624 White Street

The state with the prettiest name,

the state that floats in brackish water,

held together by mangrave roots

that bear while living oysters in clusters,

and when dead strew white swamps with skeletons,

dotted as if bombarded, with green hummocks

like ancient cannon-balls sprouting grass.

The opening of Elizabeth Bishop's poem called Florida.

She lived here from 1938 to 1946, on White Street in Key West and published her poems as she gathered up her stuff and took off on a world tour. That tour stopped abruptly when she fell in love and settled in Brazil for 16 years. Those sixteen years were happier, they say, than the difficult years in Key West, a town she liked but that did not bring happiness, oddly enough. I don't think happiness in love was easy to find for a lesbian, albeit a wealthy one able to ignore convention and not starve, in those years.

Bishop was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, got a good education and an inheritance so she was spared the tedium of daily work. However she also lacked the discipline of earning a living, but by way of compensation she turned out poems that are gaining in popularity and earning more respect the more time passes since she died.

Not that the famous poet gets much respect in Key West. It's funny because in this occasional series of essays on writer's homes in Key West the city has nothing to say about this portion of the community heritage. Hemingway's home is famous and the image is sold artfully by the family that owns the business. Everyone else is on their own, their marks on the city of Key West as obscure as if they had lived on the dark side of the moon. That this home has a plaque from the friends of the library is a minor miracle, but ironically enough Bishop's former home is an embarrassing wreck.

Who knows and who cares really. Lots of people live in tumbledown homes in Key West, and lots of people who think they want to live here expect the high rents to return a decent living space. That's not very likely in Old Town. But a famous writer's home should be a landmark shouldn't it?

My last writer's home was the opposite, not recognized at all but not left to rot, far from it. Key West Diary: 709 Baker's Lane, Key West. It's not easy to be critical of people living in their homes, owned or rented but there is a sense of sadness when you see this lovely old eyebrow home not just degenerating but taking a memory we owe the world with it. Indeed the homes of writers around the world are revered, the sense of place that imparts the art to the artist. Here? Nah. What a shame.

Elizabeth Bishop's Misunderstood Life World Library Volume, “Brazil” : The New Yorker

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Divergent Walks

Cheyenne and I walk together once or twice or more each day but I am not sure we experience the same paths even as we stroll side by side. I noticed the old white elephant of the former Harris School on Southard Street. This used to be the city's high school, gradually abandoned, once proposed as a cultural center and then purchased to be a business center. Never quite restored, here it sits now for sale.

My wonder at the tortured path followed by this historic building in it's inevitable decline is completely ignored by my dog who finds smells of unimaginable interest in a pile of dead palm fronds.

I saw a car with a Missouri tag and a "dive bum" bumper sticker and I felt sadness for whoever it is, so awkwardly placed, geographically, for that particular hobby. I hope they take joy at the absurdly high cost of living here, one of the prices to be paid for proximity to dive areas.

People will tell you that compared to some places in the country rents in Key West aren't terribly out of line. Compared to Florida rents here are high and when you understand what peculiar configurations rental properties can take it is no wonder people appear mad to want to live here. Check out this door to nowhere:

But let's face it, March blew in sunny and warm, and despite the interruption of a gray rainy cold front color is always to be seen on the streets year round.

And for Cheyenne this weather is a nuisance. For a Labrador in a fur coat the cold of winter is always better than the sun and heat that please me.

Like many good friends we are opposites, Cheyenne and I.

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Yebo Island Grill

Whoever who have thunk that Key West would be fertile ground for South African food? This is a town that won't support an Indian eatery, yet now finds itself offered an eatery that means Yes, we are in told in Zulu. A brief internet search yields a number of businesses in South Africa called Yebo, and other eateries in the US by the same name. And yet here we are on Angela Street by Duval.

The menu at first glance looks normal enough for the third food truck we find in our fair city. Tacos and burritos, wrapped or in a bowl, sandwiches and...take a second look, a few special items.

South African sausage or a Bunny Chow. That's a provocative name in a country where bunnies are pets and not food, at least outside Appalachia. But fear not middle class citizens, a Bunny Chow is merely South African for a bread bowl in this case filled with curried chicken, born apparently from the harsh working conditions during apartheid - the "apartness" that required blacks and browns to eat on the run while waiting on whites while they played.

Helena is a South African of Portuguese parents who emigrated from Lisbon to the land of Bunny Chow and remarkable sausages. She likes what she foes and her husband a contractor is doing what he loves in this truck, and it shows.

I ordered Boerwors which in Afrikaans literally means farmer's sausage and in South Africa is made of various meats and spices particularly coriander which imparts an earthy rich flavor. The curried chicken will be available today so who knows if I will be back for dinner as you read this!

Here we see this Boer delicacy served with a tomato sauce just as the books say it usually is. I have never been to South Africa much though I have wanted to, so I have no idea how authentic this food is, but let me say it is delicious. I love sausage and am glad I had a chance to try out this new and different version.

I was being closely observed as I investigated my South African sausage. I have to say I saved none for the intrusive rooster, nor did I take any back to Cheyenne waiting comfortably in the car. I did notice there were water bowls set out in this spic and span lot so I could have brought my pig in a fur coat.

The sausage was remarkable. It had a crumbly consistency, and a rich flavor that came through the coriander, a mix of pork and beef. The tomato sauce was a delightful addition, fresh and light. No mustard, no ketchup needed. If I were a Boer I'd be back for seconds, authentic or not!

I am not much of a follower of fads, another reason I like living in Key West, but this food truck fashion is really something remarkable. I can only speak for myself but I am taking more pleasure from this kind of casual dining than I do from the stage set that is proper dining at a table with people waiting on me. Duval and Angela is a good place to come for food now.

These three food trucks are bringing us food that is totally out of left field, unusual, casual and not expensive by modern standards. The five dollar lunch has given way in this century to the ten buck lunch. All three of these places are very worth while:

Key West Diary: Garbo's Grill

Key West Diary: White Street Station

And then let's not forget the original ethnic cuisine, Cuban sandwiches sold all round town, burritos at Badboy Burrito on Simonton Street, New England seafood just round the corner from Yebo at DJ's Clam Shack and sandwiches developed in Seattle at Paseo on Eaton Street. Lots of interesting choices and no need to make a reservation.

Key West Diary: Paseo, Seattle in Key West

Key West Diary: Bad Boy Burrito

Key West Diary: Midnight Ride To Sandy's

Key West Diary: Cuban Coffee Queen

 

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Sparky's Landing

Continuing education is part of being a modern dispatcher and so off I've toddled every day this week including today, to Marathon to study Emergency Medical Dispatch. The idea is that when you ask for help in 43 countries around the world a protocol developed in Salt Lake City of all places, will provide you with the same life saving service. Modern dispatching is treated as the first responder in a medical crisis which is quite stressful when you aren't medically trained. Hence the protocol and a fair bit of studying. This is my third refresher on this stuff and I'm still learning new techniques.

When I"m not studying stuff I like to explore and as my explorer wife is currently teaching in Marathon we decided to visit Key Colony Beach for lunch on Monday. I'd been before, she hadn't, because I have also explored the tiny enclave of Key Colony Beach before: Key West Diary: The Mouse That Squeaked. So we met on the causeway at Sparky's Landing.

This is not the place to order meatballs me thinks but I was tempted by the cobia wrap. It was a lovely day and perfect for eating on the water so I was quite pleased with myself for picking this spot.

It's dark and woody inside but the deck was perfect for a sunny eighty degree day. We ordered fish on salad, my wife's blackened and mine grilled, in proper low carb form.

The view was lovely...

...the food came promptly and was fresh and delicious...

...and we weren't the only ones looking for good grub.

The meal came to about twenty five bucks tax and tip included.

I think our neighbors were speaking Portuguese which confirmed this is the eclectic tourist season in the Keys.

We really enjoyed our little break on the water. Being in class can have its pleasant breaks.

My wife scooted back to her adult education classroom in her Fiat, which she continues to enjoy greatly with 4,000 miles on the clock.

I rode back to fill my head with knowledge, wondering if a biplane ride ought to be in my future.

My Key West Police colleagues had lunch at Taco Bell, a fast food joint that pulled out of Key West a few years ago to much lamentation. I think I got the better end of the deal, but they are young and sometimes feel deprived by the lack of mainland amenities.

Key West Diary: Sparky's

Key Colony Beach is a little over an hour from Key West. Plan your road trip accordingly.

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A Day In The Life Of Bayview Park

Virginia Street in Key West leads to the back entrance to the Police department so I come up here quite frequently. Sometimes I go west on Virginia because Sandy's café is conveniently located at the first traffic light from the police station and Sandy's is open twenty four hours. Little wonder then that I often see this splendid ancient Harley parked here. It happened that from the sidewalk I noticed it had a blue antique tag which was cool. Later this month I am crossing my fingers and hoping to get my own antique tagged Vespa back from the restorer's shop in Pennsylvania. maybe that's why I paid particular attention to this machine.

There was an article in the newspaper that day which I captured in this newspaper box discussing plans to build a monument to veterans in the park. Apparently the city would provide the land and a third of the half million dollar cost to build the monument whose design is not yet complete and whose funding is still to be decided. I was not at the meeting of the city commissioners so I know no more. But the article prompted to take a wander through this park, not often listed on tourist itineraries.

 Bayview Park is very much a local park for local people. they have festivals all the time here, family-like gatherings and events like the Seafood Festival and year round noisemaking events. In that respect Bayview Park epitomizes that small town America side of Key West.

http://conchscooter.blogspot.com/2011/10/bayview-park.html

 It can also be annoyingly the epicenter of homelessness in Key West. The evidence of their residence, particularly in winter, is everywhere. In trees...

 ...under trees to gather and loudly discuss how to set the world to rights. There are no benches in the park these days supposedly to discourage them. They just bring their own.

Or as a place to fix their bicycles.

This guy was quite curious about Cheyenne, who did not return the compliment. We discussed the Labrador breed, the pound and the salient points of the English Labrador in particular. 

Conchs love sports. Tennis is not necessarily what you would think of compared to football, baseball and hockey but people do bang balls around courts here. There is even a tennis pro ready to give lessons. Poking around the  Internet I discovered tennis courts have been here since at least 1935 and they are still enjoyed today.

 http://conchscooter.blogspot.com/2009/10/small-town-stuff.html

The park lies under the flight path to the airport too, as does most of Old Town when the wind is out of the east as it usually is. Noise is a constant hassle in this small, busy town.

So somewhere in this hive of busyness a new monument is planned. There are a few already including the largest and likely the best known: http://conchscooter.blogspot.com/2011/05/jose-marti.html  These two statues seen below have been weathering away in their corner of the park:

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