December 9, 2015 - Orange City, DeLand, Deltona & Sanford, FL

Edith was able to be up before 8 am, gathered all her camera gear together, tossed them in the Jeep and off she went to the spring.  This morning the temperature was more bearable than it was yesterday.  

When Edith got to the spring she was surprised to see no one there.  Yesterday there were few photographers.  Edith was nervous about using her GoPro camera to film manatees under water.  She used the telescopic pole and mounted the camera on it.  She was not sure how videos looked and won’t know until she got back home to review them.  There were over 20 manatees hanging around near the steps.  

https://youtu.be/03I8t7m85YU

We went to DeLand to check out St. Peter Catholic Church. Tripadvisior listed it as one of attractions to visit in this town.  Unfortunately the church was not open to the public.  We went in the office to ask if we could go inside.  “No, the staff is having a meeting there”, the receptionist said.  “Is the church ever open to the public?”, Edith asked.  She said that It used to be open to the public, but was closed after teenagers used skateboards inside the church, vandalized some properties.  The only time the public can see the inside is when there is a Mass.

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church was the next stop.  Erwin dropped Edith off and left.  She walked to the back, but found the door was locked.  Just as she was ready to leave a guy walked up and said “I am going to unlock now”. Perfect timing!  The interior was very dark and the guy did not turn the lights on. Edith managed to take some pictures.  Beautiful stained glass windows.  

We like to check out some churches not because we are religious, but because we like to see how they are built and decorated. Also, we like to check out the stained glasses, etc. 

On way back to the campsite Edith wanted to stop at Henry DeLand House to get pictures of the house.  The museum was not open till noon and we were there way too early.  

This bell was part of a set of 11 chimes
originally designed for a Methodist Church in PA.
It was acquired in 1915

Erwin dropped Edith off at Blue Spring Gift Shop and went to the campsite to fix sandwiches.  Edith went back to the spring to record more videos.  A lot more visitors this time.  The sun was shining making it so easy to see manatees’ movements under water.

After picking Edith up at the gift shop and giving her the sandwich, we went to Sanford, FL.  Nothing special there, but there was a bronze foundry on Lake Mary Blvd.  It is one of the two largest bronze foundries in the US.  There was no tour, but it had a display area.  The newspaper article on the wall told a story about the Vatican paying $135 million dollars for 3,000 bronze busts of the head of Mary from the Pieta, plus 1000 silver busts, 25 gold and 2 platinum ones. The foundry had to hire security guards for as long as they were doing this job to prevent the precious metals from walking away!  There were bronze urns, coffee tables, pictures of bronzes being installed in some towns/cities. 

The Gallery

Coffee Table with Whale Tail

The head of Mary from the Pieta

After getting information on where to find a bronze statue of an eagle we drove straight to Veterans Park near the marina. 

We wanted to see a hearing friend of ours who used to work at Publix Pharmacy in Jacksonville, FL before she was transferred to a Publix store in Deltona, FL.  There are four Publix stores within Deltona.  We went to the first Publix store and there is no Joanne working there and we went to the second store. Again, no Joannes here. We decided not to go to two other stores because they were out of the way. Edith will have to ask her friend Jessica when she gets back to Jacksonville, FL.

Edith wanted to check out Lyonias Preserve and Environmental Center that is right next to Deltona Public Library.  The preserve is in the back of the building and there are 3 color coded trails.  We did not go hiking because it was almost 5 pm and the sunset was 25 mins away.  We will come back here another time. 

Not quite as big as a manatee?

Edith spent the night editing today’s pictures and reviewing videos she took of manatees. There were few good ones but Edith needed to improve slow panning in the water. She will try again tomorrow.  Erwin got started on a new woodburning project: a horse with saddle gears. So far, it is looking good.