Gusts To 35

The National Weather Service on White Street wasn't messing around. They spoke of the coldest air mass this season, strong winds and wind chills possibly into the 30s. All of which may sound like small beer to people wading through snowdrifts to their cars but as we shall see my winter "gear" is a windproof jacket and a pair of socks. I find it hard to explain but temperatures this low are reserved for people from Up North with lily white legs (they are the ones in shorts) and minimal sun exposure; for everyone else it's simply very cold.

For normal people around here a projected wind chill of 36 calls for strong Cuban coffee at least and anyone lucky enough to have heat will be firing up the coils while enjoying the smell of singed cat hair given off by long disused heating elements. Anyone needing to air out those parts long since given up to heat and humidity has only to splay themselves out in one of many locations exposed to the northwest winds and all memories of humidity will be blown away. See below.

Life goes on and tourists expecting a blistering summer in January will be disappointed by these conditions. Food will continue to be served even in places like Conch Republic Seafood, a restaurant that usually offers the full seafront experience by not having gauche window panes between diners and the salt water.

Schooner Wharf Bar, also a north facing waterfront eatery solves the problem similarly with plastic windows. Not exactly tropical but they do the job for the souls brave enough to abandon their frigid rooms.

All fishing I am told goes down the commode in this weather. The weather service was screaming about Small Craft Advisories last I looked in an effort to stop even  the most determined from setting forth to do battle in inadequate vessels.

The operators of the most seaworthy craft were taking yesterday to do maintenance. Nevertheless we can rely on some few stalwarts to try to face. high seas and strong winds in center consoles and heaven forbid pontoon boats. They've done it before but one hopes wisdom will keep visiting pirates safely ashore in winds this strong.

It was a funny day yesterday which I only worked a half shift so I had a chance to wander before going to the gym. After that interlude my efforts to leave Key West were thwarted for about 45 minutes by a. serious accident involving a scooter apparently on North Roosevelt. After I got over my PTSD (and I trust without much hope a helmet was worn) I found myself in an endless slow moving line with the smart people pushing and cutting in. The wreck pushed everyone onto Flagler Avenue which I had previously chosen as my escape route from the city merely to avoid the usual crush of crazies on the Boulevard. It turns out everyone else was clogging up my "private road." Very funny. At least this time it wasn't me on the helicopter so I was able to take the inconvenience with equanimity.

Then two trucks had a meeting on Ramrod Key and closed Highway One but that only prevented me from taking Rusty to his favorite afternoon walk. What it did to the lives of those involved I don't know but I have an idea.  So by the time I did arrive home an hour late he was just glad to see me. Equipped as he is with a  thick fur coat he was ready for a walk whether I was or not...

Key West was looking lovely under bright blue skies with puffy white clouds pushed fast across the sky.

Walking the docks made me glad my home is well anchored and secure. Which is not say the wind didn't howl around the building all night and getting up before dawn was a trial today. A fifty degree morning with 30 mile an hour winds is crippling when you are used to finding 70 degrees a bit brisk. I jammed the zipper on my jacket with cold fingers and Rusty mocked my  fumbling by frolicking and dancing in the cold. 

All this wild weather is a reminder as if I needed it that I need to get used to temperatures other than tropical if retirement is to be taken anywhere north of Lake Okeechobee...Last weekend at the RV show I looked around Tampa and it appeared wintry to me, bare trees, leaves on the ground and gray skies even if there was no frost. I saw it snow once in Tampa when I lived there around 1990. Stuff you don't see down here though rumor has it flakes were seen in Key West in the 1970s. Walking Rusty at 4 am was COLD even if frost and snow free.

So you want the romance of living at anchor? Get used to plunging and rolling on a few cold nights. A wet ride to shore and an even wetter ride home at night is on the cards this week.  Not I would say, the time to be using a dinghy.

I have to note the Ft Myers ferry was moving through the harbor rather gingerly, though that may have been my cold infused imagination. I am guessing the ride down was wet and fast but the ride home in the evening against the wind would be something rather rougher heading into strong north winds.

It was windy but not unpleasant under the sun on the fishing pier and boardwalk in front of the Galleon resort.

I tried to smile for a selfie in my windproof winter jacket. Its also pretty good against rain which happily I didn't need in this winter cold front.

I love that it rains mostly, usually, in the summer around here. In a normal winter a quick shower is followed by sunshine after the clouds blow over. Not quite so cold would be nice.

Looks lovely: feels cold. Sorry - it just does even if you are used to sub zero days. Enjoy your snow. I hate snow. And I'm not crazy about cold fronts if that wasn't obvious. Rusty loves them. 

Eaton Street

I walked and I took some pictures as I followed Rusty and his nose.

This house at 616 Eaton caused a lot of bother when some people bought  the old wreck that it had become and then announced plans to not only restore the house but also to build a massive modern family compound in the back completely outside the historic construction guidelines mandated by the city. In the end the incomers gave up and now there is only work to restore the original house in the historic character as required. The defeat of the proposals by popular vote quite surprised me. Never thought they would pull it off.

 The Methodist Church at the corner of Simonton Street is a never ending source of pictures:

 I love the Polynesian swoop of the roof of the hall:

 On guard!

White Street Pier

The White Street Pier used to be described to the gullible as the stump of the old bridge to Havana that was torn down after the revolution. It is possible to get a vehicle on it but that is an activity reserved for emergency vehicles as a general rule. Bicycles pedestrians and dogs are welcome.

 Higgs beach generally is a good spot to contemplate the meaning of life.

 Th waters south of Key West offer refuge for shrimpers in strong north winds:

 While the pier offers refuge for people ready to sit and contemplate the view:

 Views like this:

The seaplane flying to the Dry Tortugas:

 The view due east toward Smathers Beach:

 Lines and shadows:

 

And the abominable jet skis which happily are not allowed too close.

 A short walk through the Aids Memorial to White Street:

 Higgs Beach, the eastern section:

West Summerland Key

I had a meditative walk near the Old Bahia Honda Bridge last week. It was the evening of my day off which is a circumstance that pushes me to take Rusty to this area in hopes of a spectacular sunset to end the day.

I come here a lot so I was looking for different views and because I was thinking too much as I usually do, I was moved to consider the damage caused by Hurricane Irma in September 2017.

Furthermore I wanted to find beauty in desolation. I still haven't got over the wholesale destruction of green trees and shrubbery that used to provide shade and the atmosphere of a park miles from anywhere.  

The wreckage Irma caused to human structures is being repaired, and in many cases has been repaired. In my neighborhood houses are restored, landscaping is flourishing and streets are long since clear of trash. Indeed the reconstitution of the new bridge's buttress is coming along nicely:

But Nature's wreckage lays around, a stark reminder of what happened:

Rusty ran alongside me ahead and around and that sort of activity catches the occasional burr. Usually he gets them out before I can get there:

 Nature's Art:

Sunset fishing, protected by the reef from the east wind, nowhere to be, nowhere to go if he doesn't want to.

 It's green at ground level now and a few trees are coming back:

Good night Mrs Calabash, wherever you are.

Cycling

A few pictures from around Key West of people pedaling. 

This was at the same time of day as above just taken from a  different angle with more emphasis on achieving darker lighting.

I have always enjoyed the utility of Key West bicycles, a town that is perfectly placed to encourage cycling with flat streets and no huge distances. Consequently there's always someone hauling something somewhere.

Others of course ride for pleasure and tour the landmarks like the White Street Pier.

 Or use their bikes to get them where they want  to relax and enjoy the views:

Part of the color, part of the scene of Key West:

An Afternoon In Paradise

I took a  close up of the fisherman's statue wondering what he was looking at. The weather has been fabulous lately, if you ignore the occasional showers, and an afternoon by the water was indicated.

Christmas is long since over but the decorations are still being taken down. I found these boxes for city storage carefully labelled. 

Not specifically Christmas but still on the roof of the Schooner Wharf Bar:

 Down below work continued, resupply:

While the visitors were out having fun. That's the issue, living in Paradise is one thing  but  playing in Paradise is entirely another.

 Noted performer Inga was out getting an airing. Inga moved to Key West actually from Sweden according to her BIO.

Sailors  sometimes raise their sails at the dock to dry them out and it's been windy lately so I'm guessing this foresail got sprayed on a  few sunset  cruises. I determined to get a picture... 

 ...or two:

Looking down Greene Street on a  sunny afternoon. I never tire of seeing the cruise ships over shadowing downtown. It amazes me how we put up with these behemoths day after day flooding the end of Duval Street. Money talks. 

 Meanwhile the resupply at Schooner Wharf continues:

Another working day in Paradise.