Key West Kaleidoscope

The Strand opened in the mid-1920s and became the home of the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Odditorium in 1993.

The theater was sold in December 2001 and closed in April 2002. It has since become the another branch of the Walgreens pharmacy empire.

Many of the historic elements of the theater will be saved, however, including its facade, marquee, various aspects of the interior, the lobby tile, marble stairs, and wood floors.

This is a great 'train ride' through time.

They'll take you back to the days before civilization when fierce Indians left their enemy's bones to bleach in a tropical wilderness naming the island Bone Key.

Explore a lush, tropical island, and discover the charm and grace of one of America's most unique architectural pleasures.

Get to know characters like John James Audubon, Ernest Hemingway, and Harry S. Truman and, like them, become captivated by the magic that is Key West.

You'll even stop at the ice cream shop for a single scoop cone or a refreshing lemonade to cool you off!

Read more about this here

Duval Street is a famous downtown commercial zoned street in Key West, Florida, running north and south from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. Duval Street is the location of many famous restaurants and bars, including Sloppy Joe's, The Bull and Whistle, Rick's Cafe and Irish Kevins bar. It is named for William Pope Duval, the first territorial governor of Florida.

At night, Duval is a carnival that lasts until dawn and beyond.

At the north end, tourists from the cruise who dock at the Hilton harbor complex are often seen traversing Duval Street's many shops in the afternoon looking for souvenir trinkets and T-shirts.

At the south end of Duval Street is the Southernmost House, a striking old yellow Victorian architecture mansion bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, South Street and Duval Street.

What is a conch house?

Early settlers of the Bahamas and Florida Keys built their homes of a morter made from sand, water, and lime. The settlers obtained their lime by burning conch shells. Having no building stones or bricks, but an abundance of conch shells the settlers often utilized the shell itself in constructing their houses. Thus the term "conch" house had its beginning. Later, wooden homes built by settlers and ship's carpenters utilizing a blend of architectural names took on the name of conch houses.

Read more about Conch Houses here

Direction signs in the old harbor of Key West are showing you the way to any destinations that you can think about.

The Southernmost Point in the US

Southernmost Point in the US

Key West, Florida

As the winter chill sets records in much of the country, those in the know huddle around the pot-bellied stove-like monument marking the Southernmost Point in the United States.

The marker, actually built to resemble a buoy, stands at furthest south tip of Key West. The monument notes that Cuba is only 90 miles away, and just to its right, a plaque commemorates the brave Cubans who have drowned trying to get to America, "The Leader In Democracy." In the blocks around the Monument are numerous other "Southernmosts" — hotel, house, restaurant, etc.

On the top of the monument is painted the logo of The Conch Republic. Twenty years ago, Key West, seeking to enhance its reputation as a free-wheeling, fun-loving, party without consequence kind of town, seceded from the United States, declaring itself The Conch Republic. Every April, a ten-day party celebrates the event. But if that's the case, then the Southernmost Point in The US is actually one key up, in Boca Chica.

More to read about here

Sunset Sailors - Song from the Ship

Sunset Sails

Song from the Ship - Thomas Lovell Beddoes

To sea, to sea! The calm is o'er;
The wanton water leaps in sport,
And rattles down the pebbly shore;
The dolphin wheels, the sea-cows snort,
And unseen Mermaids' pearly song
Comes bubbling up, the weeds among.
Fling broad the sail, dip deep the oar:

To sea, to sea! the calm is o'er.
To sea, to sea! our wide-winged bark
Shall billowy cleave its sunny way,
And with its shadow, fleet and dark,
Break the caved Tritons' azure day,
Like mighty eagle soaring light
O'er antelopes on Alpine height.
The anchor heaves, the ship swings free,
The sails swell full. To sea, to sea!


More sea poems to read here

Enchanted Tulips

ENCHANTED TULIPS

TULIPS white and tulips red,
Sweeter than a violet bed!
Say, old Mother Bailey, say
Why your tulips look so gay,
Why they smell so sweet, and why
They bloom on when others die?

"By the pixies' magic power
Do my tulips always flower,
By the pixies' magic spell
Do they give so sweet a smell!
Tulips, tulips, red and white,
Fill the pixies with delight!

"Pixy women, pixy men,
Seek my tulips from the glen;
Midnight come, they may be heard
Singing sweet as any bird,
Singing their wee babes to rest
In the tulips they love best!"

http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/keary/tulips.html#p97

Magic Sunset

Joy of Color - Joy of Life

Just Beyond The Sunset

Just beyond the sunset
Someone waits for me
Just beyond the sunset
Lies my destiny
Where the purple mountains
Lie in deep tranquillity
There I’ll find the treasure
Of love eternally

Just beyond the sunset
Waits someone so fair
Just beyond the sunset
All alone they wait there
Their hair is golden
The colour of the sand
Their eyes sparkle in the night
Like diamonds in your hand

Just beyond the sunset
Lies a home for me
Where the world is peaceful
Like a paradise should be
Just beyond the sunset
Someday is where you’ll find me

Written - July or Aug 1966

David Harris

My Wordless Sunday # 7

My daily visitors

Chicken mama with her "kids" is a daily visitor - for food of course

Daisy the duck is posing for the camera

And here comes the TIGER.... scary looking, isn't he?

Cormorant over water - Happy landing!

Always be on the "wild side" of life - watching for the right moment to fight

Links in a Chain

We are not free, separate, and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way.

Thomas Mann

Gorgeous Sunset

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY

I know, not to many of you will have time today to sit on the computer and to blog. Family and friends are waiting for your excellent cooked or roasted Turkey with mash potatoes and gravy....and everything!:-)

Me and David are also invited tonight for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner by good friends of us. It will be my VERY FIRST experience of this old and great American tradition - and I'm sooo excited! :-)

I wish you all a great Thanksgiving Day!

Susanne

Hallo an alle

Heute feiert man hier in USA den "Thanksgiving Day", aehnlich zu unserem "Dank- Bet- und Busstag". Familien kommen zusammen und wenn man keine Familie hat, laedt man Freunde ein oder wird eingeladen, so wie David und Ich heute abend. Susan, eine Freundin vom Pier, hat sich maechtig in die Vorbereitungen gestuerzt und einen RIESENGROSSEN
Truthahn gekocht mit allem Drum und Dran wie Kartoffelstock und feine Bratsauce dazu, Cranberries (was sind Cranberries in Deutsch eigentlich?), nicht zu vergessen den obligaten Kuerbiskuchen und Apple-Pie.

Sie hat das ganze Haus auf Hochglanz poliert, das gute alte
Silberbesteck hervorgegrabt, die Tischtuecher gestaerkt...und so
vieles mehr.Wir bringen den guten Rose-Wein mit, dann kann nichts mehr schiefgehen und alle 12 eingeladenen Gaeste werden auf Hochstimmung kommen, da bin ich mir sicher!

Thanksgiving ist hier auch der traditionelle Beginn von Weihnachten und seinem Einkaufsrummel...In vielen Haushaltungen steht ab heute bereits ein voll geschmueckter Christbaum im Wohnzimmer!

Andere Laender, andere Sitten.
Ich bin gespannt auf heute Abend!!!!!

Evening lights at the Beach

At Sunset Time

A Down thw west a golden glow
Sinks burning in the sea,
And all the dreams of long ago
Come flooding back to me.
The past has writ a story strange
Upon my aching heart,
But time has wrought a subtle change,
My wounds have ceased ro smart.

No more the quick delight of youth,
No more the sudden pain,
I look no more for trust or truth
Where greed may compass gain.
What, was it I who bared my heart
Through unrelenting years,
And knew the sting of misery's dart,
The tang of sorrow's tears?

'Tis better now, I do not weep,
I do not laugh nor care;
My soul and spirit half asleep
Drift aimless everywhere.
We float upon a sluggish stream,
We ride no rapids mad,
While life is all a tempered dream
And every joy half sad.

Read more poems here

Most Beautiful Orchid

And this is my absolute preferred and favorite Orchid. Isn't she a beauty?

Exotic Flowers for Monday

Little pink Orchid bush

White Orchids

Orchid Blooms

Wild Orchid looking over the fence

Red Beauty


I'm not good in orchid names - I just love them all.

For me is the orchid the beauty queen of all the flowers.

My Wordless Sunday # 6

Inviting Porches

Porch at "Louie's Backyard"

Somewhere in Down Town

A elegant porch

A funky porch

A classic porch


I LOVE porches.

I can associate so many stories with them,
things that you can do on a porch:

relax...

make small talk with your neighbor...

sitting, talking and enjoying a glass of wine with good friends...

soaking up the sun...

act as a tourist guide and answer all the questions...

read a great book...

drink a Pina Colada...

counting the stars on a hot summer night...

having someone in your arms with you...

making (cell)phone calls...

or

just hiding out from the everyday pace of life.

North Wind is blowing in paradise

A cold front is moving in today - it's getting COLD in paradise!

Jeans and a warm jacket is what we are wearing just now, no more shorts and flip-flops. A constant wind with wind gusts up to 35 mph and cool temperatures let us freeze.

Palm Trees Waving

Palm trees at Smather's beach - a very peaceful place.

Palm trees waving
in the early morning breeze.
Outlined by
a pearl grey sky.

How to get around the island?

A funky looking bike is parked by the Custom House

At home in a little alley

Two or three shopping baskets are needed if you have no car

No parking - what about bikes?

And this is my bike...


How to get around the island?
Take a guided bike tour!

Relax and enjoy the charm of Key West during a leisurely ride along our lesser known, quaint streets and secret lanes. Along the way you will sample the exotic aromas of tropical flowers such as frangipani, gardenias, and jasmine which bloom all year round. Our fantastic trees are from all over the world so be sure to bring your camera. Also, you have an opportunity to taste a variety of the local fruit, such as mangoes, coconuts, starfruit, key limes, and more. There are interesting Key West characters to meet and chat with as well as taking in all the sights of unusual historic architecture. You may have heard that Key West is unique and different, but you have to know where to look. Join your personal guide and explore rarely seen, lush, tropical gardens. There’s NO fuel, NO fumes, NO noise.

Ride a bike
and
find out why you really came to Key West.

Time to say Good Bye!

The cruise ship is leaving the dock at Mallory Square. For all 2000 passengers on board of that giant it's time to say good bye to the island and looking forward to travel to a new country. Next destinations are Cancun, Mexico or the Virgin Islands. I have seen this scene now so many times, but it gives me still today a feeling of that "travel fever"....!

How to climb a Coconut Tree

How to climb a Coconut Tree

According to experts, there are two basic techniques to climb a coconut tree. The front foot technique is similar to rock climbing. You put your hands close to each other on the back of the trunk and walk up alternately moving your feet and hands. The frog technique is more suited to almost vertical trees. Your legs should be flexed on each side of the tree with the sole of your feet applied around the trunk. You place one hand up and behind the tree and the other hand at your chest level on the front side of the tree. In this way, you apply pressure from both sides, lifting you up while pushing up with your legs.

There is only one technique to go down. You lower your hands one by one behind the trunk and just let the sole of your feet drag against the tree.

You are very welcome to try it out down here - we have enough Coconut trees for every one of you! :-)


Read more about climbing technics here

Beach Flowers - My Wordless Sunday