Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Midsummer's Night & Spectacle

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors, who are manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.

In Key West, FL the famous Carol Tedesco helped put on one of the biggest events of the Summer at the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Gardens with the theme from the play in mind.


While in the Keys, you can't help but have fresh coconuts to sip on during the heat of summer.


People of all ages dressed the part, and had a great time at the event.

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With the current interactive art show which is going on in the gardens, you could even play your own magical tunes on the artwork provided.


If you didn't want to make your own, you could take a stroll down the path


and follow the sounds of music, to sit and enjoy local musicians packing in the seats.


As I was shooting a shot of the famous Kathy Kirby.....


I heard the unmistakable sound of the hand clap/whistle combination which only means one thing!!! Time for the Cuban Dancing to begin!


Beth and her fellow partners put on one heck of a great show for everyone.


After they warmed up, and the crowd was moving. Out came the Conga Line.

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Whether you came to dance, socialize, eat/drink, or just plain laugh it was a great time for all generations.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Historical Times

This weeks blog, actually took place outside of the Florida Keys for a change. The Historic Triangle of America was the resting spot for me across a 13 day span during July. My days were spent playing with the theories, and management practices of radiation so no fun for photography there.

When I did get away, it took a short drive over to the Yorktown Battlefield National Park. To learn about our American History I chose to take the Park Ranger Tour which is very lengthy and in depth.


There are a group of volunteers that put on a good show where they dress up in costume, and do a live fire on 2 canons.


Prior to firing the canon's they must be cleaned, which is performed by this giant q-tip which is soaked in water. Here he drains the q-tip prior to cleaning out the canon.


Here we are kickin' it in what was British territory.


The original "earthworks" are still here so that you can see how the soldiers dug trenches and mounds to place the canons in strategic positions. There are many paths to walk on as well to make it an enjoyable day walking amongst the historic battlefield.


If you had the glory of being the one to operate the canons here is what your view would have looked just before battle!


If you made it onto the shores coming by water, you would have met several of these "little" guys upon your arrival!


If you made it past those little guys, you could expect their bigger brothers to be waiting on you a little further up the hill from the water!


The men standing by were ready for your arrival with open arms and plenty of fireworks!


As you can imagine it was a pretty loud event, when these bad boys lit off!


It also provided a pretty good smoke screen as well.


After the guided tour, and the canon firings... I took an audio cd guided tour that let me drive around to a 14 mile tour of the entire battlefield.


On the tour it took me to the National Cemetery here on the battlefield. I really love this wall, and I'm interested in getting a replica built for my backyard. I really like the design of it, got the whole antique look to it, ya think?


Allot of soldiers in their final resting spot.


On down the road we go, it is so beautiful there.


I'm digging the colonial style houses from back in the day. Even the old wooden style shingles on the roof.

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You gotta love how water, just snakes through the woods & grass!


I can only imagine how much work went into putting together fences/barriers during the revolutionary war!


Here's where it all came to an end, and this blog comes to an end as well! They Surrendered, and we had one heck of a bonfire! "Surrender Field"