The times they are a-changin’

By John Olesky (BJ 1969-96)
As Bob Dylan sang in his 1964 album that captured the spirit of social and political upheaval that characterized the 1960s, “The Times They Are a-changin’.”

The Feb. 7-21 trip to Siesta Key, off Sarasota, with Paula was my annual journey to the Sunshine State. I’ve taken one every February since my 1996 retirement from the Beacon Journal newsroom.

But Sea Castle, the cozy two-story collection of 10 attached buildings individually owned in Mom & Pop fashion, is gone. In its place is the $100 million Hyatt six-story complex with 1,900 to 2,900 square foot condos. “Fractional shares,” which look suspiciously like time-shares, started out for $135,700 to $206,400 for six weeks, but the sign on the still-uncompleted project now advertised $50,000 to $150,000 for undisclosed lengths of stays. And the late BJ printer Bill Gorrell's "Poor Bill's" rentals next door to Sea Castle were razed for something that looks like a cement-blocks concoction.

We rented a second-story apartment a block away, but 50 feet from the beach access walkway.

The times they are a-changin’.

From the time that my late wife Monnie and I began our month-long hiatus from Northeast Ohio winters, and through my journeys onto Siesta Key with Paula, I’ve had reunions with former Beacon Journal co-workers who live in Florida. But health reasons prevented us from seeing former Composing workers Terry Dray and wife Cecily, who live in Avon Park, and Dave and Gina White, who live in Venice; and former newsroom rewrite guru Don Bandy, who lives in Bradenton.

I caught a cold in Ohio three days before our flight from freezing and gave it to Paula about three days after we arrived in Florida. Paula wound up with bronchitis, so we had to cancel the scheduled get-together.

The times they are a-changin’.

But some things were the same. Such as:

-- Miles of daily walks on the Siesta Key beach.

-- Seeing alligators, armadillo, turkey vultures (getting ready for their flight to Hinckley?), hawks, egrets, deer, herons, feral pigs and squirrels in Myakka Lake Park.

-- Enjoying the sweet sounds of a dozen dulcimers (Appalachian musical instrument) in Snookhaven camp near Venice where motorcycle gangs mix with senior citizens.

-- Glorious Greek Festival food and interesting Greek dancers at St. Barbara’s Church in Sarasota.

-- Listening to country music in Phillipi Estate Park in Sarasota.

-- Hearing the blues at the Friendship community center, by former world-traveling pianist/singer Lyllette Jenkins-Wisner.

-- Enjoying a concert by the Suncoast Jazz Ambassadors Big Band in Payne Park auditorium near downtown Sarasota.

-- Art exhibited in tiny studios, large art centers and on major streets.

-- Admiring hundreds of manatees luxuriating in the warm waters pouring from the Tampa Electric power plant in Apollo Beach (Gulf of Mexico was too cold in February for the slow-moving critters).

-- What was left of a water-skiing show on Sarasota Bay (I had the wrong time for the start of it).

-- A romantic (naturally) Valentine’s Day dinner in Turtles Restaurant on Siesta Key.

We found new enjoyment in walking the 2.25-mile boardwalk in the Audubon Society’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary near Naples (off I-75 exit 111). The BJ’s travel/nature reporter, Bob Downing, had written about Corkscrew years ago and I filed it away in hopes of some day walking amid the thousands of cypress trees, and the alligators and birds. Thanks, Bob!

We took in the outdoor Ferraris & Other Exotic Cars display on upscale St. Armand’s Circle off downtown Sarasota, including one splendid example with a $1.2 million price tag (but it only got 11 miles per gallon, so we didn’t buy it), and the outdoor antique autos display in Venice, which included some of Henry Ford’s first products.

We made our first trip to Sarasota Jungle Gardens where we watched birds riding teeny bicycles on a wire, the show’s host putting a Madagascar cockroach in her mouth, and pink flamingos squawking and prancing energetically.

We did the obligatory imitative pose in front of a tall aluminum “Unconditional Surrender” sculpture on Sarasota Bay of a sailor and a nurse kissing emphatically, which itself mimics the famous New York City Times Square photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt marking V-E Day (for youngsters, the day that World War II ended in Europe because Germany surrendered).

The major attraction every year is Sarasota’s myriad cultural attractions and events. Every day we had a list of several things to do – music, food, art, animals, walks.

We had lunch on the water at Ft. Myers before we drove to Southwest Florida International Airport in that city for our flight home.

To wrap it up by quoting Bob Dylan from his “a-changin’ “ song:

“Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
For the times they are a-changin'.”

Click on the headline if you want to see photos of our trip. Or not.