Galveston At Olivia

Galveston Lane meanders a bit across the middle of Key West from Windsor Lane, past Bill Butler Park and pops out at Olivia Street. It may be surprising but as far as I can tell this narrow street is not actually a one way, so caution when riding it would be in order. Galveston is another of those lanes that enjoys more than one spelling, and some people apparentlky aren't at all happy with the version that I am familiar with, spelled with an "E."On the Windsor Lane end the spelling is GalvAston Lane, so geeks can spend many happy hours wandering back and forth enjoying the confusion. Which is a very pleasant thing to do as it turns out, as there some interesting old houses and lots of greenery:It always surprises me when I come across vast spacious empty lots in this town. You'd think every square inch (centimeter) of this very expensive island would be built up, but that's not the case. According to J Wills Burke's book Streets of Key West, the Lane is named for the coastal city in Texas which was served by Stephen Mallory's steamship line. So I am going to stick with calling it GalvEston Lane. I would have to be Cirque du Soleil agile, or equipped with a ladder, or eight feet tall to violate this well protected space:This one is protected by a row of conch shells:This yard is protected by screening shrubbery:I read with interest a recent entry in the Swiss daily photo blog by the person known only as Z, in my blog list, where he pushed the camera over a wall and photographed an elephant statue in a neighbor's yard. It seemed a risque move for a place as staid as Switzerland, though the result was decidedly worth it; check out his blog it's full of surprises. Would that were so in Key West. All I got was a picture of a deteriorating window frame from a similar exploration:Though looking up I saw a rather nice pair of blue shutters thrown wide open, which surprised me as the weather has been rather humid and close lately, with overcast skies adding to the sense of oppressive heat. I would rather have my loft closed tight and well air conditioned:Across the lane next to the park there was a trailer, quite picturesque with its attendant greenery in the faint rays of a setting sun:Underfoot I spotted some wildlife:Overhead some large brown fruit. I never tire of pointing out that I am neither ornithologist nor botanist so in this case I can safely admit I have only the faintest clue what it might be. It was hanging twenty feet in the air and it looked for all the world like breadfruit, but I have never been offered local breadfruit in Key West. Which is a shame because I am quite fond of starchy vegetables and breadfruit with curried goat is a delicious dish on the menu in the British West Indies (as were). Or perhaps it is a giant guava? Who knows...but there it was:This I happen to know is a poinciana, frequently given the prefix of "royal," why I know not. In the West Indies it's known as a "flamboyant," while elsewhere in the tropics they call it "flame tree" for obvious reasons. It is a flamboyant flowering specimen and these bright orange flowers brighten up Key West during the early summer. I also found out the origin of the musical term maracas, which are apparently the dried seed pods of the flamboyant used as percussion instruments:This large spreading flame tree oversees Bill Butler Park, offering plenty of shadefor dog walkers who find a supply of plastic bags next to the trash cans. I hope they use them:Further along Galveston Lane breaks out into good old bougainvillea, which in case you read badly researched books, doesn't actually give off any scent at all ("bougainvillea scented tropical nights" is literary crap) but I think it looks good:And there, past the corner Galveston makes a bee line towards Windsor Lane in the distance:"Sublime, chust sublime," to quote the seafaring Scotsman Para Handy.