The Electric Life

There are a ton of these bright green buzz bombs beetling around town these days. Zapp they are called and that's what they are doing, offering competition to traditional gas powered scooters.

Apparently you can buy these machines too and own them for yourself. Like this white one showing no signs of being a rental:

 A very modern digital instrument cluster:

 Top quality electrical components:

I find it encouraging that electric motors and batteries are slowly coming of age. Zero Motorcycles builds machines I could use to commute if I had longer legs and wanted to spend $16,000 for a machine with a hundred mile range. For urban use these scooters seem ideal:

 A cable snaking out of the apartment is all it takes. Brilliant!

Tesla is also making electric cars viable while encouraging the construction of the charging infrastructure.  Rider magazine organized a tour of California using n electric Zero motorcycle over several days. So we are getting that much closer to making electric vehicles viable as all rounders. I've heard it said there may soon be batteries that fast charge making refueling almost like pumping a tank full of gas. That will be an interesting change.

I grew up with internal combustion and I like it. I see the rounded shapes and smooth compound curves of a scooter and I like what I see. Yes I now they need gas and oil and so forth but they deliver so much and with so little effort. I am glad I grew up in the era of gasoline. 

 And for some what the factory sells isn't enough and suddenly a vehicle is a form of self expression.

We will all adapt I am sure and welcome electric motors into our lives. The sooner the better probably.

Clewiston Inn

I was looking through some pictures in my Google cloud account, as you do sometimes, thinking about the past when I came across some pictures of a 2013 visit we made to Clewiston. It was a road trip and we stopped at the Inn for lunch. I used to make it a point to stop here when I was traveling across Florida in the 90s when I had friends on the opposite coast.

It was January 2013 according to the photo captions so Christmas was brightening up the interior of the hotel which was built in 1938 and had been owned by Big Sugar, because Clewiston is a town built on the sugar harvest.

It was very atmospheric but lunch was just mediocre. My wife was not sure we would stop again and I was rather bummed out because I like these kinds of places -who doesn't?

There was an air of microwaved lack of care about our meal. We gt back on the road after we walked Cheyenne around the hotel. Not a fascinating neighborhood.

I got to wondering about the place especially after our last drive across the state when we didn't stop and I saw no sign of restaurant life at the Inn.Upon investigation I discovered the restaurant and bar had closed a year after our last visit and now the hotel seems to be ready for some attention. Reviews on the hotel website seemed rather despairing. This one was from April of this year:

Breakfast was abominable. We were also disappointed that the hotel's once famous restaurant was closed. The tables were now covered with linens. We are have traveled all over the US, Canada and 18 other countries for more than 40 years. This breakfast was so bad, plain white bread, packaged muffins, that all we took was a container of yogurt and a banana. You would be better advised to just have a high class coffee and tea bar instead and not even advertise a breakfast. We went across the street to the cafe. The owners there were glad to get our business and said this was routine. But they were also sad, as were other locals we talked to, that this once grand hotel--a Florida icon and a cherished local landmark--has been allowed to disintegrate under its current ownership. Locals told us it used to be a source of pride for the community and is now an emblem of heartbreak instead. You are missing an opportunity to showcase a beautiful location (next to that wonderful city park, etc.) and historic building. We chose this hotel because we were curious about the history of the building (we love staying at old lodges, etc.) But peeking around the darkened public rooms and seeing unused furniture stacked up was so sad.

On the other hand there were those who loved it, perhaps with less picky detail:

Our room was very comfortable and nice. We appreciated the "classic" style of the room design. Loved the views of the surrounding parks and trees out of our windows.

I have no idea what to think except I am sorry the restaurant and bar are closed. Clewiston has a few chain eateries and also some Mexican places as farm labor is a prominent part of the population these days.

If one were to live by platitudes one might argue that times change and places do too and this decline is not surprising given the remote location and agricultural nature of the town which has also had difficulty with a receding lake coast line during the drought years making bass fishing difficult. Yet I would like to think there is still room for and an appreciation of the past past as an expression of the present. Granted people winter in trailer parks and fast food is our standard but I wish this old place could come back.

I feel lucky to have the memories that I have of it, not tennis or resort stays, just atmospheric meals on linen table cloths with proper service as an alternative to road food served in Styrofoam across the counter as per usual. 

Cloud Appreciation

I am told there is a cloud appreciation society but in my haphazard way I just like looking at them.

 Above in color, below in black and white and shades of gray.

 Rusty slipped past me as I stared skywards.

Flame Trees

Its that time of year when the orange blossoms are out in force or supposed to be, except it's been rather dry this Spring. It's Latin name is Delonix Regia, which is often translated into English as "royal" poinciana. 

 The tress are either magnificent or gaudy depending on your point of view.

 And they drop carpets of orange on cars, sidewalks and anything that happens to be underneath.

No, this isn't a poinciana fence. It's just my little joke, the orange construction fence in the same shade. 

 The orange flowers creep into every picture if you aren't careful, it's just the way it is this time of year.

To Read MORE.

Rusty In The Rain

I left home without my dedicated camera and after a short shift at work I took Rusty for a walk, he armed with his nose, me with my iPhone. And I ended up liking the pictures I took in the half light as the sun supposedly came up masked by heavy cloud cover.

The streets were empty on a weekday morning around six. The rain kept everyone indoors which was funny as the light drizzle faded rapidly away leaving us barely wet and the streets gleaming with water.

Key West is at its best in some ways between 4 and 7 in the morning when alcohol can't be served, bars are closed and drunks are abed.

Life stops and considering how heavy the rain has been lately it was an excellent way to shut the chickens up for a few hours. Usually they are making enormous noise as it gets to be daylight. I am not fond of roosters crowing though there are fans of the obnoxious birds.

The streets of Key West look suitably mysterious in the dark, street lights are scattered about but heavy tree growth can cast wide shadows. I find the empty streets serene though I know some people are very much afraid of walking alone but you would have to be unlucky to get beaten up in Key West if you are out walking your dog while sober and alert and sensible. It has happened but this is a town where most violence occurs between people who know each other or think they know each other and have usually been drinking.

 I enjoy the views instead, the particular architecture and the flowers and the light and darkness.

I took these pictures walking the area between Bayview Park and White Street, wandering Eliza, Duncan and Catherine Streets at random following my dog who was following his nose.

Rusty was ready for a street walk in the city and he was very busy. For me the colors and shapes and lights kept me busy. the absence of traffic of any kind meant we circled each other untangled  by a leash. That could only last so long until people started to wake up and peel out for work.

 We made the most of it. The new city hall was looking good:

Hurricane season has started but peak season usually comes in September. They monitor all that stuff from here at the weather station across from city hall and issue warnings and stuff. Sort of reassuring.

I remember when they built this place a few years ago people complained endlessly about the building including the fact the walls were painted red. It turns out that was undercoat and all the complaints ended up getting buried under rather more tasteful wooden panels. 

Usually we see boring No Trespassing signs or  private driveway warnings and I like this one by contrast.  Walk up and get your signature verified...

 Busy dog heading back toward the car.

We got back to the car in time, then the clouds let  loose again. What a great feeling, a decent walk through silent streets and home to bed. What a strange bunch of heavy windy rainy weather we've had.