Inside The Cemetery

I wore Rusty out one day last week walking him around town running errands. Three hours of walking and he was exhausted right into the next day when I offered to take him into town he looked at me with an evil eye and laid down on his couch. Too much of a good thing is too much. Fine, I said to myself, that means I can take a stroll in the cemetery, one of my favorite things to do, so I did.

Dogs aren't permitted and I'm usually walking the dog so this was rare for me to be able to check up on a few graves. I spotted a few landmark names this trip around the cemetery, and by that I mean names that you may well find on street signs and other landmarks. Like the new City Hall mentioned yesterday on this page:

Arnold's is a big name in town. This scion was apparently involved in the fisheries: 

 This one less so:

The plot dedicated to the Cuban martyrs, those who lost their lives in the second half of the 19th century fighting for freedom from Spain:

 The history was carefully laid out, though the plot itself could do with some light maintenance:

The grandiose temple for one of the older and wealthier families, the Spottswoods, fronted by the monument ot the late Captain Outrageous, the pillar covered in beads:

Signs of a picnic which is unfortunate. Leave no trace and use the trash cans. I like sitting among the graves (not on them) as this is a peaceful spot. But leaving trash is not a good thing as its the sort of bad behavior that gets people upset and more rules get made.

 Maintenance crews clipping the grass:

 Any relation to Peacon Lane? Why not I say...

"Peacon Infants..." Brr. Those were tough days before the use of vaccines and modern medecine and kids often died young.  Adults lived as long as we do, but statistically the high number of infant deaths brought down the median age which is what you often see quoted. The Bible itself states  that thousands of years ago that the proper age to die was seventy, not 45.  

A  quick nod to the refurbished grave of local artist Mario Sanchez who said of himself: "My modest art  isn't any good but people like it, don't they?" (My own approxiamte translation of his epitaph rendered in a likeness of his own handwriting).

The cemetery was moved to the center of the island after a storm blew the original cemetery off the beach. Some of these graves have been around a while.

 Whitmarsh Lane anyone?

Higgs Beach...he was quite the cornerstone of the community, I remember him as soft spoken but he did his job with a spine of steel and total integrity.

 And there is "Freckles" and another of those fishing boats...

These graves bring tantalizing glimpses into the past. 

 People wander through, pausing and thinking...

 So is this the Carey source of the lane name near the cemetery?

 A dead end indeed.

"A very good mother and wife..."

I like the graves with photos on them, which remind me of the cemeteries I grew up with in Italy as a youngster:

I like to stop by an say hello to Cheryl whom I remember well from before her untimely death at a young age:

We're all here because we're not all there. Not a bad epitaph at all.

Coffee Wars

My favorite Chinese restaurant has changed hands and a new arrival in town is operating Tong's Garden on Kennedy Drive. So far the only change is that the person answering the phone is now bright and cheerful which is a pleasant change. More importantly Cuban coffee on White Street is no longer dominated by Sandy's. The formerly 24-hour joint at Virginia Street is being challeneged by Key West's Best Coffee In Town.   

So I went and tried the best coffee in town and got myself a basic breakfast sandwich on Cuban bread which is how I test these places in town. And there are quite a few Cuban coffee places when you really start looking. Sandy's was the only one open 24 hours and under new ownership that has ended which in some way changes the perspective. I liked the coffee and the bacon egg and cheese sandwich from the Best Coffee In Town and they make no pretence of being open all night as they close at four. They are just a couple of blocks down the street, south from Sandy's and  make a worthy competetion. 

Unlike Sandy's the Best Coffee In Town has no seating so I walked across United Street and found myself an empty bench next to the new and newly occupied City Hall. The tiger is back in place at the corner of the street. It used to be the mascot for the school that was in this spot and a welding class built it. Now it has been refurbished and put back in place.  

This being the idiotic town it sometimes is there were -can you believe it? - complaints about the tiger being parked back in its spot infront of the new city hall, which itself has generated complaints too. The tiger it was said is too aggressive and not attractive and might frighten off visitors. I can't make this nonsense up. People actually wrote that kind of sentiment which I paraphrased from comments in the newspaper. 

Complaints about the new city hall centered around cost which at twenty million bucks doesn't seem too terriblky much in modern dollars for a modern office building centrally located with parking and all proper modern facilities. Mind you anything is too much money ina town devoted to complaining. 

I also found the grave of the former city employee after whom the building is named. She must have been quite the powerhouse, Josephine Parker as she also has a lane named for her off Angela Street betweenb Duval and Simonton...behind the former city hall where she worked which is now the Fire Station.

I like the new building. I like the qya it looks, the way it works and the details they added or kept from it's historic illustrious past. 

The Just 4 Kids voluntary after hours programn decorated power boxes around town some years ago and now this box shown below refers to a school that no longer exists...

Just half a block away is the Dairy Queen, that purveyor of fast food and soft serve icea cream that is not actually located in a tourist zone or on the Boulevard in New Town but is tucked away out of sight formerly serving the students from the school which no longer exists. Not a problem apparently:

On the subject of complaints I remmber when the Natuional Weather Service building was being rebuilt here across from City Hall and people started moaning about the red walls. It turns out it was some sort of undercoat paint and when the building was finished it was rather tastefully clad in wood. That shut the moaners up. But they do have to whine don't they?

 Here's a picture of Sandy's and the rather useful shaded outside seating:

White Street looked confused and busy the other day with it's new paving and even marked bike lanes. It may just take extra coffee to sort it all out and luckily there is planety for sale, and good stuff, on the street to cope with the demand. 

Another Day Another Crash

There was another accident on Highway One last night and as I came over the rise just past the Sugarloaf Lodge there they were a long line of  stop lights. Well, bugger. I called my wife while I was stopped and she did some investigating and there was no road closure but there had been an accident in Big Coppitt six miles up the road. 

It was stop and go for an hour on the Bonneville which got quite hot, as I had to quit turning the engine off and on as the starter motor started to make odd grinding noises - either because the battery was getting low (I hope) or because the heat was getting to it (say it ain't so). By the time we got to the accident scene all that was left in the roadway was some sand and some chalk marks but the traffic was crawling by as though mesmerized by the sight of nothing at all. I got to work thirty minutes late. Thanks looky loos!

It's easy to get vexed but really it wasn't that bad. Traffic never is in the Keys, unless the Highway is completely closed as it was a couple of weeks ago. I get vexed when it's bumper to bumper and stop and go. I actually prefer being in the car for these events as my air cooled motorcycle doesn't like being stuck in stop and go traffic. Neither do I as I can't listen to the radio or turn the air conditioning up.  

Compared to real traffic problems such as I used to enjoy in Silicon Valley around here that hardly ever happens. So I'm spoiled. However traffic gets thicker in the winter every year so one does get a tendency to blame visitors for every slow down between December and May which is unfair. 

I saw these trash cans lined up in scooter parking which must have been a mistake or a coincidence or something. But people do get worked up about parking in Key West and neighbors hate neighbors for reserving spots with trash cans or garden furniture. They get even more worked up than I do about bad driving. Parking spaces become the backdrop for tribal warfare. 

I was cursing up a storm as we inches forward in the traffic but really there's not much to complain about especially lately with mild temperatures, cool breezes and blue skies. And occasional sudden rain as though it were a summer squall which is unusual in winter.

Rusty and I have been getting out and about quite a bit enjoying the mosquito free woods early in the morning. He is living the good life but he deserves it as he is very easy to live with, no fretting no barking no chewing. He sunbathes on the deck, wanders back into the house and says hello as he passes by and takes a nap. Compared to the bundle of nerves he was a year ago he has grown into a  confident happy dog. Which makes me happy.

Overhead Flights

I am allergic to noise. The idea of living within range of the military jets that circle Boca Chica Navy Base endlessly practicing maneuvers is more than I could bear. One of my issues with living in Key West is noise. I have long maintained that Americans aren't trained to live next door to each other with no offsets as tightly as Key West requires. Consequently the streets are littered with signs demanding good behavior ("No Parking!" "Keep Off!" "No Dogs!" "No Trespassing!") and the newspaper's Citizen's Voice column is littered with anonymous complaints about every kind of behavior under the sun.

The airport in Key West is a case in point. There are quite a few flights in and out during the day and the single runway which points more or less East and West means aircraft tend to fly directly over Old Town on their approach. Departures climb into the sky over Stock Island and turn north.

They aren't so bad as they come into land but they are noticeable and their presence overhead reminds you how small this town is.  

The newspaper had a front page story announcing direct flights to Chicago starting this month which will change some people's travel plans no doubt. Key West describes itself as an "international" airport but the time they tried to fly to Nassau in the Bahamas the flights were unsustainable. Chicago is as international as it gets. Along with Tampa Miami Atlanta and I think Orlando. 

I rarely fly to or from Key West preferring to drive to Fort Lauderdale (or Miami if I have to) and thus saving a huge bill and the possibility of missed connections on the way home. There's nothing worse than arriving late in Fort Lauderdale and missing the connection because then you are scrambling to get a rental car to make the unexpected four hour drive home...I prefer to have it planned and there is lots of good airport parking available.

The airport lies on the Southeast corner of Ky West separated by salt ponds and fences. I took this picture from Government Road in Little Hamaca City Park alongside the runway:

 Airports to me are mysterious places though I can see the attraction of flying your own plane to and from the Keys, fast and efficient if you have to go back and forth all the time.

 The airport's general aviation also accommodates other business flights including the seaplanes to the Dry Tortugas, a  flight I want to make before too long.

And there is enough room to leave this old hijacked Cuban airliner rotting in the back lot. A Cuban living in Miami won a rather peculiar lawsuit against the Cuban government and was awarded the plane as damage compensation for the monies ostensibly owed by the embargoed Cuban government. It seemed  like a violation of international law which requires hijacked planes to be returned but the ruling did no one any good and here it sits years later:

Flying has changed the way we live and travel. However I prefer to keep my feet on the ground as much as I can.

And the noise all that flying make still bugs me. It just does.