My favorite tree is the pine, and if I had a choice I would like umbrella pines around my house. I live at 24 degrees north latitude on a small island with not much soil so I enjoy palm trees instead.
These are not big pine trees but they will do. On a hot afternoon you can smell their resin and hear bees buzzing through the palmettos and thorn bushes. I look aloft and see pine needles and I feel at home.
I am impressed by redwoods among whom I lived for twenty years in Santa Cruz, California. This dead pine tree on Big Pine Key reminded me of the sequoias that fall over from time to time as their shallow roots lose their grip and the huge trees topple. Only that or lightning kills redwoods. 
This modest little pine tree died through human intervention, something like a chainsaw:
Here you have to crane your neck to see the stump right side up.
My dog is too handsome not to be photographed. Who were those people that gave her away? Idiots.
This little pine tree below got uprooted like a redwood but refused to die.
Pine needles and pine cones.
In the Keys, the wilderness is never far from civilization, worse luck. 
Pines galore.
Thanks to the Nature Conservancy for preserving wilderness for us all.
They have bigger pine trees in other places, like the Italian hills where I grew up. But here there is no frost, not ever. that counts.
These are not big pine trees but they will do. On a hot afternoon you can smell their resin and hear bees buzzing through the palmettos and thorn bushes. I look aloft and see pine needles and I feel at home.I am impressed by redwoods among whom I lived for twenty years in Santa Cruz, California. This dead pine tree on Big Pine Key reminded me of the sequoias that fall over from time to time as their shallow roots lose their grip and the huge trees topple. Only that or lightning kills redwoods. This modest little pine tree died through human intervention, something like a chainsaw:Here you have to crane your neck to see the stump right side up.
My dog is too handsome not to be photographed. Who were those people that gave her away? Idiots.
This little pine tree below got uprooted like a redwood but refused to die.Pine needles and pine cones.
In the Keys, the wilderness is never far from civilization, worse luck. 
Pines galore.
Thanks to the Nature Conservancy for preserving wilderness for us all.They have bigger pine trees in other places, like the Italian hills where I grew up. But here there is no frost, not ever. that counts.
This is modern suburbia, picket fence and all:
I rather liked the elaborate entryway on this home:
Boats and palm trees. One side of the street has a canal and the other side opens to a shallow inlet.
Henry pronounced this street name with no ear at all for the Spanish nuance ("kai-yay") but he pronounced it in what must be the Conch way, "calley" (rhymes with "alley") thus removing all romance from this place name.
Where, I wondered, does one buy a tennis racquet to replace the normal flag on a mailbox? And then I wondered why?
And then I realized that outdoor dust catchers are a big thing on Rockland Key. Everybody has them:
There is a water glimpse from the street looking across the inlet due east at Big Coppitt Key:
I have always wanted to own one these contraptions. I just can't think my wife would be amused by the joke were she to come home from a long day in the classroom to find one of these under the house. It would be fun zipping around on the rubber tracks. 
They don't seem to be big on lawns on Calle Uno which is a good idea as far as I'm concerned. I have better uses fro my water and better uses for my time than pushing a mower: 
Or the shady tropical chalet style. 
And there, beyond my kennel lies the Overseas Highway at approximately Mile Marker 10: 
The former street edges looked rather ragged like the one in the picture above, which is a side street where the new sidewalk ends. The sidewalks are still in the process of drying off at various intersections but Flagler now has curbs the whole way: 
The city also paved some of the parking lots lining Flagler, how much exactly depends on the elevation change after the repaving. Here we see someone with an over sized truck making good use of the new sidewalk:
These are the ramps to allow wheelchairs (and bicycles) easy access: 
And Discount Auto gets a whole new lot as they allowed the city to park construction vehicles on their lot during the months and months of work.
Flagler Avenue is one of three main arteries into and out of Key West. It is less utilitarian (and slower) than North Roosevelt and less pretty (and faster) than South Roosevelt (which has no traffic lights). It gives access to New Town as it runs right down the middle and it will land up at Casa Marina, Flagler's old palatial hotel, or the southern end of Duval Street. Lots of people depend on Flagler Avenue.
So instead of being glad that the stretch between First Street and White Street is now smooth and clearly marked we've heard from people who say it is not bicycle friendly. In Florida it is legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk yielding to pedestrians. Others say the cut outs are confusing and one is liable to hit them. The opposing voices say they are only a problem if driving drunk, a sentiment with which I tend to agree.
Others argue that some parking spaces have been lost as now there is only parking on the outbound (south) side of the street. True enough but fortunately there are lots of side streets. Another solution might have been to take the houses on one side of the street and continue Flagler as a four lane street though I would argue that might have been excessive, and expensive. But some people want everything. I think the finished result looks good. Here is Flagler graded into the Conch Train Roundhouse parking lot: 
Looking west toward White Street: 
I wondered what the sparrows saw from their perch, a clean street or a mess of curbs? 
This skateboarder had no trouble negotiating the sidewalk: 
