Duncan Street By Night

The heavy hedge at the corner of White Street marks the narrow entrance to Duncan Street, which despite all appearances is actually a two way street.



Duncan Street is quite an unassuming but is best known as the home of Tennessee Williams who first came to Key West in 1941 and bought a home at 1431 Duncan in 1947. it was the only home he ever owned and he kept it until he died in 1983.



He was born in March 1911 so we ca expect a blitz of centenary celebrations next year which means all of us need to know all about the man. The Art and History Museum on Front Street is doing it's bit. Tennessee Williams In Key West



It was a breezy night and I wished I had my gorilla pod which was safely at home in the Bonneville saddlebag.



This part of Key West was on the edge of town when the writer moved here though nowadays it's just another street in the city.



I make it a point to ride Duncan Street from time to time just because it's there and it's leafy and pretty. Next year doubtless it will be clogged with Tennessee Williams tourists.

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North Cudjoe Walk

There is a trail that leads off Cutthroat Drive on the north side of Cudjoe Key.


It is I suspect a road built for a development that never materialized and has become a trail for walkers or cyclists who like to see mangroves and palmettos close up.


The surface is crushed rock so it's easy to walk though in summer it tends to flood and the heat and humidity persuade my dog it's not worth being here.


So this is a winter walk, cool dry air, mid seventies, no mosquitoes and a light breeze mostly masked by the bushes,


Trash piles up from the bad old days but nowadays I find the dump, just up the road takes everything and is easy to use and reasonably priced.


Environmentalists tell us coke cans rot in about 500 years when left to lie around in the wild. This car was built just a few decades ago and it's almost gone!


Some kind soul brought a can of spray paint to the woods to leave this cultural mark on an old gate. I came to the conclusion it was either a representation of a face or a Dali-esque reproduction of the female anatomy.


Fat Albert's base is just around the corner close to the dump.


I wish flying for humans were as easy as it is for the turkey vultures.


They ride the thermals like they were born to it with no security checks or lines to wait in, no cancellations and no airline food.


I expect we will soon start seeing comments in the anonymous Citizen's Voice about all those birds hanging around in the sky.


It was no big thing being out in the woods.


But it was another great walk under the sun.


The highway gets clogged in winter and cold fronts are a pain but days like this make up for the bad stuff.


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Trumbo Waters

A cruise ship was in town and even though it was a mile away it dominated the skyline of our fair city.


With all the people off the boat crowding Lower Duval I decided to take Cheyenne for a waterfront stroll on Trumbo Road.


We stood there outside the Coastguard gate looking at the water.


I watched the center console closing in on the Key West Bight with Sunset Key in the background while Cheyenne refreshed herself in the water.


This corner used to be known as the Toxic Triangle a place where the effluent from the generator in the "Steam Plant" used to be dumped directly into the sea.
L

I knew people who tied their boats up here and lived on them despite the stench, simply because the price was right (free, obviously).


Nowadays the ex-military landing craft that service Sunset Key tie up here in-between hauling garbage trucks and delivery vehicles to the island across the harbor.


Key West is a tourist town that doesn't pause and every day professional boaters can be seen earning money on the waters surrounding the island.


Looking at the water can make you oblivious to the beauty overhead.


And even the sparse greenery at the Coastguard base has an austere beauty.


Where toxic waters flowed and rat boats tied up today there is the very clean and functional and proper ferry terminal.


Three hours ride in the evening gets you to Fort Myers beach while the morning ride comes south and lands here.

For details: Key West Express



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Cheyenne

Robert and Dolly had to go out of town so I have been over to their home to water the plants of which they have a number and all flourishing.


They live in a subdivision with grass so while I was at work Cheyenne took the opportunity to lay in it and really enjoy a rare treat.



I am not hugely fond of lawns as they take quite a lot of work to keep up and the small patch of lawn I built in a box for Cheyenne to lie on suffers from my lack of attention so it is not as cool and abundant as this when Cheyenne stretches out on it at home.


So she sat there and enjoyed the afternoon and after I finished watering we sat together for a while and watched absolutely nothing happen in this sleepy suburb.


It was quote pastoral what with the trees and the canal that could have passed for a lake.


Just another summer afternoon in the Lower Keys in December.


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Branches

There is a tortured quality to the trees in these back country open spaces.


There isn't much soil, there is a lot of salt in the air and the winds blow most of the time.


There is no build-able wood in these trees, and no fresh water except caught rainwater so in the bad old days life in these islands was rather spare. In fact until the railroad breezed through most of the Keys were uninhabited.


For those reasons I have always doubted pirates hung out here quite aside from the fact there is no history recorded that any of the ever did live here.


But these pathetic stumps of trees make f good pictures if one is of a mind to take the picture.


I went all Clyde Butcher and Ansel Adams at one point even though all I did was switch to black and white mode to change the mood.








With a little splash of color to highlight the deer ate struggle of the bromeliad to stay alive.





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The Birds Of Searstown

I was slumped behind the wheel of the car waiting for my wife to finish buying a pair of wooly shoes for her upcoming trip to California. I am not going to Santa Cruz to freeze next week so I had nothing I needed to buy.


Cheyenne was snoozing on the back seat and I was just about ready to regret waiting in the car when a flock of seagulls swooped down and settled on a pile of something disgusting in the parking lot. It was of course a moment that put me in mind of the more famous birds from the movie. Perhaps it was popcorn they had found on the ground...


The came, they went, a new group re-grouped and there was more flapping of wings. I watched as I waited and still my wife didn't show up. Searstown was bird heaven or hell I couldn't tell which.


"Sorry it took so long," my wife said when she brandished her wooly prize under my nose. "It was a Conch moment. I got stuck behind an employee returning an item and she gave all of us a long loud overview of working conditions at Sears." It's the sort of thing we incomers are supposed to take pleasure in, trying to prove we aren't in a mainland rush. "Not to worry," I replied. "I was bird watching," and got a quizzical look from my skeptical wife who knows our feathered friends hold little interest for me. Had I said 'motorcycle watching' she'd have believed me.




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