Here's the autumnal view from the staff lounge at work. I've shot this scene before from different angles, but this one shows off all the cacti that have taken up residence in the window. I'm not sure where they've all come from. The one on the left has been there as long as I've worked at the school, but the others are more recent interlopers.
Mr. P reminded me that there's even more to the story about the woman who had trouble spelling diarrhea. (See yesterday's post.) I'm using the American spelling, but here in Britain they throw a completely unnecessary O into the middle of the word -- "diarrhoea." So that woman wasn't kidding when she said it was tough to spell! The British also do this with "oesophagus" and "oedema" and some other words. In general, UK spelling loves extra letters.
I was prepared for yesterday to be a busy day in the library -- it was the last day with students before Thanksgiving break and I thought they'd all want books. (Or, more accurately, that their teachers would encourage them to take home a book.) I didn't even take "Barnaby Rudge" with me to work because I figured I'd be too busy to read. But I guess the kids already checked out all their reading because with a few exceptions it was a pretty quiet day. I was bummed. I could have plowed through another 50 pages.
After work I went for a pint with some co-workers, which was a surreal experience because they all brought their little kids. The pub was positively bursting with crayons and coloring books. I stayed for one drink before coming home and watching "The Crown" with Dave.
Needless to say, this is not London! No, this picture was posted to Facebook by an old school friend of mine, and it shows my hometown, Land O' Lakes, Florida. From the cars I'm guessing it was taken in the mid-'70s, so I was probably within a mile of this spot at the very moment this picture was snapped, which is funny to think about.
You can see the sign for Ann's Truck Stop in the background, as well as for Land O' Lakes Plaza, which was our tiny strip mall filled with local businesses including (as I recall) Balthazar's bakery, a butcher, Chuck's Barber Shop, a beauty salon, a pharmacy (sign above), and the post office. I think there was a florist in there too. The strip mall would be to the left of the photographer, who is standing in the parking lot. That's U.S. 41 beyond the signs, where cars are passing on the main highway through town. There were some little motels (Garland Court and the Sunny Motel, as I recall) and tourist cabins on the other side of the road, and behind the photographer was a gas station, a Phillips 66, run by a grizzled old guy named Mr. Wright.
Here's the same corner now. Everything I mentioned above is gone. The whole area is a sterile, sun-blasted, bulldozed wasteland, with only a big Circle K and six lanes of paved highway. It's a shame. As recently as 2015, when my mom sold our house in Land O' Lakes and moved to Jacksonville, the plaza still existed, but it had been much-remodeled and had seen better days. The Phillips had been gone for ages, replaced in the early '80s by a convenience store. The commercial center of Land O' Lakes began shifting to the south, near the intersection of S.R. 54, when we got our first big supermarket (a U-Save, a chain that no longer exists) around the time the photo above was taken. I remember I cried when they bulldozed an orange grove to build that U-Save. It broke my heart to see all the orange trees piled up and awaiting the torch.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes, right?
28 comments:
A good view from your staff lounge..love the assorted cacti!
The O may be surplus...but isn't it OE...showing its derivation from Greek?
Shite money makes the world go ‘ round…so sad about the orange orchard.
I wonder if grizzled Mr Wright took the "f" from Land O'Lakes with him when he was driven out of business at the petrol station. Perhaps he used that "f" to start a certain Anglo Saxon expletive. It's a word I often use if I see kids in a pub. Pubs are for adults.
In a window here, those cacti would outgrow their pots in no time. Whenever I hear Land O'Lakes, I think of Minnesota. Amazing the difference from then and now in your little town. At least they landscaped.
I wonder if you prefer the narrow streets of London or the big wide open streets of the US with vast parking lots.
It is always sad when small towns are sacrificed in the name of progress. But then I guess the young 'uns wouldn't want the old stuff anyway.
So many of our medical terms come from Greek and Latin roots which explains some weird spelling - but you know that.
That's quite a contrast between then and now of your hometown! Do you find that the town/neighbourhood now looks smaller compared to your childhood memories? I visited some of my childhood places, the street where we lived, my grandparent's place etc. and was surprised how small and insignificant it seemed compared to my memories.
I remember from my days when I studied to become a translator that a) about 80% of British English is of Latin origin which explains the "oesophagus" or "anaesthesia" or "diarrhoea" extra letters and b) after the Norman conquest (1066) French became the language of the upper class/ruling elite in England. (The ordinary people had their dialects.) which explains the extra letters in neighbourhood, colour etc.
I'm listening to a Randy Wayne White book now called "Sanibel Flats" and although it is very dated and the way the man writes about women and sex makes me want to punch him, he is quite right about the way developers have taken Florida and turned it into a horror show. And it's been happening for a very long time. I mean- think about it- those orange groves that you (so rightly) mourned had been planted on land that had been cleared of everything that had been growing on it since the wooly mammoths were walking around, probably, and I'm sure there were indigenous people who mourned that. Florida's history has been one of "Hey! Look at this gorgeous paradise! Let's fuck it all up and get millions of people to come live here! We'll get rich!"
Also. I love your cacti.
I love your window view, and am amazed at how things change, even in fifty years or so.
Wait, wait, Land o' Lakes is a place? But everyone knows it's butter!
There's also synaesthesia, which I've seen rendered without the vital a there. As usual, two Greek words.
I am always amazed at how one forgets about those changes as the years go by but then a photograph brings it front and center in an almost overwhelming way. Although I grew up on a farm, the nearest town, that I consider my hometown, is like that to me. I drive down what remains of the two block main street and just have visions of all the buildings and people that were once there and are not just empty lots. It is so sad, that I'm not sure when I've driven down it the last time but it was probably 5 years ago or longer.
Changes like that are happening everywhere! But the song made me think of the changes in our lives. Imagine the changes in your life, Steve. Did you ever imagine you would end up working in a library in London? You have made some huge changes!
I love the cacti view. It makes me want to try to grow some. Even though I think they're supposed to be hardy I killed the last one I tried to grow. (As there's a dead plant sitting on my desk in my office right now we can safely say that I do NOT have a green thumb.)
I always have trouble visualizing the "before" of places in my home town. My dad will say "such & such used to be there" but I can never see it in my mind's eye.
That is a huge transformation. The loss or the orange grove is very sad. In Massachusetts, there seems to be some effort to protect forests where wildlife are living and vernal pools exist. That said, farms are disappearing as owners are selling to developers and large homes and condo complexes are being built.
One photo can bring back many memories. I think the same thing has happened in many places.
I had a friend and her husband who lived in Land O'Lakes, Florida for a few years while her parents were still living somewhere else in Florida! Once her parents passed away, then Peg and Bert moved back to Illinois ... they are both gone now, as well!
An unexpected memory for me!
Happy Thanksgiving 🦃 to you and to all those commenting!
The slash and burn shopping center/gated community culture in Florida is out of control.
Love the autumnal view with the juxtaposition of the cacti. I've noticed those extra letters and am not even going to attempt to spell those words. Hope I won't have to! I think of butter when I hear Land o'Lakes. That's the brand I sometimes buy.
That window shelf is lovely
I find it interesting (amusing?) that you and I are both agonizing over spelling today. Also that you and Dave are both watching "The Crown" at the same time as Judy. I'm interested but can't seem to tear my way away from this blasted computer in an adjoining room. But I'll get there eventually. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes, indeed!
I like the 70's version of Land O Lakes better than the current one. As the US has grown many places look pretty much alike. Same chain restaurants, gas stations, convenience stores, big box stores. Very few of the original business es unique to a town are gone, taken over by McDonalds, TGI Fridays, Burger King, Home Depot, etc, etc. Perhaps there are some regional differences in architecture, but that's it.
What a pretty view out of the staff lounge window! I absolutely loved the retro Land O Lakes photo. I was born and raised in FL in the 70’s in a town called Windermere. My family grew citrus in FL for over 100 years. I still mourn all the development and the loss of the beautiful (and glorious smelling in March) groves. If you’ve never read A Land Remembered, you might enjoy it. It is, or was, on the Sunshine State reading list.
Shame on them, they should have saved the oranges and bulldozed something else.
I like the cactus collection.
GZ: Probably Greek or Latin...?
Linda Sue: I thought so! I just hated to see those trees killed, even though they weren't natural either.
YP: Ha! I guess it depends on the pub, but I tend to agree. I like an adult pub.
Mitchell: Well, parts of Land O' Lakes were looking quite junky and needed to be cleared, but that was a cute area in its day.
Andrew: Oh, definitely London. I am not a car person. In fact I hope to never own a car again.
Caro: Yes, I'm sure the root is in some ancient language. It's still interesting that the Americans were happy to drop that spelling but the Brits stick to it.
Sabine: I experienced that phenomenon when I revisited my old elementary school, prior to it being torn down. I blogged about it here: https://shadowsteve.blogspot.com/2010/04/elementary-school.html
Ms Moon: I never cared much for Randy Wayne White. He's trying to be John D. MacDonald or Carl Hiaasen, but he's not as good. Yes, it's interesting that I mourned the grove, but surely something much more ecologically valuable was demolished in order to plant those citrus trees.
Bob: It is an amazing change, especially looking back on it now. As it's happening it's all very slow and gradual so it doesn't seem as extensive.
Boud: Yes, I learned it as synesthesia. My grandfather used to call Land O' Lakes "Butter, Florida."
Ed: It is startling to see how American life has changed, and our communities have been so homogenized by corporations. The people who years ago would have owned their own bakery or butcher are now supermarket clerks working for The Man.
Ellen D: It's true, and that's after spending ten years in Manhattan and two years in North Africa. I have been very lucky to do things beyond my wildest dreams. (But I always DID dream of seeing the world and getting out of Land O' Lakes!)
Bug: The surest way to kill a cactus is to give it too much attention. If you put it in a sunny window and give it water every now and then -- with good drainage -- it should be fine.
Susan: I just wonder where it all ends. I think communities need to be better about re-using previously developed sites rather than plowing up virgin land. But developers like the latter because it's cheaper and doesn't come with potentially hazardous materials and the like.
Red: The only constant is change!
Marcia: Oh, that's funny! When did they live there? Maybe I knew them! (It was a small town when I was a kid.)
Colette: Florida has always been way too developer-friendly.
Margaret: It's so funny that everyone associates Land O' Lakes with butter, but I understand it.
John: It looks nice now, with that row of cacti. I wish I knew whose they are.
Catalyst: "The Crown" seems to be the hot thing on TV at the moment. It's good but I don't find it as compelling as the early episodes, maybe because these are recounting a much more recent time.
Jim: Exactly. It's such a shame. What used to be a distinctive place now looks like any other.
Pam: You aren't from the Conoley family, are you? They were big citrus growers near Orlando. I've always suspected I might be related to them -- my grandmother's maiden name was Conoley, and it's not a common spelling. (Her parents were from North Carolina but I bet there's still a connection somewhere.)
River: Well, I suppose it's actually better (ecologically speaking) for them to bulldoze a grove than a parcel of pristine forest. Not that there was much pristine forest around, most of it already having been turned into ranchland.
I need to start netflix again so I can see the Crown (and a few other things). That many kids at a pub -- sounds like sensory overload!
I used to think all those changes were progress. I'm not so sure now.
My maiden name is Chase. We had groves in Sanford and Windermere. The now famous Isleworth where Tiger Woods and other athletes live/lived was my family’s grove in Windermere. In the late 1800’s my great grandfather rode there on horseback from Sanford to look at property. The land he looked at, on a chain of lakes, had a small island. He rode his horse out onto it, looked around, and said, “This place looks like it could be an isle of worth. I’m going to buy it and call it Isleworth.” He planted it with groves, and my family lived and worked there for 3+ generations.
I can't get used to that kind of stuff. It's one of the reasons I don't really think I could live in the US. Once returned to a nice cosy little old fashioned motel in california which I had really enjoyed staying in - it was in wooded grounds, little log cabins. And I found a bland plastic nothingness, and what's more, nothing I recognised for miles. It had only been 10 years. Aagh!
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