My title here Message in a Bottle is also the title of a 1999 American romantic drama film directed by Luis Mandoki and based on a novel with the same name by Nicholas Sparks, but in this case it refers to something completely different!
Most people think of a message in a bottle as a beachcomber’s mystery find. In this case there was no mystery, but lots of adventure! The story was posted on the MR BONE HEADFacebook page. You never know what you will find on the beach!
Judi and the message bottle – photo – Glunz Ocean Beach Hotel & Resort
So one of our owners Judi was walking on the beach this morning cleaning up the junk that washed into shore and finds a bottle with a message in it. There is also some sand and 2 one dollar bills.
Once we get it open and read the notes we find out that it is in fact NOT sand. It is the ashes of this woman’s husband of 70 years named Gordon. She writes that He loved to travel so she sent him traveling in a bottle with a note and money for someone to call home and tell her where he landed.
He started at Big Pine Key [Florida] (point A on the map below) in March of 2012 and then went to Islamerada [Florida] (point B) where someone found him. They added a note and sent him traveling again and he landed on our beach in Key Colony (point C).
Judi called the wife in Tennessee who was excited to know of Gordon’s travels! Judi added her note, we put him in a rum bottle (you know added a little fun to his trip) with the three notes. We added another dollar in case Gordon travels far and a long distance call is needed.
We will be having a memorial service or celebration of his life on our beach later today before sending him on his way again. Only our sister Judi could find a dead guy on our beach!
This article may be a bit outside the scope of this website, but then maybe not.
Everybody loves a lighthouse, whether it is on the sea, in your garden or in your computer as is this PC/Mac program called Minecraft. This may not be to everybody’s interest but I am sure there are a few of my readers out there who play the game and might be interested.
I have never explored Minecraft, but a short description will more than help you understand the fascination. I might even give it a try. You all know my fascination with Lego!
The literal description: Minecraft is a first-person, free to play indie PC/Mac game created by one person, with crafting, building and exploration at its center. The graphics are straight out of 1991. There are no characters and there is no story. There are none of the “production values” that define gaming these days, but within those narrow confines lies one of the most innovative and endlessly fascinating game in existence… and it’s still in Alpha.
While there are various versions and builds available out, there are three basic play-modes to Minecraft: Single Player Creative, Multiplayer Creative, and Single Player Survival. All three plop you down into a huge, open world, filled with different natural resources you can exploit and bend to your will.
Single Player Creative mode is like an infinite LEGO set. You can create fantastic structures out of basic building blocks all day if you’d like. You can try it out for free, in-browser, right here. Multiplayer Creative is the same deal, with others. – g4tv.com
So, here is a short video on how to build a Minecraft lighthouse:
The mission statement of the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation is “To Assist the 45th Space Wing in preserving, protecting, and interpreting the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse and its historical significance to the Florida Space Coast, State of Florida, and our Nation.” The US Air Force owns and maintains Cape Canaveral Light, but the Foundation exists to be of assistance in its restoration and to share its remarkable history.
In many ways Cape Canaveral and the Lighthouse is a bridge between the age of exploration and exploration yet to come; a bridge between the sea and the stars!
On October 13th, 2012 I attended a gathering at the Canaveral Lighthouse with my father to celebrate the progress having been made on the restoration of this special and significant beacon. Although, we had visited the light by special permission a couple of years ago in order to photograph, I did not then have the opportunity to see the interior of the tower. Saturday, October 13th, could not have been a more perfect day to gather, discuss goals, walk the newly built Keeper’s Brick Paver Walkway, and climb!! I have to say right here that I was amazed that my 88 year old father was able to navigate the stairs better than I did! The metal lighthouse is lined with brick and the winding stairs curl upwards around a center pole with no hand railing along the brick walls. Of course, it was probably because I was lugging my heavy camera!! Probably!! Continue reading Reprint – Restoring Canaveral Light – Brick by Brick!→
The following story is the first of two parts on the Cape Canaveral lighthouse by Judy Lovell, a photographer extraordinaire, who runs a WordPress blog called Janthina Images.
Besides this article, and the one following, please view her image gallery on her website as well. In the gallery she has some lovely photos of Florida lighthouses with prints available for sale. Enjoy, and drop by her website occasionally for different articles. If you wish to view the image gallery as a slideshow, please click here.
They fill that night with Knowledge. A thousand ships go by, A thousand captains bless them, so bright and proud and high: The world’s dark capes they glamour; or low on sand banks dread, They, crouching, mark a pathway between the Quick and Dead — Like star points in the ether They bring the seamen ease, These Lords of Wind and Weather These Wardens of the Seas!
…Edwin James Brady…
Lighthouses have long stood at the edges of the world, lonely outposts maintained by devoted souls to ensure the safety of ships at sea. But, only one remarkable beacon was destined to illuminate the path for ships of space! But how did this happen? How did a lighthouse built on a hook of sand jutting out into the Atlantic to protect mariners from dangerous currents become a front row witness to the advent of the Space Age?
Do you want to save a lighthouse? Do you like lighthouse Christmas ornaments? This article might appeal to you. It appeals to me because it is another way to raise money to save a lighthouse. If you look on this website, there are many more ideas too.
Reprinted with permission from Tim Croft of The Star
First published July 26, 2012 11:58 AM
Lighthouse ornament
The St. Joseph Historical Society (Port St. Joe, Florida) is encouraging folks to put a touch of lighthouse under the Christmas tree this year.
As part of a fund-raising effort in its quest to save the Cape San Blas Lighthouse from the wrath of Mother Nature, the Historical Society is selling a gorgeous brass-and-silver colored replica of the lighthouse in the form of a Christmas ornament.
Cape Blas lighthouse
Each ornament costs the Historical Society $10 – Cape San Blas Lighthouse is emblazoned across the top-front of the ornament, St Joseph Historical Society on the lower back – to produce.
