Geiger Key Marina

Chuck and I had been exchanging e-mails for a while after we met on the street in front if his house a while ago. We arranged to meet at Geiger Key Marina which suited me very well as I hadn't been there for a while, a long while.

We left Cheyenne at home after a very long walk. I figured she was better off napping than sitting out in the August heat, and Chuck noticed...and expressed disappointment. I don't blame him, she is a total babe.

It's a hopping place Geiger Key in the same vein as Hogfish on Stock Island which isn't surprising as it's owned by the same man. To get to Geiger Key turn south at the Circle Key/Shell on Big Coppitt (Mile Marker Ten) and wait for the yellow sign to appear. It's a long straight ride south at 30 miles per hour from Highway One.

I tripped over this Cuban chug decorating the parking lot. It's worth a look to see how far people will go to escape from Cuba. A wooden frame, polystyrene flotation panels and a hull covered in a plastic tarp. Very ingenious but what a craft to use to cross 90 miles of Gulf Stream and it's unpredictable conditions. Many don't make it and disappear and no one is any the wiser. Sometimes their chugs wash ashore empty and leave us to assume the worst.

We joined Chuck and Pauline dockside with a gorgeous view. We were under close observation. I'm guessing they are used to soft hearted tourists yielding to their charms.

My grilled mahi mahi on a fresh crisp salad was perfect and the conversation was intense enough I forgot to photograph it. I did ask Lindsay for a smile though and she obliged. Chuck made a comment about old age and pity but I decided to draw a veil across that.

It was an entirely splendid afternoon until these two Cuban refugees showed up to spoil the fun. As I watched them paddling in toward the marina I noted, out loud how odd is this new fad of paddling a surf board. I thought nothing more of it as we sipped our tea and enjoyed the afternoon peace. One big thing about this place is the blessed absence of canned outdoor tinny muzak.

As the Cuban couple paddled into the basin in front of the restaurant I had my attention elsewhere. Hey, they said, he's waving at you! Well bugger, how was I supposed to know it was Scott out paddling around? I walked over and Scott and Julie explained to me exactly how deluded I am to imagine that paddling a surf board is a complicated or difficult way to go. Julie explained that the view is much improved over that from the low seated position in a kayak, the board is more maneuverable and paddling is easier as you can put your lower body to work. She also insists the board is more stable than a kayak.So now I'm going to have to rent one I guess. And learn to keep my unfounded prejudices to myself.

Barbecue is on the menu after 4pm Sundays and I can't imagine standing over the pit in this heat. Never mind adding the hot sauce.

A Rick Worth piece of mobile art.

And time to say goodbye.

Next time another dockside lunch, possib ly Stock Island.

Florida Mountains

For this essay of mostly photos I turned to my favorite photographer, a transplanted Californian who has made his name standing in the muck of the Everglades with a huge old fashioned camera on a tripod. The results are worth it.Butcher came to Key West not so long ago and I couldn't be there so my wife did me proud. My camera is not the old fashioned tripod mounted machine,obviously. I don't get $38,000 for my mural pictures either. It is no surprise that he is compared to Ansel Adams but what I prefer about Butcher's pictures is that for some reason they exude more warmth than the famous Adams pictures of the West. Perhaps it is the subject matter, or Butcher's technique but I like his photos far more.I started thinking about Butcher one morning when i was walking Cheyenne and found myself taking pictures with no essay subject in mind.

Dawn is a great time on my street in the summer. The exercise obsessed snowbirds are Up North and year round residents are resting from their daily labors.

My home silhouetted by the sun "coming up like thunder..." (Kipling, Mandalay)

Butcher coined the term "Florida mountains" for Sunshine State clouds.

Mourning doves are doing well on our street.

Salt ponds. Rainwater fills these mineral mud flats in summer and they come alive with crabs and birds hunting them.

Cheyenne is busy. She always finds things to sniff.

She is not the only creature on the prowl:

Here come people:

A one lane street is a test of driver's manners. Imagine how often they fail the test.

El Tigre

The tiger on White Street is a landmark. It growls at traffic passing in front of Glynn Archer School.William Blake had it right:

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

I first really noticed the tiger when I got a call at work and the agitated Spanish speaker told me she was at the tiger. The tiger? Oh the tiger. Got it. What you see below would be a Labrador.Across the street from the school is the National Weather Service office. This is where they track weather and hurricanes and log statistics.They're following Tropical Depression Four shortly to become Colin before it ravages Charleston or Miami or somewhere other than here (we hope). You can walk by at night and look through the windows from the sidewalk and see huge computer screens swirling and brightly colored.I thought the bird might be a sparrow. Or possibly not. It distracted me from the object of my picture, Glynn Archer School.
The dog statue in front the building is by a local artist called Rick Worth. He is a rather cool counter culture artist of the old school and calls himself a community artist. The dog faces off against the tiger across the street which has been snarling in that spot since 1986. Artist George Carey I am told oversaw the welding of the tiger at Key West High School and it was put in place as the mascot of Glynn Archer School.
There is another statue backing up the National Weather Service dog, a left over from a Sculpture Key West exhibition according to the label:This Harley is parked across the street often enough that it looks like a rather fine statue in it's own right.You wouldn't think this commercial street would have so much public art on offer.

This sort of sign makes me wonder if there is a drug filled zone somewhere nearby. I have never thought lawmakers were the best judges of unintended consequences. Keeping schools drug free seems fairly basic to me, but...there's the sign if there were any doubt. This is not a rooster free zone, however.
Someone had lost a barrette and though it was pink and would have matched my crocs, I refrained from stealing it. I set a good example for the little dears. Did I mention this isn't a chicken free zone?
Up close this is in fact a welded tiger. That it is getting on for thirty years old I find it more remarkable then ever.Across the street is this delightfully old fashioned sign. I didn't know that TVs could be repaired anymore. Use and toss seems to be the way these days. I include this picture to wig out the "all the gear all the time" witterers. The obligatory Labrador resting in the heat picture. It was a hot afternoon on White Street.

It must be vexing to spend all day staring at the Dairy Queen and never be able to step off the pedestal.I prefer to pay for my newspaper. I think it's more dignified.

A con leche while waiting for your laundry is a fine way to spend a Key West afternoon.

There has been noise about the city commission moving city hall to Glynn Archer which doesn't seem a like a totally bad idea. I just wonder what would happen to the tiger if that ever did happen.

-------------------------------------

PS. I originally prepared this essay before I left town on my 8,200 mile road trip to California. This past Sunday, by strange coincidence, Solares Hill carried a story on George Carey, who moved away decades ago, mentioning he is "gravely ill with cancer," but as the paper notes we will have his fine public art around town to enjoy.