THAT’S THE NEPHEW—Lead Singer for StraightJacket    https://www.facebook.com/straightjacketofficial  this last weekend…check them out.  Yesterday I took a friend to the doctor and had to wait for her surgery to be done…had lunch, a drink at Post Time   ahttp://www.posttimelounge.com/  where they have a great Happy Hour….and then spent the evening trying to straighten things up on my computer…busy but not exactly exciting.   Oh and check out my novel progress on:  https://www.pinterest.com/lindachase56829/my-novels/   My Merlin is so different as is the whole Arthur legend….try it you might like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of talk on the  Outlander Rape in the last episode…..If you haven’t seen the show you should  Just don’t start with this episode…its the best TV I have seen in a long time:

A man questioning his reasons to live.  Jamie Fraser—I love the show, the character and Sam too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK  I just did a three day road trip with causal observations and weirdness that is central to me—sorry I’ll try to get on something more sane soon–oh by the way we did find out where we’d gone wrong on the trip:  Atlantic Blvd is only an exit on I-4 not the turnpike.  The trip took 5 hours (what with rain, traffic clearing multiple accidents and us getting lost.)  But anyway we did make it, partied the night away and flew out the next morning for a week in the Abaco’s (Bahama Out islands)–life’s rough….  http://www.bahamas.com/islands/abacos

I thought I’d complete the travel theme today with a little bit from one of my favorite cities–in my own words–Key West  http://www.fla-keys.com/keywest/    and :

 

 

I sell escapism.   Jimmy Buffett

 

DUVAL STREET

The main artery of Key West is Duval. It pulses with the blood of currency, how Duval Street goes, so goes the economy of Key West.

On Duval Street sets two areas of historical importance: The Strand, a classic old movie theater building which went on to be a  “Ripley’s and is now a Walgreen’s.  The great thing is they kept the marque and the wonderful old decorative exterior so even though the theater is lost inside it’s spirit still lives outside.

The other is the Quay. The Quay which starts just a ways beyond the edge of the island was a place of “entertainment for sailors who made port here—an area of saloons and houses of ill repute.

But there’s much more on Duval. It starts with its head resting in the Gulf of Mexico. Here are two upscale hotels. One use to be the Ocean Key, I’m not sure what it currently is. This hotel has a large deck from which is a great outdoor restaurant surrounded by water which is very popular during the day and even more so at sunset.

Sunset in Key West isn’t just a daily fact of life, here it is a celebrated event, where you gather at various sites along the island’s border on the Gulf to watch the golden orb sink into the sea. Some areas like this offer quiet dinning and drinks while you do so…others have entertainment, in a carnival type atmosphere which over the years have include everything from trained cats to the southern most Scottish Piper to name a few.

After this is the a fore mentioned Quay buildings. When sailors frequented the area from wreckers and the like in the 1800s this was a red light district, now its just aging buildings with assorted businesses that have changed over the years.  There used to be a little shop in a strange stone building that was a few steps below street level on the west side that had to close when there was a heavy rain–basements are for the most part don’t exist in Key West.  First the island is a hard coral base which is hard to dig in and second the island is so low the areas are prone to flooding.  One Exception is the Hemingway House in which they actually used the stone on site to build the house which was built over the hole it was dug from.

Across Front Street (which during hard rains, particularly at high tide resembles a river more than a road.). On the right is a fantastic brick bank building with alternating colored bricks which makes for a rarity of design. The building is still a bank (if you ever saw the old Billy Crystal/Gregory Hines movie “Running Scarred.”   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Luy502C920 its the building where they apply for a loan and then roller skate out of.)   FORMER FLORIDA FIRST NATIONAL BANK, (established 1891) Front & Duval Sts. By the late 1800s, with half of the Key West population being Cuban, it should not come as a surprise that this 1897 red and yellow brick building, with heavy Spanish influence, was financed by a group of wealthy cigar manufacturers. The carved balcony along the Duval side, with finely detailed column capitals, and the tower on the corner are particularly noteworthy   https://oirf.org/page.php?p=pelican

Now you’re into Duval proper—and don’t be surprised at the mass of trashy t-shirt shops, cameras, electronics and the like that take up most of the next two blocks. If you come to Key West seeking perfection you will be disappointed. Duval has all the class of a carney midway—but that trashy ambivalence is something that is so much a part of the city that to loose it would be to loose some essential part of the spirit that is Key West.

What I don’t like to see though is the intrusion of chains and corporations that have not the social redeeming value of bring money to local pockets.  While they have come they have not overtaken the city and  there are still plenty of interesting  shops to tempt and titillate among the camera shops, t-shirt shops and corporate trappings.  One major issue in Key West has for years been the t-shirt shops. Laws have been passed to prevent a new such shops being open next to an existing shop. The thought of nothing but t-shirt from sea to sea scared even Key West I guess.

There  have been other issues. T-shops are owned by many types of people and in Key West not all are honorable or locally owned.  Shops have been known to grossly over-charge ($500 – $1,000 on credit cards for just a few shirts). This was especially true of custom made shirts. The basic shirt was available at a very low price, but the transfers cost more than your first car. This was done to many tourists, usually  charged on a card and most often foreign speaking tourists seem to have been the most common target.  Multiple city standards have dealt with posting costs, and  I am hopeful that these rips offs are a thing of the past.  Other scams have included money laundering and my favorite a clerk married a foreign national for a fee (now one wonders what the going price for that is.) so that the party could stay in the US.

 

 

 

I went down to Captain Tony’s to get out of the heat
When I heard a voice call out to me, “Son, come have a seat”
I had to search my memory as I looked into those eyes
Our lives change like the weather but a legend never dies

Jimmy Buffet