Last Sunday we plunged into a tad of Florida's roadside Americana. No, we did not eat here (left), but were inspired once again to ponder the age-old American fascination with using K when a C is called for.
We did buy boiled peanuts from the man selling smoked mullet from a colorful wagon, clearly a local, but no, actually he was from upstate New York and no more a Kracker, um, Cracker than say, I am. ( You may recall that "cracker" derives from the crack of the whips used to drive cattle by early folks in Florida.)
These compelling sightings occurred on a visit to Homosassa Springs to wallow in manatee-viewing. The m's decidedly relish their in-captivity diet of carrots and sliced raw sweet potatoes, as well as Romaine lettuce, augmented by green peppers.
But the human highlight of the day was the mermaid show at Weeki Wachee, where the young women of the area have been plunging into the springs, grabbing air hoses, and posing prettily wide-eyed, hair streaming not directly into their eyes and mouths as with ordinary mortals but flowing up and out into the bubbles, since around the time of the GI Bill. ( While wearing tight mer-woman tailed costumes.) The foodish underwater highlights of the show were : A--apple eating and B-- soda drinking. Do not try this at home!
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