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One more story from the Palm Harbor arts show…

 John Mascoll is a native of Barbados and a trained engineer, but what he really loves is turning wood. And his wood working is so beautiful that it takes your breath away. It’s so good, in fact, that he won Best in Show at the recent Palm Harbor arts show.

We don’t really know John, but we have a connection to him — my husband Bill works with John’s wife, Jannice, at St. Petersburg College. Bill spotted John as we walked through the arts show last weekend, and he managed to get a couple of pictures, which I’ve posted here.

John, who lives in Safety Harbor, does very precise wood turnings, producing vases and vessels of all kinds as well as smaller works. He likes to use exotic woods that offer gorgeous grains and shades.

Jannice says that John’s father worked in wood back in Barbados. Once he moved to the U.S. and settled in Georgia, he started going to meetings of woodworkers and learned the craft.

John Mascoll exhibits his work at a lot of arts shows around the area. If you see him, stop by for a minute and take a look.

Tags: art show, Palm Harbor

Carol Elder Napoli’s art

Carol Elder Napoli

About three or four years ago (when the real estate market was really good!) I was looking for some art — we had just bought a new house and we were interested in doing some decorating.
This is never easy for us; both of us are of the Lyndon Johnson School of Art. He once had his presidential portrait done, and he didn’t like it at all. When someone challenged his opinion, he said, “I may not know much about art, but I know what I like.”
That sort of describes our collective art knowledge. However, we do usually have pretty strong opinions about the art we see. We both like abstract paintings, and we both tend to like bold colors.
So, several years ago, we went to the annual Palm Harbor art show with an eye for the right abstract painting. We had pretty much seen everything without much success when we came upon a booth that displayed a number of paintings that we liked immediately. We spent some time looking them over, and then we realized that the artist, Carol Elder Napoli, was the same artist whose work we had admired several months previously at another art show in Sanibel.
One painting really appealed to us; we bought it and took it home, and it has really stood the test of time for us. We like it more the longer we have it.
So two days ago we were walking through the Palm Harbor art show when Bill spotted a painting in one of the booths. He realized right away that it was one of Carol’s paintings, and it turned out he was right.
Carol remembered us, and we spent some time talking to her and her husband.
Carol’s work carries strong spiritual and emotional messages. She works in bold acrylic colors, which you may be able to tell from the picture above.
Here’s a little bit from her website:
“While painting, the work and I enter into a dialog adding to the mystery of how the work will be completed. Much of the result depends on an emotional, intuitive response to the paint and various images, color and marks that together form a composition. My paintings fit into the “abstract” genre, but they are not to be considered non-objective works. I paint with a purpose and desire to touch the viewer at a place of recognition, perhaps even within a narrative.”
You can learn more about her at her website, http://www.napoliarts.com/ . Carol Elder Napoli lives and works in New Smyrna Beach, and she attends many art shows around Florida.

Tags: art, art show, Palm Harbor

Palm Harbor art show

I mentioned in an earlier post that this weekend is The Big One — the annual Palm Harbor art and craft show.

This first weekend in December is the traditional date for the Palm Harbor show, which closes down the main drag in Old Palm Harbor for two days. Arts and crafts types from all over the state and beyond come to town to show and sell their wares.
There’s ceramic craftsmen, painters, sculptors, metal workers, jewelers, carvers and more. It’s a great time, and we try to go every year.
For the past two or three years, the show had been moved to the St. Petersburg College campus in Tarpon Springs, mostly because of lengthy road construction in the downtown Palm Harbor area. But this year the show was back in Palm Harbor, and everyone seemed pretty glad about that.

Tags: art show, Palm Harbor

Palm Harbor U. High School gets major award

 Palm Harbor University High School has earned a Silver Award from U.S. News and World Report as part of the magazine’s 2009 America’s Best High Schools edition.

The magazine reviewed 21,000 schools and then gave out 1,900 Gold, Silver, Bronze and Honorable Mention awards. There were 50 Gold awards given to Florida high schools; one of them, Design and Architectural Senior High School in Miami, was ranked Number 5 overall in the nation.

Tags: education, high school, Palm Harbor

Arts festival is this weekend in Palm Harbor

If you live in North Pinellas County, one of the local events you look forward to is the annual Fine Arts and Crafts Festival, which is held just before Christmas in Downtown Palm Harbor. This year the festival is Dec. 6 and 7 — this very weekend.

This year’s festival is the 34th annual, and it includes a juried art show, some really good food, and a number of special displays and activities. It’s a great place to find some unique Christmas gifts.

I’m planning on spending some time at the festival on Saturday, so look for some stories and photos right here on my blog.

If you want some additional information, visit the Palm Harbor Chamber of Commerce web site at http://www.palmharborcc.org/

Counters

Tags: art festival, Palm Harbor

More results from the NAR survey

 Here are a few more findings from the big National Association of Realtors survey that I mentioned a few posts back:

• Commuter costs were really important. Of all those surveyed, 41 percent said commuter costs were very important; another 39 percent said they were somewhat important.
• Buyers spent an average of 10 weeks looking for new homes. They also viewed an average of 10 homes before buying.
• Almost nine out of 10 buyers said their purchase was a good investment. Almost 50 per cent said they thought the investment was better than buying stocks. Remember that the survey was taken BEFORE the current stock market meltdown.
• The typical repeat homebuyer was 47. The typical first-time homebuyer was 30.

Tags: NAR, Palm Harbor, real estate, realtors, survey

Hops is back in Palm Harbor, and it’s good!

 Hops Grill & Brewery is a chain of casual restaurants that also brew their own beers. There is a Hops in Palm Harbor, on the southbound side of US19 between Tampa Road and Nebraska, and we used to eat there quite a bit. They had good steaks that were well-priced, they had an entree called South Beach Chicken that I liked a lot, and they had very good burgers.

Then we got the feeling that Hops sort of lost its way. Their prices went up quite a bit, and they changed their menu. In February of 2004 the chain’s parent company filed for bankruptcy, and about 15 Hops restaurants were closed.

To make matters worse, our local Hops restaurant was struck by lightning a day or two after Christmas, and the resulting fire did about $200,000 worth of damage. The place was closed for weeks, and we wondered if it would ever re-open.

I recently noticed that Hops had re-opened, so last night we gave it a try. And we were plesantly surprised. They were offering a 9-ounce steak for $10.99, and we both ordered it. It was quite good, and more than enough to eat.

We were also glad to see that Key Lime pie was still on the menu. We tried that, too, and found that the Hops key lime pie is still among the best you can find, just like we remembered.

Here is how Hops describes itself on its website: “We are a casual dining microbrewery restaurant that offers fresh, made from scratch menu items in a relaxed atmosphere featuring signature dishes that are created from high-quality, fresh ingredients and prepared in a display style kitchen that allows you to view the cooking process.”

We were pleasantly surprised to see that Hops is open once again, and pleased to note that it has returned to its roots of good food and good prices. Other people must be feeling good about it, too — the place was just about full.

Tags: Palm Harbor, restaurants

The snowblower from hell

The snowblower from hell

If you look back in the archive of this blog you will find a picture of an old snowblower sitting out on the front yard of a Palm Harbor house.

I figured the homeowners had put it out there as a sort of short-term joke and that the snowblower would disappear before long. But it’s still sitting out there and, in fact, the homeowners have dressed it up for Halloween, complete with a real creepy snowblower operator. Also, note the feet sticking out of the snowblower’s maw.
Don’t know if you can read the sign on the wall behind the snowblower, but it says “Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much.” These folks must take that motto seriously, at least the “Laugh Often” part.

Tags: North Pinellas County, Palm Harbor

Cody’s Steak House

Cody’s was on hand with ribs and a number of other offerings. Cody’s is a very good steak house that offers good food at moderate prices — a great place for the family. There are a number of Cody’s locations in the Tampa Bay area, but the closest one to us is in Tarpon Springs, at 39870 U.S. 19 N.

Tags: Palm Harbor, restaurants

Snapper’s Bar and Grille

Another of the restaurants taking part in the Taste of Palm Harbor was Snapper’s Bar & Grill. I had some spicy chicken wings and some great french fries.

Tags: Palm Harbor, restaurants