Une Bombe ?

Branching Out

The Dancing Cow at the Homophobic Chick-fil-A

Normally, I have nothing to do with Chick-fil-A as it is owned and operated by Dan Cathy, a right-wing religious kook who is a notorious homophobe.

But the dancing cow got my attention. He even posed for me. I mean, really, what else could I do?  I was forced to take his picture.

Doesn't mean I'll ever eat at this place, though!

Police K-9 Unit

Some Ocala police officers are allowed to take their cars home when their shift is over. This vehicle is used with the department's K-9 unit.

Halloween

Coming soon 

is Halloween 

 the stores are full 

of junk and stuff, 

a noxious dream

 for your house 

or for your yard, 

wherever you 

may want or need 

to make a statement, 

make a scene.

Cigar Store Indians

The first photo was taken in an Ocala strip shopping center. The second photo comes from The Villages. I wonder what the Indians are looking for; perhaps another option as to how the West was won?

The following comes from Wikipedia:

Because of the general illiteracy of the populace, early store owners used descriptive emblems or figures to advertise their shops' wares; for example, barber poles advertise barber shops, show globes advertised apothecaries and the three gold balls represent pawn shops. 

American Indians and tobacco had always been associated because American Indians introduced tobacco to Europeans, and the depiction of native people on smoke-shop signs was almost inevitable. As early as the 17th century, European tobacconists used figures of American Indians to advertise their shops.  

The cigar store Indian became less common in the 20th century for a variety of reasons. Sidewalk-obstruction laws dating as far back as 1911 were one cause. Later issues included higher manufacturing costs, restrictions on tobacco advertising, and increased racial sensitivity, all of which relegated the figures to museums and antique shops. Many also were destroyed during scrap drives for metal and wood during World War I and World War II.   

Cigar store figures are now viewed as folk art and some models have become collector's items, drawing prices up to $500,000. Modern replicas of cigar store Indians are still made for sale, some as cheap as $600. 

People within the Native American community often view such likenesses as offensive for several reasons. Some objections are because they are used to promote tobacco use as recreational instead of ceremonial. Other objections are that they perpetuate a "noble savage" or "Indian princess" caricature or inauthentic stereotypes of Native people, implying that modern individuals "are still living in tepees, that we still wear war bonnets and beads." drawing parallels to the African-American lawn jockey.

Olympians in Training

Bahama Breeze - Tampa

On a recent excursion, we had occasion to stop for dinner at the Bahama Breeze in Tampa.  Actually, the restaurant/bar is located on the causeway connecting Tampa to Clearwater.  

The place was jammed with folks of all ages and everyone seemed to be having a good time although the photos don't show that as we arrived early, just before the big crowd.  When we left there were no spaces available in the large parking lot!

The 18th Hole at the Stone Creek Golf Course

Approaching the green, we noted the sky was filled with stone monuments made of clouds.

Foxy Lady

It's a painting of course. But you can maybe buy it in your local gift shop or home accessories store.

City Light Church

City Light Church is another independent, fundamentalist, ultra-conservative "Christian" church here in Ocala (we have a number of these).  It was started in 2008 by Ken Brown and his wife, Paula. So far as I can tell they have no affiliation with a larger body nor accreditation from a recognized institution; which means that they can preach and teach pretty much what they want with no accountability.

[Pastors or priests in the mainline churches (e.g. Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian) are required to complete a bachelor's degree at an accredited college and then usually must complete four more years of graduate training which includes a period of internship.  That is followed by examinations which determine their fitness for ministry after which they are ordained by their church body to function as pastors or priests.]

The City Light website states Mr. Brown has attended a college, but there is nothing to indicate he has a degree from any institution of higher learning.  

The church affirms all of the so-called "fundamentals" which became popular among certain groups in the early 20th century:  The Bible is the inspired word of God and is without error; Jesus is God's son, born of a Virgin, who suffered a sacrificial crucifixion by which God will forgive all who confess Jesus is Lord. Jesus now lives in heaven with his father but will return in the end times to gather all of his followers and carry them off to heaven, etc., etc.

None of this is to say that City Light doesn't do some good work and maybe even help people.  But everything they do is predicated upon the need to convert people to their particular beliefs so that they don't suffer incredible pain in hell for eternity as punishment for their sins.

The church building has seen several incarnations.  I believe that prior to City Light, it was a museum of sorts.

You can learn more about City light here.

"Mural" at Dairy Queen

Not long ago, we were thirsting for a Dairy Queen Blizzard. If you've never had a Dairy Queen Blizzard, I would high recommend you buy one asap. But you can't fret about calories.

The Dairy Queen we visited is a rather dumpy building in a rather dumpy part of town but it does have this very cheery mural. What was problematic was that the mural was behind the building where it could not be seen from the road. That made no sense to me.

But the Blizzards...ah, they are to die for!

Bent Tree Tree

In Southwest Ocala, there are two subdivisions that reside side by side:  Majestic Oaks and Bent Tree. They are, in fact, so close that part of one street belongs to Majestic Oaks and another part belongs to Bent Tree.

But where did the name, "Bent Tree," derive?  It came from the tree pictured above which is really more majestic than it looks.  It was the inspiration for the name, "Bent Tree."

Side note:  At one time, we almost bought this house.  The price was right, but it was in bad shape and needed some $50-75,000 worth of renovations.   Unfortunately, the boys at HGTV were tied up, so we decided to pass.  As you can see, however, it was nicely renovated by the folks who did finally buy it.

New Aldi Store Under Construction

This is a new Aldi store under construction and will be the fifth Aldi store in Ocala and Ocala's surrounding area. I had been told that Aldi was a Swedish chain, but that is not true. It was founded by Germans in Germany and has expanded to over 10,000 stores around the world.

Aldi is a discount market, selling both name brands and its own brands. It is common practice for Aldi to charge customers for paper bags and ask customers to bag their own groceries.

I've shopped at Aldi's a couple of times and was not impressed. The stores here are smaller than our other supermarkets and thus Aldi has less to offer and I found some of their merchandise to be low-grade. Their "low" prices are not worth the aggravation of not finding my favorite brands, having to pay for bags and having to bag my own groceries.

No Fear!