Morning At The Beach

These lovely cool winter mornings. 

I left home with the sunlight pushing up over the horizon though the orb itself only managed to break the horizon itself by the time I got down to the beach.

I met a dude sitting in a chair shown below. He was friendly enough and petted Rusty and asked how I was doing and so forth. He had had a close call recently the almost victim of unfortunate luck and now with life once again stretching out before him apparently limitless, he was approaching each day with renewed fervor. We watched the sun come up and he told me he was glad to be there and as Rusty dragged me off down the beach to his favorite spots it was a moment worth reflecting on. I am nto much given to telling people how to live but I was glad he shared the moment. I like to think I have made it a lifelong habt to live in the moment as much as I can. And its not an easy thing to do either.

The light tower would be Sombrero Light south of Marathon. Amazing telephoto lens on my Panasonic Camera.

Hmm, low low tide, for now no sailing.

And so back home under threatening skies.

Fire On THe Water

There are these two old guys who live for a few months each year at the RV park on Ohio Key and each morning they wander out on the beach across the highway and they come with their dogs.

While Lucas and Sam play out of the water  the men stand up the beach a bit to avoid the flying sand and water thrown up by the frantic dogs. Sam the Labrador and Rusty:

They, the men, talk of this and that, their ailments which all retirees seem to enjoy, and they talk of politics and tell tales of human stupidity and sometimes they get around to discussing life in the RV park.

And I know this because I bring Rusty here once in a while for a play date. He seems to enjoy himself being sociable with the other dogs and I, much to my surprise enjoy listening to the two men who are close to 20 years older than me discuss the joys of life in retirement.

Below I took a skimpy picture of the American Shoal light tower barely visible to the naked eye:

Before the other dogs arrived I took advantage of our alone time to set Rusty to running up and down the narrow strip of sand not covered in seaweed. While he did that I played with my Lumix FZ330 and its rather remarkable telephoto lense.  Remarkable for a "bridge camera" which resembles a traditional Single Lense Reflex in size and shape but is a one piece camera that functions like a sophisticated pocket camera. Hence the term "bridge" as it bridges two different philosophies of camera equipment.

One of the old farts is from Kentucky and he drawls in that peculiarly typical way that makes almost any pronouncement hilarious. Particularly when the speaker has a sharp wit and a non nonsense view of human stupidity and frailty. Because I speak with an English accent (modified over the years) I am viewed as extra smart  which I find very odd. Especially when I come up against a Southerner who paid attention while living a long life and is frequently stereotyped badly for his accent despite the knowledge he has gained. I wish he was at work with me listening to the catalogue of complaints I hear answering 911 calls of which very few are what you might call emergencies...He has a pointed and wry sense of the ridiculous.

 I learned a fair bit about sleep apnea the other day as Rusty ran himself into a coma. It turns out one of the guys has failed to get a  good nights sleep in about five years. Hard to imagine.

 There we stood on the edge of the world pondering death by truck driven by some crazy suicide killer in the name of religion. I don't suppose I could run out of the way one of the men said. After we've walked  a  couple of hours on Duval we get pretty slow, he pondered to himself. Don't know if we could  step aside he said. I wondered if having people walking around with guns everywhere would put a suicide driver off.

He told me about a  veteran he knew who kept 28 guns in a 30 foot RV who he allowed didn't seem to be "quite right." I wondered if the veteran could hit an angry truck driver with any of the 28 if push came to shove. Not too far away traffic rumbled on US One, caring not one jot about our mental ramblings.

I went to the nursery yesterday Sleep Apnea said. I stood and stared at plants all morning, which made her happy. His buddy was still wondering about the 28 guns the veteran owned. I wonder he said where he stored them all in an RV only thirty feet long. Well he did live alone said the other old timer as though that made room for more guns and fewer plants. I went on vacation with 8 kids and grandkids once, the other guy reminisced. It was pretty good even though we only had three beds.

I'd rather have a dog than a bunch of plants or guns though I wondered if we live in a  world where random drivers may suddenly decide to run us down to the greater glory of God. If that were the case I don't think a gun would save me. I am so clumsy I'd shoot myself first.

Rusty was exhausted by then  and happy. As we all were.

 I wasn't that tired.

Play date is effective.

Ohio Key

This spot is a mile south of the Seven Mile Bridge, close to the enormous flagpole hovering over the Ohio Key  RV park. There are no signs but I remembered this spot from the good old days when Cheyenne was active. 

I don't know if my pictures do the seawater justice, but the colors are amazing. Even for Rusty the dog that doesn't swim. 

The old Flagler Bridge is closed to bikes and pedestrians until it's refurbished. Underneath, it looks good. We wriggled ANS slid and got passed the water pipe and under the new road bridge. 

Outside it was hot and sunny. An iPhone panoramic shot: 

Rusty was in heaven, chasing his tail and wearing himself out. He fell into a deep, snoring sleep on the couch that evening. 

And I played with the iPhone camera to please myself. I hope you enjoy them. 

PS Regular gas at Ohio Key was $2:07. What weird times we live in, gas is cheaper than water. 

Squally Seascapes

I saw a tourist video taping the Seven Mile Bridge and I was reminded I live fifteen minutes from this desirable spot. Mind you I am of the opinion that home videos are boring which is why you won't see any here. I hope his came out well and he won't bore a bunch of neighbors back home.


Photos or fishing, the old Flagler Bridge is good for both activities. It was a crappy day and I had hoped that even on a holiday weekend people might have stayed away. No chance.


The tree rising out of the mist is the increasingly well known tree growing on the abandoned portion of the old Flagler Seven Mile Bridge. The mists were actually a heavy rain squall heading our way.


Cheyenne was having fun in the grass. I like to let her graze whenever I can. Dogs seem to enjoy grass and there isn't much of it in the Keys.


It was windy and blustery with white caps to the horizon.


It was only a matter of time before therein blew in.


It was a good moment to be outdoors especially as the day was taking a turn for the rainy and thundery.


The blue sky blew away within the hour and we were locked down at home with rain and thunder all afternoon. Too bad as boat ramps in the Keys are free for anyone to use to get out on the water.


The palm tree was waving around dementedly.


Perhaps I should have made a video of it to show what I mean.


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Fishing Bridge

The big white pipe leads to the South Florida Aquifer and the new pipe laid in 1982 runs alongside the new highway.


Joint by joint.


The old Flagler Bridge, with the old World War Two pipe runs underneath the old bridges.


This is some interesting stuff.


When they converted the old railroad bridges to a highway in 1938 they took the railroad tracks and turned them into crude railings.


I think the only reason Cheyenne leads me on the old fishing bridges is in search of bait fish. It isn't for the shade.

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