Papio Kinetic Sculpture Parade

Had you been wandering down Greene Street yesterday before lunch you might have seen, as did I, a large bright green iguana gliding down the street.

 So large was the lizard a woman was holding its tail off the ground as it went down the street.

Further down the street Star Wars machinery appeared pedaling firmly as they went. Yesterday was indeed the Fourth of May and the force may well have been with them.

Some passerby identified this female in costume but I forget what they called her so possibly she was part of the parade. Or not.  It was one of those days yesterday, you never knew what you were going to see. Earlier in the morning walking Rusty in the leafy streets of the Casa Marina district our path was crossed by a  bare chested man on a bicycle wearing a scarlet tutu. I have no idea what that was about either. Just one of those days.

Meanwhile the force was not entirely with the starships as the light on Duval Street went red against them and held them up for a bit in traffic.

 And looking the other way a few more pedal powered machines appeared in front of Sloppy Joe's.

 Followed by what appeared to be large insects.

 Just another day on the road to the Custom House on Front Street.

 Which was where they were all supposed to assemble:

In  2009 I went by the East Martello Museum on South Roosevelt and had my first encounter with the art of Stanley Papio. His heavy metal sculptures were not well received in his neighborhood. His art was other people's junk.

Nowadays in the Keys he is celebrated as an icon of local art. Jolly good.

This sort of mobile mobile is  in honor of the dynamic junkman! Perfectly suited.

 I wandered around with my wife checking out the exhibits.

 The middle school behind the police station:

 Not sure what this was all about but lots of string was involved:

Two cruise ships were tied up at the docks. I don't know what their passengers would have made of all this:

 No vehicles except..possibly...

The permanent exhibit of Johnson sculptures was also getting some action from the kids in the background who were enjoying the mariachis.

 The peanut gallery! Looked like fun but we had an exercise class to attend:

 The MARC House exhibit:

 And the British Racing Car  club had a giant pedal powered car on display. It looked excellent:

 Don't ask I never saw what was inside the box:

 We left before the parade started:

 And still they were arriving:

A good morning's work. 

Spring Has Sprung

I found myself photographing flowers Rusty and I walked around town. Why? Why not ? I act on a  whim sometimes.

 Rusty took the wrong way round a potted plant but it was all good natured. 

 Red seagrape leaf on red car:

  No idea what any of these plants are called.

 A plastic flamingo isn't strictly speaking a plant but I figured it could fit in here well enough.

Have a  properly spring-like weekend!

Highway Milestone

I was riding home actually looking for a scooter tag for the Adventure Rider motorcycle forum and I case up with a roadside memorial which was also an encouragement to stop my headlong flight.

I went for a slow speed walk on my not completely stable legs and yet managed to scramble down to the water through the bushes.

I looked back and for once had a  skyline so I took advantage.

The next morning I took Rusty into the backwoods for a walk. To my astonishment  I measured a 1.3 mile walk along the empty road. 

I walked to a sign post then walked back to the car and drive the same distance measuring it on the mileometer.

I  walked to a sign post and then back to the car. Then I drove the distance and was surprised to see how far I'd gone.

I wrapped up physical therapy last week when I could balance on each leg and measured pretty much normal strength in my limbs and claimed the ability to walk a le with some difficulty so I wanted to double check my optimism.

In the cool of the morning Rusty ran ahead and waited as I stumped along to catch up.

I think of him as my encouragement to walk.

Solares Hill Night

Me the dog and the iPhone at four in the morning. The curse of not being able to sleep on your night off when you work night shift and your dog wants to go for a walk. This is how you make lemonade out of that particular lemon.

Genuine Buddy 50cc scooters.

The always popular New York eatery in Key West. Lines are too long for me to be tempted:

The county health building on Simonton, named for the cigar family that built it, so it is called the Gato Building as a reminder of past glories:

Streets at random, no one around except me and Rusty and the occasional bar hopper tripping home.

Rusty at Simonton and Olivia Streets.

In the annals of cryptic messaging I thought this one below rated quite high.

Not an accidentally open door (Ithink) but a communal entrance left open and inviting possibly on purpose.

A very used phone booth now apparently sitting as ornament. I find myself irrationally tempted to miss payphones but I have the capacity to remember what a pain in the ass they were.  Calling cards made them easier to use but all that stuff fumbling with coins and finding ones not vandalized and so forth. Cell phones - another reason to love them.

Webb Chiles Does It Again!

Webb Chiles is  77 years old and has just completed his sixth time around the world under sail. He is fit and capable and has proved an extraordinary point that I hope I can get across in these few words. He  sailed from South Carolina to Panama, crossed the isthmus with his boat on a  truck and then sailed from Balboa to San Diego in just about six weeks. He keeps a satellite tracking device on his boat which marks his progress across the face of the earth. 

Chiles is very well known in the world of sailing. He has sailed almost the entire way around the planet in an open boat about which trip he wrote two books. He was the first American to sail alone around Cape Horn and he did that in an unsuitable boat that wasn't really up to the task. He however was, manifestly so. On this his sixth circumnavigation he took a 24 foot ultra light racing sailboat and sailed it where no one ever imagined it could would or should be sailed. And he did it with style. Frankly I'm still reeling from the news of his arrival in San Diego on Monday. As reported by Latitude 38 the San Francisco sailing monthly:

Here's the thing: no one sails from Panama to California because it is as tough a  sail as anywhere. Those who do make their way north from the Canal tend to hug the coast and basically harbor hop using engines as much as sails. Chiles has a useful and very functional electric outboard, a Torqeedo, suitable for entering and leaving harbors but not for extended passages. He sails. His own first brief description of this passage hints at  how arduous the sail was: Self Portrait In The Present Sea, Journal. Each blue dot represents  six hours of sailing on the Yellow Brick satellite  sender. A hard sail indeed:

The thing about sailing is that long off shore passages are generally comfortable in one direction and in the right season. On the west coast of North America winds generally  blow from the north west and swells follow suit. Or it's a dead calm. Not good news for a man sailing north on a  small light boat like Gannet.

I photographed the Moore 24 in Marathon after Webb had sailed from California to New Zealand to Australia to South Africa to Florida...in a cabin the size of two large broom closets. He is a man of astonishing resilience and he loves being afloat, he lives to sail offshore and on his own with no way of calling for help should he get into a pickle. There aren't many like him, and I'm certainly not cut from that adventurer's cloth.

I am glad he made it back to San Diego safely but I had no doubt he would. Of much greater concern to me was his plan to thread the islands and reefs of the Bahamas around the east end of Cuba on his way to the Canal. The irony is that I suggested that route because getting south from the east coast of the US isn't easy - those pesky southeast winds and north flowing currents...Of course he did fine but then had to struggle to get across Panama where he ended up using a truck on the road and thus bypassing the Canal bureaucracy. Been there done that and this time he was on a boat small enough to be able to take the land route. Gannet comes through in its own particular style! And then off he went again on the  water! This is what the Yellow Brick looks like when you click on a  blue dot:

I've been reading Webb Chiles ever since I started sailing in the mid 1980s, spending long winter evenings on my own boat reading his stories in books and magazine articles. He has made his living from writing ever since. And he has plenty to write about. Now he says he is entering the third phase of a well planned and well executed life. Perhaps no more circumnavigating and that seems reasonable enough with so many already completed and smartly too. 

I shall miss reading the passage notes of extraordinary journeys by an out of the ordinary sailor. If you want to know what it's really like to cross oceans in a small boat I can do no better than to recommend his series of videos made at sea explaining exactly how it feels. No truer videos were made in my opinion:  YouTube Link. To read his books check this Amazon author's Page. I envy you if you have yet to read any of his adventures for the very first time.  And finally here is his page on the Cruising World magazine page to which he has contributed since forever. I think his wife will be glad to have him home for a while. I share her joy from the periphery. I have missed his emails while he has been away.