I would like to introduce you to Frank and Phyllis, a sailing couple we have known since the 1980’s from our home port of Bayfield WI on Lake Superior. They are 80+ years young and are still aboard their 1970’s vintage 32’ Pearson sailboat, PJ. They are an even-keeled couple who do not sweat the small stuff and know how to enjoy life. In the Apostle Islands, Frank and Phyllis were well known as personable, helpful folks with great sailing acumen.
In the mid 1990’s, they led the way for many of us by taking PJ on a 3 year sailing adventure that led them here to FL. Bob and I have had a similar dream for years, but when you are knee deep in the responsibilities of parenting, work and home, it is easy to forget about future plans, but our periodic contact with Frank and Phyllis would rekindle the spark of adventure. They will always be our poster couple of ageless cruisers who really exemplify the credo of their favorite T-shirt, “Life is Good.”
We spent today with Frank and Phyllis and their delightful granddaughter, Gretchen, touring the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Meyers. This is a must see tour when you are in this area and it offers something for everyone—lush gardens and huge Banyan trees, FL architecture at its best, museum pieces of Edison and Ford’s inventions and a chance to renew your knowledge of these incredible men who changed our world.
Thomas Alva Edison was born in 1847 in Ohio. He had a lot of difficulty with school and his teachers wondered if he could learn. His mother decided to home school him and encouraged him in his constant questioning of how things worked. He set up a lab in the basement and bought chemicals from his profits selling newspapers on the train at age 12, and continued his experimentations at age 16 with knowledge from his job as a telegraph operator.
He was a workaholic throughout his life, required only 4 hours sleep nightly and really exemplified his credo, “Invention is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Edison is responsible for so many of the underpinnings of our daily lives with light, sound and power technologies (electric lights, dynamos, phonograph, motion picture film and technology, first electric car battery). Edison held thousands of patents, had a major invention every 6 months and minor ones every 10 days. It is pretty amazing that he developed the phonograph since he himself was 80% deaf.
Edison and Ford were like-minded inventors who enjoyed each others company and enjoyed being neighbors here in Ft. Meyers. Ford had worked in an Edison plant, had developed his Model T prototype, and was encouraged to pursue his dreams by Edison. Years later, Edison became intrigued with finding a botanical alternative to rubber for American cars so that the US would not be dependent on foreign sources which he foresaw as crippling in the event of war or calamity. He devoted his last years to this pursuit, and even though the DuPont company came up with a chemical alternative, neoprene, Edison’s botanical experiments led to other discoveries.
That's what 0ur world really needs right now-- more Edisons and Fords, people with imagination, perseverance and a can do attitude to examine our complex energy problems and come up with creative solutions.
In the mid 1990’s, they led the way for many of us by taking PJ on a 3 year sailing adventure that led them here to FL. Bob and I have had a similar dream for years, but when you are knee deep in the responsibilities of parenting, work and home, it is easy to forget about future plans, but our periodic contact with Frank and Phyllis would rekindle the spark of adventure. They will always be our poster couple of ageless cruisers who really exemplify the credo of their favorite T-shirt, “Life is Good.”
We spent today with Frank and Phyllis and their delightful granddaughter, Gretchen, touring the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Meyers. This is a must see tour when you are in this area and it offers something for everyone—lush gardens and huge Banyan trees, FL architecture at its best, museum pieces of Edison and Ford’s inventions and a chance to renew your knowledge of these incredible men who changed our world.
Thomas Alva Edison was born in 1847 in Ohio. He had a lot of difficulty with school and his teachers wondered if he could learn. His mother decided to home school him and encouraged him in his constant questioning of how things worked. He set up a lab in the basement and bought chemicals from his profits selling newspapers on the train at age 12, and continued his experimentations at age 16 with knowledge from his job as a telegraph operator.
He was a workaholic throughout his life, required only 4 hours sleep nightly and really exemplified his credo, “Invention is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Edison is responsible for so many of the underpinnings of our daily lives with light, sound and power technologies (electric lights, dynamos, phonograph, motion picture film and technology, first electric car battery). Edison held thousands of patents, had a major invention every 6 months and minor ones every 10 days. It is pretty amazing that he developed the phonograph since he himself was 80% deaf.
Edison and Ford were like-minded inventors who enjoyed each others company and enjoyed being neighbors here in Ft. Meyers. Ford had worked in an Edison plant, had developed his Model T prototype, and was encouraged to pursue his dreams by Edison. Years later, Edison became intrigued with finding a botanical alternative to rubber for American cars so that the US would not be dependent on foreign sources which he foresaw as crippling in the event of war or calamity. He devoted his last years to this pursuit, and even though the DuPont company came up with a chemical alternative, neoprene, Edison’s botanical experiments led to other discoveries.
That's what 0ur world really needs right now-- more Edisons and Fords, people with imagination, perseverance and a can do attitude to examine our complex energy problems and come up with creative solutions.
