A monkey with an attitude!

Cardinal

Photo by Lois Anne.

Royal Oaks Golf Course - Part 2

Club House, Pro Shop, Restaurant

Golf carts ready to go

Flag pole in golf cart area

Norm

Pro Shop Attendant Extraordinaire

Bob - Always with a smile and a joke

Ronnie - a ranger and a true gentleman

Royal Oaks Golf Course - Part 1

The Royal Oaks Golf Course is part of the Oak Run community in southwest Ocala. Oak Run is a large senior (55+) housing development.  The golf course is in excellent condition as you can see from the photos below.

We're running a two-part series on Royal Oaks which will conclude tomorrow with photos of the pro shop area and some of the fine folks who run the place.

Model Dogs

"They love to have their picture taken," he said. "They love to pose for the camera."

I said, "Well, we could call them model dogs." He just laughed.

The Bounce House

It's called a "bounce house" but looks more like a bouncy slide to me. I've never seen one this big in a backyard before. It's located in a quiet residential neighborhood and I think a family has gone "all-out" to give their child a special birthday, either today or tomorrow.

Central Florida Flora + One Fauna

Flags Flying at Half-Staff at the Summerglen Community

Summerglen is a 55+ residential community a few miles south of Ocala. These flags fly in outside of the community center/restaurant/golf pro shop in memory of those who were murdered at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

House & Yard Junk for Sale!

On Highway 40, about 30 miles east of Ocala, there is what I think of as a massive house and yard junk supply store.  It's so cluttered and so huge and so eclectic that it's difficult to describe it with any kind of precision.  

The first two shots show just a small portion of this enterprise.

We've stopped there a couple of times in the past but have never bought anything. Our last visit was about a month ago and I felt compelled to take some photos and share the craziness and the color of this place.  

Frustration Sale

When we walked by this sign, I almost missed it. One sees so many "Sale" signs they have come to lack meaning. But I did a double-take. And laughed. The owner(s) of this shop (which I believe was a gift shop of some sort) must be totally frustrated to the point of dumping it and moving on. So, if you have $165,000 plus, c'mon down and take it over.

The Market of Marion

The Market of Marion is a huge flea market south of Ocala. It covers several acres and consists of a main aisle with a number of aisles running off in opposite directions.  There are about 1100 booths and over 400 vendors.  The market is open on Friday, Saturdays and Sundays.

We visit the market on occasion in order to purchase certain veggies and fruits which are superior to those found in the local supermarkets.

The photos above show you just a tiny portion of the complex, but I located a video that offers a fun tour of the place which you can watch here.

A Tale of One Flag

The first photo was an attempt to be "artsy" by taking a photo of our neighbor's flag through our office window. The second shot is our neighbor's flag flying at half-mast in memory of those persons killed in the recent terrorist attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

Summer Explosion!

The crepe myrtle joins the clouds in a bright blue sky to create an explosion of joy at the arrival of another summer!

You Gotta Believe!

It was Monday afternoon at the mall.  The stores were mostly empty except for a few women shopping as their husbands slept on couches in the hall.  A handful of teenagers wandered about wondering how they could make a difference in the world.  (Nah, I made up that last part!).  They were just wandering.

This pair of chairs didn't know what to make of the situation.  They became frightened.  Their leather started to sweat, and their mechanisms made funny little sounds no one had ever heard before.

On a normal day, these chairs would be attacked by hordes of little monsters with sharp little toys.  The worst was that the parents were totally indifferent to the injuries the little monsters could inflict on the chairs.  And if it wasn't little monsters it was grouchy and obese old men wearing sandals with white socks. They'd drop their huge bulk into the chairs like a sack of potatoes causing great internal agony.

But today things were different.  Later on as people talked about this event, they said it started very quietly.  The chairs began to move.  Just a little.  Kind of like they shuddered.  Then, very gradually, the shudder turned into a drum beat, and the beat grew faster and louder and by god, the chairs started to move with the beat.  

They bounced up and down, then side to side, twisting and twirling.  Kids from the far reaches of the mall trundled down the halls to see what was going on. They laughed and clapped and bounced about in time with the chairs.  

Three older women and one older man came up to the kids.  The man asked, "What are you doing?"  

"We're dancing with the chairs," several kids said in unison as the bounced up and down.

"But the chairs aren't dancing," one of the women complained.  "They're just sitting there."

"No, no, no," said a tall, red-headed girl.  "They are so dancing!  Can't you see them?  What's wrong with you?"  

And that's when I came by to take these photos.  It was just in time, too, because one of the women, heavy as a house, plopped down in the left hand chair and everything stopped.  The chairs were once again, just chairs.  

The old people started to leave, one of them mumbling, "I just don't believe it!" The others shook their heads in agreement.

"But, don't you see?" called out the tall, red-headed girl.  "That's the problem!"