My recent vacation took some organizing but luckily over 15 years of marriage I have trained my wife that I am a neurotic traveler in some respects and packing early (and often) keeps me happy. I also had to prepare a string of essays for the blog before I left. I seemed to be photographing and writing all the damned time when I could snatch a moment, and of this list of 18 ready-to-publish essays only three were reprints. I chose three essays to remind myself what I was writing about in 2007, essays that I thought still had something to say that I didn't want to redo. This was my stored entries page of my blog before I left for Italy:
This very essay I photographed and wrote on June 16th for publication today, July 5th... I love Blogger's automatic publication function!.
This is summer time and the clouds are building like anvils all over the Keys every beautiful sunny afternoon:
The weather service said May was wetter than usual and it seems like we've had some heavy rain in June. So naturally the weather people's pronouncements mean the water suppliers now feel it's okay to waste more water on South Florida ornamental gardens and water restrictions have been eased. i doubt the South Florida Aquifer will thank them..
My own back yard has been looking quite luscious with all the rain. 
The salt ponds to the west of my house have filled up with rain water, transforming them from muddy stretches between mangroves into large reflective ponds. 
Here is Niles Channel Bridge in the distance:
Of course all this fresh water falling everywhere means it's mosquito season again. And even I who am not susceptible to their jaws find myself getting stung if I stand still for ten seconds under the house. Mosquito Vector Control comes by all the time spraying bacillus thuringensis up and down the streets but it's an eternal battle against nature.
The salt ponds to the west of my house have filled up with rain water, transforming them from muddy stretches between mangroves into large reflective ponds. Here is Niles Channel Bridge in the distance:Of course all this fresh water falling everywhere means it's mosquito season again. And even I who am not susceptible to their jaws find myself getting stung if I stand still for ten seconds under the house. Mosquito Vector Control comes by all the time spraying bacillus thuringensis up and down the streets but it's an eternal battle against nature..
I don't know if it's because of the bugs or despite them but there seem to be tons of people out and about enjoying the Keys magical beauty. Big Pine Key was packed with cars and looked more like snowbird season than summer:
I did get to spot a couple of motorcycles, a Road King for Alan Madding:
And some dude out enjoying himself while my Bonneville was still in the shop waiting for handlebars:
I was enjoying the air conditioning in my nice Nissan, thanks for asking.
I did get to spot a couple of motorcycles, a Road King for Alan Madding:And some dude out enjoying himself while my Bonneville was still in the shop waiting for handlebars:I was enjoying the air conditioning in my nice Nissan, thanks for asking..
Travel by boat is wonderful this time of year:
All that tropical waterfront keeps attracting visitors who drive along and peer out of their windows pointing at stuff I see every day; a house on stilts:
Mangroves and water:
Me? I look out for brightly colored flowers even if I can't name them:
And i know this is summer if my neighbors have spare coconuts as do I. This homeowner has started the cull already in preparation for hurricane season:
And over us all we see the very un-tropical mourning doves flittering around enjoying the weather while cooing wildly:
The glories of summer in the suburban fastness of the Lower Keys.
All that tropical waterfront keeps attracting visitors who drive along and peer out of their windows pointing at stuff I see every day; a house on stilts:Mangroves and water:Me? I look out for brightly colored flowers even if I can't name them:And i know this is summer if my neighbors have spare coconuts as do I. This homeowner has started the cull already in preparation for hurricane season:And over us all we see the very un-tropical mourning doves flittering around enjoying the weather while cooing wildly:The glories of summer in the suburban fastness of the Lower Keys.
10 comments:
Dear Sir:
What a delightful reassessment pf life in the keys after sharing with us the first details of you Appian Way ride! And I managed to read it without offending any of your other readers.
I must be up at the crack of dawn as I have been asked to serve as one of the judges in an antique Beemer ride tomorrow. What's the hold up with OEM Bonnieville handlebars?
I get new tires this week.
Fondest regards,
Jack "r" Toad
I like to test people when I meet them. If they get offended I know they aren't for me. Life's too short to be wasting time on people who aren't compatible.
My Bonneville, asshole, was ready to go before I left for Italy. I saw no point in leaving it under the house, unridden, while I was away. Besides it was scheduled to get a fresh paint job for tank and fender ($300) this past week to be ready for pick up on Tuesday when I fling my wife out of the moving car at the airport and hurry off with the trailer to pick up the bike.
Judging antique Beemers will be a drag. How do you tell which set of horizontally opposed cylinders is better than the next? The lesser oil leaking from the shrivelled up head gaskets, perhaps?
(ps this reply is a TEST).
Much love
Badger.
For those who may be horticulturally challenged, that flower is a hibiscus, Conchscooter.
Good essay, great pictures. They make me even more homesick for the Keys.
reep, I evidently passed the test. I can sell you a cheat sheet at a very reasonable price (i.e. cheaper than an overpriced german motorcycle).
That purple RoadKing is pretty sexy looking. My daughter will be thrilled to see the pic as she loves purple.
A whole place full of old beemers? They have fenced yards and aren't allowed within city limits here. Those yards also have collections of ford pintos and amc gremlins. Admission is free. The only judging is how high the weeds will grow in them before the yard operator employees an army of goats to "mow" it.
Tell the wife to be sure and be AGATT to avoid the road rash.
-Peace
Dear Sir:
You were wise not to leave the Triumph in plain view while you were gone. The neighbors might have gotten up a petition... Or worse, others mght have started abandoning other used-up vehicles of questionable value there too.
I'll deal with Allen Madding later.
Fondest regards, etc.
Jaxk "Reep" Toad
My wife isn't going riding. She's staying at an American friend's five star hotel in san juan del sur nicaragua where she is planning mud packs and facials and long swims in the hotel swimming pools. piedras y olas means rocks and sea and its what he called his hotel, and very nice it is too...not as nice as riding a beemer in Italy though.
I beg your pardon, Sir, as I realized she wasn't going riding. I thought the AGATT would help when she was flung from the moving car.
fondest non-german-overpriced-motorcycle regards,
-Peace
Dear Conch:
Life got away from me the past two weeks. I haven't been myself. But I went on an utterly exhausting, joint-grind, arthritus-grating, 180-mile ride today (with the antique Beemers). We passed many beautiful sights, but none as heart-warming as the Harley riders bent ove their antiques bikes (circa 2004), attempting to adjust the brightness control on the chrome, apparently.
Fondes regards as ever and all that chummy treacle,
Jack "reep" Toad
Twisted Roads
Madding is far too delicate. Next thing he'll tell me I should have paid for a seat on the plane she's flying on. jeeez.
Actually as herself controls the money I'm lucky I got seats when I was flying.
Thanks for another great post. FYI, the flower is in the hibiscus family. We grow them on Big Pine :-)
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