Bahia Honda Sunrise

I have come to accept that I like coming to this spot alongside Highway One a lot more than my dog does.


Cheyenne accepts my preference with good grace and jumps out of the car with enthusiasm.


Enthusiasm that shrivels a little when she realizes we are back here again...


With late sunrises thanks to extended Summer Time I can get home from work, park the Bonneville and shuffle Cheyenne into the car before the sun has even hit the horizon.


Twelve minutes later I can be parked off the Overseas Highway at the south end of the Bahia Honda (deep bay) Bridge camera in hand.


And there to fiddle with apertures and shutter speeds while my Labrador snuffles through the rotting seaweed and thick grasses to see what she can find.


I suppose one could argue that a solid Florida Keys sunrise is a cliché, but if it is, so be it.


I like watching the sun come up on another day. Thursday, today, promises to be great.


Traffic is never very far away and for most people seven in the ante meridian is commute time and they are busy rushing.


For me the work day is over, and has been for a couple of hours, sleep overtakes me at seven am and I am ready for bed just as the sun is about to start getting busy.


It really is quite spectacular; pity the poor drunks home abed sleeping it off.


It doesn't last too long so here as in so much else in life, timing is everything.


Cheyenne stopped right there and announced by her immobility she was ready to go home to breakfast.


I wanted to press on another forty yards and get a proper view out over the water.


As pointed out previously this tiny slope is the nearest thing to a hill for miles around.


It's hard to get proper panoramic views when life is lived at sea level.


Better this than a foggy morning or a snowfield, for me. Besides it was pleasantly cool, less than eighty degrees and copious coverage with repellent kept the mosquitoes at bay.


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Casa Marina Dawn

It is that time of year when the sun doesn't even start to appear until almost 6:30.


The cloudy rainy weather of the past few days has retarded the arrival of daylight even more. I quite enjoy riding home in the dark of the morning and arriving under the house as though at midnight. The start of winter time in a few weeks will change that when daylight comes an hour earlier.


Casa Marina is the high priced neighborhood of Key West, broad streets, large lots and no commerce to speak of.


Like most wealthy neighborhoods anywhere, this one has lots of greenery to decorate the streets.


But because this is Key West the neighborhood mixes older McMansions and elderly characteristic small Florida homes built half a century ago. All of which makes it, like anywhere in Key West, defiant of stereotyping and worth a wander.


Flagler's Casa Marina Resort - nowadays proudly described as a Waldorf Astoria Property- is the big commercial enterprise on this side of town.


Flagler built resorts on the east coast of Florida to attract travelers to his East Coast Railroad. In Key West he built this monument to his folly to attract winter riders to the Key West Extension. I tried to picture guests parking themselves here but I figured it was just poor syntax that made the sign read like some absurd surreal Monty Python skit.


We had no key card so on we plodded, Cheyenne and I.


The window in the blank wall managed to look inviting.


Blank wall I said? Like this:


Gables, banana leaves and porches.


A much more interesting profile to look at. Key West looking pretty.

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Happy Days

I feel like I am in a count down, as September vanishes as fast as it came. This month of quiet and closure and reflection is almost gone and soon we will see people and excitement again and the gruesome nudity of Fantasy Fest (no genitals, no buttock cracks, and female breasts must be painted, please!) and all the drunken crowds will be upon us.


Business is slow in September so many restaurants close and take a break. People take out-of-town vacations, go to see their families or the leaves changing, or to enjoy a little bit of frost for a change. Me? I like it here especially in September, and if I can take a vacation I like to go at the beginning of summer before the height of hurricane season, which is now.


September is hot and sticky usually, though this year climate change or some other force of Nature sent foul weather everywhere except here, and one sits and waist for the cool of Fall to arrive. I am in no hurry.


I read the news and I marvel at Germany's principled reluctance to bail out Greece, and I marvel at how governments are in thrall to the bankers - "Goldman Sachs Rules The World!" Alessio Rastani told the BBC in an embarrassing moment of truth telling, and I wonder why people act surprised.

Key West trundles along, grunts and grits in our future perhaps, but the sunshine is ours, as long as we can keep our tenuous grip on The Rock.



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Rainy Escape

You'd think rain wouldn't bother a water dog like a Labrador, but Cheyenne had the misfortune to be raised by some family that did not encourage her sense of adventure. I rather think being dumped at the SPCA was the most adventurous thing that happened to her, poor thing.


Thus I was not surprised that she took refuge on the cool tile floor of the unoccupied tiki bar while we listened to the rain and I played with the camera.


It was a ten minute soaking wet walk to get out to the end of the dock and we were both a bit bedraggled. The day was gray and close.


When my wife and I were out sailing Central America I was surprised how cold I got when the rain came down. Standing in a wet t-shirt on watch in eighty degree weather with rain slashing under my Bimini shade, my teeth would chatter I would get so cold.


And sitting on our catamaran on a day too wet and overcast for snorkeling was dreary indeed. I used to compare snorkeling the untrammeled reefs of the under developed world - ironic description!- to going to the movies there was so much color down there.


Standing under the tiki looking out at Boca Chica Bay those rainy DVD days at anchor seemed like memories from another world. Someone else's life.


On the whole Cheyenne seems to like her new life.


Perhaps I should cut back the daily walks when it's raining cats and dogs.


The trouble is, I like walking in the rain, I like my memories, and I like the fact that this is as "bad" as bad weather gets around here. Give or take thirty degrees.


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Leafy Green Leaves

I wondered why the nice lady went round Cheyenne and I in the street but it wasn't us, it was the jungle.


The sidewalk was impassable but we ploughed through the wet fronds. Adventure! I have no clue what they are called though.


Well, not really an adventure, but Cheyenne was having fun and I was enjoying in a modest way, the otherwise empty sidewalks. I was quite surprised to see the relatively big red car badged as a Mini. I discovered something new, the Countryman.


Apparently it was quite controversial in the motoring world when it was offered for sale as they said it looked so big. It seems to fit into small parking spaces in Key West.


Not as small as a scooter but I wouldn't mind if my car got 35 miles per gallon.


Flowers, yellow, unknown to me.


I have a real problem remembering the names of plants and animals but I think these are buttonwoods. I think. Maybe.


I'm pretty sure this is a royal palm.


I think it's a royal palm because of the long smooth trunk. Other than that I haven't a clue.

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Here Comes The Sun

I am not cut out for cold damp climates. I always like the idea of snow or cold but when I find myself in the middle of it I shrivel up.


So it was that when the sun put in an appearance after twenty four hours away I rejoiced, and overexposed it at Higgs Beach.


The most subtle ray of light looked like the center of the Earth to me.


A chimney would have been useful Monday to ward off rheumatism.


Higgs Lake started the long slow process of evaporation to restore order and grass to the park.


And on the drive home with a tired dog sprawled on the back seat...


...I was delighted to have the sun in my eyes. Winter holds no dread for me in the Fabulous Florida Keys.

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