Yes, I know today is the 20th.  However, since we only got home yesterday at midnight the blog I decided would have to wait.  This morning I got up early to do it, but I just couldn’t stay awake.  Now then is the time to do it.

Yesterday was a first for us.  Our friends Dennis and Pam often attend what are called House Concerts.  In essence a musician  a small band, a singer/songwriter is invited to perform at an individuals house.  There is usually a nominal small cover charge with all proceeds going to the performer of the evening.

Last night they invited us to go with them to hear Rod Picott at a home in St. Petersburg.

Seventeen years ago Rod Picott dropped his tool belt (he was a sheet rock installer), picked up an acoustic guitar and released his first album Tiger Tom Dixon’s Blues. The acclaimed debut put a nail in the coffin of his construction career and ignited his second career as a singer-songwriter.   The majority of the songs he writes center around the lives of working people and the losses, defeats and small victories that can come hard won in a calloused world.  Since Rod released his first album many more have followed.  He travels and performs throughout the year in both the United States and Europe.

The concert last night was held in a home in St. Petersburg.  The owner of the house and our host for the evening was a delightful woman by the name of Judy.  This is a picture of the room in which the concert was held.  It was intermission at this point in time.

One of the pieces of artwork that are throughout the home.

During intermission there was food and drink for all.

Judy’s husband’s hobby is making sculptures of birds from reclaimed furniture parts.

This was just the first of which we hope are many House Concerts that we will attend in the coming months.  We both had a wonderful time and we were so grateful to Dennis and Pam for asking us to go with them.

As for the day itself.  We tried to dump our gray tank only to find out that there is a problem with the sewer pipe underground in the campground.  In essence I pulled the handle to dump and it promptly backed up into our tank and also overflowed all over the ground.  Today it is being taken care of.  Come to find out there is a section that is completely clogged with roots.  That section will have to be cut out and replaced.

So that was our day on The Road of Retirement.  It was a wonderful and delightful day in every way.  Especially the evening entertainment.  Yet to us this is what the RV lifestyle is all about.  New experiences.  New discoveries.

Well, I sure can’t say goodnight since it is the middle of the day.  So I’ll just say check in with you later.  Have a great day and make the most of the moments that God gives you.

Ah yes just another wonderful day on The Road of Retirement.  The weather here is still hot and quite muggy.  I confess this is the first time we have really had the AC running 24/7 since we acquired Graybeard.  We tried one day to leave it off but by the time the temperature was hitting 85 degrees we thought otherwise!  Curious as to what some other places were going through weather wise I decided to investigate a couple of places we stayed this past year.  Let’s see Winter Harbor, Maine was at 29 degrees this morning.  Marshfield, Vermont was in the range of 32 degrees.  All I can say is I’m sure glad we’re not there anymore.  Oh, one more Wellsboro, PA my sister sent me a picture of snow on the car.  Nope, not for us we’ll take warm and muggy anytime!

OK, today we’re going to wrap up our visit to The Ringling.  This time we’re going to The Tibbals Learning Center.  The center is named for Knoxville, Tennessee residents Howard and Janice Tibbals who contributed $6.5 million to the construction of the center

Howard Tibbals is a renowned model builder who built a replica of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus circa 1919 to 1938.  It is called The Howard Circus.

The Tibbals Learning Center also houses The Greatest Show on Earth, a 924-square-foot mural depicting the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey^® show of the 1970s and 80s.  The Mural is 42 feet long by 22 feet high.  It is painted in oil on canvas.  There are 45 performers an 42 animals 12 elephants, 11 tigers, and one unicorn.

So let’s take a tour of the center as it is today.  This is the entrance to the learning center.

As you enter you immediately see The Greatest Show on Earth Mural.

Beneath the elephant is Kenneth Field, Ringmaster.  To the left of him is David Kiser, a clown with a trombone.  To the right of him is Lou Jacobs, a clown with Pee Wee, the dog.  In the bottom right corner is Gyorgy “Fudi” Zsilak, a juggler.  Look close and you will also see the Unicorn.

Look up and this is what you see.

Now we come to what is undeniably the center piece of the center, The Howard Circus.  The name for the Circus comes from the name of the creator, Howard C Tibbals. Tibbals asked Ringling management if he could use their name for his circus when he started building it, but they refused. So he called it The Howard Bros. Circus instead.  There never was a full-scale Howard Bros. Circus.

Tibbals began toying with circuses in 1943, at the age of 7. At 12 he was given a lathe and jigsaw, which advanced his model building. Tibbals started working on the model in earnest in 1956. Much of the circus was completed by 1974, but it did not premiere until the 1982 World Fair in Knoxville, TN. In 2004, Tibbals set up the Circus at its current location in the Ringling Estate’s Tibbals Learning Center, which includes a full-scale replica of Tibbals’s workshop. It took Tibbals over one year to set up the circus in its current location.  Some interesting facts about the circus:

• It contains 42,143 items, not including small pieces such as thousands of railroad stakes.
• It consists of eight large tents, 152 circus wagons, 1,500 workers and performers, 7,000 folding chairs and more than 500 hand-carved animals.
• Everything can be packed up into the 55 train cars, also individually hand-crafted.

The model represents the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus during its Golden Era, 1919-38. To assure historic accuracy, Tibbals collected almost one million photographs and measured historic wagons, train cars, and other circus equipment to construct his model at a scale of 3/4 inch to a foot. The perimeter of the model is approximately 450 feet, or the length of 1.5 football fields. The area is large enough to park 11 school busses.

The Howard Bros. Circus model opened at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art on Jan. 14, 2006. Since that time over 2.9 million ladies, gentlemen and children of all ages have been captivated by the more than 42,000-piece replica that’s the largest miniature circus model in the world.

So, boys and girls of all ages, step right up and let yourself be amazed by The Howard Circus!

 

 

 

Of course before the circus even opened there was The Circus Parade 

Leading the parade was the bandwagon.

And at the very end. . .

And now – The Howard Circus!

 

 

 

 

 

Last and final one but one I found so fascinating.

Of course it soon comes to an end, usually only a day in one city and then.

Now who takes care of all these figures?  Who adds to them?  Meet Don and Carolyn two volunteers at the Center who between them have over 10,000 hours of volunteer service to the Howard Circus.  They are constantly refurbishing figures, creating new ones, making equipment for the animals, and the list goes on.  Without them the Circus would soon grind to a halt.

This I know, I need to go back to this fascinating and unique place.  We spent some six hours at The Ringling and really never got to see everything there.  The Howard Circus itself deserves so much more time.  You look in one direction and you marvel at the detail, but then something in a different direction catches your eye.  The point is there is so much to see, to marvel at that a day does not do it justice.  In addition we never were able to tour the Art Museum nor their house because of time restrictions.  Yes, we need to go back and spend some more time.

OK, we’ve come to the end of our day on The Road of Retirement.  Once again we spent the day the best way possible, traveling along, singing our song, hand in hand.  We read, we puttered around washing windows, we researched our options regarding satellite TV, we napped, and we enjoyed every minute of the day.  Thanks once again for joining us we hope you enjoyed your travels with us.

As the day is now coming to a close and night is all around us I’m going to say goodnight but before I go a thought for all of us to ponder:

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries, let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and eventually some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before

I guess I must be getting older.  I mean after a day spent walking for over 6 hours was I ever sore.  So much so that I couldn’t really sleep last night.  I finally packed it in at 4 am and said good morning to a new day.  Hey, what’s the old saying If you don’t wake up with some aches and pains then you must be dead!  Trust me I can testify to the fact that I am very much alive!

So we’re going back to The Ringling tonight to visit another part of the complex.  This time we’re going to the Ringling Museum of the American Circus Museum.  Established in 1948, the Ringling Museum of the American Circus was the first to document the rich history of this phenomenally popular entertainment. And because in 1927 John Ringling had made Sarasota the Winter Quarters of the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey^® Circus, many of the performers moved to the immediate area. As a result of their generosity, the Museum’s collection of wardrobes and circus memorabilia quickly grew.

Today, the Circus Museum is also home to the newly restored Wisconsin. Worthy of the man called the “King of the Circus”, the Wisconsin is the railroad car on which John and Mable Ringling traveled across the country looking for feature acts that would keep audiences filling the seats of the big top.  This one is sure a bit bigger than the rig I drive!

There is of course so much more to see in this one building but there is simply not enough room for all the pictures.  Bottom line, it is a fascinating place to visit with new discoveries waiting around every corner.

As for today, we begin to piece together what will be needed for our satellite install.  It’s a bit more complex than I first thought especially since we want both TV’s to be able to use the satellite antenna at the same time.  Plus we want to be able to record TV shows as well.  Finally, we want to be able to use the existing wiring within the coach rather than having to run all new wiring.  We’ll get there it’s just going to take a bit more research and time.

We also spent a delightful two plus hours talking with our satellite installer who just bought a used Gulf Stream Class A and had tons of questions from driving it, to how to find campsites, to what were some trip planning web sites, and the list went on.  He and his wife got a bargain basement rig that they are renovating so that they can travel a bit and determine if they will for a fact like the RV lifestyle.  I wish them all the best and as Barbara and I told him, it is the greatest lifestyle around.

That then was our day on The Road of Retirement.  Excellent in every way.  A day to rest and recovery and get ready to go again.  And go again we shall.  Not quite sure when or to where but we have a hard time sitting still.  Before I go as always a thought for each of us to ponder:

 

 

 

Today was a day that I had been looking forward to for over a year.  Today we were going to visit The Ringling, the sixty six acre estate that was the former home of John and Mable Ringling.  Let me say right up front there is more to see here than one can see in only a day.   Furthermore, no amount of pictures can ever do this fascinating place justice.  This is a place that everyone needs to visit at least once in their lifetime.

So, rather than cram in everything we saw today in one blog I’m going to break it up into several different separate installments.   Tonight, let’s just take a look at the grounds themselves as well as the former home of John and Mable Ringling.  I also want to introduce you to two of God’s beautiful people, Barbara’s brother Harry and his wife Janet who met us at The Ringling.

So, the grounds, absolutely breathtaking and beautiful.

 

 

The final resting place of John and Mabel Ringling in the Secret Garden.

Then there is Ca’d’Zan

Though in the Venetian dialect it was known as the House of John on all the architects plans it was always known as The Mable Ringling House.    Why?  Because Mable supervised every aspect of the building, down to the mixing of the terra cotta and the glazing of the tiles.

In 1911, John and his wife, Mable, purchased 20 acres of waterfront property in Sarasota. In 1912, they began spending winters in what was then still a small town. They became active in the community and purchased more and more real estate, at one time owning more than 25 percent of Sarasota’s total area.

After a few years the couple decided to build a house and hired the noted New York architect Dwight James Baum to design it. Mable, who kept a portfolio filled with sketches, postcards and photos, wanted a home in the Venetian Gothic style of the palazzi in Venice, Italy, with Sarasota Bay serving as her Grand Canal. Construction began in 1924 and was completed two years later at a then staggering cost of $1.5 million. Five stories tall, the 36,000 square foot mansion has 41 rooms and 15 bathrooms.

This is the view of the house as you came down the front drive.

Another view of the front of the house as you came up the circular drive.

This is the back of the house.

The patio in the back with its view of Sarasota Bay.

Off the patio in the Bay John Ringling moored his yacht which was christened the Zalophus, latin for sea lion. The 125 foot all-steel vessel with a 12 ft beam and a draft of 4 ft was designed for the Gulf waters by the Consolidated Ship-building Corporation of Morris Heights, New York. The boat cost $200,000. With 6,200 gallons of oil onboard, it had a cruising radius of 4,000 miles.  Borrowed one evening without his knowledge by a friend, at 3 am in the morning the yacht hit a submerged object and sank in 12 feet of water.  All those on board made it safely to shore while heavy seas battered the yacht.  The contents and pieces of the yacht washed ashore along the coast, some reaching as far as Cortez, 20 miles north. The ship’s wheel and compass were recovered by diving around the submerged ship after the accident.

While at The Ringling today we also arranged to meet with Barbara’s brother Harry and his wife Janet.  They have a home in Fort Myers which is just south of Sarasota.  Here is Barbara, Harry, and Janet after we finished lunch at a very over-priced cafe on the grounds with very under appetizing food!  Guess we should have known better.

Despite the disappointing food we nevertheless had a great time together.  It is always extra special when you get to spend time with family and friends.

OK, I can’t let this one go.  On the grounds of the Art Museum is this display of the Tin Man with what is supposed to be the face of Donald Trump.  Remember what the Tin

Man was known for?  That’s right, for not having a heart!  I’ll say no more.

That then was our day on The Road of Retirement.  We had a great time, a fascinating time of discovery, as always done together, hand in hand.  Thanks for coming along with us and we’ll share more of what we found today in tomorrow’s blog.  As of now I’m going to say goodnight but before I go a thought for each of us to ponder:

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries, let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and eventually some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before