Whats Your Favorite Part of Mandarin
Published March 25, 2012 | 
What is your favorite part of Mandarin? My favorite part of Mandarin would have to be the various parks we have in the area. Yes, all areas of Jacksonville has some great public parks but I think Mandarin Park next to Julington Creek offers a wide variety of things for the locals to do including walking the trails, playing on the playground, fishing off the dock or even putting in your boat into the river. The park’s equipment is fairly well maintained and the park is almost always clean. There are lots of trees that offer shade and there are several spots that you can sit by a pond and relax. Burnett Park is a great place to shoots some hoops, play some baseball or even bat around a tennis ball. There is a small kids playground, a concession stand and even a community center. This park is a favorite among Little Leaguers during the Spring and Fall baseball season. This an older park and there use to be a horse show area with bleachers, a ring and announcers tower but that was demolished to make room for more baseball diamonds. Now none of these things are really unique in Jacksonville but they are special to the local residence.
The other question I wanted to pose this time is; What do you think we can do to improve the area? Mandarin has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last 20 years and a lot of changes have been happening. But are they changes for the better or just giving way to urban sprawl? Just about every livable space in the Mandarin area is now occupied with either houses, apartments, assisted living facilities, churches and stores of one kind or another. Is this really progress? Even Greenland Road has been completely developed. What could or should we do about this? Think about it and if you have something constructive to add please feel free to comment below.
Start Your Own Thing
Published February 21, 2012 | We are all looking for something to supplement our income, a hobby that we enjoy that is relaxing, or even just something to break the monotony of our everyday lives. Yes, it would be great to find something that we can make money at and that we really enjoy doing. In these hard economic times we are searching for ways just to make ends meet. One of the things that I have discovered that I like to do, besides writing articles on blogs and creating websites, is to make jewelry and selling them on my online website. If you have a hobby that produces goods that you can sell, or if you are thinking of starting your spring cleaning early there are ways to advertise your stuff that doesn’t cost you any money. You can have a yardsale, which we do every other weekend, advertise on Craig’s List or you can try the website called Yardsellr.com Continue reading
Bead Show and Sale
Published January 20, 2012 | St. Augustine is just down the road from Mandarin and there are lots of great things to do in the coming weeks. One that is happening this weekend and it is the Bead Show and Sale at the Elks Lodge located at 1420 A1A South. The show is sponsored by THE DOWN THE STREET BEAD SHOW events coordinator. There will be beads, findings, jewelry and classes offered for sale. Classes includes wire wrapping, seed beading and much more. Go to the website and check out the class offerings, directions to the show and much more. You can even get a $1 off coupon on the site to go towards the $5 entrance fee. The event is Saturday, January 21 from 10am to 6pm and Sunday, January 22 from 10am to 5pm. Continue reading
Some Great Projects for 2012
Published January 4, 2012 | Happy Post Holidays, fellow Mandarinites! We have made it through the major holidays once again and have headed back to school and work or will be soon. With the post holiday blues and having to pay off all that credit card debt (for those lucky enough to have credit cards) we are looking for ways to make some money. One of our local small business is sponsoring a Contemporary Limericks Contest. Jolene’s Books and More, a local online business that sells electronic books and handcrafted goods, has created a website to encourage new writers by offering a monthly cash prize for the best and funniest limerick. Anyone over the age of 18 can submit 1 to 5 of their best limericks for consideration for the low price of $5 per person. All you need is a PAYPAL account, some imagination, and compose up to 5 limericks. These can be about your friends, family, work, neighborhood, a local hangout or even your hobbies or favorite characters in a book. Go wild! Visit the website and go to the Contest Page for official rules and the application. http://all-about-limericks.jolenesbooksandmore.com
On the other hand there is a great special project that is seeking donations from a great organization called Kickstarter. They sponsor artists of all kinds with a vehicle to get financing for getting their books published, their album published, or their project launched or finished. They have hundreds of worthwhile projects but we are looking at a wildlife photographer that is going to be traveling up the State of Florida taking pictures of our local wildlife and their habitats. He needs help getting that project under way and for producing his book at the end. He is trying to bring more awareness of the plight of our endangered species. It is a completely worthwhile project that has less than 2 weeks to go. At least view the video: Continue reading
Save Our Parks
Published April 7, 2011 | If you haven’t been to a city, state or federal park lately you should put together a little picnic, gather the kids and/or some friends and visit one this weekend. There are a wide variety of parks and recreational areas available to us now but they are on the budgetary chopping block and may not be very soon. Most of the city parks are free or have very low-cost services for the residents of the area. They are being maintained by the government and some volunteers. I cannot tell you how many times I have taken my kids to the various parks around town to spend the morning, afternoon or the whole day just being in a natural setting away from home. We never really have any extra money so these places are where we go to have some fun and spend some time away from the distractions of TV, gaming consoles, etc. Continue reading
Whats New at the Library
Published May 1, 2010 | One of the best forms of FREE entertainment is at our local branches of the public library. Mandarin is blessed with two branches. The original one off of Kori Road is just called the Mandarin Branch and the other on San Jose Boulevard and Orange Picker Road called South Mandarin. Both libraries have a wealth of knowledge to offer in the form of books, videos, music and other programs for kids and adults alike. Of course, each of the branches offers internet service either through one of the public computers or bring in your own laptop and enjoy FREE wireless internet. You can watch movies for FREE as well as hold a meeting in one of their meeting rooms. They have study rooms as well that can be used for your research team, homework help and tutoring or just by yourself for some added privacy.
For a listing of the services offered and the times that these branches are open you can visit the main libraries web pages for these branches: Mandarin and South Mandarin. You can even sign up for a “feed” service so that you will be sent a message when their calendar of events is updated by going to this address:
http://jpl.coj.net/res/rssfeeds/index.html There FEEDS program uses some of the more popular feeds readers such as Google Reader (Windows), NetNewsWire (Mac) and Bloglines (Web).
Both facilities have nice helpful people at each of the service desks, clean bathrooms, a quiet atmosphere (of course) and will be happy to get any materials you wish to read, view or listen to by sending for it from the Main library if it is not already at their branch. All of this and much more just for signing up for a library card.
Palmetto Leaves South
Published April 1, 2010 | The Palmetto Leaves Park has two entrances. One is on Greenland Road and is called the North Entrance and has a kids playground, picnic tables, paved walking trails and baseball diamonds. We will get more pictures and video of that park very soon. Today we went to the South entrance on St Augustine Road that only has one picnic table with Bar B Q grill, a bathroom and small floating dock to put in your canoes or kayaks. We took some pictures of the park about a year and a half ago and today we took some video of the park for you to enjoy. You can fish from the dock and my nephew says there are some bream and catfish to catch. Continue reading
Mandarin Area Weather
Published February 8, 2010 | I don’t if you noticed or not but it is really cold out there. At least it’s cold for Jacksonville, Florida. But I think we are lucky to live in the Mandarin area as we seem to be isolated from the more harsh weather. Our little neighborhood off St. Augustine Road between I-295 and I-95 is probably one of the best spots to live in. Most of our area is in the Category 5 hurricane ratings area and we are sheltered from some of the worse that most storm fronts have to offer. You can check your hurricane ratings for your address with the Duval County Property Appraiser’s Website at: http://apps.coj.net/pao_propertySearch/Basic/Search.aspx
If you own your home or are paying for it from the bank (like most people) you just put your name in the search box. If you are renting a home or apartment just put in the address and hit search. The website gives you the basic information listed about the property including what you want to click on is the JaxGIS map icon to look at the property and it will give you the option of checking if you address is in a “FLOOD ZONE” you can click on those words and it will give you a definition of your particular area. Fascinating information and good to know as well. The City of Jacksonville through the Fire and Rescue Department also has an evacuation map that you can copy and print out. Continue reading
Mandarin Newsline
Published December 31, 2009 | If you haven’t had a chance to read the Mandarin newspaper you should give it a chance. The are online as well at: www.mandarinnewsline.com The newspaper is free and is delivered to addresses in 32223 and 32258. They now have a digital edition of the newspaper online that is a great idea. it is an exact duplicate of newspaper. Going green is a great idea and if you don’t live within these two zip codes you can still read about what is happening in the Mandarin Area. The newspaper has quite a few advertisements within the pages but the stories are quite interesting and they do keep you appraised on whats going on. This month’s issue features a write up of the new Principal at Mandarin High School, Loretto Elementary’s Student Council and Mandarin Community Club meetings coming up next month. Continue reading
Mandarin Community Club
Published December 7, 2009 | Here is a fun and fairly inexpensive event you might want to check out sponsored by the Mandarin Community Club:
3rd Annual Holiday Trolley Tour of Lights
Hosted and sponsored by the Mandarin Community Club. Trolleys depart from Mandarin Presbyterian Church @ corner of Mandarin Road & Loretto Road.
Sunday, December 13 – 6 til 9 pm
Last trolley departs 8:30 p.m. from church parking lot.
Tour the holiday lights & decorations of Mandarin neighborhoods on a JTA trolley & enjoy holiday caroling (booklets provided).
Continue reading
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