Stage and Customs

I never did think too much of Tom Oosterhoudt when he was elected to the Key West city commission. He always seemed to be in complete agreement with the very last thing someone said to him, a weathercock in a job that requires decision and determination and investigation. There was one thing he managed to accomplish that I still notice when I ride the three hundred block of Simonton Street.Ooosterhoudt got all upset when the Feds decided they needed anti- terrorism protection for the magnificent US Customs House that takes up a great deal of the city block.They got the idea that a bunch of gruesome orange plastic barricades would keep dangerous vehicles from mounting the front steps of the building and causing unmentionable damage to the building. Oosterhoudt wanted none of them. He pointed out that they floated away in periods of street flooding and they looked utterly grotesque and ugly. He asked the Feds to find a better solution. They came up with what I think are the rather attractive flower planters. And everyone is happy. Of course I have to find the fly in the ointment and its nothing more than that, its a small thing because the outcome was good. During the kerfuffle I forgot that Oosterhoudt lives in the massive pile across the street from the Federal Building:Casa Antigua houses the charmingly named "Pelican Poop" gifte shoppe and also manages somehow to claim a slice of the city's favorite literary son. Everyone wants a piece of Hemingway, and it seems his first rented apartment was in a building almost as massive as the federal Building across the street:Until I came trudging up Rose Lane under the hot August sun it hadn't occurred to me that the former city commissioner lives right where the orange blocks would have struck him straight in the eye, had he been looking out the front windows of his palazzo. I'm happy that small piece of orange urban blight is gone but it does kind of irk me that it was because it irked him that he was moved to get all fussy about it. Silly of me I know, but I still expect more from our leaders, like perhaps taking care of issues that aren't just on their own doorstep. I have no idea what the security guard at the Federal Building expects of his leaders but I was unwilling to intrude on his moment of introspection:

On a happier and less silly note I saw a rather unusual building further down Rose Lane that I hadn't bothered to notice previously. Dade pine isn't that unusual in Key west, it used to be the building material of choice thanks to its impervious, oily qualities, similar to teak. This house had some rather striking accents, lacquered balustrades in particular:What it brought to mind was an image I carry around in my head of a much younger me, when I was footloose and fancy free on my first trip around the world. It was October 1981 and I was enjoying a cold fall day in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, if that's possible. It was a stop I made on my week long train trip across the USSR from Khabarovsk to Moscow. I was 23 and keen to see things on my walkabout so I found these old wooden houses which apparently were scheduled for demolition to make way for more efficient apartment blocks. I can't remember who I got to take the picture for me, I think it was a British diplomat somewhat surprised to find a young westerner wandering alone in the steppes...

I was, as always, inadequately dressed for the temperatures. I remember huge icicles hanging from the gutters and lines of babushkas (old women) bent double under huge loads shuffling into these mysterious and evocative homes, the insides of which I never did get to see. Nor will I most likely, of the rental home on Rose Lane, which prompted this cascade of memories.

And right next door I saw this creative thing:Fed up with the palm tree banging his roof the home owner nailed a boat fender (or bumper if you prefer) to the roof. Seems to work a treat, on two palm trees, one on either end of the house.

I have been having a hankering for winter which is unusual for me. It's not a strong hankering, like Mole in The Wind in the Willows sniffing his way home. Its just a sort of idle wish that winter be upon us and as soon as it is I will miss the heat and the swimming and the peace of summer. It's just that I have the urge to see some live theater, at the Red Barn, say on the 300 block of Duval:The past couple of years I have favored the drama offerings at the Waterfront Playhouse as the Red Barn has been weighted rather heavily on the campy musical type of theater that I am less fond of. Nevertheless I was in the neighborhood, so I strolled up the lane next to the Key West Women's Club:Is this a great private nook to hang out in, or what? It would be if they weren't busy doing construction, so I had to turn around and tramp back out. Hard Rock Cafe was doing odd things with their chairs so naturally I clicked the Canon's shutter:Duval Street looks hot and white down at the end of the alley doesn't it? Roll on Winter!