Whitehead Walk

It's too early to be sure but it seems like summer might be over. Which is not what you expect to hear when it comes to describing conditions in a  place advertised as having an endless summer. However to someone used to the true summer months the refreshing coolness to be felt at the bookends of the day might be a sign.

I am not, as a general rule opposed to tropical heat because if i were I wouldn't make the effort to live here. And as odd as that may sound I do know people who don't like the Key West weather, they crave Fall colors and cold in the winter and so forth. There really is no accounting for taste. 48 of the 50 states can accommodate such requests, to varying degrees but Florida ( and Hawaii) are not the best choices.

Aside from the slightly cooler temperatures, noticeable in the early morning and late in the evening, there is lots more traffic clogging up the highway. I have no idea why snowbirds feel the need to get on the road during rush hour but sure as eggs is eggs in winter traffic grinds to a halt on Stock Island when the worker bees are going to work and coming home from same. As for speed limits they are the merest suggestion for the next eight months, and I fully expect to travel at five or ten miles an hour below the limit with frequent unexpected stops while differs try to figure out where they need to turn.

So on the one hand the temperatures and humidity drop and on the other so does the speed over the ground. It's tough to reconcile the two but this year it got backing hot before anyone was ready and it stayed climate change sizzling far longer than seemed necessary. So now the roads are clogged with snow refugees its time for the weather to recognize reality.

Walking Rusty gets easier but he isn't too excited yet to be out in the middle of the day. He hides in the shade or indoors on the couch saving his strength for his evening walk.  And after dark the breeze picks up and we actually enjoy a family walk in the dark across the mangrove flats. This black dog I have seen wandering around the public housing apparently owned but by someone who doesn't seem to keep a close eye on him. He was scared mostly so life doesn't seem full of joy for him but he's not on a chain at least. I can't stand seeing dogs on chains.

I don't mind seeing them on trailers though and I caught this one by chance as he swerved off Duval Street.

I don't think Rusty would be very happy on a small trailer like that but this guy looked entirely content:

Rusty was not at all interested in the dog on the trailer. I think he was faking interest in 24 hour parking.

I try to dodge reality during the winter, seeking out quiet moments downtown, early in the morning usually when the crowds are still abed.

The good bit about winter in Key West is the live theater that picks up along with other cultural events as musicians and artists and actors also come south to avoid winter, just like everybody else and so we get a cultural boost. I'm looking forward to that as I drone drearily along the road home planning to lose another fifteen minutes out of my time with Rusty as I keep on trying to avoid distracted drivers. They got me once and I'm trying to avoid a repeat of that fun event.

White Street Night

I have been enjoying the black and white function of my camera lately.

I thought this one was good....I tried to pet Rusty but he walked away across White Street. ha ha.

I always enjoy complex instructions for the delivery of mail. The smaller the community the more convoluted.  Key West has to be a letter carrier's nightmare with all its alleys.

I take these pictures to remind myself how different Old Town is, how old and how unusual.

Rain reflection:

The former Navy base at Peary Court is now open to civilians who can pay more than $2200 a month for a duplex. The fence is there still but the gates are wide open.

Bamboo texture and...

...poor paint peel. 

The city in black and white:

The full moon effect comes from the camera which is capable of lighting up the night by multiple exposures in camera.

And the moon helps too when it comes out from behind the clouds.

I have been enjoying black and white photography for a change.  

Key West remains a bright colorful place.

Boat Traffic

Take a lovely sunny day, choose to fight traffic crawling through Old Town and pop out in Mallory Square facing the water after you've parked and girded your loins to face the heat and bright sunshine. 

Looking out over the water is what I do at Mallory Square. I'm not so interested in the public space as it's pretty much empty until sunset when the performers show up. It can be warm here too as the winds blow from the eats and you are sitting in the sun on the very western edge of the city. But the views are worth it, and can be very relaxing. 

You can look out and envy people living on their boats in perfect freedom on the sheet of lovely turquoise or aquamarine water. No property taxes, no neighbors closer then you want them, no urban noise. Lovely.

Well not exactly. Let's take a closer look remembering I have spent tie living on the water at anchor, underway, on moorings and in marinas. And I can tell you living "on the hook" presents problems that you may not have thought of. Like find your own water and carry it out to he boat or install a water maker to convert seawater to drinking water. Not cheap, but I loved mine.

Then you can find tons of traffic flowing through your peaceful anchorage and each big heavy boat throws up a wake that will rock your little floating world and the big boats don't care.

So make sure anything you care about is tied down. These large boats are the equivalent of 18 wheelers and they are busy working so they can't be expected to worry too much about the feelings of people who choose to be salty and live on a boat.

The other thing about living at anchor is that you have to wonder how much traveling you will do when you are busy keeping house on the water. Even when living in a marina this can be a problem as all the impediments of daily living can spill over making it hard to get the boat ready to travel. 

And as you may notice living in the marina puts you right back in the neighborhood with people living next to you as much like a trailer park as anything. If you are at anchor in the distant harbor you have to cross a wide windy body of water to park your dinghy here while you go ashore to shop or work or see friends.

But for free accommodation you do get lovely views.

And who knew you could find floating bars out here on the water?

One of my aggravations on the water has always been jet skis which move fast and make noise even though they don't throw up much of a wake.

And for whatever reason, perhaps boredom they always seem to be attracted to boats and anchor and they have a terrible habit of buzzing boats just for something to do, or something to look at.

Back on Mallory Square, landward side the visitors are starting to flow and get busy taking their own pictures and making friends with chickens...

 ...or seagulls...

 ...or even inquisitive pigeons.

So you could live on the water or live ashore directly...amid the chaos of daily life.

Stock Island 5th Street

I spent a thousand dollars to repair the car after 80,000 miles of use, fifty thousand of them under my lead foot. While we waited for the car to be returned to a  state of perfect running order Rusty and I went for a walk. I was concerned that the water pump or the stater motor or both were failing and a dog walk always calms the nerves, especially as I'd rather put the overtime into next year's van delivery.

Stock Island is hanging under a cloud of imminent redistribution of land. To walk and look is to see nothing changing but developers own most of the residential lots south of Highway One and the future of inexpensive falling down housing is in doubt. 

I walked Rusty past the Avenues, a dozen streets laid out east to west across the southwest side of the island, an area I have photographed previously, notably in 2016. These lots are individually owned and are thus unlikely to transformed very easily into profitable apartment complexes or affordable housing groups but the tumble down trailer parks are soon to disappear to be replaced by "affordable housing."

So for now Rusty and I were walking through an unchanging landscape until we got to my destination, a dead end street closed to vehicles where we could walk at ease. The signs say No Dumping in no uncertain terms, unless that is you have floating docks to dispose of!

Dead sea life , offering a seaside decorative motif:

And at the end of the road the less edifying spectacle of trash. This stuff costs a fortune to clear up and it never goes away. I have no idea why people imagine dumping will end in the Keys. There is a  strong, if irrational sense of unfairness about the cost of living here so if there is a way to get one over on the Man, and its totally free then so be it.

Of course dumping (known in England I discovered on my last trip there as "fly tipping") has a severe cost even if it's not immediately visible to the dumping parties.There used to be homeless squatters down here but they got moved along and the gate is the property owner's attempt to maintain the restored order. I have to say the squatters were a wild bunch and I did not feel like they were a happy bunch, rather they were edgy and gave of a barely contained rage vibe. Perhaps the fault lay in me but I am glad the encampments are gone as generally I find the residentially challenged harmless and not at all threatening around Key West. Drunk yes, and irrational certainly sometimes but not violent.

A cyclist was less impressed by the dismal surroundings than my dog so he passed us on the way in and out and such was my lethargy at this point that I forget to get a picture until it was far too late:

Not a place I would seek out again but useful in a  mechanical moment to keep Rusty entertained.

A view to the west through the mangroves across Cow Key Channel to South Roosevelt Boulevard at the Old Houseboat Row in Key West.

A successful stroll I think.

And so back to reality. The land where we are promised "affordable housing" to replace the wrecks in the trailer parks. The trouble is, affordable isn't defined in some fixed orbit that makes sense to the working classes. It is supposedly a multiplication of the legal definition of the statistics gathered to show how much the median income is and whatever that is becomes the defining baseline. Yes it is that complicated but more problematically the resulting numbers put affordability out of reach. So would rather a ratty trailer you can pay the rent on or a four bedroom stilt house that costs say $2800  a month?    The dichotomy is stark. 

And the car? The water pump had a defective pulley only that caused the squealing. The battery astonishingly was the cause of difficult starting and no surprise as it was fully nine years old, and was original equipment in the Fusion! I was quite impressed. And the original complaint, clunking ion the front end was solved with new brakes. It could have been worse and now I can slam on the brakes with confidence when a distracted winter resident cuts me off or tools down the road at half the speed limit because it is that time of year again.