10 weeks, Post 7

On Monday we took an overnight road trip to St. Petersburg, FL, to visit the Dali Museum. I studied Spanish Civilization at UNI and love the work of Salvador Dali. This museum has been on my bucket list since our daughter visited it a few years ago.

Here are the flowers waking to the front entrance: poinsettias, hibiscus, and something right out of a surrealist Dali paining! 

Our docent was wearing a Dali sweater!

In "Daddy Long Legs of the Evening" she pointed out a prominent design in Dali’s paintings: the skull-like formation of a mountain near his home which mimics the shape of his own skull.

In "Profanation of the Host" we begin to see the layers and layers of images in Dali’s surrealist paintings and the double images.

As shown in "Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea Which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln" his wife Gala was the muse and model for numerous paintings. Here Dali was disproving a Scientific American article about the number of pixels needed for face recognition (256), but Dali did it in 150 as an homage to Mark Rothko’s color block style. At 20 meters (or if you squint) you can see the image of Abraham Lincoln.

 Even the architecture of the museum in artistic. Here is the helix staircase.

The geodesic windows overlooking the garden provide an unusual perspective.

Here’s the view from outside of that window.

Visitors are encouraged to take their own picture in front of a concave mirror.

In the garden you can stand inside Dali’s trademark mustache.

At the end of one exhibit you can stand inside a painting of clouds.

And you can even become a part of a Dali painting.

There was so much more, including a special exhibit of René Magritte and Dali. But I just want to share one last painting, my favorite of this museum. It is "The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory". Dali was fascinated by atom theory and took his original "The Persistence of Memory" painting and deconstructed it into atomic particles.

Whenever I go to NYC and the Museum of Modern Art, I visit my all time favorite Dali painting "The Persistence of Memory".  Here it is from the MoMA website.

Dali painted ants in many of his paintings. Outside the museum are metal ant sculptures!

And since I'm a Master Gardener and take lots of photos of plants and animals, here are a few images as we exit the Dali museum.

 Bougainvillea...

...and a little lizard.

10 weeks, part 6

Today we volunteered at the Homeless Veterans Stand Down

The following services were offered:

Dental

Chiropractic 

Flu shots/Blood pressure 

Medical

Podiatry

Eye care

Nurse triage

Acupuncture 

Massages

Barber

PTSD services

Counseling 

Mental health

Community legal

Public defender 

Food stamps

Social worker 

Chaplain

DOD supplies: tents, tarps, sleeping bags, backpacks, boots

Veterans History Project

DAV

American Legion

Supervisor of Elections

Food stamps

Women’s center

Wounded Warrior Project

Goodwill 

Red Cross

WellCare (Medicare)

Hospice

Meals on Wheels

Volunteers of America

RSVP(Retired Senior Volunteer Program)

Independent living

Alcoholics Anonymous 

Homeless Support

Housing for Homeless

Brevard County elder services

Voc Rehab

Habitat for Humanity 

Career counseling

Job opportunities: vet technician, colleges, businesses (Home Depot),

Showers

Samaritan’s Coset/Clothing

Toiletries, t.p., towels

Breakfast/Lunch

Free bottled H2O, soda, ice cream

Carl served as an escort for 5 veterans throughout the day. He took each one around through abut 50 stations where they could get the assistance or goods and services that they wanted.

 Susan was a volunteer who answered questions and sent people to the various services.

One of the items distributed were MREs. 

About 100 homeless veterans and their families were served. Organizations that volunteered included the Elks, the American Legion, the Brevard Veterans Center, the Freedom Riders, the River Rats, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and many more volunteers like us.

10 weeks, part 4

On Friday we moved from the studio unit to a two-bedroom for Christmas week at Cape Canaveral Beach Resort.

Here are photos of the studio as we were moving out. There was only a mini-fridge and a microwave and a coffee table in the studio, so we didn't do much cooking. At least there were 2 TVs for the days it rained! It was adequate for our free week.

Then we moved to the Oceanfront building for our home week. It is a 2 bedroom-2 bath with a balcony that overlooks the port and the canal. In this unit we have a full kitchen and dining table, so we’ll be doing more cooking.

Since we are in a corner unit on the 5th floor, we have more view off the balcony to the left and there are windows in the living room, dining room, and second bedroom. That makes for a brighter home away from home.

On Sunday morning we watched the launch of the SpaceX GPS III satellite. There’s a video on my Facebook page. We also watch the cruise ships come in and out.

You can get pretty close to the cruise ships from the Jetty Park pier.

And we can also see them all lit up at night.

More flora and fauna... (I warned you.)

The highlight on Sunday was going to Pineda just past Patrick Air Force Base to see the manatees. There is a natural spring off an inlet, and they come in there from the Banana River.

LOVE the beach and I am drawn back as often as I can.

There are feral cat colonies near the resort that are protected and fed by a group of volunteers.

Tonight there was a beautiful red moon.