The Bocce courts at the corner of White and Atlantic were in the newspaper recently.
Apparently the organized players are petitioning the city commission to spend some money on repairing the playing area. I stopped by to check it out but it didn't seem that dilapidated to my feeble eyes. Nevertheless the city seems ready to spend $25,000 to buy materials to redo the courts.
The plan would be for the city to provide the materials for the refurbishment and members of the 400 players would lend their skill and muscle to get the job done.
It struck me as quite surprising that the city would consider this a high enough priority to spend money on, especially as the place seems quite serviceable still. The article mentioned that supporters thought it was fair enough for the city to spend some money on a project for locals not just tourists.
By my calculation if there were 400 players in the organized leagues they would have to spend about $65 each to pool sufficient money for repairs, but in Key West we seem to be living in a little cocoon of our own. I notice the Oakland California Police Department is now refusing to respond to certain crimes including vandalism and identity theft owing to a shortage of officers. Cities in New jersey, another near bankrupt state are losing personnel, but here in Key West employees got a raise this year and the bocce courts will get repaired. This really is a great place to live. 
It's not surprising the bocce courts are a popular spot. The view is lovely, across Rest Beach to the ocean. 
The courts are illuminated so tournaments typically are played at night and when they aren't in use for that anyone with a set of balls can show up to play.
These courts are a lot nicer than the village square in Italy where I learned to play bocce. In the US people tend to call the game bocce ball which is like calling baseball- baseball ball. Bocce in Key West is serious stuff, and Cowboy Bill's team are the current champions as attested by the board:
My bocce equipment is not tournament grade as far as I know, in fact after some discussion I think they are rather smaller than Italian sized bocce but I am not going to the dark side by calling myself a boule player. The French obviously are a pale shadow of the real thing in the world of bocce.
My wife and I have been known to carry our bocce in the trunk of the car and we are not above stopping for a game by the side of the road if traffic gets heavy on trips to the mainland.
As pretty as it is bocce is not, in my opinion, the world's most exciting spectator sport. 
It is however exciting news that the city is ready willing and able to fund this diversion even in the middle of the worst Depression since the big one 90 years ago.
Apparently the organized players are petitioning the city commission to spend some money on repairing the playing area. I stopped by to check it out but it didn't seem that dilapidated to my feeble eyes. Nevertheless the city seems ready to spend $25,000 to buy materials to redo the courts.The plan would be for the city to provide the materials for the refurbishment and members of the 400 players would lend their skill and muscle to get the job done.It struck me as quite surprising that the city would consider this a high enough priority to spend money on, especially as the place seems quite serviceable still. The article mentioned that supporters thought it was fair enough for the city to spend some money on a project for locals not just tourists.By my calculation if there were 400 players in the organized leagues they would have to spend about $65 each to pool sufficient money for repairs, but in Key West we seem to be living in a little cocoon of our own. I notice the Oakland California Police Department is now refusing to respond to certain crimes including vandalism and identity theft owing to a shortage of officers. Cities in New jersey, another near bankrupt state are losing personnel, but here in Key West employees got a raise this year and the bocce courts will get repaired. This really is a great place to live. 
It's not surprising the bocce courts are a popular spot. The view is lovely, across Rest Beach to the ocean. The courts are illuminated so tournaments typically are played at night and when they aren't in use for that anyone with a set of balls can show up to play.
These courts are a lot nicer than the village square in Italy where I learned to play bocce. In the US people tend to call the game bocce ball which is like calling baseball- baseball ball. Bocce in Key West is serious stuff, and Cowboy Bill's team are the current champions as attested by the board:My bocce equipment is not tournament grade as far as I know, in fact after some discussion I think they are rather smaller than Italian sized bocce but I am not going to the dark side by calling myself a boule player. The French obviously are a pale shadow of the real thing in the world of bocce.
My wife and I have been known to carry our bocce in the trunk of the car and we are not above stopping for a game by the side of the road if traffic gets heavy on trips to the mainland.As pretty as it is bocce is not, in my opinion, the world's most exciting spectator sport. 
In a north wind the Gulf side of the Highway was white with wave action, though the waters being as shallow as they are the waves aren't that big. I have no idea what the cement lumps are in the water. they look like big ship moorings but whay there I couldn't say.
The bike trail is nicely landscaped. Looking east toward Islamorada.
Had it been twenty degrees warmer it would have been a glorious day. That is to say had it been less cold I would have enjoyed it more. It was still a glorious day to look at.
How, you ask did I get that last picture..? Not by levitating. The engineers have added nifty little fishing platforms to the old bridges, places that stick out to enable people to drop lines in the water more easily. I was alone on the bridge so i could wander at will.
As long as Cheyenne couldn't fall off I was free to enjoy looking around. So I did.
Then I came across these weird things and I speculated they may have been some fishing apparatus. I should be a detective I'm that smart. In fact I met an angler huddling next to his van adjusting his gear and he took the time to explain to me that the nets are used for shrimping at night. Someone dropped something good and I could barely drag Cheyenne away from the spot.
It used to be that there was only one city in Monroe County- Key West. Then Key Colony Beach, a city of 800 incorporated in 1957, Layton of similar size was founded in 1963, then nothing much happened for a while. In the 1990s there was a move across the Keys to incorporate to improve services and Islamorada incorporated in 1997 and Marathon followed in 1999.
Here we see the bike path image- a cyclist wearing a helmet. All part of the improved services brought to us by Monroe County. This in a county where only snowbirds wear bicycle helmets, for some reason.
At the end of the path Cheyenne and I took time to grope around under the seagrapes on top of the sewall. I limited myself to taking a few more pictures...
...while Cheyenne thrashed around in the undergrowth finding I don't care to know what. 
More rushing waters.
I have been busy flitting around with my camera and I figured it was time to do another street walk.
This block of William, toward United is the back of the Mastic Trailer Park which I also photographed recently for some pictures on United Street.
I can't imagine how hot it gets in these trailers in summer. Not least because we have been living lately through a particularly chill cold front so summer seems eons away. 
The sun manages to give a summery look to bright colors and palms even if it is quite cool.
I am a sucker for mature trees, they make any house look good to me. I liked this one anyway with the tin roof and big old fashioned storm shutters.
When people ask I tell them I like to record the town as it changes. There have been so many changes since I first came here in 1981 and every time I came back, by motorcycle or by boat, more things have gone unrecorded even as they changed.
This block of William and Catherine is easily identified by the huge Suburban Propane building. The kids on the skateboards buzzed by illustrating how useful those wheels are. I grew up just after the skateboard craze took hold.
More bright colors in the afternoon sun.
It was windy and the pelicans seemed to enjoy being aloft. They would squat down on the water and let the current carry them back. Then, when they had gone as far as they cared to they flapped up into the air and rode the currents back up wind. It looked like fine.
I can't remember why but I did once hold a pelican and i was shocked by how light the big beefy bird was. It's like holding a feathery helium balloon.
I like dogs apropos of nothing in particular but some people bond with birds. I remember a colleague years ago who took the day off she was so distraught her pet bird had died after a long life. On the surface we were quite surprised- a bird? But really a pet is a pet.
This is one of those situations where a pocket camera is not much good and where a single lens reflex would be handy. The delay in the shutter opening usually doesn't bother me as most of my pictures are fairly static. But with birds flying around I had tot ake dozens to get a handful of half way passable pictures.
I had lots of time to take pictures and mull over which ones to keep and which to delete. Cheyenne was in no hurry.r=0>The fence got inthe way on this one and at first I was going to discard it. Then I thought...why?
This pelican flopped into the water and I saw a brief but epic struggle as the bird overcame lunch and swallowed. I wondered what it must feel like to be eaten alive.
One has to wonder if it really is a contemplative life for these birds. 
Those three were hanging together soaring and dipping back and forth in formation. This next one was doing the solitary thing overhead.
This is their range. 