Houses And Boats

It's been a mixed bag the past few days. The weather has turned all summery with big puffy clouds and heat mixed in with sudden rain  tapering off quickly to windy dampness.  Hurricane season is two months away and the forecasters tell us it will be an average season with extra humidity from an overheated ocean. The implication is some region in the US is going to get creamed. I hope its not us.

I was talking to an acquaintance the other day and she told me of spending twelve days at home alone struggling to keep it together after Hurricane Irma. She broke down into tears at the memory. She's lucky as her home is intact. That are still many people between Key West and Islamorada who have not yet got their homes fixed. Insurance money has yet to arrive and skilled personnel to do the work aren't plentiful. Another category four storm will spell curtains for a lot of people barley hanging on.

Another acquaintance stopped me in the street to tell me of his great good fortune buying a house in Big Pine, epicenter of hurricane damage. He said it was cheap, whatever that means as it is damaged but it gives him a chance to own a foothold in paradise. I congratulated him as you do but his suggestion I might want to return to the burden of home ownership met with a hollow laugh from yours truly. Aside from horrendous fees and taxes to won a home there is the perennial hurricane threat which seems to be as real as anything and the return on investment gets to look a  bit scarce at my age.

He passed on a rumor that is making the rounds these days advising residents that new housing will no longer be built after 2020.  I have no idea where such a rumor might have originated but I cannot believe it to be true. Local government has struggled to preserve open space and build so called workforce housing and one thing we know is that if construction is banned anyone with a piece of build-able land will have all the grievances in the world to go to court and seek just compensation. I don't see Monroe County overcoming that obstacle no matter how delicious and provocative the rumor of a building moratorium.

A  former mayor buzzing around on his scooter in a town with no more idea of how to create workforce housing now than during his term in office. 

I turned away from the insoluble business of housing and looked to boats for solace for a while at Key West Bight. And I;m sorry but there are some plug ugly boats on the water.  I couldn't immediately tell which was the front or the back of this "cattle boat" designed to carry maximum passengers with no regards to beauty or tradition. In the end I realized this was the bow (the front) thanks to the presence of an anchor. And on the top deck the brodge where the crew steers the boat.

Walking the boardwalk in summer heat works for me and I plan to return this summer to enjoy the serenity of salt water whe it isn't getting turned into mist by extra powerful winds.

Sailboats restored order in my mind. Proper shapes, purposeful lines as they should be.

Southard Street

The cool breezes and bright sunshine have been hard to resist so, like Oscar Wilde points out, I did what temptation demands: I gave in and went out to enjoy the weather. There is much in the news lately about the cost of living in the Keys which reminds me when I visit other towns parking is not that big deal that it is here. Parking drives people mad.

People go ballistic in Key West over parking issues. They get mad when the spaces in front of their home are taken. People call parking violations, typically rental cars in residential spots even in the darkest hours of the night. The odd thing is parking spaces on streets don't belong to the houses next to them, anyone can park in them depending on specific restrictions. To use residential spots these days you need a sticker, free to people who live in the city. But the space itself is open to anyone qualified.  

The parking issue came o the forefront of my mind when Rusty and I walked past the Old Harris School, a city landmark in disrepair on Southard Street. To see the old school grounds being used for something as banal as parking seems a crime to me. But there is demand apparently. All sorts of interesting plans for the school have fallen through, so instead of an artists' colony or something public spirited we get a parking lot and a for sale price I believe in the region of 17 million dollars. 

Parking signs disfigure Key West all over the place. And no, you aren't supposed to lock bicycles to city signs either. 

The much photographed building at :Love Lane on Southard. I knew one of the occupants there who used to write blogs in rhyming prose not generally uncritical of the way things operate in paradise. I suppose the years are piling on, on The Old Man.  I hope he still enjoys Miller beer, cigarettes and classical music from Havana.

To see someone sitting in the gutter is to assume they are drunk. In this case apparently not, just pausing to scan an electronic screen. Rusty is getting quite good at sensing whether or not people want to fuss with him. When tey on't he leaves them alone. When I first got him two years ago he was very forward which I have read is a characteristic of adopted dogs. He is enjoying life a lot more than I think he ever has.

I don't think this street scene will have changed much in fifty years. Perhaps a hundred. More greenery now that there is plenty of fresh water in Key West but the general shape and form of the street is probably unchanged.

Southard was named for a Secretary of the Navy and is pronounced "Suth-ard" not "South hard" just in case you were wondering. Worth a wander.

President James Monroe selected Senator Samuel Southard to be Secretary of the Navy in September 1823, and he remained in office under President John Quincy Adams. During these years, he also served briefly as ad interim Secretary of the Treasury (1825) and Secretary of War (1828).

Sunrise And Shadows

Rusty went walkabout in the mangroves so I took the time to watch the sun rise. 

I had had a particularly hard night at work and it was pleasant to feel the cool morning air and watch the sun come up over the trees in  a place where there was no one else.

A Key deer popped out of the bushes and stood in the road for a a bit looking thoughtful. Slowly it meandered away and survived without meeting a  car. 

They have at last blocked off the trail closing the backwoods to people driving out camping and making a trail of trash. Rusty and I come and leave footprints and take photographs. 

In my pursuit of the answer to the question: why is black and white photography so fascinating I like to revert to full color to remind myself of the reality of a place. This is poisonwood: touch it and you get a poison oak-like rash. 

With a  lifting hook this huge block of cement could be moved to re-open the trail. I hope they don't. 

Rusty was muddy and wet and happy. I had my pictures. We went home.

Albury Mansion

I was delighted to see Bonnie Albury's old home being properly restored after the former school teacher died at a ripe old age. She was a cranky old woman when I first started taking 911 calls from her nearly 14 years ago. She was angered by people painting her home and demanded we send officers to remove the offending easels from the sidewalk in front of her home...If it weren't so complicated to be a rebel, Bonnie Albury was the kind of no nonsense old timer we would all like to become, a rebel who cared not one jot what others thought..

I miss her phone calls which started out as rants and ended up as conversations as often old people are lonely and call 911 to hear a voice as much as to register a complaint. I got the impression Ms Albury was delighted to chat on more than one occasion. Every time I waslk by her house at 730 Southard I tip my metaphorical hat to her.

When she died and the place was bought and restored the hope might have been for a people to live here and bring the place back to life. But this is 21st century Key West and the driving force is money not life.

The house has been meticulously restored they say and includes a big brash No Trespassing sign on the lawn, which in light of the fencing seems unnecessary and rather ugly. No matter the owners of the home aren't living here they are flipping it.

And  if you thought buying the Albury Mansion might be in your plans be ready for a hefty monthly nut.

"Impeccable style and grace..." Bloody hell, for sixteen mill I would hope  that's a given. 

Key West Night

I haven't taken night pictures in a  while. 

In case you were wondering Key West at night is still lovely and a pleasure to walk.

The characteristics of Key West architecture are highlighted by the shadows and darkness surrounding them:

All I could think was a multi-tasking chimney sweep with hammer and surfboard:

DJ's Clam Shack. New England seafood in Key West. Weird but popular.

Willie T's overflow

Motorcycle gangs on Duval Street:

And their pedal powered equivalents:

Rest Beach

They call it the nature preserve on the south shore of Key West. It's a rather grandiose title for a narrow strip of more or less sandy beach backed by mangroves.

There are two nature reserves off Atlantic Boulevard wedged between the condominiums that line the south shore between Higgs and Smathers beaches. 

The views across the Straits of Florida are what you might expect. When I was there last week the winds were honking and the sun was shining. Quite perfect.

He had a better time than I would have expected. He ran back and forth sniffed everything and as usual stayed away from the water's edge.

Rusty also made a friend. He doesn't get close to just anyone. Often he stays well clear if he gets a bad hit.

This guy was sifting through the shells on the beach looking for whatever he might find. He found a dog as it turned out.

Not everyone was alert. This guy ad an episode on the viewing platform then repaired to the sand and passed out. That's how we handle the hopeless insane street people across the fruited plain and on the beaches and parks of Key West.  

But the views are still quite pleasant taken from the right spot.

The boardwalk is how you know this is a Nature Preserve.