Boca Chica Playtime

Start your week with a look at this:

Sunrise at Boca Chica, low tide though tides aren't moving much water this time of the month.

The time between full moon and no (new) moon is called neaps by sailors and that's when the tides are shallow, not much up and not much down. 

So when I met this bloke and his dogs we were restricted to a narrow strip of dry land. Not a problem for my newly socialized  dog.

They ran until they could run no more. The other guy seemed quite grateful for the canine exhaustion.

Rusty has made astonishing progress from a year ago when he ran from any dog that reminded him of his life on the streets where he survived by knowing when to run hard and far. 

Then we met an angler who rescued an older dog that spent most of his life along in a crate on a deck. They are inseparable now. The dog spent a year at the SPCA before he found her. No one wants an old dog. Except him.

I have no idea who spends their life piling rocks but someone does. Hope they rescue dogs too with all that energy to burn.

She is totally devoted to the man who got her out of her cages. She came up to say hi to me and wandered off checking the bushes, going for a swim and watching her man catch his fish.

You know the owner wasn't on board but it was the hired help pounding into the wind:

I liked the light so I took a picture:

The water was too deep for crossing comfortably especially as it was rising. 

We found a dry beach behind the mangroves and Rusty went nuts.

When I watch him run uninhibitedly I am glad he lives with me. He wouldn't do well under constant leash supervision.

Wild thing.

One last look back and home to sleep it off.

We trudged through a  crowd of people at the parking lot, necks craned to stare at the fighter jets rushing around overhead.

The Library

Technically it's the Monroe County Library, Key West Branch and it is said to be the oldest library in the state. It may well also be the prettiest.

Life in a  county 112 miles long and frequently less than half a mile wide presents a challenge when it comes to offering services. The library system does a remarkable job keeping branches open all along the island chain and you can order books through the computerized system for delivery. In the Lower Keys there is this the main branch with libraries also in Big Pine and Marathon.

I enjoy spending time in the library perusing the stacks and checking out the readers intent on their books. One gets a comforting feeling that as long as people crave reading all is not lost in our civilization.

I took this picture (below) in 2008  when public computing was still relatively new and clunky compared to our pocket computers today. The library now offers wi-fi as well as computer screens.

On my most recent visit the library had a bunch of ship dioramas scattered around the reading rooms and they were most enjoyable. They are on permanent display as of last October from the Key West Historical Society and they are the work of artist David Harrison Wright.

They are under glass and thus impossible to photograph with any hope of capturing even a tiny part of how beautiful and expressive they are.

 I loved the attention to detail and the short histories that accompanied each ship as part of the Society's drive to remind Key West of its fascinating maritime past.

 They need to be seen in person.

The library is a forum for local art of all kinds alongside the books and tapes and CDs.

Do Not Reshelve Books. I suppose we cannot be relied upon to do even that correctly. Mr Dewey would be disappointed.

The library is a refuge, often for homeless people with a day to spend once more accomplishing not much.

Also for people who want to get out of the heat to enjoy a serene and quiet place to think and browse or read (from 2008:). I like sharing the reading space surrounded by books and readers whoever they may be:

 Lots of parking for cars and bicycles and the occasional scooter too...

Though curiously enough there is lots of free scooter parking painted into Elizabeth Street outside the library. The library parking lot is gravel which is tough for motorcycle stands.

This picture from 2015 I add simply for effect:

Key West Homes

It amazes me what a jumble of homes you can find in Key West. Old Conch cottages with bicycles buried in grass, porches stuffed to capacity with stuff, outdoor living on the street.

The city is filled with lanes and alleys filled with leaves and trash cans, this is a city packed with cans ready for trash as there is nowhere to put them as they wait to be filled.

And yet Key West is a fully functioning, year-round city so it also boasts the odd cityscape that you don't get to see in the tourist literature, convenience stores, gas stations, mechanics shops all the dreary stuff that keeps daily life going in the First World.

There are the characteristic corners that people like to look at, but the myth that people live in some Caribbean daze called "island time" is propaganda. Imagine how well island time would go over if I took a 911 call at night at my job and I told them we'd get there when we could. "Keep pressure on the wound mon, and the ambulance will be leaving in a while, island time."  That would go over well.

But they do a good job of selling the image and you have to come here and find your own island time. Spend a week telling yourself it doesn't matter when things don't measure up to your expectations. WE none of us are very good at that sort of thing. People get in towering rages if they can't have their favorite bagel with breakfast...Island time mon.

Some people keep the spooks of modernity away by lavishly surrounding themselves with irrelevancies. I wear pink Crocs these people have an octopus in the garden, carrying either an outside light or a surveillance camera, I couldn't tell. Some cities might have ordinances against this kind of thing. Island time mon, down here.

You can walk the streets of key West at night, you can be drunk and the chances are you will be fine. However you will need to lock your doors against vagrants looking for a place to rest, and your bicycle will Be the object of much lust and thievery so be careful. island time...etc...etc...When my wife started work as a juvenile probation officer her colleagues warned her about visiting students in Bahama Village and only go with an officer. She laughed and ignored them. She had worked defending death row criminals in California and in Key West her young criminals were no match for her. I like Key West after dark. 

 There are bits of Key West that are modern and comfortable and well put together.

 Nice eh?

And these monuments to greed, seen below, what used to be a trailer park. The diocese sold the property on Simonton Street to developers well known to the Catholic Church and the low income worker bees that lived in trailers here are gone and you can spend a lot of money buying one of these cookie cutter houses built "in the Key West style." 

And then they wonder why Key West is getting so crowded with people no one knows, people who come and go and want to keep on changing things in this funky little town.

Rainbow Friday

I was standing at the end of a leash watching the wind flutter flags beyond the row of charter fishing boats in Marathon. And then I read the sign. Fishing boats...no fishing. I know what it means, no fishing from the pier but the implication struck my funny bone.  No money to be made from people standing on the rocks tossing a line into the billows my more cynical inner voice said. Lunch of fresh fish was good though. 

Later this summer lobster season will kick in and all these pots will be dropped in the water and thousands of lobster will be caught. How they aren't wiped out every year  don't know. Then there is the two day amateur lobstering event encouraged to bring visitors to Keys that no longer have quiet seasons. They slaughter lobster, break rules and give themselves heart attacks from time to time as killing lobster is more strenuous than they imagine. Through it all the lobster survive. I am no great fan of lobster meat and have been a marked man since I once described it as a string cheese with a fishy flavor.

Rusty likes the smell of lobster pots and he took me a merry dance on what was a quite warm day. He caught and killed an iguana while on the leash which astonished me and I shall spare you the pictures as some people are fond of iguana. They are like lobster invaders, not easy to catch or kill and they eat everything in sight, wrecks birds nests and destroy plants and gardens and so on. Rusty hates them and I do not much care for them either. I am no longer quite so surprised he made it for four years on the streets of Homestead. Judging by the state of his nerves when I got him they weren't easy years, and he no longer feels driven to eat his prey but thrown back on his own devices he's do better than you or I. Amazing dog. 

This summer I have a vacation booked in Europe for most of July to see friends and family in Italy after three years away. I have mixed feelings, principally I'm not keen on leaving him behind though he will be in good hands. I know, it's months away but already I'm thinking about the pain of separation. And he will be fine.

He waits for me every morning at the top of the stairs. In the early days last year he used to run down unable to contain himself. Now he knows I come upstairs to get changed (and give him a treat) so he waits and jumps all over me as I reach the top step. These walks in the wilderness are my chance to put the night's 911 calls behind me and his chance to be a dog with a lively curiosity.

I feel lucky to be out on these trails with a chance to decompress especially when the main road is generating complaints of all kinds, too much traffic too many people, the Keys they assert are full.It comes as no surprise to anyone who hasn't been asleep. You can't keep building and expect to maintain the same quality of life. I met a guy as we walked back to the car. He was carrying a big stick and i wondered what he intended to bash with his club.  Rusty ignored him and he used my little dog as his justification for the club...just in case. I have no idea what fearsome things outsiders expect to find on these trails but after decades of walking my various dogs out here I have never been molested by anyone or anything. I trust it will stay that way.

I stop from time to time as I ride Highway One and I still take time to admire the views. I find the visitors who slow down and stick phones out of car windows absurd in their efforts to multi task on their vacations. These places, unique in North America deserve a little time and respect to be enjoyed. The great thing about driving the Overseas Highway is that you can pull over and stop almost anywhere - and the few places its too dangerous to do so are clearly marked. The rest of the roadside shoulder and numerous turn outs are all available for you to stop and listen and look and take a composed picture for the scrap book.

I was alone on the headland above the creek and I thought to myself how pleasant it is to be alone with my dog and my thoughts in this place. I hope your place treats you right this weekend and may no big sticks be in your immediate future.