A new/old park has resurfaced in Key West, and it's at Faraldo Circle off South Roosevelt. It's been so long I had pretty much forgotten about it.
It so happened that as I arrived Cool Hand Luke and crew were leaving after a few last bits of clean up. You will often seen these sad souls working alongside the highway, petty criminals doing their time at the Road Prison in Big Pine Key and spending their days keeping the state highway looking good.
No sooner is the park near the airport reopened than it gets new/old residents settling in: 
It's less healthful but arguably more fun to ride a big bad motor sickle along the seawall. This is Key West so it has to be a big V twin.
Back at The Pines Cheyenne had run out of things to sniff.
This is the place to bring a burrito from Badboy and keep an eye on those sparkling waters. Can't do this in February on the Jersey shore, can you? Not in your shirt sleeves at any rate. 
And you can't see this in Vancouver either. Unless you're outside the US Consulate. We fly lots of flags in the US lest we forget who we are. This one also helps confirm their arrival plans for Cuban refugees landing from the land of free health care to the south.Loads of visitors flash by on South Roosevelt. I wonder if they even notice The Pines? 
It's another of those little pockets of serenity for which Key west, a small island, should be famous. But it's not, happily for me.
It so happened that as I arrived Cool Hand Luke and crew were leaving after a few last bits of clean up. You will often seen these sad souls working alongside the highway, petty criminals doing their time at the Road Prison in Big Pine Key and spending their days keeping the state highway looking good.No sooner is the park near the airport reopened than it gets new/old residents settling in: 
These guys have nothing to do with the essay but I thought they looked cute in their second generation electric rental car a little nicer looking vehicle than the bulbous bubble car shaped Gem electric cars rented around town.
The pines is a small wood next to the East Martello Tower the brick fort seen beyond the trees:
They put in some nice rebuilt cement block and wood picnic tables to enjoy the water views: 
The Pines had been a staging area for the construction materials used to build the new departure terminal at Key west "International" Airport. The cement block in the background is the parking garage:
And if chickens don't float your boat there are local residents wandering around:
Non locals show up to look around the artwork on display at the East Martello Tower. They could have just read my essay on the subject:
The pines is a small wood next to the East Martello Tower the brick fort seen beyond the trees:They put in some nice rebuilt cement block and wood picnic tables to enjoy the water views: 
The Pines had been a staging area for the construction materials used to build the new departure terminal at Key west "International" Airport. The cement block in the background is the parking garage:And if chickens don't float your boat there are local residents wandering around:
Non locals show up to look around the artwork on display at the East Martello Tower. They could have just read my essay on the subject: On the other hand I applaud them for improving themselves and their knowledge of my hometown which deserves more respect than it gets on Lower Duval.
Mens sana in corpore sano, they used to tell me in school as they forced us out to exercise in the cold and the rain to keep a sound mind in a healthy body. Something like that. I'd rather be riding a bicycle along the seawall and stopping to inspect the crystal clear waters than chasing a ball around an English rugby field in winter.
It's less healthful but arguably more fun to ride a big bad motor sickle along the seawall. This is Key West so it has to be a big V twin.
Back at The Pines Cheyenne had run out of things to sniff.
This is the place to bring a burrito from Badboy and keep an eye on those sparkling waters. Can't do this in February on the Jersey shore, can you? Not in your shirt sleeves at any rate. 
And you can't see this in Vancouver either. Unless you're outside the US Consulate. We fly lots of flags in the US lest we forget who we are. This one also helps confirm their arrival plans for Cuban refugees landing from the land of free health care to the south.Loads of visitors flash by on South Roosevelt. I wonder if they even notice The Pines? 
It's another of those little pockets of serenity for which Key west, a small island, should be famous. But it's not, happily for me. =====================================================================
Optional extra: http://conchscooterscommonsense.blogspot.com/ for my latest political essay.
14 comments:
Rerun?
who?
Dear Sir:
There is another big difference between the senior citizen's park at The Pines and the Jersey Shore. The only thing getting laid anywhere near The Pines park is an egg in the third picture. The action is a lot hotter at the Jersey Shore. But then again, the age of the crowd is so much younger. Look at the spry couple in the fourth picture, out for a ride to pick up another bottle of digitalis.
The bird in the ninth picture is a migrating North Carolina Tweezer Bill. The beaks and gall bladder are "good for the man," according to my Japanese friends. I will flip you the state bird of New Jersey when you get here in May. I keep a trained one in my office.
But all in all, this blog was very nice today. The pictures wre nicely taken, and nicely presented. The three "big twins" were nicely centered in each shot. I generaly use the expression "twins" in another way, also indigenous to New Jersey. As in, "She was absolutely gorgeous, which got a vote of confidence from 'Big Jim and the Twins.'"
You might want to check with Bob Skoot, or any one of the other 50 bikers now giving photography lessons, on taking nice pictures in which the subject is not exactly centered in each shot. Although, that is one of the nicest pictures of a tourist trolley that I have seen in a while.
I never realized how much the folks in Key West loved concrete. The seawall is poured concrete. The sidewalk is poured concrete. The tables and benches are poured concrete. The parking garage, which spans the horizon in photo #8, is poured concrete. Don't get me wrong. It's all very nice. But somebody in Key West is making a nice buck on the poured concrete concession.
Would you mind very much doing a blog episode from the dog's perspective? For example, could you get down on your hands and knees and take pictures from the way Cheyenne sees things walking with you. I realize that this would entail shots of people's knees, fire plugs up close, and piles of rubbish in the limelight, but the effect could be very interesting, and nice.
The devil is in me and I am cutting up rough. I dare to write things like this, knowing that I am a slow moving target. But I know that you, and Jeffrey, and Buffet, and Buffalo Bill are reading this — and smirking. A smirk is as good as a smile, under the right circumstances.
I have to get out on the bike today.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Loving the blue skies-- and normally I wouldn't ask because it would just be sheer torture but we're supposed to have snow tomorrow- 6 to 12 effing inches! So a little request: plenty of blue skies if you can manage it! We've got our reservations for our Olivia St. studio in August (not many tourists and just before school starts back up)-- a long way away. Well, 146 days.
IN the meantime the pictures of the blue skies and sparkling waters are just the ticket! Thanks!
Dear Riepe,
I noticed the Cool Hand Luke reference - do you think ConchScooter created a coincidence?
Speaking of smirks, when you visit Key West, head to the Green Parrot and view the Smirk painting (along with the lovely ladies strolling down Whitehead). All told, I once heard the painting is actually of a woman.
Remember, no snivelling of the loving louche ConchScooter readers.
Just checking in ... absolutely no way I can compete with the JTR rhetoric! I suspect it's a good thing the Jersey Shore Boardwalk has railings, otherwise he would probably get lost in the dunes, or carried off by a rogue wave. -:)
The poured concrete concession has been with the Toppino family since about 1900 when the family won the right to build Flagler's cement railroad structures. They have never looked back. The Pines is empty because it has only just been refurbished. I fully expect to see riepe's extended family campinbg out here soon on their BMWs.
Danette I have more Big Pine tree pictures which I haven't used for fear of overload. The sun has been out and the weather has been glorious'
Jeffrey - you are unbelieveable. You mentioned oolite just when I was thinking about a sign I had seen discussing oolite. I have the pictures to prove it. Now you mention the Green Parrot and yesterday I spent a happy half hour drinking coffee and photographng the Wheels of the Green Parrot. Weird huh?
Chuck ignore the rabble they are just jealous. riepe is such a sack of shit he's always at risk of being hauled off by accident by the trash men. (We have a state bird down here too you know).
Chuck viaMr Conch:
. . . or fall over and not be able to get up
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
Are you sure the name isn't Shady Pines? As in the place where both you and Riepe can retire to trade insults with each other all day? And for Jack to practice his "doggy viewpoint" photography. Although what he will mostly end up with is other dog's rear ends, I suppose.
Dear Sir:
Sack of shit? Sack of shit!
Fair enough. Carry on.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Dear Mr. Skoot Via Conch:
I refuse to believe that's your best shot. Take off the pink crocs and try again.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Dear IronDad via Conchscooter:
I am so looking forward to my Key West visit. Michael and I have already discussed cruising the edges of the famed Everglades (to capture shots of gators crossing the roads), parking our asses in a seafood joint, and doing my Christmas shopping on Duval Street (in my idea of the perfect Dollar Store). There's nothing "shady" about it. I do everything out in the open.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Poor Riepe. He's so fat and you guys just make fun of him. I bet he just wants to be liked.
Krystal Dreams
Nah, he's from New Jersey and he's made it plain that being well liked just gets you run over. Unless you are a woman in which case he'd like you to like him a lot then run over him.
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