Rest Beach

There was another of these many cold fronts in the forecast so I wanted to give Rusty a long day outdoors. We started at a city park but I wanted to take some pictures and Rusty graciously agree to tag along. 

Rest Beach is a good spot to watch the waters roiled up by strong southerly winds so that's where we went. Rusty found traces of interesting things in the grass and the bushes. I saw people doing things. We were happy.

It's been enough for me to be able to go back out with Rusty and walk with him after weeks in hospitals and finding myself barely able to walk. For other people defying death with nylon and string is  needed to get the blood flowing.

 Luckily my Lumix camera has a pretty big telephoto because the waters off Rest Beach are shallow a long way out and he was bouncing through the waves well off the beach:

I watched for a while, fascinated as Rusty ignored the water and rooted around in eau de passing dog and scent of rooster alongside the bike path. California offers deep rough waters and powerful afternoon breezes daily, but Key West generally isn't like that so experienced capable surfers like this man and his kite took full advantage of the impending gales:

The reef south of the Keys has been a fantastic barrier to beat down hurricane created waves as storms march up from Cuba so waves are generally not that impressive. If they were, then the White Street Pier would have to have been  built considerably higher off the water:

In this case strong winds from the west were expected so the shrimping fleet took off and headed to the apparent security of Stock Island. Normally they anchor south of Key West when strong north winds are forecast but that would have done them no good in this case. Indeed had they tried anchoring it would have been rough and if they broke loose that same protective reef would have been a danger to them.

 Not everyone gets freaked out by wave size...

 This shrimp boat has a white hull, as does she:

I thought the bloke in this picture looked a bit like Rusty testing the breeze.  Behind him you can see the brick wall of the West Martello Tower which now houses the Garden Club (free admission and delightful).

 I posted this one on my Instagram account :

 And this one too, @michaelconchscooter

 It was a warm...t shirt weather....

...sternly breezy...

 ...actively sunny day:

 A good day to be on the prowl with a camera in Key West.

Christmas

For Christmas Day I collected a whole bunch of related photos and put them here. Enjoy.

To the Blog Reader and gentleman who held the door open for me at the Tropic Cinema loo yesterday: thank you.  Mary Queen of Scots was a long tedious soap opera of a movie and my bladder was full.  The seconds you saved me are still appreciated, as well as your kind words. Merry Christmas and thank you. 

From Miami these two displays at the Doubletree Hotel:

The original concept, on display at Poorhouse Lane.

Festivus for the rest of us...

Tropical snowmen abound.

Not always successfully:

The cat on the bench is a statue:

 From the holiday parade courtesy of my wife:

 Bayview Park:

From the police department's door decorating contest:

Winter Dog Walk

This is the time of year my Instagram account is all gummed up with pictures of things  Christmas.  

They post pictures of snow and sleighs, wreaths and eggnog and all that stuff. 

Me? I'm out in the sunshine and temperatures lately under 80/27 degrees, fresh cool breezes, sharp colors and dark shadows. Lovely. 

I was playing with some filter settings on my "big camera" at the Hawk Missile Farm, a relic of the Cuban confrontation of the 1960s. Time, as you can see has taken its toll rendering metal sheet as thin as lace. 

And then there is the sepia setting as well, always worth a picture or two to pass the time.

The great thing about these pictures is that they were taken while Rusty my companion was off sniffing here and there just like we used to in the good old days before I had to go to the hospital for three months. 

When he came to see me in bed in rehab I promised him I would be up and about once again, before he knew it and I have kept my word. Even if the photo below shows how it is I get around these days:

"Young and reckless." That was me once. I'm still trying to maintain that status. 

You can see the wind effects on the salt ponds shown below which separate the public Little Hamaca Park where I was from the secure airport runway shown below:

I have been reading about how a drone operator in Sussex, England shut down London/Gatwick airport for a couple of days wrecking travel plans for more than a hundred thousand would-be passengers. People are idiots and at last report I heard they made an arrest which leads me to hope they throw away the keys for the moron that did that. 

Our connection to the outside world, for those not driving:

I saw a nice representation of Yuletide red and green in seagrape leaves on Instagram and my best efforts to reproduce that brilliant idea are less than...brilliant!

Rusty, a micro dot resting in the former paintball field at the end of Government Road:

I wish all those struggling with dark gray skies, snow rain or ice the best of luck but I prefer this absence of seasons, thank you.