Hole In The Donut Travels

Remember playing tag when you were a kid? Slapping someone on the back and yelling, “Tag, you’re it!” Well, I’ve just been been ‘virtually tagged.’ My friend and fellow travel blogger, Shannon Lane, was ‘tagged’ to participate in the meme known as My Three Best Travel Secrets (a meme, which rhymes with cream, is a [...]

Sarasota’s split personality has always intrigued me. As a retirement community, the average age of its residents is well above the national average and even significantly above the Florida average. On the other hand, several universities and community colleges located in Sarasota County, including the renowned Ringling College of Art and Design, infuse the community [...]

I’ve lived in downtown Sarasota for nearly three years and thought I’d seen everything the city center had to offer until the other day, when I took a walk along Sarasota Bay. Just two blocks from the heart of downtown I discovered an arched entryway leading to Bayfront Park, a half-mile long peninsula jutting into [...]

In the world of museums it would seem unlikely if not downright preposterous to find circus artifacts mingled with fine art, yet that is precisely what visitors find at the John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. With a name like Ringling, the circus connection is not surprising – the benefactors [...]

Oh yes, it’s HOT in Florida right now. Most days you could probably fry that proverbial egg on our sun-baked sidewalks. But that’s not the kind of sizzle I’m talking about. It’s the smokin’ hot lineup of events planned for Independence Day that I’m talkin’ about!
A weekend of festivities kicks off with “Powerboats By The [...]

Environmentalists constantly charge that development has deprived plants and animals of their natural habitat. While I would normally agree, a few thing have happened over the past few weeks that make me wonder whether this is true, or if plants and animals are adapting just fine to cityscapes.
Last week, I was walking along Main Street [...]

After a few weeks on the road, I returned to Sarasota for a few days of R&R before heading out again. As usual, on my first day back I stopped by my favorite coffee shop, Pastry Art On Main, for a cup of java. Instead, on this particular day the owners of the shop, Forrest [...]

Most days, people begin leaving the beach when daylight fades. But on Saturdays at Siesta Key Beach, things are just getting underway as the sun sinks toward the horizon. At first, the gathering is small. People trickle in from the parking lot and, kicking their shoes off in the sugar-fine white sand, head toward the [...]

We had a big blow today. As I pulled into the parking lot at my apartment, tropical storm strength winds were kicking up dust and sending debris flying through the air. I don’t know what made me look up into the tree limbs hanging just beyond my windshield, or how I even spotted him. Sitting [...]

Before 2006, I’d never attended an opera. That year, however, I happened to have a house mate who played in the orchestra for the Sarasota Opera, and he arranged for me to see Madame Butterfly. It was thoroughly enjoyable, despite the fact that my seat was in the very last row of the nosebleed section. [...]