Category: Ramblings of a Writer
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MY MOVIE DEBUT – WATER’S JOURNEY
I met Wes Skiles, a cave diving pioneer, explorer, and underwater cinematographer, soon after moving to High Springs, Florida. He also lived in High Springs. His business, Karst Productions, was based outside the small town. His photographs of the springs and caves, not only of caves and springs in the High Springs area, but also…
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SMALL TOWNS ROCK – PALATKA, FLORIDA
Any discussion about the Florida town of Palatka begins and ends with the St. Johns River, which helped create the community centuries ago. Back in its golden days, many called it the “Gem City of the St. Johns.” The St. Johns River flows for 310 miles northward, making it Florida’s longest river. It begins in…
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ICHETUCKNEE SPRINGS – A HISTORY AND CULTURE OF A FLORIDA SPRING – #FREE
A Project of the Heart Please download my new book, Ichetucknee Springs – A History and Culture of a Florida Spring. It’s #Free to download in any format that works for you. Click on the cover or here. Ichetucknee Springs – A History and Culture of a Florida Spring – my latest project offers a…
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JIMMY, YOU WILL BE MISSED
I wrote the following blog post in February 2024 about my “brush” with President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter more than twenty years ago in Plains, Georgia. It’s still one of my bittersweet favorite stories. When I learned of his passing two days ago, I retold the story. Then I remembered something else. Jimmy Carter…
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A Memorable Interview with Joe Louis Clark
One of the most memorable interviews of my decade-long career as a journalist occurred in August 2003 when I was the editor and reporter for The Observer, a monthly paper published in Alachua County, Florida. Just minutes from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, a new resident of Newberry caught everyone’s attention, particularly those…
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An Asheville (Mis)Adventure
I dreaded the three-week trip even as I planned. I worried too much. Lists filled a notebook: To Do, To Pack, The Morning of Departure, To Buy. I checked off items one by one until it was the morning of departure, and that list began to dwindle. Something happened the closer I came to deleting…
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A Confession
My name is Patricia Camburn Zick, and I’m a political and history nerd. There I’ve finally admitted it. I don’t know for sure where it started but I do remember our dining room at home also served as the office for the township clerk, who was my father for many years. Often during election cycles,…
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#OhioChemicalDisaster – Shows Us We’ve Learned Nothing Thirteen Years After Deepwater Horizon #Oilspill and Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster
When I published my novel Trails in the Sand in 2013, I had hoped one of my messages would be heard and repeated. On the surface, the novel appears to be a family saga with more secrets and drama than an afternoon soap opera. That was my vehicle for telling the story of two major…
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Remembering the Brave Heroes
My great-grandfather, Harmon Camburn, enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 two weeks after the start of the Civil War. He was nineteen. His infantry unit, 2nd Michigan, fought in several major battles during the horrific war. His final and nearly fatal active participation in the war occurred on November 24, 1863. His unit had…
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A Bit of Spring as Summer Surges
Last year, my husband constructed a butterfly garden next to his raised beds. This year, we are enjoying the flowers of his labor. And so are the butterflies and bees.
P.C. ZICK 