Preparing For Jax History Lecture

I spent Tuesday reading and gathering materials for a lecture on Jacksonville history that I’m scheduled to give at the South Mandarin Library.

In my talks I used various rusty artifacts I’ve collected here and there to illustrate points, a hand-forged ax, a Civil War sword, flint arrowheads, etc. Trouble is that I keep this stuff all over the place – some outside in the garden, some in a bookcase, some in a closet -- and I have to round it up again each time I give lecture.

One section of the lecture which always seems to perk the audience up involves Dr. Robert Bateman, who founded a Jacksonville rescue mission, and who died in the sinking of the Titanic.
Folks always seem interested in that.

I’m still waiting for the Glog proofs to come from the printer.

After several days of rain many of the plants in our garden are flowering; when Ginny got home from work, I took these photos of her, one amid the angel trumpets and the other with some other plant that I don't know the name of...