Ramrod Sunset

Looking out of my bedroom window one recent evening I saw this:


Across the salt flats looking a Summerland Key on the horizon.


Just one more fabulous sunset.



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On And Around Whitehead Street

I like taking pictures of people taking pictures of Key West.


They remind me why I am out pretending to be a tourist taking pictures of my home town. They saw bougainvillea, I saw Spring Breakers.


Key West can be a very severe town. This sign on Louisa jolted me into compliance even though I was on foot at the time.


This open lot at the corner of Louisa and Thompson looks ripe for development...


...and as usual when development is the issue building one nice house is not enough. Two 'rate of growth ordinance' units means that two homes could be packed into this field.


The they will need cars and stuff and these lanes can be pretty tight. I'd rather have a stilt home with parking underneath and lots of room for a garden. Luckily it's not my lot to be under- exploited.


Whimsy in a tropical theme:


And a flower.


And a dog doing her job.


Cheyenne often asks me why I keep taking her picture. It's because she doesn't grumble like other members of my family tend to.


She is a good and patient girl and deserves all the time in the world to sniff whatsoever she wants.



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Artist's House

I have to say I admire people who take a simple structure and turn it into a canvas.



Bright colors and flamboyance suit almost anything in a sunlit tropical environment. Take a strange shape for a bike rack and paint or age and watch the yellow Labs flock to it.



And up above the door one doesn't just nail a number, one adds colors and scenery.



I am clearly no artist, my house is a sort of gray color wit dark trim. What do I know?


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Ironies And Amusements

I couldn't help myself, when I saw the big Tarot-like sun face peering round the tree and the ridiculous sign hanging off the trunk.


Cheyenne had had enough of summer mugginess in winter. She stopped for a while and when she stops I pull out the newspaper...


...or the camera and watch my fellow humans honk their way past me.


A scooter is a fine way to get around town, with minuscule fuel consumption and ease of use, it makes more sense than riding the bus. Seen here from the bus stop at Whitehead and Truman:


This sticker struck a nerve. Just what?!


It will take more than bumper stickers to end the federal reserve banking system . However more people are talking about killing the privately owned central bank so Ron Paul could feel ,Ike he is making some headway at least.


This house is on Amelia Street, I think, and it has been looking rather abandoned and down at heel for some time, but now it appears to be on the mend:


I think the asking price on this Zenn car (Zero Emissions, No Noise) was north of five grand.


Now here is a mystery, a dog turd on a plant. How did the dog balance it on the leaf like this, and why? And where was the owner, foul human, with no plastic bags to hand?


"C.E.S." old timers will recall the old City Electric System, the publicly owned utility that became a Lower Keys operation over time and changed it's name to Keys Energy System.


I never knew the health department had a car dedicated to helping people get the message about quitting tobacco but here it is; I saw it at the Gato Building on Simonton.


My mind was in the gutter on Catherine when I spotted this sculpted bowl of, was it fruit or nuts?


And this magnificent sponge was hanging as a decoration in front of the House next to the Tomasita seafood shack...


...whose hand written sign comes in a style eminently reminiscent of similar signs I've seen all over the Caribbean.


It gets the job done with no frills.



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Cobweb

I left the house later than usual for Cheyenne's morning walk so the sun was higher in the sky than it should have been.


I couldn't help but notice the web spun across my dock.


I have read that spiders spin them fresh daily.


The mind of an ordinary mortal boggles.

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Celebrating Key West

The celebration at Mallory Square is mentioned in any piece of travel writing or advertising about Key West. And though it is far removed from the original gathering of Tennessee William's friends it remains a fun place to hang of an evening. I was there myself not so long ago, with my camera.


If you sit in the approaches to the square as the sun starts to head to the horizon you'll see a wild assortment of carts pulled by bicycles and mopeds and even cars heading towards their nightly jobs.


It's all part of the Duval Street thing that visitors come to see, the legendary bars on Key West's main drag.


They come in droves and bring their families and up and down they stroll.


I caught the little kid in her green hat glancing at the passing dog. Cheyenne has the same effect I notice even though my dog and I are far less butch than those striding along in the picture.


Spring breakers can be indistinguishable from regular beach goers.


Though locals tend to stand out by their bizarre costumes.


These cyclists look could be boaters as people who travel on the water like to use folding bikes for obvious reasons, as do folks in RVs.


She's riding the ever popular one speed beach cruiser, probably a rental.


Though rentals usually have a big sign on the front of the basket advertising their status.


Home sweet home.


Every day or at least for a while.


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