Monday, November 12, 2007

Sweet Serendipticiousness

As yall know, I was in White Springs, FL this weekend regaining my sanity. I am becoming increasingly fed up with the suburban lifestyle, and going to the Florida Folk Festival is a great way to quench my thirst for culture. Yeah, that's right, all these new hoity-toity bistros, cafes, and art galleries popping up around me are NOT culture. You often have to look closely for true culture in modern Florida, and this is one of the few places where you can be completely surrounded by it.
As my dad said about me at the Festival, "He's in Heaven."

I spent most of the weekend with "Uncle" Stuart Pacetti knitting and throwing castnets. I have now passed over 4 feet, 6 inches on my net, aiming for 7 feet. Lots of work to be done still.







I had a great time with the man I consider my 3rd grandfather, but that was not the highlight of my weekend. No, Mrs. Sarah N. Dipity had very nice plans in store for me.

Saturday afternoon, I sat under the sprawling oak tree where our castnet demonstration was situated. I had spoken with hundreds of people that day about the long, laborious, sometimesfrustratingsometimesrelaxing craft of castnet knitting. I had people of every race, nationality, and profession descend upon me, eager to learn about my craft and my culture. As you can imagine, I was more than willing to share. When somebody approached me, I generally gave them a nod and a quick hello, leaving them to watch me feebly attempt to work monofilament line into mesh, waiting to answer any questions they may ask. Like I had so many times that day, I noticed a couple of people approaching out of my peripheral vision. I looked up...

Whoa, that girl definitely looks familar. And do I know that goofy-looking guy with her?
"Hi," I said, continuing my knitting.
Can it be FC and his daughter, Emma? It sure looks like her, but I can't be sure the guy with the sunglasses covering his face is really FC.
I kept knitting, looking off to the side, trying to get a better look at them without staring. You know how daddys are about boys staring at their daughters. The guy knelt down and started snapping pictures with one nice-looking camera.
Yup, gotta be them.
"Gonna put me on your blog?" I asked.
"Yup, is that okay?"
I stood, we shook hands, introduced ourselves using names other than FloridaCracker and HurricaneTeen, and we had a good conversation. I've been a loyal reader of PureFlorida for over a year and a half now, and I feel like I have gotten to know FC and his family. It was thrilling to see them as living human beings and not just images and writing on a computer screen, though :-D



That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! More on the Festival in later posts.

15 comments:

Sharon said...

Very cool. ;) Wish I could have come to meet you all too. Maybe another day...another festival. You've already met my son, LOL.

R.Powers said...

Hey, it was the highlight of our trip too!
It is neat to meet someone you feel like you know, but have never met.
Thank you for keeping the historic culture of Florida alive.
Looking forward to photos of the first fish caught with that net you're working on.

Anonymous said...

I'm a little fed up with the "citified" lifestyle also. It would have been nice to get up there this past weekend and enjoy the festival up there.
And that Emma sure is cute!

Did you get your net finished?

MinorcanMeteorolgist said...

sharon - The next FFF should be in May...unless they decide to have it in November again like everybody says they should (much nicer weather.) Or maybe you could come to the Olustee Battle Reenactment Festival in February...

FC - I just love being Floridian :-D I will definitely be sure to show the first fish (hopefully it's a mullet!) caught in that net.

laura - Oh well, the next FFF will be upon us before we know it...probably in only 6 months or so.
Yes, she is cute, huh?
I am working on the 4 foot, 7 inch row now. I got more than 2 rows put on today, which constitutes over 500 or 600 knots. I hope to have the whole thing done by next March or April.

Unknown said...

HT,

Hope you didn't turn to red when you read Dad's blog i was quite a cherry myself. It was nice meeting you. You're quite an inspiring Minorcan, I might just have to start up a blog someday soon.

Emma

SophieMae said...

Thans for the memories of my favourite grandfather. 8-] Both my maternal grandparents were accomplished net casters.

I've been scouring the web for festivals lately so I can get away from modernity for a while. I'm ever so grateful that so many people are keeping the old ways alive.

And I'm way digging that hat! I NEED one just like that! 8-]

Great post! Miss Sarah is the best adventure companion. How nice of her to bring you and the FC's together!

MinorcanMeteorolgist said...

elpbulls - Well it was quite a bright color, but that might have been due to my mother's commentary, as she read it at the same time I did. You should start a blog...It's addicting.

sophie - The Battle of Olustee Reenactment and Festival is in February, in the Osceola National Forest. THINGS GO BOOM!!! ha ha, some of the best memories of my life are there...you should come out. You can buy a hat just like that the Olustee :-D I will post dates of future festivals.

threecollie said...

I am envious...of your talent, the beauty of your home state and the chance to meet FC....just wonderful

MinorcanMeteorolgist said...

threecollie - THANK YOU! I am envious of your notlivingtwentyfeetfromyourneighbors lifestyle! We commented at almost the same time, too.

Paintsmh said...

I'm gonna vote with my momma and say i am envious of you getting to meet FC. And that darned festival sounds like so much fun. How bout moving it to NY for a year? We have lovely parks you could slip it right into. Would certainly be a wakeup call for some of us northerners (you'll notice I did NOT say Yankees). And I totally wanna try that food FC was talking about. I was so watering at the mouth!

MinorcanMeteorolgist said...

paint - They were very nice and fun people to speak with. Something is telling me that having the festival in New York would not work out well for either the Floridians or the New Yorkers :-D

Paintsmh said...

I was afraid you might say that. Guess if I want the food and such I am going to have to do some major traveling...drat... I really don't like traveling that much. AND if the moat ever goes up, I could be in a lot of trouble.

MinorcanMeteorolgist said...

paint - The moat only blocks out YANKEES, not all northerners. There's a difference, remember? :-D

MinorcanMeteorolgist said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paintsmh said...

True. Did consider that. I am just concerned that I would not want to attempt the crossing...but then again that food and the fun sounds like it would be worth it!