June 6, 2005

Travels With Sunshine:Finding Old Florida 2

Another Saturday, another journey to one of the less well known Florida attractions for Sis and I. These are special places in their own rights, but all the more special to us because these are the trips we took as children here in central Florida, BEFORE anyone knew that a Mouse could roar so loudly.

This week was the beautiful Bok Singing Tower in Lake Wales. First the "tour guide" speech. Bok tower sits on a mountain top. That’s right – a central Florida mountain at a towering 295 feet. The mountain even has a name – IRON Mountain. It was built by Edward Bok (editor and author and philanthropist: early editor of The Ladies Home Journal Magazine) out of pink and grey marble and Florida coquina stone. (Coquinas are tiny little mollusks…the biggest are around 1/2" with beautifully colored shells that life along the tide lines in the beach sand. Over hundreds of thousands of years, nature fused tiny grains of sand into one of Florida’s most historic building materials: Coquina. Coquina is a soft, porous stone, a mixture of mollusk shell fragments and sand, bound together by calcium carbonate.)

Bok Tower is a Carillon: a tower housing 60 bronze bells on the 7th level. The bells weigh as much as 11 tons and as little as 17 pounds. Every half hour, taped carillon music is piped throughout the gardens and at 1 and 3 p.m., there is a live recital by the resident carillonneur. The tower is surrounded by 122 acres of beautiful gardens and reflection pools. The music defies description – it is like nothing you have ever heard anywhere else. (Unless, of course, you have heard a carillon somewhere else!)

A more recent addition is Pinewood Estate which was built by a Bethlehem Steel VP as a winter home on property adjoining Boks’. This VP was very fond of Mediterraneanjrevival architecture ane the whole house is a sanctuary of this architecture… well preserved and amazing. No two doorways are alike. Beautiful hand painted tile is everywhere – but never the same in any two rooms. The ceilings are different heights and pitches in every room. There are servants quarters and living quarters …. and it is an amazing place! So much to see, you just can’t take it all in! The estate was purchased by the Bok Tower curators…and is maintained as a working house…they host board meetings, complete with sleeping accommodations and some other events during the year. I WANT TO GO STAY IN THAT HOUSE!!!

I don’t want to get long winded…. on to the pictures! Unfortunately the day was very overcast and not at all a good picture day…so I have very few from this trip.

A view of the tower from afar….as we were walking in.

Our best buddy. The squirrels are obviously pampered here – totally fearless and actually PURSUED us looking for a treat. Hard to refuse such a cute little stinker, isn’t it?

Pinewood Estate from the front. Isn’t it inviting? It sucked me in, even before we went on the tour!

What garden tour would be complete without fellows like this guy?

I wish I had a better picture of the tower…it is amazingly beautiful…set in the middle of the acres of serene gardens. Its an oasis of calm and beauty…and, some people believe, a natural power/energy nexxus.

For those of you who want to see a better picture, go here

And now, much as I would like to tarry (and take on Wanting More’s nebulous "tag, you’re it" challenge) I must go and start re-writing curriculum for the county….a little duty I was unaware that I had until this week. And I thought I was going to have SUMMER OFF!

any woman who can say “Sex you” with a straight face, can boo me anytime she wants.. btw the answer to when does school start is, “Too damn soon”. My mom used to call school in August and BEG them to start..

Luna

June 7, 2005

At the Rancho where I volunteer as a gardener (in training) we (and by “we,” I mean the head horticulturalist) snip grasshoppers in two when we see them. I actually just turn my gaze away from them and tell them to shoo before someone sees them and drops a house on them.

Luna

June 7, 2005

simultaneous noting! Whee!!! ryn: He is usually not such an ass — only when I apply my values on him, I suppose. As for flying down here as a last minute addition, you would be a MOST WELCOMED addition. Do you really need to hit the lottery to do it, though? Couldn’t you just conjure up some reason that you NEED to be in L.A.? 🙂

your on vacations, stop teaching spelling..lol.

these are nice!

*random*

WantingMore

June 7, 2005

oh sure as if you were going to do it anyway, such a tease! But, you write so glowingly of the gardens I want to go there, even in this summer heat!

Ahem

June 7, 2005

Interesting. So that’s maybe the “Home” in Ladies Home Journal?! Ha. Looks like a great place for say an OD Meet and Greet!

Ahem

June 7, 2005

ryn: Ha! I didn’t mention how I ran the central air all day, now did I?! 😀

whowhatwhere

June 7, 2005

nice… Oh and I do hope that they are paying you to work during the summer..they ARE aren’t they???

wren

June 7, 2005

I love these entries and your pictures are wonderful. What a gorgeous house!

wren

June 7, 2005

RYN: Ah, that song brings back such fond memories. My son was shocked to discover that not only did his mother know all the words to the song, but so did her gaggle of girlfriends, the night he offered to lead us in a sing-along around the campfire. He was in his early twenties then, surrounded by a group of middle-aged, slightly tipsy housewives. Poor kid. He still has nightmares. 🙂

Kathleen

June 7, 2005

Lovely photos, even the little “guy” in the garden. Bethlehem Steel was big in Pennsylvania at one time. Is this the same one?

jule

June 7, 2005

what a beautiful place to be. i’ve been thinking for a couple of days that we need to start taking some short weekend day trips and get to know this part of texas…. we’ve been here 14 years now and don’t know it well.

FallingDog

June 7, 2005

I love that word carillonneur. Gorgeous photos!

Jinn

June 7, 2005

I have been loving your search for the old Florida.I lived in several places in Florida as a child in the 60’s.It was totally different then..I am going to Sanibel Island June 24th and can hardly wait…I love it there. I have to tell you that we have a carillon in Washington Park where I live. They play every day at 8AM, Noon, and 5 PM. In June we have a week long evening concert series.

Arbi

June 7, 2005

That carillon looks magnificent, and I imagine it sounds even more magnificent. Did you hear a live performance, I wonder? Oh, I love that squirrel!

Cheesestiks&Students

June 7, 2005

Great pics.

Willy & Wilma

June 7, 2005

The carillion is magnificant! Not many of those big ones around. The 1940 World’s Fair on Treasure Island in the bay at San Francisco had one

Elle: 2

June 8, 2005

Great entry & pics …….. Thoughts & Smiles,

Thats a beautiful house,but with all that moss on the trees and the little critters running around,I’d be frightened and hot..lol

ermentrude

June 8, 2005

Wow, I missed out on so much when I was there!! That ranch looks amazing… I wanna stay there too!!

Queen Wysiwyg

June 8, 2005

RYN: Indeed we are. 🙂

blevins

June 8, 2005

Ahhhh..beautiful. Thanks again for sharing.

Juggler

June 8, 2005

RYN NQT – a newly qualified teacher. They do their three year degree course, then their PGCE (Post graduate certificate of education) and finally get a job in a school as an NQT. They have to successfully complete their first year before getting qualified status and have to be mentored by HoDs (head of department) i.e. me!

tae's heartbeats

June 8, 2005

now I want to go visit. 🙂

froglette

June 9, 2005

Thrilled you included us in another non-mouseified trip. i’ve never been there- a place for frog and toad to adventure when the larger plane is finally repaired.

Starbright

June 9, 2005

What I wouldn’t give to tour those gardens. It sounds fabulous. I love these travelogs.

RNBiker

June 9, 2005

I Still love Florida! Hugz

Spinster

June 9, 2005

I want to live there too!

ryn: I don’t shop much around here…unfortunately, I’ve found way too many great sites on the Web that are more than willing to help relieve my wallet of any extra finances I might be in possession of. Ha. I ended that sentence with a preposition.

Swirly Girl

June 10, 2005

Wishing you could take me with you on your next outing–I need a Florida Vacation!!!

ryn: go to quiltshops.com, click on “item search” and type in what you’re looking for. click on the thumbnail option and there you go…and go…and go… also, thebestkeptsecret.com is good, and http://www.calicofabric.com, and bighornquilts, and http://www.honeyforkfabrics.com…you want me to keep going?