And ask me about the other. 

We visited a chocolate factory and- brace yourself- bought nothing! Okay, we got a couple drinks. The candy was overpriced. However, the quilt shop across the street had a different ending. I'll leave QG for that one. 



We enjoyed lunner at Scarlet O'Hara's, and once again enjoyed a fine meal, and outside. QG enjoyed chicken tenders buffalo style while I savored a pork enchilada. Si! Delicious. 

We wrestled through heavy traffic as the bridge stayed up for quite some time, and a woman certainly looked like a she'll win the Stupid Driver of The Week. 

Tomorrow we'll head for Jacksonville where we'll do tourist things, but also visit the Apple store and get some answers for why I regularly want to throw this iPad into a lake. We'll also get to visit Linda Rondeau of 'Geezers Guys and Gals' blog fame. 

And now, historically filled and smarter, Quilter Girl!


I made it up to the top of the lighthouse!  219 stairs.  I stopped a few times, but I got to the top and the view was worth it.  We could see St. Augustine and beyond, the channel out to sea and a long ways north and south.  It was great sight and we enjoyed it for a while, also to catch our breath.  The keeper's house had some interesting exhibits, one about women in the Coast Guard and  WWII stories in St. Augustine.  Did you know that U-boats landed on the beaches there?  There were strict blackout rules for Anastasia Island and St. Augustine to prevent the landings.  One woman told a story of being on the beach with her boyfriend who was a Coastie who's job was to watch for German subs.  They saw one surface right in front of them and couldn't do anything but sit and watch.  No cell phones or anything.  

Magrieta's Quilt Shop was a great place.  I suppose I have never met a quilt shop I didn't like, but the selection of fabrics was wonderful.  I found a piece for West Virginia, though it is kind of obscure, I like it.  My fabric choices are sometimes ambiguous, but they mean something to me.  I also got a couple of pieces for the braid quilt.  They had a sample made of a great tropical quilt that would be wonderful for the Hawaiian shirts my mom has been collecting for me.  I was in heaven for a bit.   

QG


2 comments:

Pam said...

WHAT ???? No one has asked for the story about the "other" painting yet...... story please...

Unknown said...

It would be perceived as offensive. If you would like to know about it, email me at kparsons901@aol.com and I'll reply with a picture of the painting and the explanation of it.
KP