I’ve never attended a County Fair before, but when my girlfriend, Marlene, told me there would be pig races at the Sarasota County Fair – well, that’s something I just had to see. On opening day last Friday we arrived in time to see the very first race.

Pigs race around the track to get to their sweet reward of cookies

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A cold front descended upon Sarasota yesterday, bringing with it strong winds that whipped up waves in the Bay and bowed the palm trees. For some reason, these winds made me restless. I’ve been working hard on several writing projects all week long and had promised myself that I’d take the weekend off and do something fun – sort of travel in my own backyard, if you will. But try as I might, I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go. I thought I might drive out to the Big Cat Sanctuary and see the animals they’ve rescued, but when I called for a reservation they were sold out for the entire weekend. I considered driving down to Spanish Point but decided it was too cold to spend the entire day walking around an outdoor museum located on blustery Sarasota Bay. By noon, I was beside myself with indecision, not to mention hungry. I headed for the coffee shop and grabbed a salad from the cooler, but there wasn’t an available seat anywhere in the cafe. Instead I decided to drive to the Lebanese takeout place for falafel and hummus, but the traffic was so horrendous I couldn’t even make a left turn onto the main road. Read the rest of this entry »

I LOVE to travel. I can only stay put for a few months before I get the urge to head out for another one of the distant, exotic places that I haven’t yet checked off my list. Unfortunately, I can’t travel all the time. Once in a while I have to stick around and make some money to pay for all this travel about which I am so passionate. When I find myself grounded for a while – like now – I have to find a way to scratch that travel itch or I go crazy. That’s when I start looking around in my own back yard.

I am ashamed to admit that, despite the fact that I was born and raised in Chicago, I never visited Lincoln Park Zoo, attended a concert at the downtown band shell, went to the top of the Sears Tower, toured Frank Lloyd Wright’s home, visited the Old Water Tower, or watched the futures trading at the Chicago Board of Trade. It’s a mistake I don’t intend to repeat, now that I’ve relocated to Sarasota. Read the rest of this entry »