Kayaks......SOLD!

The kayaks we purchased shortly after arriving in the Keys were delivered to their new owners this afternoon.   Terry and Suzanne sailed from Michigan to Marathon and are living at the Sombrero Marina on their boat. 

If anyone that knows them wonders how they are doing, I'm here to report that they are not happy....they are absolutely giddy!  I love to be around people that are enjoying their life, and these two are perfect role models of that. 

We celebrated the exchange by opening a bottle of champagne!   Don't worry, we didn't spill any on the kayaks!

We wish them many years of kayaking, happiness, good health, and fair winds and a following sea!



Theater of the Seas

Grandparents think they are pretty cool, but its not too shabby being a great aunt and uncle!

We picked Maddie P up at her grandparents' place in the Keys and took her to Theater of the Seas yesterday.  We enjoyed spending the day with her and getting to see the dolphins, sea lions, parrots, turtles, crocs, sting rays, etc. 

She seemed to have a good time, and told us the dolphins were the favorite thing she saw.

The only way we could convince her to leave (after having seen each of the shows twice), was to promise her a popsicle.

I didn't know that popsicles had been super sized!

After resting for awhile, we took Lucy to Sunset Park to play with all the other dogs.  Maddie was a big help walking Lucy and got to see all the cute pups at the park.

After spending the night with us, the grands came to retrieve her this morning. 

Kayaking in the Mangroves

This morning we loaded up the kayaks and headed to Sombrero Beach.  We paddled to the Marathon marina where hundreds of boats are moored.   After an hour or so of paddling, we came across two couples that were headed to the mangroves and they asked us to join them.  

We followed them through a small opening in the mangroves and quickly disappeared into a narrow tunnel completely canopied by mangroves.   In some places it became so narrow, we were unable to use our paddles and had to pull ourselves through by grabbing on to the limbs.  In a couple of places, we found ourselves practicing the limbo to get through.  It was absolutely breathtaking.  The water was very shallow and we were worried that the tide would go out and we'd have to walk back out.

The path curved along and finally opened up into a small lake.  We parted ways at this point, as they were going to continue on.  After 2-1/2 hours, some of our body parts were beginning to go numb, so we chose to head back on our on.   It was extremely quiet as we paddled along,  so I mentioned that it would be nice to have some music.  But when Richard began to hum a few bars from "Deliverance", I decided quiet was good!   As a t-shirt I once saw read "if you hear banjo music, paddle faster"!

Manatee at the Dock

This show off swam right up to our dock this past week.   She seemed to enjoy the attention and rolled over in front of us while we took her picture.   She was about 10-12 feet long and wasn't the least bit frightened.  They certainly aren't the prettiest of God's creatures, but they do grow on you after awhile.    They swim into the canals and feed on the vegetation around the docks.   

Don't Pinch Me!

Yes, we're living a dream.  The sun is shining again in the Florida Keys and the weather has returned to a balmy 82 degrees!   We are counting down to our departure....10 days from now.   We have a fun new couple next door for the remainder of our stay (Bev and Bruce from New Jersey).  Today was golf day!  Again, not very pretty, but a lot of fun. 

While sitting under the pergola this afternoon, listening to Pandora radio, Richard changed the station to Keb' Mo".  Our friends Robbie and Mary recently turned us on to him. Keb Mo is a three–time Grammy Award winner for Best Contemporary Blues Album.   Richard mentioned that he was touring and would be playing somewhere in Florida on the day we leave the Keys.  I went to Ticketmaster and found two tickets to his show in Ponte Verde on March 2 (near Jacksonville/St. Augustine).  If we leave here that morning, a good seven hour drive will get us there in plenty of time for a quick nap before the show.   So, decision made....we'll stay a couple of days in the St. Augustine area before returning home.   Life is indeed good!

Clam Bake

The KCB Fishing and Boating Club's 2013 annual clam bake was yesterday.  They sell 400 tickets and always sell out.  It was a well run, worthwhile event that is used as a fund raiser for the club.  There is a silent auction; a raffle for the "wheelbarrow of cheer" that includes the wheelbarrow or $500 cash, whichever you choose; a 50/50 raffle where 50% of the money collected goes to charity and the winner receives the other 50%, and many more activities. 

For the price of a ticket, you could eat all the steamed and fried clams, raw and fried oysters, fish, steamed shrimp, clam chowder, paella, cold slaw, and onion rings you wanted; as well as all the soft drinks, cold beer, or wine you could drink.  Its a good thing it was held at 1 p.m. instead of 5 o'clock!

Needless to say, there was no dinner needed after that lunch!

Baby Its Cold Outside!

The cold front we've been hearing about finally reached us this morning!  This is one of those things I choose to write about because later when we look back on this trip, we likely won't remember waking up to 20-25 mph winds and 54 degree weather, which by the way makes it feel like its freezing! 

While walking Lucy this morning, I put on my fleece jacket, houndstooth wool scarf, long pants, and shoes and the wind was still cutting right through me.  I checked the weather in north Alabama and its 27 degrees there now with a high today of 51 degrees.  So believe me, I'm not complaining....and its suppose to be back up to 74 degrees here tomorrow! 

Our plan today is to step outside the box and instead of going to the traditional service at the Presbyterian Church, we're actually going to attend the contemporary service.   We have attended a few of these services at non-denominational churches before, but never at a Presbyterian church.  So we're anxious to see just how expressive these Presbyterians are willing to get.  More on that later...

We believe we have sold the kayaks we purchased shortly after arriving.  We posted an ad on Craigslist and received a call from a very nice, and interesting couple from Michigan (Terry and Suzanne).   We hit it off immediately.  They sailed for 7 months to Marathon from Michigan after selling all their worldly possessions.  How gutsy is that?   And, in addition to that....they are bloggers!   So, although we have thoroughly enjoyed being able to jump in the kayaks for an hour or two at a time, we didn't want to travel 1000 miles with them on top of our car.  I'm betting they will enjoy them as much as we have.

Lucy, who is 14 years old, spends about 18 hours a day sleeping.  She has developed a funny habit since we've been here.  Around 4:30 p.m., she gets up from her bed, stretches, and begins to act very anxious.  She knows its getting time to go to the park to visit her 4-legged friends.  To see this in action:

No Name!

Our friends from Georgia, the Favereaus, came and stayed with us for a few days.  Its been a long time since we have had the chance to spend much time together, so our time together was very special. 

Our guys, the romantics that they are, wanted to go somewhere special for Valentine's Day!  So, we drove 22 miles to Big Pine Key and had pizza at the No Name Pub!  Really....that's the name, and their pizza is world famous. 


Its an obscure little place that you would drive right by if you weren't looking for it.  I've been to places that had dollar bills stapled to the walls, but this was over the top.  Money was hanging from every square inch of the ceiling and a fan blowing on the ceiling made the ceiling come alive with movement!  The decor has got to be worth more than the building itself. 

After we left the restaurant, we saw a number of key deer meandering around the area.  We found that they are as tame as dogs.  Very cute, but we also remembered to sanitize our hands when we got back in the car! 

We were glad to get to share our burrowing owls, the key deer, and all the dogs of Key Colony with our friends!

Landscaping with Gravel



I really hope this doesn't sound as weird as I'm afraid its going to.  You know you've been in the Keys too long when you find yourself commenting on how nice a white gravel yard (in lieu of grass) looks.   Its rare to find a yard with grass here and even if you do, its not really pretty, healthy grass like we are used to seeing.  The simplest yard to maintain and most accepted yard is white gravel. 

In Key Colony, Wednesday is yard debris pickup day.  Every Tuesday, lawn services and residents are out sprucing up their yards...removing palm limbs and coconuts that have fallen, raking their gravel yards to remove debris and tracks made by vehicles.  They place everything in garbage cans on the street to be removed.   Most of the yards are kept very neat and there is a noticable difference in how the gravel looks on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.    I won't try to convince you....but will take pictures and post them and then you can be the judge! 

5 Weeks Down....3 To Go!

Last night we said goodbye to JoAnn and David, friends from Florence that stayed in the other half of our duplex for the past week.  We played tennis, biked, walked to Sunset Park, kayaked, and turned them on to Sparkey's Landing and Key Colony Inn for some good Florida Keys food!  Hopefully they enjoyed KCB as much as we do.

Although we're not tired of fresh fish for dinner, we are switchng things up tonight.  I'm cooking white beans and cornbread!  

Our neighbors and new friends, Eric and Piret, took us on a boat ride around Marathon Key this week.  What a treat!  We left Key Colony Beach and headed through the Vaca Cut out into the Gulf of Mexico.  We headed west, went under the 7 Mile Bridge, and toured the Sombrero beach area (including a ride past Demi Moore's home),entered the Atlantic Ocean at Sombrero Beach, past Sunset Park, back into Key Colony.  The trip of 21 miles took about 3 hours.  The gulf was quite calm, but the ocean side was pretty exciting as we bounced through the waves!  

We're excited that my sister has gone her limit without seeing her granddaughter and is flying to Nashville to pick her up and bring her back to the Keys in two weeks.  We'll try to free up some time to help her out with the 4-year old!  :}

Close Encounter with A Sea Monster

Today, while kayaking in our canal we saw a huge white blob right below the surface of the water.  We paddled over to it and realized it was a manatee.  We took several pictures that just didn't do him justice, so Richard took this video and he surfaced right beside his kayak.  Thank goodness he didn't decide to come up for air with one of us on top of him! 

Lucky Enough!

If a picture is worth a thousand words....then a painting is priceless.  The Howdyshells discovered our paradise and spent a week down the street from us.  She spent time with her easel and paints in one of our favorite spots.  The first painting she did was an old bicycle leaning against a palm tree and was purchased by a local resident just as she finished painting it.  I plan to take this one to "yappy hour" and show it off.  Its officially for sale....but may have to go home with me!

We don't like to think that we're half way through this trip, but we've been here 4 weeks today and 4 weeks from today we'll be heading north. Our duplex neighbor, Frank, who arrived the same day we did is headed back to Michigan today and the Howdyshells are headed north as well today. We wish them all safe travels and are thankful that we are lucky enough to get to stay awhile longer. As a sign in our neighborhood says, if you're lucky enough to be in the Keys, you're lucky enough!