January 19

Cell Phone Rings at the Symphony and She Answers! (From the Front Row)!

Did a Woman Answer Her Phone on the First Row of the Symphony Hall During the Concert? GASP!  Yes!  Today, a friend and I went to the Jacoby Center Concert Hall to hear the magnificent Jacksonville Symphony.    In a deep voice from an announcer cell phones were to be turned off and no flash photography taken. We had the very first two seats on the center-front row right there in the front.  How did that happen? Talking about some of the best seats in the house. We were right there!    Literally, we had “front row seats”.

The concert began in usual fashion with the lights being brought down a bit, the announcer giving the 5 minute start alert and then everyone was seated and ready.  The orchestra  members were in place and the Conductor came out with a round of applause. Excitement was certainly in the air.

After the conductor told a bit about the pieces to ne heard, the music began and before long a cell phone on the front aisle went off.  I noticed the woman fumbling in her purse to find it, I thought to turn it off but “NO”, she answered it.  In the middle of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Air from Orchestral Suite No 3 in D major BWV 1068, the woman began speaking to a person on the cell phone! Thankfully, the call was short but not without the front-seated violinist raising his eyebrows twice as he stroked his bow onto his violin.

Gasp!  She answered the call. I’m still flabbergasted.

See you tomorrow,

Nan

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May 2

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley is such a great friend!  You can take him anywhere and it makes you so happy to do so.  Flat Stanley, the book was written by Jeff Brown and published in 1964.  It’s interesting to note that until Flat Stanley became a classroom star, Brown did not publish any further works until some 2 decades later, he published a series of books and by mention from Wikipedia had sold over a million copies by 2003.

In the first edition published by Harper and Row(1964-1985), the story tells about the adventures of Stanley as he is pressed flat by a bulletin board.  He does the best that he can being flat by traveling and having great fun.

Flat Stanley in London-2009 ( Ramey Collection).

Teachers far and wide have had their students create Flat Stanley’s and have gone on field trips, had them go on trips and take their Flat Stanley and more.

My Flat Stanley has been many places including Buckingham Palace where I’ll take him again during the coronation.

See you tomorrow,

Nan 

Category: Art, Books/Documents, Things to Do, Travel, Visit This, World Wide | LEAVE A COMMENT
March 18

The Karpeles Manuscript Library in Jacksonville

It has closed.  After 30 years in Jacksonville, the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum clicked the lock and will no longer service the Jacksonville area.  Karpeles manuscript library was begun by David Karpeles’.  He had a love for old documents and began a collection which ended up being placed in about a dozen libraries in the United States. 

Karpeles closing week. Grandson and I visited to find a metal detector scanning premises.

Jacksonville’s library was housed in the old 1921 building built by Marsh and Saxelbye once was used for First Church of Christ in Springfield. David Karpeles died in January of 2022. The Jacksonville location closed in January of 2023 as will others around the country while Karpeles’ daughter, Cheryl Alleman, and her brother, Mark Karpeles downsize and reorganize. It has been reported they will go from 15 manuscript libraries to 10 over time.

Manuscripts laying on the stage the week of closing.

For thirty years, Jacksonvillians and guests could visit and find rare and authentic documents such as the first printing of the Ten Commandments from the Gutenberg Bible (c 1455), the famous E=MC2 formula by Einstein, the original manuscript of Roget’s Thesaurus, the sheet music of the Wedding March, Abraham Lincoln’s signature of 1861, the Apollo Translunar trajectory plotting America’s space flight and more. Through the years manuscripts were transferred from one library to another rotating the authentic pieces so many could view them in glass cases.

East Coast founding c 1500’s
10 Commandments first printed by Gutenburg Press
Taxation without Representation document

The library opened in Jacksonville in 1992 and closed its doors here in January of 2023.  I am told there is a small library nearby that can be visited.  It is being touted as “the smallest walk-in-museum in the United States” and is located in the Nation’s oldest city, St. Augustine.

Mini Museum in St. Augustine, Florida-Opened 2023

You should check it out. I’m going to….

See you tomorrow,

Nan

Location:

St Augustine location for Karpeles Mini Museum-

St George’s Row- Unit L

106 St. George St.

St Augustine, Fl 32084

9:am-10:00 pm daily

FREE

Old location of the Jacksonville Karpeles-101 West 1st Street ( formerly 1116 North Laura Street)

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March 12

Geocaching or Treasure Hunting From Your Phone

We found a geocache in the log box of the NASA shuttle fuel tank…

Many of you like to treasure hunt.  Geocaching is the new treasure hunting event.  In a nutshell, you create an account with Geocaching or another app that offers treasure hunting by phone and you follow treasure hunters in your area who put out different treasures.  Some offer free stuff, others simply allow you to find the treasure and login by writing your geocache name.  Generally, a pen or pencil is left at the geocache site with a login paper in a secure, box or container.

We wrote our geocache name inside the geocache paper left inside the container…(We left a bracelet).

It’s really a lot of fun.  Recently, we visited the external fuel tank from NASA just outside of Duval County City limits in Green Cove Springs. While we were there looking, we happened upon a geocache in a box at the foot of the external tank.  While we did not look it up, we did sign the log in the box and logged in to confirm we were there.

You need a geocache account and name to login your visit…

You can do this too.  Some geocache apps are free while others cost to be a member.  Google geocache and go from there. It’s really neat and definitely an adventure every time you try to find the treasures.  Geocaching is world-wide now so you can go to most any town, state or country and find different geocaches.

See you tomorrow,

Nan

Geocache . com or other apps that provide the same service. Some are free. Others are paid subscription.

Category: Family, Things to Do, Visit This | LEAVE A COMMENT