January
Tarpon Springs is very close to here. There is a large Greek community with a lot of fishermen. In specific, sponge fishermen/divers. A big percentage of the population of Tarpon Springs are of the Greek Orthodox faith.
Annually around the Twelfth Day of Christmas there is the blessing of the fleet at the Sponge Docks, as well as diving for the crucifix which is thrown into Spring Bayou. I think this is the 111th. year of the celebration.
I don’t know what the Gulf water temperature is right now, but our outside hoses froze last night.
So whatever the bayou temperature is going to be for the diving Greeks it’s going to be a big brrrrrrrr.
Time out to stoke the fire…………………..
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There, that’s better.
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Now let’s talk strawberries.
Plant City (also close to here) is huge into the growing of tomatoes and strawberries. This time of year———-it’s specifically all about the strawberries.
The strawberry plants are delicate. The cold weather is a good thing because it makes them sweeter, but it also can frost out the plants completely and kill them. It’s a double-edged sword.
So, the strawberry farmers actually spray their fields with water, so that it will freeze on the plants. 
And the frozen coat of water on the plant’s leaves actually protect them from the frost………………..(?) Well, the strawberry farmers say so anyway.
I don’t ask questions. If an old Bubba in over-alls says that’s what happens………………..then, that’s what happens.
Patrice and I don’t second-guess old, Plant City Bubba’s. They know what they’re doing, their strawberries taste good, plus those bubba’s kind of scare us……………….they could just as easily blind us (Patrice & me) with tobacco spittle.
Actually they wouldn’t blind Patrice. They would just stain her. And she’s already stained, so that wouldn’t really matter much………………..come to think of it, Patrice would fair pretty well. Me? I’d be blinded……………….probably in my good eye.
Hence~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~the Tampa Bay area has it’s annual Strawberry Festival. TRA! LA!
Eleven days of pink-strawberry-colored madness in March.
Kind of reminds me of the movie—–“To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar”. (One of my daughters’ favorites when they were little).
Great music, great fun, great strawberry shortcake.
A good time can be had by all.
Everything is either made of strawberries or strawberry colored…………….actually it does get a little monotonous……………..
The live music concerts are wonderful, especially if you are a Country/Western fan (which I am).
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But Wait!!! Before that…………………..
It’s Gasparilla Day!
Now that’s a fun one. How it’s remained on the calendar and not become politically-incorrect or something-incorrect……………I just don’t know……………it boggles the mind.
It’s a celebration of when a pirate named Jose Gaspar sailed into Tampa Bay and raped and pillaged and took over the town sometime during the 1800’s.
I want to know how this holiday has slipped under the radar of someone’s delicate, social sensitivity!?!
Personally, I love it.
There are Krewes (clubs)-(some Krewes are better than other Krewes)-(isn’t that always the way?) and parties (lots of parties) and parades and beaded-necklace-slinging.
The parades are so successful that they had to separate them into the Official Gasparilla Parade of Pirates which follows the “invasion” of the city by the pirate’s flotilla as it sails up Tampa Bay, and then there’s the Children’s Parade, and also the Sant’Yago Knights Parade.
It’s an Extravaganza.
We have music festivals, and more food, and more parties.
The mayor always ceremonially hands over the keys to the city to Jose, as the pirate steps off his ship and takes siege of downtown Tampa.
Oh, and by the way…………..the Children’s Parade just “may” have come about as a necessity.
Just perhaps, it might have had something to do with the adult parades not being the best of illustrations of grown-ups making good choices in potentially/excessively inebriated conditions & states-of-mind ……………………..repeatedly………………………….and annually………………………….ahem.
However during the other fifty-one weeks out of the year, the pirate ship is moored somewhere along Bayshore Boulevard. Very picturesque, and very non-threatening.
More on the shenanigans of Jose Gaspar as the holiday looms nearer on the horizon.
***************************************Ahoy****************************************
*****(And let’s not forget about the Dade City Kumquat Festival.)*****
2 thoughts on “January”
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