It was a flower. It was alive and wonderful. It gave the gardener hope and made him want to work even harder. And so he does – he toils day and night, tirelessly tending to his jungle of a garden.

– The Little Gardener, Emily Hughes

Bill O’Grady is a plant whisperer. Show him a plant and most likely he knows the plant’s common name, botanical Latin name, and country of origin. A passion for gardening runs deep. He’s also an avid collector. Which plant or flower of his favorite? “That’s like asking a parent which is his favorite child,” says Bill.… Read More

St. Petersburg’s Dali Museum might be the only museum in the country where a Southeastern Guide Dog helps out during docent tours. Patricia Allen is a docent at the Dali, and since Dave, her guide dog, goes everywhere Patricia goes, he’s part of the tour every Tuesday afternoon at 12:30pm. “When I ask if there are any questions, Dave knows to stand up and get ready to move on to the next painting,” says Patricia. “He knows the routine. If I make a mistake and go the wrong way, he’ll bark.”

A retired risk manager for a national insurance company, Patricia had already been a docent at the Dali for many years when her eyesight began to fail, a result of diabetic retinopathy.… Read More

How far would you go to help a stranger? Old Northeast resident Mark Rankin didn’t hesitate when it came to offering someone he didn’t know the most generous gift one can imagine. He donated his kidney to give a Clearwater grandfather of four a second chance at life.

Mark is a criminal defense attorney and a partner in the law firm of Shutts & Bowen in Tampa. He’s also a former assistant federal public defender for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa. Practicing law is a passion. “Few things are more important in a society than our legal system and making sure that the punishment is just and that everyone follows the law,” says Mark.… Read More

When Robin Reed, a board member of the Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood Association, told me her friend Elaine Normile had recently retired as the historian for the Vinoy Renaissance Resort, my first thought was, “wait – the Vinoy has an historian on staff, how cool is that?”

A petite, bright, articulate 70-something, Elaine retired from the Vinoy at the end of May after an exciting 26-year career; 20 years as the iconic hotel’s in-house historian. This summer, just a week after her retirement, I visited with Elaine at her home in the Old Northeast to learn more about what it was like to be on the Vinoy staff during such a pivotal time in the hotel’s history.… Read More

Immersing yourself in another culture can be life changing, as student ambassadors for the St. Pete Sister Cities Program quickly find out. Since 1984, more than 50 local high school students have been selected to travel to Takamatsu, Japan for a two-week stay with local families. The students serve as ‘the voice and face’ of St. Petersburg in a unique cultural exchange program.

Chloe Johnson, a recent graduate of St. Petersburg Collegiate High School, was with a group of three students chosen to travel to Takamatsu last summer. “It was an amazing opportunity,” says Chloe, who grew up in Crescent Lake and Venetian Isles.… Read More

The day started with an early morning assembly in the central patio courtyard of Canterbury’s Lower School on Snell Isle. Moms and dads stood patiently with grade-schoolers in uniforms. First came the Pledge of Allegiance and achievement awards, then the highlight of the morning – a student-run farmer’s market with bright red radishes, kale, lettuces, herbs, and cherry tomatoes for sale. It was a bounty from the school’s new STEAM garden.

The inspiration of Breck Moorefield, Canterbury’s art teacher, the garden is a several-year project that came together late last year, thanks to a big helping hand from Nic Weathersbee of Urban Micro Farms who provided professional advice on just about everything: organic garden design, tools, hauling tree stumps and branches, digging out the beds and filling them with soil, ordering seeds and picking out plants and seeds, planting them, and teaching the students all necessary garden know-how.… Read More

James and Julie Branaman like to think outside the box – way outside the box. They once lived in a camper van for 13 months on a cross-country trip when they moved from Seattle to St. Petersburg. They’ve traveled deep into the swamp in the Florida Everglades with the mosquitoes, the gators, and the snakes. And they were high up in the lookout tower in a remote area of the Rocky Mountain State Park at 1am taking pictures and watching the star-studded sky while an unknown critter with bright green eyes was watching them.

Self-described visual storytellers, journalists, and explorers, the 40-something Old Northeast couple are always up for the next adventure, even with their 17-month-old daughter Teagan in tow.… Read More

Greetings from St. Petersburg’s version of the North Pole: the Christmas Toy Shop. From the outside, you would never suspect the treasure chest of toys inside. Cars zip by the nondescript beige building on 16th Street close to downtown, not far from Tropicana Field. The only hint as to the shop’s mission is the slogan below the building’s logo: “We exist so no child will be without Christmas.”

The Marine Toys for Tots program might get more national recognition, but on the local level, the Christmas Toy Shop deserves credit for making a powerful difference for families in need. “We’ve had young adults stop by and say their mother got toys at the Christmas Toy Shop, and now they’d like to come back and volunteer with us,” says Sharon Jackson, a former president of the nonprofit charitable organization.… Read More