The State Department of Families and Children has offered activists in Key West three quarters of a million dollars-free!- to build accommodations to get 16 women and their children off the streets of Key West. The offer has been refused. Yup, we are people of principle in the Keys and we don't take easily to big Gummint handing us free money so we'd rather leave the women and children on the streets. This reaction caused some consternation we are told in the ranks of the state bureaucrats, but there we are.
Samuel's House is a women's shelter located in the city. It's address is not supposed to be public (even though they publish it on their fliers!) because women who have been battered by their partners take refuge there. It is a vital service in a city that sees way too much economic stress combined with enormous quantities of dutch courage induced by a constant diet of alcohol. It's director is a well respected woman with a long history of active devotion to the cause, someone who you'd think would get a hearing when she pipes up and says "I've got a barrow-load of cash and need somewhere to build a shelter." Her requests for land were rejected by the Catholic Diocese which owns an eyesore open space on Flagler Avenue next to it's soup kitchen. That rejection didn't surprise me, I have no doubt the princes of the church are going to hold out for absolute top dollar, as is their wont.
The city of Key West shrugged and said, "Sorry, we don't have enough time to get it together, bad luck!" which isn't surprising considering the city's recent decision not to put the trash contract out to bid as they couldn't find the time for that clearly anticipated contract. So when Samuel's House turned to the Southernmost Homeless Assistance League (SHAL) and got the bum's rush there too I was stunned. Apparently not just me either as the state is now reportedly royally pissed off and is intervening to get things moving. The Executive Director of the State Office on Homelessness (There is such a thing amazingly enough! In Florida!!) is getting involved and is looking for results. This embarrassing turn of events has pushed the sleepers at SHAL into gear and guess what? They are going to take a second vote on Tuesday according to the Citizen and I have no doubt they will support the state's grant with fervor and enthusiasm this time around. What a crowd! And this is a grant to actually help people who desperately need help and have no political voice of their own. Just when one is ready to despair of our leadership someone sticks a red hot poker up a few backsides and one feels hope once again.
Of course this is all just piddly local stuff down here at the sunny toe of the national sock that is Florida. In Copenhagen big issues are being mooted about how to stop climate change and in Afghanistan Danish soldiers are joining US soldiers in making a determined push against the Taliban in some godforsaken mountain range. I woke up this morning, my back burning horribly from some recent pain I inflicted on myself and had a vision of growing old in a country with no middle calls, no health care and no unemployment insurance and I said I wanted to emigrate. I want to emigrate to a country where someone in charge gives a shit about the little people. Perhaps then, I just need to stay in Florida where the Office on Homelessness may be able to come to my rescue when my weary middle class body gives out, I lose my job, my insurance, my home and I need help. It's not exactly socialism but it will have to do.
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It's that time of year again, the happiest time of year! Attractive Conch ("konk") homes are cluttered with bunting for Christmas; other homes are showing off realtor signs:.jpg)
Holly, ivy, mistletoe and pine boughs all seem oddly inappropriate in the land of tropical greenery, but traditions don't die easily, even if they were born in the Nordic north, land of snow and darkness and ice. .jpg)
Another attractive eyebrow home where the roof line descends over the upper windows to allow them to stay open in rain and unintentionally trap hot air inside the house..jpg)
Eaton Street is a main thoroughfare into downtown Key West and it carries a great deal of traffic that turns off North Roosevelt onto the causeway over Garrison Bight Marina. That street, called Palm Avenue, runs into Eaton, and this is the 800 block of Eaton Street..jpg)
Next to the stately mansions and Conch cottages there are a few businesses here. This used to be Chodzin roofing until the owner decided abruptly he'd had enough and quit the business. The building stood empty for a while but now it is a seafood market in the art deco structure:.jpg)
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I caught a glimpse of a man riding a bicycle in bright yellow crocs. I wonder if he gets as much grief as I do for my pink ones..jpg)
Cheyenne liked playing photographer's assistant until she tried to investigate a porch a little more thoroughly than I thought was appropriate. The leash ran out and she wasn't amused..jpg)
This is the Island City Hotel:.jpg)
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The yellow building on the left in this picture:.jpg)
There are always overhanging trees on the streets of Key West, along with over sized vehicles: .jpg)
There are porches and decks:.jpg)
According to J Wills Burke's "The Streets of Key West" Eaton Street is named for one John Eaton, a multi-faceted man who represented Tennessee in the Senate, worked as Secretary of War and wrote a biography of President Andrew Jackson. Eaton apparently became Florida's second territorial governor in 1834 following in the footsteps of William Duval. Eaton was not a distinguished man in the grand scheme of things and Wills Burke is puzzled as to why he got a street named for him, especially as it was named before Eaton served as governor. He speculates it may have to do with indications that Eaton owned property in Key West early in the city's formation..jpg)
You too could own property in Key West, there is tons for sale, some at lowered prices though I don't see much in the way of a bargain:.jpg)
This is the land of outdoor living, witness the standard lamp on the porch. Just the job to supplement the moonlight for those warm December nights you want to sit outdoors and read:.jpg)
Too bad if you live someplace where it snows, but there again the notion of a Christmas tree looks odd to me in this town. Some people take their sense of humor to the business of decorating. Check out this tree in the flamingo-style of decoration:.jpg)
The best way to get around old town is on two wheels, and the scooter-phobic can always rent a bicycle, including from Eaton Bikes:
This building used to be home to Florida Yacht Charters but they have gone. Perhaps because they didn't hire me. I did fine without them, they did not so well without me I guess..jpg)
And on the subject of vehicles unsuitable for Key West streets, I wonder what one does with a machine like this:.jpg)
I am reminded of the saying that it is more fun to make a slow bike go fast than to make a fast bike go slow. There is a moral in that saying for everyone, but what it might be I couldn't rightly say. 
A proper Sunday at home, en famille, with a dog snoring in front of the fire. Except it's too hot for a fire. I don't think she had it this good where she came from.
Nowadays they make for excellent snorkeling. The fort and it's moat on the east side of the island, looking southeast:
On the opposite side of Garden Key there is Loggerhead Key (named for the turtles that used to reside there in abundance). The lighthouse, three miles west of Fort Jefferson is the last speck of land before Mexico some 300 miles west. National Park volunteers staff the lighthouse and live on a house there, weeks at a time. The only access is by private boat with a dinghy landing on the beach. The Park Service supplies the volunteers at their private dock on the east side of the island.
The fort itself has a bunch of antennae, including satellite access to television and Internet for the National Park personnel stationed there. There is a satellite payphone (by credit card) on the dock for the public, but cell phones don't work on this island 70 miles west of Key West.
Next door is Bird Key, separated by this strip of water that was filled in, then emptied in turn by hurricanes. The island is closed to the public as it is a nesting ground for migrating birds.
They say the place is constructed out of 16 million bricks, imported from Up North from two different factories which explains the two different shades of red of the bricks in the outer walls. The top of the wall is a grassy, sandy walkway.
The five acre interior of the fort, whose construction plans were never completed, is like a park:
Looking east from the same spot one can see the rectangles of dark grass that show where the barracks were located and beyond them the domed powder magazine once again.
This ancient fort looks more like a crusader fortress in Syria or a European castle than a North American building.
Darkness falls suddenly at the fort, as is the way at these tropic latitudes:
The other covered buildings are the composting toilets, four of them, near the campground:
They work very well but are only available to campers after the ferries leave. While ferries are docked campers are supposed to use the toilets on board and only use these when the large number of day visitors have left so as not to overwhelm the island facilities.
The fort is open during daylight hours and even when the ferries are docked there is plenty of room for everyone. After the boats leave the fort is a private place, and that's when the interior of the fort is one photo opportunity after another:
The moat wall was designed to keep marauding boats at a distance from the fort itself to give gunners time to sink enemies before they could get close, but it also keeps wave action away from the delicate foundations of this fort built on sand. Swimming is not allowed in the moat:
This is a US National Park so there are informational signs everywhere. My pink crocs are happily barely visible:
Bird Key beyond the eastern coaling dock pilings just visible in the foreground:
The unfinished windows in the case mates:
The US Coastguard downgraded the old lighthouse at the fort and now it's known as a harbor light. At night it glows with a steady yellow gleam and all boats at anchor in the National Park are required to anchor within one mile of this light:
There are some bushes sprouting on the eastern side of the fort and among them I found this prickly pear...
....and this I-know-not-what:
And here is a view from the salon of the Yankee Freedom ferry taking us home to Key West:
It costs $180 round trip on this boat but every trip to the fort is an adventure and an exploration.
The ability to go out on the water in perfect safety in a small boat is just another reason to enjoy the Keys. Surfing is not the sport where reefs keep waves flat:
Swimming in December is best done with some kind of suit or skin. The water is under 80 degrees and even though visitors find it warm, locals don't necessarily.
More clouds piling up:
When the water is just a few feet deep, maybe ten (3 meters) if its quite deep, maybe three feet (1 meter) if it's shallow, means you can toss out an anchor anywhere. And if it really were summer you could jump in as you felt like, to cool off.
The temperature gauge on the Bonneville betrays me. It doesn't feel like 85 degrees, though it is quite warm.
The road ahead started to look quite threatening with stormy clouds crossing the horizon. I think storms are bets enjoyed from my home, looking out at the palm trees waving in the sudden wind, the downpour splashing off the leaves surrounding my tree house.
All the drama of potential rain faded away as I pressed on towards work, but the low lying clouds looked good:
Another boat ploughing a wet furrow across smooth waters...
...he curved across the channel and disappeared in the distance, never for a minute minding the traffic rumbling by on the Overseas Highway.
And there was lots of traffic, a long line of cars interminably leaving Key West, with my side of the road packed with another line of cars, and the odd motorcycle streaming into the city. 