I, of course, went with the goat.
Here’s the video — you’ll need to turn up your sound:
If you’re in Tampa, you can experience the goat, along with some really good coffee in a pleasant outdoor space, at the Seminole Heights branch of Spaddy’s Coffee.
We started off our New Year’s Eve at the wrong house.
We meant to go to our friend Shelley’s house for her New Year’s Eve party. It’s a meaningful spot for us, because when we started dating eleven years ago, Anitra took me to the same party, and we looked like this:
With the pandemic and other parties, it had been a while since we’d been to Shelley’s, and I led us to the wrong house — one that was two doors west of Shelley’s. We rang the doorbell, and an unfamiliar face answered.
“Hello!,” said the gentleman at the door. He was maybe about my age, maybe a little older, with glasses and close-cropped hair and a goatee. He looked like he could’ve been one of Shelley’s friends whom I didn’t know, and I instinctively walked in.
As soon as we were completely inside the house, we knew we were in the wrong place. We’d walked into a smaller gathering, made up of the couple who owned the house, and another couple who were visiting. They’d been sitting in their living room, and from the looks of it, they were having a nice conversation over what looked like a bottle of Lagavulin. Nice.
We all had a good laugh as we introduced each other and shook hands. Anitra and I were about to leave when I had an idea.
“Hey,” taking a quick guess as to their preferred era of rock music. “Have you ever heard AC/DC on accordion?”
They hadn’t — at least until last night.
I know that the word “liver” strikes ice-cold fear in the hearts of many, but we love organ meats in this household. We had some amazing liver from the small farm-raised cows at Riverbend Ranch seasoned with their Cracker Cow Burger Blend, garlic pepper green beans and mushrooms, and mashed sweet potato with home-grown herbs. A great Christmas Eve dinner!
It’s probably my favorite impulse purchase this month, and I got it at Arts Market on Danforth.
Small Business Saturday (which took place yesterday) is an excellent opportunity to check out local places that I don’t usually go to, or places that I’d been meaning to go to for some time. Tiger Dust, which has been in Seminole Heights for several months, falls into the latter category.
Tiger Dust calls itself a wunderkammer, a German term meaning “wonder room” or “room of wonders.” There’s a similar term, kunstkammer, which literally means “art room” but it often interpreted in English as “cabinet of curiosities.” This is from a time when “cabinet” was used more often to refer to a room than furniture for storing things (our modern usage of the word is a sort of downsizing).
If you’re looking for a gift for an unconventional friend, Tiger Dust just might fit the bill.
Need an interesting taxidermy piece? Tiger Dust has ’em in spades.
Kitschy art? Oh yeah.
Housewarming present for a friend whose wardrobe is entirely black? They’ve got ’em.
Need the complete works of Anton LaVey or Aleister Crowley? Do what thou wilt.
I almost bought the tiger kite pictured above. I may yet return to complete the purchase. I did buy a skull ring, because it’s a key part of the accordion rock and roll lifestyle.
Tiger Dust is located at 4222 North Florida Avenue, a couple of blocks north of M.L.K. Boulevard. Their hours are listed online as 12 noon to 7:00 p.m. daily, but the sign on their door might be a little more accurate — it says they’re open noon-ish to 7-ish.
Want to know more about Tiger Dust? Check these out:
With Thanksgiving having come and gone in the U.S., we’re now in the holiday shopping season, which starts with Small Business Saturday!
Small Business Saturday is an annual event whose purpose to encourage people to support their local small businesses. Instead of going to a “big box” store or chain, we’re asked to support local businesses, either by going to their local brick-and-mortar shop or shopping online. This event takes place every November and represents a significant opportunity to increase sales for small businesses during the holiday shopping season.
I live in Tampa’s Seminole Heights neighborhood, where we’re fortunate to have a number of small businesses that do provide goods, services, and those less tangible “neighborhood-y” things that chains and big box stores can’t or won’t.
The day is young, but we’ve already picked up some goodies at Gott Glass, the local glass-blowing studio and shop.
If you’re in the area, check them out! The shop is a lovely mix of indoor and outdoor, Susan Gott and her staff are nice, and they do glass-blowing demos and even have classes (which I plan on signing up for).
