Florida Mermaid Musings

The holidays are here! Are you ready? Is your tree up? Lights on the house? Are your cards and packages mailed? Have you finished your shopping? You didn't forget anyone, did you? Did you get a new dress for the holiday party or do you think you can get away with wearing last year's? Maybe if you change up your jewelry and shoes... Are the cookies baked? Do they look exactly like the ones on Pinterest? Is your house ready for guests? What about that one relative who is allergic to cats or that one friend who can only eat gluten-free? HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF EVERYTHING?! Stop. Just stop. Yes, the holidays are here. You don't have to fit the mold of a Publix commercial or Southern Living Magazine. Your house is fine. Last year's dress is perfect. Or if you'd really rather stay home and binge Netflix with your cats, do that instead. People gather together because they want to be with each other. They want to be with YOU. The best gift you can give your loved ones is yo...

Guest Post By TJ Fish, who knows more about Central Florida than us natives. If you love the water (like I do), if you love fishing, if you love boating, if you love exploring, this is a must read! Enjoy. As I sat at my dining room table in Jackson, Tennessee studying the atlas page of Florida, I had just endured an hour-long phone interview.   I was ready to leave the bucolic tranquility of the Volunteer State for the robust and shiny Sunshine State.   I had just talked with the bosses at city hall of a town with a name that sounded Southern but looked Portuguese.   They offered me a job.   As I stared at the map, I became fascinated.   Tavares was located on a land bridge. Geography gurus call it an isthmus.   I was fascinated with what a place that looked so cool on a map might look like in person.   I took that job.   That was 15 years ago.   What I discovered starting with my first day in Lake County is that Tavares is surr...

I have no intention of camping out Thanksgiving night to be the first one in to a big box, I prefer to sleep in after giving thanks and gorging myself. And I much prefer to shop local in Mount Dora! The quaint little town has a ton of amazing shops of all kinds - no chains! I wish I could mention all of them but you probably need to go baste a turkey or something. Here are eight of my favorites: CHECKERED MOON 237 W. 4th Ave., Suite 3 CheckeredMoonSouth on Facebook On your shopping journey in downtown Mount Dora you're going to see shoppers everywhere carrying the signature yellow bag from Checkered Moon. The sign on the door says "Color Makes People Happy." Checkered Moon is definitely a happy place full of eclectic gifts for everyone on your list. Adorable baby clothes, books and toys, wine-themed gifts, apparel, décor, hand-poured candles, and so much more! Their inventory is constantly ebbing and flowing so you're going to want to stop in here more than onc...

When you think "Florida kitsch," what is the first thing that comes to mind? As a native I think of the roadside attractions we used to visit on road trips when I was a kid. I remember a chicken that would play the piano for a nickel. Taxidermic "World's Largest" alligators. Little treasure boxes covered in seashells. Most of those magical and tacky places were eaten up by interstates but a few still remain to fuel our nostalgia. Like Weeki Wachee . About 45 miles north of Tampa, the City of Mermaids, whose photos graced thousands of postcards sent all over the world. This is real Florida, folks, this is the breathtaking miracle of nature with fearless girls in silicone tails thrown in. In 1946 Newt Perry, "The Human Fish," constructed an underwater theater in Weeki Wachee Springs. He recruited pretty girls and taught them how to perform underwater using air hoses filled with compressed air - a contraption Perry invented. Perry was also the pioneer...

I thought a blog about haunted places nearby would be apropos for Halloween. When I began researching I was blown away by the number of haunted places in Florida! Some of those I will revisit later but for now here are eight places within swimming distance for me. Enjoy! LAKESIDE INN - MOUNT DORA Several ghosts are known to reside in the charming Lakeside Inn, which was built in 1883 and is the oldest continuously operating hotel in Florida. Two of the inn’s ghosts are young girls from the 1890s to 1920s. One is about nine years of age who wears a frilly red dress. She is believed to be Amy, a little girl who disappeared from the inn in 1892. The other is a girl around 12 who wears a blue dress and is often seen in the dining room. She’s been known to move the chandeliers and chairs. Also seen at the inn are the apparitions of a man in a top hat and a gangster in a fedora. Locals say there is a hidden speakeasy from Prohibition days somewhere in the inn.   BEEF O’BRADY’S (...

There’s a house in the neighborhood with a sizable colony. A colony is a group of feral cats that live together and share a food source. In the case of the house in the neighborhood an elderly couple puts food out every day but that’s all they do. The result? Lots and lots of cats! Without medical care they contract and spread diseases so many kittens don’t survive past a few weeks. Without being spayed female cats spend their whole lifetime being pregnant and caring for litters. The kittens are barely on their own before Mom has more little ones. I was on a mission to save these damn cats. I purchased a humane trap and began trapping and TNR’ing ferals. (TNR stands for Trap-Neuter-Return, their ears are tipped so you can easily tell who’s been fixed.) I fostered two litters of tiny kittens and found homes for them. One of the litters was found on the roof   of a house. (Getting them down was an adventure all by itself.) I spent my own money caring and feeding them and they in...

It ain’t your average wine bar. Maggie’s Attic has been serving as Florida’s living room since 2003. Tucked away in downtown Mount Dora in a cobblestone alleyway, tourists often stumble across Maggie’s by accident, and are pleasantly surprised to find a hideaway to take a break from shopping and enjoy a glass of wine, a cold beer, or just the great company. A family-run business, you will likely encounter the store manager Jerome or his sister Addie, and Mama Stephanie is there almost every afternoon to greet you and talk about the latest goings-on. Locals bring their leashed furry friends and Maggie’s is happy to give them a treat, a bowl of water, and some serious snuggles. I discovered Maggie’s almost a decade ago, and have felt like part of the Maggie’s family ever since. There are no strangers in Maggie’s; everyone is welcome.   (Even mermaids!) Tourists and locals easily mingle and trade tales of their travels and adventures. Several cozy seating areas among the towe...