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Back at least 20 years ago, when Adams & Houser Hardware was diagonally across the street from our shop on State St., they put lawn mowers, wheel barrows and fertilizer spreaders out on the sidewalk every morning, chained together. I assume they did that both to advertise that they sold these items, and also to get them out of the aisles inside the store.

Every evening they would be taken back inside. When he was a high school student, Eddie (I won't divulge his last name) worked at Adams & Houser after school and at night it was his duty to take "the animals" inside at closing time. One night Eddie forgot his duty, and as we were getting ready to head home, we noticed that "the animals" had been left outside.We went over and unchained them and brought them across to our shop but we put them in our window so when the folks opened up the next morning they could, hopefully, see that we had their equipment.

Just as a joke Pete put a sign on the merchandise stating: "For Sale, Cheap". But, the laugh was on us because they didn't even miss them! After we opened we walked over to ask if we could buy a wheel barrow and then they finally realized what we'd done, so they decided to leave them in our window until Eddie came to work after school.When he was asked if he knew where "the animals" were he remembered that he'd forgotten to bring them in and he hit the panic button. They didn't make him stew too long though because he was really upset.  Needless to say he never forgot "the animals" again. Life is good...  

In her book, "The Lures of Manatee", published in 1934, Lillie B. McDuffee cites what brought settlers to this area in the 1840s; no mystic glamour of gold lured the Manatee settler, it was the fertility of the soil, the charm and intrigue that lay in its scenic beauty and its ever-delightful climate.

Those lures brought thousands of people to the little fishing village of Sara Sota.  One of those persons was Mr. Rodney Grantham, a descendent of Peter and Sophia Crocker who settled here in 1872.

What was so special about Mr. Grantham?  They say a boy scout never forgets his Scoutmaster.  For two years he was my Scoutmaster, idol, instructor and guiding light.  When he would take us camping everything we did was a learning experience, although we didn't realize it at the time.  In today's jargon he would be known as a conservationist, a naturalist and an environmentalist.

One special camping trip was to Upper Lake in Myakka River State Park.  We camped, two nights, near a cabin that was built in the branches of an oak tree.  The Tucker family had built it in 1934.  We drew straws and I was one of the ones to win the privilege of sleeping in the tree house on a Spanish moss-filled mattress.  How proud I was!!  I gladly slept in my pup tent the second night hoping that the calamine powder on my fifty or so chigger bites would hurry up and take effect.

Lesson learned and remembered for sixty-six years.  Life was/is good.

In writing these blogs I kept thinking how much we were able to enjoy, absolutely, the best of times and the very best that Sarasota had to offer in our youth.  I had to revise my thinking this past weekend, though.  We spent Mother's Day celebrating with our daughter and son-in-law, (Pam and Larry) and our granddaughter and grand son-in-law, (Heather and Rob), and I listened to Pam describe her formative years when she would come down to our shop with her brother, Ken, and me.  She and Ken would wander off down Main St. or ride bikes around downtown when that was the center of activity here, and they felt free as birds.  They always felt safe, and I felt they were safe.  She spoke of learning to ride a unicycle behind our shop in the alley and how much fun it was to ride it to school.  She named many of the businesses in downtown she used to go in and can still remember the lay-out of each shop and the people who ran them and the lasting impressions they made on her.  It was such fun walking down memory lane with her.

She also spoke of the hundreds of parakeets that inhabited the palm trees downtown and how lovely their chirping sounded when they settled in the palm tree outside our shop.

Larry chimed in and recalled how he and his neighborhood friends would go out after breakfast and play all day, coming home only when they got hungry, and then back out until dark. His parents also didn't have to worry about their safety.

All of this made me realize that each generation has their own happy memories, and that's what makes it: "The Happiest and Best of Times" for them too.

Life is good.

Summertime in Sarasota in 1947 was when most everyone went into slow gear.  Even back then some people invaded the mountains of north Georgia and the western Carolinas.  With no I-75 super hi-way, an auto trip to Atlanta meant an overnight stay en-route in a Mom and Pop owned roadside cabin.  Do you remember seeing all those chenille bedspreads and rugs hanging on a clothesline?  Bargains Galore!!

But us stay-at-homes were not left with no amusement or diversions.  Sure, many of the downtown stores (were there any other kind??) closed at noon on Wednesday and doctors had no office hours on Thursday afternoons.

For a day at the beach, just roll up your bathing suit in a big bath towel, put a dine in the slot on the Cities Transit bus and in no time at all you're in the pool at the Lido Beach Casino.

For evening entertainment, Mr. Vincent, manager of the Florida Theater came up with Thursday night talent contests, live, on the stage.  Among the contestants were dance groups, baton twirlers, acrobats, jugglers, vocal soloists and a quartet-Five Guys And A Gal.  We started out with four of us, first tenor, second tenor, alto and bass.  In case one of us couldn't make a gig we went to five.  So, each of us had to learn two parts so we could fill in for each other.

What did we sing?  "Chloe", "Dry Bones", "Moonglow", and "All Through The Day".

Who were we? Left to right; Betty Ann Merry, George (Pete) Esthus, Morgan Stafford, Leslie Rice, John Bayliss and O.J. Hendry.  Pete was out of uniform but he loved those black and white wingtips.  Life was/is good.

Recently, two SHS classmates of mine, Bill Blackstone and Otto "Red" Rice, came over to our house to give us a collection of negatives and prints of pictures Bill took during his tenure as a Sarasota Herald-Tribune photographer back in the 50s.  It was truly a treasure trove that is destined for the Sarasota County History Center.  I'm so glad that Bill and Red saw the value in these historical photos.

Last fall I wrote a blog about the Bee Line Ferry that provided service across Tampa Bay for cars and passengers starting back in 1926.  Well, among Bill's photos was this picture of the opening day of the first Sunshine Skyway Bridge on Labor Day, September 6, 1954 with the Bee Line Ferry boat "Manatee" below the bridge probably on one of its last trips.

This is a Thank You to Bill for his willingness to give his collection to the History Center and I offer this as a reminder to all of you to realize that you, too, may have some treasures of Sarasota's past that might be an asset to our community archive.   Life is good.