It's my first time to actually see where oranges come from... the orange tree. :)
They have tangerine trees at Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' house too.Shirley took the four of us, students and visiting scholars, touring the small towns around. We stopped at Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park in Cross Creek. Well, Rawlings was a Floridian author in the 1930s. Shirley said Rawlings is very famous.
Hm. I still remember Bryce said in the news writing class that unless it's a quote from interviewees, we shouldn't use the word "famous" in news writing. I don't remember exactly why. And I'm sure I've forgotten a lot of the things I learnt already. I really wish I have a better memory.
Something like "famous" is vague. Also, don't use the word "important" in phrases like "The General Theory of Relativity is important" because if things are not important, it shouldn't be in the copy. Instead, write about why things are important.
What I want to say is, for any person famous in anywhere at any time, people from other places and other times may not even know their names. For me, Lu Xun and Xu Zhi Mo are "famous" authors. But I simply can't expect them to be as widely known as Homer or Shakespeare.
How on earth would I know Rawlings? Before Ann and Bert told me about Robert Burns and Adam Smith, I didn't even know Robert Burns, the Scottish poet who's on the banknotes in Scotland. I was studying at the London School of Economics and I didn't know anything about Adam Smith, the economist.
So, if you're interested, you may read her book "The Yearling" and others. But Lu Xun and Jin Yong are on top of my leisure reading list.
I love the small towns. "More shops" would be like 10 shops all selling antiques and crafts. But when I simply don't expect to buy anything there, I am not disappointed at all. Unlike the Miami mall.We saw a deer and two eagles on the way. Shirley and I were arguing if they're eagles or hawks. I looked at my photos of the hawk hundreds of times already. The two eagles have white heads and white tails. And the hawk is just brown.
So, we tried to take a photo of the eagles and ask other people. Well, they flew away when we stopped the car. Then we asked the post office staff in Micanopy what the big birds with a white head and a white tail would be. They said it's the bald eagle, the symbol of the United States.
You see, we're dedicated to knowledge. Though we cannot be sure if we have got the truth or if there's any truth at all. :D
The post office in Micanopy was built in 1812. The mailboxes look really old.
The mailboxes have different sizes and different shapes. Really want to know the people who have used them.My friend was looking for a place to send a fax to China. Well, the post office has international fax service but the staff don't know how much to charge. So, they couldn't offer the service even though they have the international line and a fax machine.
On the way back, we stopped at Paynes Prairies State Preserve. You see the shadow of spectators? We're discussing if the three tiny black spots in a line in the middle of the swamp is actually an alligator.
To me, anywhere with the endless clear blue sky is heaven. So, if the real heaven is way way way outside the universe, that is, perhaps it does not have any atmosphere, I'd prefer the Earth.
Can you picture how our path in life is like? It's short. And... what?With the digital camera, I couldn't picture the sun because a sharp vertical line would form in the middle of the screen. But I do hope I'm walking towards a brighter end.
