I left home early, before five o'clock intending to spend a little time in Key West taking some pictures of I knew-not-what. It was to be photography on a whim. Instead I stopped on the bridge between Cudjoe Key and Sugarloaf and pulled the camera out of my pocket. Looking towards Mangrove Mama's restaurant at the end of the bridge, Mile Marker 20.
Looking north I saw clouds piled up on a hot humid evening, hovering over glassy flat water, looking like summer time. Summer is the season of rain, thunderstorms and windless days when the water and the sky meet at an undefinable horizon. About like this, perhaps more so:
The ability to go out on the water in perfect safety in a small boat is just another reason to enjoy the Keys. Surfing is not the sport where reefs keep waves flat:
Swimming in December is best done with some kind of suit or skin. The water is under 80 degrees and even though visitors find it warm, locals don't necessarily.
More clouds piling up:
When the water is just a few feet deep, maybe ten (3 meters) if its quite deep, maybe three feet (1 meter) if it's shallow, means you can toss out an anchor anywhere. And if it really were summer you could jump in as you felt like, to cool off.
The temperature gauge on the Bonneville betrays me. It doesn't feel like 85 degrees, though it is quite warm.
The road ahead started to look quite threatening with stormy clouds crossing the horizon. I think storms are bets enjoyed from my home, looking out at the palm trees waving in the sudden wind, the downpour splashing off the leaves surrounding my tree house.
All the drama of potential rain faded away as I pressed on towards work, but the low lying clouds looked good:
Another boat ploughing a wet furrow across smooth waters...
...he curved across the channel and disappeared in the distance, never for a minute minding the traffic rumbling by on the Overseas Highway.
And there was lots of traffic, a long line of cars interminably leaving Key West, with my side of the road packed with another line of cars, and the odd motorcycle streaming into the city. 
Perhaps they were down to enjoy the weather, such summery weather with Christmas snow and ice closing in Up North.
Looking north I saw clouds piled up on a hot humid evening, hovering over glassy flat water, looking like summer time. Summer is the season of rain, thunderstorms and windless days when the water and the sky meet at an undefinable horizon. About like this, perhaps more so:The ability to go out on the water in perfect safety in a small boat is just another reason to enjoy the Keys. Surfing is not the sport where reefs keep waves flat:Swimming in December is best done with some kind of suit or skin. The water is under 80 degrees and even though visitors find it warm, locals don't necessarily.More clouds piling up:When the water is just a few feet deep, maybe ten (3 meters) if its quite deep, maybe three feet (1 meter) if it's shallow, means you can toss out an anchor anywhere. And if it really were summer you could jump in as you felt like, to cool off. The temperature gauge on the Bonneville betrays me. It doesn't feel like 85 degrees, though it is quite warm.The road ahead started to look quite threatening with stormy clouds crossing the horizon. I think storms are bets enjoyed from my home, looking out at the palm trees waving in the sudden wind, the downpour splashing off the leaves surrounding my tree house.All the drama of potential rain faded away as I pressed on towards work, but the low lying clouds looked good:Another boat ploughing a wet furrow across smooth waters......he curved across the channel and disappeared in the distance, never for a minute minding the traffic rumbling by on the Overseas Highway.And there was lots of traffic, a long line of cars interminably leaving Key West, with my side of the road packed with another line of cars, and the odd motorcycle streaming into the city. 
Perhaps they were down to enjoy the weather, such summery weather with Christmas snow and ice closing in Up North. 
5 comments:
Dear Conch:
You are definitely getting to Bobskoot and others, who are already feeling the pressures of a confining winter. But I do not envy your current temperatures in the 80s... In fact, I think you deserve them. I wish you six months of temperatures in the 70's and 80's, and delightful ridng with the odd sprinkling of rain.
Why?
Because you are trapped in motorcyclist hell six months out of the year, when outside temperatures will melt the Kevlar on your back, and ridig through a car wash is the only way to hide your tears. Februrary is coming, and I again look forward to the report on how you are cuddled on the floor iin the bathroom, passing the hair dryer back and forth for a modicum of warmth.
In the interest of saving money, Stiffle has had the thermostat pegged at 60º here. This house is 196,000 square feet (about the size of lower Manhattan). If we had dinosaurs as pets, they'd be extinct now.
She told me she was going out to buy some grain on the black market so we could eat dinner yesterday. I smiled, and continued typing while wearing my Lee Parks insulated motorcycle gauntlets. There is great economy here, as these gloves enable me to hit four keys with one stroke.
She was barely out the door when I set the thermostate for 75º. I then had to fight the dogs for a spot on one of the open heat registers. When she came in from the 22º cold later, she aid, "This house feels warmer than 60º."
"That's because it's so cold outside," I said.
She then noticed I was covered with vicious bite marks, but attributed it to my ongoing employment situation.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
I really enjoyed this post. In 2 weeks I will be in the Keys for fishing and snorkeling and its reassuring to remember that the water is really that calm. I know this will shock you but in NY we consider any water over 70 degrees to be really warm.
Sal Paradise
Frozen Tundra, New York
conchschooter !? are yoy getting a side car on your bike so cheyenne can enjoy a ride thru the 85 degree keys ? 34 & cold in south carolina...........BYRDMAN
Looking forward to your call Sal.
No sidecar I think. I am hoping I can train Cheyenne to stay home alone without yelping, but I now look enviously at passing motorcycles.
Dear riepe I miss winding mountain roads but one day we will hire a president with backbone who will open up Cuba to us and I will be the first to put my Bonneville on the ferry to Havana every other Saturday morning and then everything will be perfect. Perhaps I will move to Cuba to escape the fearsome President Palin's reach? (book burning, mandatory church attendance and venison barbeque every Friday night at the local bier haus where we will sing Onward Christian Soldiers hopelessly out of Key as the firing squads line up to shoot poofs).You can come too and chase small brown Cuban women like bobskoot's compatriots do today.
Dear Conch:
When you load your bike onto the ferry for Havanna, choose a spot on the high side of the list. (That s where I will be standing at the rail, waiting for you.) Your job will be to carve the curves in the cool mountains, selecting the appropriate stopping point for us at the end of the day. I will follow at a much slower pace, ruining the romance trade for Canadians in my wake.
Palin will never be President. And the only way Bowing Obama will be again in 2012 is if the stupid Republicans go into the race with Palin leading the charge, or coming to the polls with a split party.
Current develops indicate that the Republicans will try to surpass themselves at stupidity in the next election. But even if they do win, the Obama locusts will have stripped everything from the vines. There will be nothing left to pilfer.
Your Palin comments had me laughing hard this morning. But trust me, a venision barbecue every Friday in Pennsylvania, where the deer are like fleas on a dog, would be regarded as sound policy.
Fondest regards,
Jsack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Post a Comment