Live and Learn
Nov. 9, 2006
Florida Cracker
 Several weeks ago we went to our local library to hear a talk by Butch Harrison, Florida Cracker. A few months ago I read a wonderful historical fiction book, A Land Remembered, about three generations of the MacIvey family and the pioneer life.....in Florida. I loved learning about the "real" Florida and was fascinated with what life was like here so many years ago. So when I read that a real live Florida cracker was scheduled to speak at our library, I jumped at the chance to hear more and share the experience with my children. Other than a reporter from the local newspaper and her photographer, dc and I were the only people to come to the talk. I was saddened no one else saw the benefit or was willing to take the time to learn some history of their state or hear some great storytelling. Sigh. Anyways, their loss was our gain as we had Butch all to ourselves. He had my boys enthralled as he pulled all kinds of interesting things out of his croaker sack and told one story after another of his life. Along with having grown up the son of a Florida cracker and spending his childhood days out of doors, he spent 20 years as a guide in the everglades. He also has spent time photographing the outdoors as well as leading hunting and fishing trips. He's also quite a history buff. He was a wealth of information and my dc walked away with a living picture of what the "real" Florida is like. After his talk he took us outside to crack his whip - much to my boys' delight! He explained that the "crackers" got their name from the sound that the whip they used to drive cattle made. CRACK! The photo above is right afterwards when I asked if we could take a picture with him (notice little one holding the whip!). We left having learned a lot about the "real" Florida and feeling like we'd made a friend. Another neat benefit was having my dc interviewed by the reporter and being featured along with Butch in the newspaper article. They made the front page of our local newspaper - my dc couldn't get over seeing themselves in the paper. They used the same shot as above (the photog. snapped a shot for himself as I took mine). |
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Nov. 10, 2006 - Oh wow!
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