The recent cold front was cool enough to make the waterfront at Key West Bight worth walking on my lunch break in the middle of the night. I stopped by the turtle museum and photographed the turtle outline...reminiscent of a chalk body silhouette at a murder scene!
It was only midnight but there was no one around, the bars closed, the water reflecting the night spotlights only.
I liked this trawler, a Krogen, over dressed with lights to be actually used except as a home.
I like wandering around here and I recommend it as an occasional alternative to all the noise and hustle downtown.
Rest Beach is one of my preferred spots for a quick break because it's right there, it's got parking next to Atlantic Boulevard, it has beachfront seating in the form of rather insalubrious tiki huts and from the comfort of the hard wooden benches one can sit and ponder the meaning of life:
The nice thing is that there is also stuff to see out on the water, in winter sailboats are traveling Hawk Channel to and from Marathon, cyclists and walkers are enjoying the White Street Pier and the sun sparkles on the water giving it a festive tinsel-like sheen.
I feel the need to remind people who don't know, that magnificent beaches are not part of what makes the Keys attractive. Unlike mainland Florida which is a gigantic sandpit that produces incredible arcs of beach, the Keys are more like the Bahamas, lumps of hard limestone rock that don't produce much in the way of sandy beaches. But what there is people do try to enjoy:
My wife and I very much enjoy spending our summer afternoons,when she gets home from work and before I leave for my night job, going swimming. Because I live 25 miles out of town I get to keep our little 14 foot skiff on the canal behind our house and its a matter of no effort at all to get out into Newfound Harbor, a wide expanse of protected water, drop the anchor and go for a refreshing swim. However I have to admit I am not fond of swimming in waters cooler than 80 degrees (27C), so the boat comes out of the water in late October usually and goes back in around mid April. Visitors to the islands are less fussy and they go swimming even in February, and some of them manage to get some sunburn on their delicate northern epidermis:
Not everyone is so informal. I spotted one gent, nattily dressed, out for an afternoon constitutional, quietly resting at the tiki hut nearest the condos by the beach:
That's the great pleasure of the beach, and Key West in general, the whole philosophy of come as you are. I am not really a great fan of beach vacations, all that suntan oiled indolence, the uncomfortable posture for reading, the sand in the crevices, the immobility. However the beach is the place where you can wear a cardigan, or a diaper; the beach is the great leveller:
And one has to reflect that I took these pictures on an average afternoon in February, amidst reports of snow ice rain and cold almost everywhere north of here. I can sense winter is crawling towards a gradual close, but in conditions like these winter is no real hardship, even if it is too cold for a swim.
I like having the opportunity to ride to work the "long way" round the island, taking South Roosevelt, stopping at Rest Beach on Atlantic Boulevard, and perhaps getting a cafe con leche at Sandys on White Street before reporting for work at the Police Station. It's good to take the time to enjoy the sun, smell the sea air and watch the water for a while.
Whoa! Wise man? Al Quaeda? Shepherd? Oil Man? No, just another parade participant...
On the subject of disguises go figure why this kid is sitting at her outdoor patio set dressed in a pointy hat...Oh yes, Santa Claus the Nordic heathen depiction of winter has been transmogrified into the Christian depiction of Saint Nicholas, bearer of gifts (Thanks to Macy's Department Store for that commercialization of the annual Yule Log burning multicultural winter gift buying frenzy).
I'm not very good at small talk so here are a few images I snapped from the side of the road in poor light without the benefit of my tripod, pictures that have value to me because they show ordinary people in Key West, fully clothed, raising families and celebrating living in a neighborly small town. Jimmy Stewart failed to make an appearance, which was probably just as well as he's been dead a while, but the spirit of that corn pone movie is alive and well in Key West.
You can't have a parade without motorcycles in my opinion. In that, I am apparently not alone:
Representing snow is part of the Christmas shtick and very happy I am that snow is represented by bits of white material of various kinds:
The other essential component of a proper parade is a fire engine or two. And check out the kid, children are important if you are going to have a proper community holiday parade:
A young Methodist. I am not a big fan of the my-god-is-better-than-your-god school of nonsense but we should doff our elf caps a moment to the memory of John Wesley who contributed not a little to the notion of social justice as a Christian cause.
Nice car, mister, indeed. This lot were smiling as well as tossing our sugar to appreciative youngsters.
Some parents in Key West like to complain that there is nothing for their kids to do in town, other parents get off their duff and take their kids to the playing fields for some healthful sporting activities. The city built a hockey rink (Southernmost Hockey League- ice free) and it is enormously popular. Witness:
I am not very child oriented but I do like dogs. I saw this critter riding in a heavily decorated bicycle wagon and my heart went pitter patter. It got worse.
The SPCA parades with a bunch of dogs with little "Adopt Me" jackets and guess what? An actual yellow Labrador bitch marched down the street on our side of the road. Lots of people say they have labs or "lab mixes" but this was an actual female yellow lab and I knew I had to have her. My wife is resisting so there is some friction in the home. My wife says the economy is bad, vet bills can be horrendous, we are planning a three week vacation in Italy next year, etc etc... I say the economy sucks so lots of people are abandoning their dogs. Big dogs are hard to find homes for and that lab needs a home. We are at an impasse and I don't think it's going to go well for my side of the debate. My wife usually wins. Failing a Labrador, here's a picture of an angel (angle). I only realized afterward her legs are unsuitably illuminated but this is a concession to the pervs in the audience. You know who you are:
The city commission just approved a concession for a second trolley tour company in the city and residents are in a ferment about how many tours can the city sustain. That will be a thought for another day. This is a Conch Train in holiday trim:
Spare them a thought the next time you are debating how much to tip. Key West is one of the most expensive cities in Florida and sixty percent of the city's economy is sustained by visitors they say. Merry Christmas indeed; we can only hope.