Of Chickens and Parties

A place where the chickens and roosters roam as freely as flow of beer, wine, and margaritas. A place where the chickens make their way around tables of outdoor restaurants, with their chicks following closely behind, and the rooster herding its flock. A place where six-toed cats live in a gated community, and have human caretakers that cater to their every need. A place packed full of Harleys and decaying ships.

Hemingway bought a place down here in 1931 for $9000. His second wife removed all the ceiling fans and replaced them with chandeliers--a nice addition for those hot August days. She also had a pool installed for $20,000. In those times, the pool was filled with salt water, which went bad within a few days, and took several days to drain and refill. Aside from being impractical, this was during the depression. Nonetheless, its a beautiful two story house with a cellar. And, it was built in 1851 to be "hurricane proof", and so far has lived up to that. Electroshock therapy was believed to help with bipolar disorder. But the drain bamage it caused destroyed his creativity. He'd just stare at the blank page in his typewriter, frozen. This may have been why he took his life.

The Conch Republic Independence Celebration had planes fly over the docks, dropping roles of toilet paper as simulated canon fire. A scooner motored by as a well aged lady dropped her top and proudly displayed her breasts to the crowd on the pier. A drag race where drag queens were pushed down the street with a motorcycle police escort, sirens flashing. The Conch fritters are awesome grease delivery mechanisms--which was in line with the southern cooking we'd experienced till then.

We got to the southern-most point on the continental US. Now we need to get to the northern-most point. What these people don't know, is that the sidewalk extends south by a few feet, so the real southern-most point is a few feet back.

The Everglades

The Everglades occupy 1.5 million acres, covering most of the southern tip of Florida. Water from lake Okeechobee drains into the Everglades during the rainy season, effectively sustaining life. Humans need water. And with increased urbanization of southern Florida, much of the original Everglades has been converted into farmland and urban areas, and water is being diverted in its support. In an effort to save the Everglades, the national park was created in 1947, setting aside the land now know as the Everglades, at a fraction of the glades original size. The canals used for irrigation and the nutrient rich run-off from the farmland currently threaten the Everglades.

We spent two days in the Everglades. On the first day we visited Everglades City and took a boat tour around the Thousand Islands area. Some cool trivia. The water is a tea-like brown from the tannin of the Mangroves' leaves. Most of the water is less than five foot deep--so the Coast Guard maintains a canal for boats. There is at least one Osprey in that area. There are at least 10 dolphins in that area unless they swim really fast, in which case there could be as few as five. There are at least four brown Pelicans. And there are many tired, small white birds that like to sit on the guideposts marking the canal. After the boat tour, we went to Shark Valley. We felt mislead. There are NO sharks in Shark Valley. Nor did the park service even mention sharks. There were only alligators, hawks, and birds. And it was hot. Both places were stunningly beautiful.

On the second day, after a wonderful night in Florida City (don't go there if your not forced to) and some of the spiciest Habanero salsa we've ever had, we took the main road in the park down to the Flamingo Visitor Center. Solitude. A few campers. A few people fishing. And a german couple that had strong sun screen but were getting burned anyway. The beach was a gray clay. We got really close to a baby Osprey that was sitting in the branches of an almost dead, bone-gray tree. After exploring an almost deserted campground looking for the coastal trail, finding the coastal trail, walking along the coastal trail in increasing heat, seeing nothing but coastal prairie, which is beautiful, but becomes monotonous, we turned back.

From the Flamingo campsite, we started driving back towards the park entrance, stopping along the way. We walked through a beautiful Mangrove forest onto a big tannin-dyed pond--on a boardwalk. Almost hit a large soft-shelled turtle. Stopped and took a picture of the soft-shelled turtle that was sunning itself in the middle of the road for which the speed limit is 55 mile per hour. Watched a park ranger drive up and move the turtle to the side of the road. Stood across the pond from the nesting area for hundreds of Wood Storks and a few Roseate Spoonbills. Watched the Wood Storks fly across the pond, land in trees, clumsily pulling small branches from the trees for use as nesting material, and fly back across the pond. Walked through a small Mahogany island-forest that stood in the middle of a vast swampy prairie. And then finally, walked along a path and boardwalk from which we saw tens of alligators. We saw large 15 foot ones and small babies that were less than 12 inches. We got within on foot of a beautiful brown bird (see picture)--don't know its name.

And then form there, we drove down to Key West...

Great Sadness

From time to time, there are events that impact you in a profound way. They give you pause and cause you to reflect. For various reasons they sit at the forefront of your mind. And quite often they cause you to look at your life in a different way.

Yesterday there was such an event.

We feel for his family.

Punta Gorda

Sun-drenched. Blue skies. Palm trees. Parakeets. Owls. Dolphins. Calm. Slow.


The median age in Punta Gorda is 64 years--that means over half the population is older than 64. Just up the road in Venice, the median age is 69. What's curious, and somewhat of a mystery is that in both of these towns, only about 2 percent of the population is between 18 and 24 years of age. What happens to them?

In Punta Gorda things move in a consistent rhythm. Every morning, before it gets too hot, people take walks. Along the walks, you see the morning tennis players. And from time to time, someone on an older bike with thick black tires rolls by while listening to the radio with a single earphone.

The pharmacies are busy and slow. So unless you have an hour, avoid them. I had to pick up three things. I couldn't find what I was looking for, so I went to get some help. No one was around. So I went to the registers for assistance. The lady in front of me had two items to pay for, one item to return, and it took 10 minutes. First, she needed to understand the difference between the toothbrush she had picked out and the others that were hanging in the tooth-care aisle 30 feet from the register. Her choice was apparently fancier. Why? Well it had a tongue cleaner. How to use that? Well, you pull it along your tongue. Why do they put it on the toothbrush? Don't know. It continued. And, then she paid. But, she needed to understand how the taxes were calculated on the item she returned. Did she get back that part of the tax that was owed her? The computer takes care of that. How? Well, it recalculates the tax and calculates what you should be refunded. How? Here, I'll show you on the receipt. Show me. You see here. This is what I get back in tax? Yes. But how does the computer calculate it?

Finally the other register was free. I asked for help, and the nice cashier, an elderly women, walked me over to where I could find my items. But they weren't there. We looked together. By now, though the line was 25 people deep. We found my items. But the line was long and I'd already been in the store for 15 minutes. So I went to the back of the store where the pharmacy was located. Fewer people would be there, I thought naively. I was right, but the line moved even slower. And there again was an older woman in front of me in the line. "I was told that my prescriptions would be ready this afternoon." They will, but its only 1:00 PM. The pharmacist reviews them at 2:00 PM. "But I have 3 items in my prescription and only one was a special order..."

The Social Magnet

Our first full day in Savannah. And already, we've learned some important things. First off, if you want to make friends, or in particular, attract members of the opposite sex, you needn't be concerned with your looks, personality, personal hygiene, ability to converse, or whether or not you're outgoing. No. All you need to do is get a Whippet and proudly walk him/her around town.

Yesterday, as we walked through the beautiful old-town Savannah, we were stopped countless times. And it wasn't because of our good looks, or because we were well bathed. Rather, it went along the lines of, "Oh, it's so cute. Is it a small Greyhound? Can I pet it?" Of course, they weren't talking about me. As we walked past cafes, young women melted, gently folded their hands over their heart, slightly tilted heads with their eyes dreamily looking in the distance, "It's cute, is it a small Greyhound?" An older lady in a wheel chair asked if she could take a picture. And then, shyly, asked whether she could pet her. A studly young man, head shaved and in form-fitting, modern-shaped, dark sunglasses asked abruptly whether he could admire the Whippet. And then kept stroking her behind, which made me a bit uncomfortable.



The other thing we learned is that Miles' father is the evil scientist on the island.

Day One

Like a stop-motion film projected on the windows of our car, trees sprouted leaves, unfurling as the miles flew by, as we penetrated deeper into the South. The GPS faithfully our guide. Carefully picking our path through the worst neighborhoods, as it had before in DC. But landing us safely in Savannah's Historic District--one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the US. The buildings are old. :o) Spanish moss hangs from the trees. Small shops, cafes, galleries line the grid of cobblestone streets.

Tomorrow we'll post some more pictures.

Day Zero

...and a great day it was...a happy hour with old friends who helped us overcome the three book rule...and for that I thank them...our journey begins, bittersweet though...