#A-TO-Z CHALLENGE – LETTER “F” - FLEA MARKETS!

First off, before I get started, I must apologize for my absence. My ISP, Verizon, made the “business” decision of selling all Florida accounts to Frontier, which I have never heard of. The reason I have never heard of them is because they are owned by *gasp* AOL – America On Hold. It took me three days to set up an account and pay my bill, but during that time, the internet went out. Seeing as I do not get out much during the weekends, I was stuck. Mea Culpa. I still have the same infrastructure as before and the service/speed seems to be good. I have a year left on this contract. We'll see how it goes. Time to get caught up!

Letter “F” is for Flea Markets! Flea Markets are ubiquitous on the world's landscape and they all have their own unique flavor peculiar to their part of the world. So it goes with the Flea Markets on and around Nebraska Ave. They tend to have an international flavor along with the down-home southern style of all the fried food you could possibly want to speed you on your way to your next heart attack or stroke, or just increase your waist size.

courtesly:blog.asianinny.com   

This all looks delicious! But, it's all about 9 jillion calories and it's designed to catch you at your weakest; after four hours of shopping and you're hungry and thirsty. Give me 2 of these whatever-they-ares and a 128-oz Big Gulp!

There are also many fine things to be bought at the Flea Markets, along with pets, so you can probably bring fleas home with you, inadvertantly, or advertantly, if you wish, knowing that Fluffy or Mittens is going to have to have a Flea Bath, along with shots and de-worming. People sell all kinds of things at these Flea Markets and many make a decent living doing so. These folks are a step up from the “Entrepreneurs” and many of them started out there on the streets, before they earned enough money to rent a booth for the 3 or 5-day markets that thrive around here.

Hand-raised birds for sale seem to be a big item at the International. A few people sell them and I'm not sure how much they are. Probably cheaper than buying at a pet store, but certainly expensive. You can also buy the caged variety; finches and parakeets that squawk and beep, for much less.

The International Flea Market that is on Fowler Avenue and Nebraska Avenue is huge and in an old mall and open from Wednesdays to Sundays. From the outside it doesn't look like much, but on the inside? OMG! It's heaven to Flea Market mavens and has the distinction of having a couple tie the knot there! I think that's pretty cool, really!

I'm guessing these two met at the International Flea Market and wanted to tie the knot where they met. Pretty sweet and sentimental!

You can get anything from 3 dollar sunglasses which last about 3 days to computers. The guy who has the computer boot is pretty savvy and he fixes them, too. We've spent a lot of time talking about his computers. There are lots of booths, that look like hobos just picked up a bunch of junk by the side of the road and are attempting to pass them off as tools, but they don't look like any tools I've ever seen.

For 2 or 3 dollars, you can have the coolest looking shades ever, for, er 2 or 3 days. Me? I have several pair of those heave FBI sunglasses that are dark as sin. I order mine from the same company that sells me my canes. I look like this now:

My character in RS3, SpZViolaFury, co-Leader of Clan SpiritZ. It wasn't until I got the glasses that I realized I had the same hair-do and glasses in real life. Our clan is 11 years old (10 of which I've been a member in) and we are highly respected. I am, of course, a total derp and am merely a figure-head, even if I am maxed as a combat player/slayer. 

We also have the “fun-lan” Drive-in flea market, which doubles as a Drive-in movie theater at night and functions as a flea market from Thursdays until Sundays and they have a festive neon sign they love to show everyone!

Doesn't this just scream "fun"? It really is a nice time, but I'll go there in the daytime, thank you. I'm 

The fun-lan Drive-in is currently showing Batman vs. Superman, or vice-versa and after howling your way through the movie, you can buy antiques (real ones), fresh produce and locally produced arts and crafts. It has been rated as one of USA Today's “10 Best Swap-and-Shop” places in the country and it has a carnival-like atmosphere as well. You can also buy the same carny food that we all love to chow down on, just don't overdo it, your doctor will hate you. For giggles, fun-lan has an fb page, and the comments are hilarious, especially the one about the woman and her sister who went to see “50 Shades of Grey” and were in proximity to the lone guy in his Corvette... it's worth a read.

But, this is what's going on INSIDE the building of the fun-lan! Check out the cars, and look at the band! There's an arcade and just all kinds of fun things to see, buy and do, even if you hated the movie! It is easy to see why it is the USA Today's "10 Best Swap-and-Shop" places in the country!

These are the two biggest that are closest to me that don't require some huge trek out into the outback. There is one more way out east of Nebraska, called Big Top Flea Market, but it's practically a clone of the The International, and several of the vendors will have more than one booth at each. There is another Flea Market that is note-worthy for it's very unusual items in Oldsmar, Florida, which is one county over, that my mom and I used to visit when she was alive.

But I really enjoy the International Flea Market for its Nebraska Crazy (a wedding!) and the ambience, and the fun-lan for the occasional unusual or really arty item you'll find that was made by someone local. Fresh produce grown by the denizens around here are also offered. We have a thriving Farmer's Market(s) that are supplied locally, and our little neighborhood society, V. M Ybor contributes in it's own way, which will be the subject of my next post.

#A-TO-Z CHALLENGE – LETTER “E” - ENTREPRENEURS

Letter “E” is for Entrepreneurs, but not the kind like, oh say, Donald Trump and his ilk. No, these are the street entrepreneurs that pop up just about any old place. All you need is a blue tarp, probably left behind by FEMA, after one of our many hurricanes in 2004, something to drape said blue tarp upon and if you don't have any aluminum tent framing, a bunch of 1x1 sticks duct-taped together, or a 40-foot ladder that you bought from 4 guys one night, MAY work, but you'll have to be damned clever to pull that off, and a spot to set up shop.

This is kind of what our street Entrepreneurs look like, only not as prosperous. They usually have a card table, with a very small selection of crappy CDs, and crappy dresses, maybe. But, they're just starting out.

Usually giving 5 bucks a day to some gas station or one of the festering eye-sores' parking lots, that we refer to as “strip malls” with their mostly-closed stores, or “antique” shops that are mainly picked-over junk from Goodwill boxes that the bums didn't even want will serve as your spot to conduct business.

And boy, howdy, do we have a selection of goodies to tempt even the most jaded shopper. CDs that are a bunch of randomly mixed ghetto hip-hop generated on a Casio, with an electronic drum loop. The lyrics go something like this: “Yo... yo, yo... Bang! Bang!” (Repeat eleventy-billion times) And we're all excited to hear the dance version that goes on for like, fifty minutes. Most of these CDs are ripped off from some other ripped off CD and are chock-full-o-bugs. So, you can count on having to call your local computer geek (that's ME!) to get your shit fixed, so that you're not always getting that crappy FBI page and nothing else when you boot up your laptop.

I found this on the sidewalk. The entire playable side is totally scratched up, so I never tried to play it, but you gotta love the title. Also, the first time I tried to insert JUST this picture of the CD, it boogered up my blog post, so you gotta know this thing is just chock-full-o-bugs!

The TPD keeps an eye on these budding moguls because they also sell Spice which has been known to have the nasty side-effect of causing the user to eat other people's faces, and they also are supposed to have some sort of license to sell their goods if they are not selling from home. I'm going to take a wild leap here and guess that our budding "The Donalds" don't have homes to sell from. When you talk to them, they often mention that they're opening a new franchise somewhere else, but they are kinda iffy on the details on “the somewhere else” part.

This is the Velvet John Wayne picture I saw at the street Entrepreneur's "shop" the day I visited. I'm not sure what period of The Duke's career this is supposed to represent, or if it is a catch-all for all of his many phases; The Quiet Man, The Conqueror (Mongolian Cowboy), True Grit, or the War Wagon. The Duke also seems to be missing his right eye, or maybe the artist got tired and needed a lie-down before completing his masterpiece. We will have to content ourselves with guessing, which also may have been part of the artist's intent.

The ones who have stepped up their game are also selling crappy dresses for 10.00 a pop and God Forbid, painted velvet rugs, ever so classy, somewhere. They offer painted tigers and Jesuses, and John Waynes, which look nothing like the real John Wayne, nor are they even vaguely humanoid. I had to ask the proprietor, out on the corner of Hillsborough Avenue and Nebraska Avenue if I was looking at early Picasso. He had no clue as to what I was talking about, but he did ask me if I would like to buy some Spice. I said, “Hell no, I'm tripping bad enough on this painting. What or who is this?” He rummaged around and looked at the back of it, “Is John Wayne. Famous American Cowboy!”

I passed on the John Wayne and all the crappy dresses and the horrible CDs. But it's fun to go and see these guys. The following week, his little shop had moved elsewhere. I wish him prosperity and luck with his endeavors, but lose the Spice, dewd. It's dangerous!

#A-TO-Z CHALLENGE – LETTER “D” - DAWGS

Letter “D” is for the dawgs or dogs of the 'hood and just about everyone has one. Except for me. I have a cat and she is probably the mother cat of all the other cats around here, because she has very distinctive markings and all of the cats around here look like her. The cats live the life of Riley, lolling about in the streets and just daring someone to hit them. No one ever does; the cars slow to a stop, and beep politely and the cats languidly get up, stretch and saunter off to their yards.

My cat is pretty old and has the “little old cat” thing going on. When you pet her, it's like petting a picked-over turkey carcass with fur, but she's in good health and she spends her days glued squarely on some part of my body. She teases the little pit-bull puppy next door, and I scold her for it, which affects her not one whit.

Oso ("Oso" means "Bear" in Spanish) wishing I'd make Mama play with him... yeah, that's happening.

Most of the “dawgs” around here are pit-bulls and every one of them that I have ever dealt with has been a wonderful dog. I had one pop up out of nowhere and crawl into my lap, when I lived in the homeless shelter. He just wanted petting and love. He sat with me for several hours, until his frantic owner found him.

No dog-fighting is going on around here. People's animals are treated like their children. The funny thing is, if someone doesn't have a pit-bull, they have little, yappy dogs and there are several on this block. They also try to play with Mama, and she gives them a cat “F you” as well. As sweet as she is with me, she will sit just out of a dog's reach and just lay there, like she's the Queen Bee. I'm always apologizing for her. Oso, the pit-bull puppy next door, is really a good dog. Smart as a whip, and for a puppy, he's not hyper. He is intent however, on digging up the front yard, but he doesn't chew up shoes, or people, so, that's a plus.

Mama, thinking, "Goldurnit! These naps take a lot out of me! Quit waking me up!

Of course, an upside to having these loyal animals is they are good watch-dogs. Mama didn't exactly warn me when the two guys got in my house. When she first adopted me, she was extremely skittish of any type of noise. Now, that she's more secure, she just takes it all in stride. Plus, I think she darted out of her special kitty-door that she made, when these two guys got in the house. I'm not exactly equipped to keep a dog, nor can I really afford one, although I'd love to have one and keep up with the Joneses. Anyway, this is just a quick post. I'm also co-hosting #IWSG for Alex Cavanaugh this month! Happy *#IWSG'ing and #A-to-Z'ing!

*There is a separate page for the #IWSG post HERE: #IWSG CHECK-IN FOR APRIL 2016