It has rained a bit in a series of slightly odd weather events that have seen fog, heat and humidity and a snap cold front that came and went ion half a day and left winds out of the southeast and cold as though they should have been out of the north.
The gray skies didn't show Big Pine Key, off County Road at it's best, but this is a good place to walk Cheyenne after rains have flooded many of her preferred off-street walks. It's isolated but the road surface is solid.
Years ago our realtor showed us this house, much bigger than the home we bought on Ramrod Key, but we have no regrets about not buying it.
It lacks the charm of our little wooded tree house and the swimming outside the canal is much better where we currently live. This house on Ixora Drive is quite large, however.
There are lots of side streets leading intriguingly into the woods...
... and this is a place where a lovely tamarind tree is just another flag pole for some.
It's a long enough way to open waters from here. 
This house intrigues me, a single level home on a large dry (no canal frontage) lot with a lush lawn and landscaping swept up to the house itself.
This sign makes no apology for the occupants: 
And this welcoming committe was just a sample of the vociferous residents. We went away.
This home had far less signs of life but lots of signs protecting the trash dumped inside the fence.
The skies remained overcast and I had a waterproof jacket on but the rain never came.
I'm not sure but I did wonder if this might not be an actual Ixora plant:
I had looked up the exotic name of this street previously and found this entry in Wikipedia:
Ixora is a genus of 529 species in the family Rubiaceae, consisting of tropical evergreen trees and shrubs. Though native to the tropical and subtropical areas throughout the world[2], its centre of diversity is in tropical areas in Asia, especially India, Ixora now grows commonly in subtropical climates in the United States, such as Florida. Ixora is also commonly known as West Indian Jasmine. Other common names include: rangan, kheme, ponna, chann tanea, techi, pan, santan, jarum-jarum, Jungle flame, Jungle geranium, and many more. Plants possess leathery leaves, ranging from 3 to 6 inches in length, and produce large clusters of tiny flowers in the summer. Members of Ixora prefer acidic soil, and are suitable choices for bonsai.So there you have it, everything you might ever have wanted to know about the Ixora. Meanwhile back on Planet Earth I was wondering what it might be like to own enough land to get lost in, on Big Pine Key.
Cheyenne and I were happily lost on our own account simply following the rapidly deteriorating street.
We marched right along, passing mysteriously large homes on equally impressive sized lots.
We met some of the reclusive inhabitants...
...who Cheyenne ignored completely in her pursuit of the ultimate good smell.
We got home in time to settle in for an afternoon of wind howling, plumetting temperatures (52 degrees that night) and rain slashing around the house. Cheyenne ignored it all and slept the sleep of the just.
6 comments:
Loved the shot of the deer.
That one plant with the red and orange flowers appear to be a milkweed.
The flowers remind me of Fruity Pebbles (a sugary breakfast cereal I was never allowed to have as a kid but my cousins had on occasional visits to their home).
Back to the plant, it is a food source and a nursery for Monarch butterflies.
Most Monarchs will not migrate from FL due to the year round climate.
My wife has a nice crop of them going around our duplex (butterflies and milkweed).
Oh, and in looking at that picture of what I think is the milkweed, it looks like it is full of mites or ants. Both eat the butterfly eggs, which makes me think it is milkweed.
I could be wrong though, happened before :)
You are probably right. Sigh.
Dear Sir:
I found the depth and composition of today's photos absolutely riveting. Your sly way of taking pictures on a gray day, giving them an Ingmar Bergman-like mood, occasionally broken by a burst of color from some impossibly wild flower, reeks of utter genius.
And the picture of the stuffed dogs by the stark cyclone fence was both provocative and numbing. What is the source of your inspiration? I am aware that there is a hidden message in each of your blog posts. Is this message in photo #14? What does "do1s" mean? Is it a local thing?
Thank goodness there are dozens of streets "To Nowhere" lest you be forced to walk block after block, saying "hello" to hundreds of people, while giving them a collective look of askance.
Sincerely
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Dear Jack,
I have no cluewhat anything means.
My new year's resolution (implemented last December owing to my inability to accept the value of calendars and collective sentimentality) is to be nice to passers by. I have spent the past six weeks smiling at strangers and trying to engage in pointless small talk. The responses have been astonishing, though you will be saddened to know not one stranger has offered to spontaneously show me her breasts. I figure in light of the black economic hole that is sucking up every last red cent of economic activity around the world, the least I can do is try to be polite to strangers before I am forced to barbecue them to survive.
By the way, how's the diet coming?
That's a lot of little dogs in one yard. Man, I'd go crazy with all the yapping.
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