PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW

I look back at the past year and see that in March I had quite a few posts. Oh yes, that is when I purchased the Nikon D-50, had another birthday, St. Patricks Day and the Saw Doctors. Lot's of stuff going on.

And I look back at the three + years of posts I have accumulated here. I am so proud of some of them. Immediately I think of my Addicted to Love series. Followed closely by the Six Days In Cancun...which should have been Eight Days in Mexico, but once I had started it was hard to stop....

And all the people I have come into contact with here. Far too many to list....

Trish, my first commenter.

Lisa, my first blogger bud.

Jae, the keeper of  (my) secret(s)......?????

Gary, who offered  such invaluable encouragement.

For awhile now I have realized it is time to move on. AOL-J-Land and I are traveling in different directions. Have been for some time now.

What a long strange trip it's been.

 

p.s.....e-mail me if you want my new (actually rather old) "address"

THE GREAT ESCAPE

Today was one of those days where absolutely nothing went right. Problem after problem arose and demanded immediate attention. Everything that was out of whack was not my fault, yet it is my job to make it right. I try so hard to make everything run smoothly but I can only do so much. It is like a tag team. If the chain is weak somewhere, my customers only know that I have failed them.

I hate that.

It makes me want to fly away like a bird. To escape it all. To disappear.

To run away.

I'm not very good at running away. I first experimented with it in fifth grade. My best friend B.A. and I were going through a stage where we were walking downtown after school. She had to stay after school and wait for her Mom to pick her up after work. There was no day care back then, you know,  when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Just us hanging out with the nuns helping to cleaning chalk boards.  We eventually graduated to shop lifting and became very brazen about it. Our M.O. was to sashshay into the Five and Dime, grab one of their bags from under the counter,  walk through the store and snatch, of all dull things, school supplies, tossing them into the bag!

When we finally got caught we decided it was better to run away than face our parents.

We began walking out of town down a country road. We must have walked for what seemed like miles when a car pulled over and rolled down their window and addressed us, "Have you seen B.A.? We are looking all over for her!"

Hell, no one looking for me. No one knew I had run away!

I don't remember much more of that episode. Except I got a good whooping.

Now I just head to the nearest library and submerge myself into one of my Great Escapes. I dream about getting another job and  surf the internet and catch up on my Dream Job. Usually it is to join a charity organization such as CARE or UNITED WAY or THE CANCER SOCIETY. When I recover from my delusions of trying to save the world, I progress to wanting to see the world and envision myself as a Travel Writer.

Then my lunch break is over and back to the grind of making excuses and feeling helpless.

At least no one is going to whoop me.

TOP TEN REASONS I LOVE KEY WEST

NUMBER EIGHT - CAPTAIN TONY'S

After shopping on Duval Street we headed into Capt. Tony's for a beer and some local ambiance. Capt. Tony's is the original site of Sloppy Joe's, another key West historical bar where Hemingway hung out and drank.

Business cards, along with brassieres, panties, ball caps, license plates, and other  varied articles of clothing, adorn every bit of space along the walls and ceiling. You can see where the cards have met disaster, Hurricane Wilma of last fall, yet they remain intact, if not a little worse for wear.

As in every bar in Key West, there was entertainment. A performer with an acoustical guitar and his dog laying at his feet, he had a repertoire of songs that included everyone from Bob Dylan to Elvis.

A walking tour group arrived to hear the history of the building. Not only was it the watering hole of Ernest, it was at one time a morgue! As the group took over the back of the room and our muscian friend sang Elvis' "Falling in love with you" a sudden thunder storm decided to pay Key West a visit.

Suddenly every light in the bar turned themselves on and shined brightly for a fleeting and astonishing moment....then all went dark. The microphone went dead....his strong yet gentle rendition of the love song faded as the electricity failed...

As a river flows
Gently to the sea
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand - Take my whole life too".......

As if cued, everyone in the bar began to sing.........

"For I can't help falling in love with you.
For I can't help falling in love with you"

We gave ourselves and our musician friend a round of applause. I think the drinks were on the house as we waited for the storm to pass and the sound of rain beating the streets and the roof to fade and resume the hum of fans and airconditioners.

It was a beautiful and peaceful few moments.

TOP TEN REASONS I LOVE KEY WEST

NUMBER NINE - THE SHOPPING

I have enough Kino sandals to last till the next time. Kino Sandals is the most unpretentious, comfy and functional shoe factory in the world. Hand Made and $10!

The wine is almost gone. Why is the wine so goooood in Key West?  I loved the Strawberry Riesling Wine. Courtesy of Keel and Curley Winery.

Joe and I hiked all the way from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico. On our journey we passed this cozy little Art Gallery. I had my heart set on purchasing some of art to take home. And I got lucky. This was a coop-gallery. Affordable and capricious. And red.

Very red.

KEY WEST - TOP TEN REASONS WHY I LOVE IT

REASON NUMBER ONE - ROOSTERS RULE

Key West has got to be one of the most beautiful, stimulating, colorful, soul-stirring, exhilarating, fanciful, outrageous, whimsical, boisterous, frolicking and funky towns in the United States.

Look what it did to Hemingway.

Look what it does to all those tourists and visitors who make the journey! After one visit it becomes part of you, one of your most treasured memories. Like a vivid tattoo on your soul.

That is, if you get it.

If you do "get it" then returning becomes a pilgrimage.

It is a place that is best described with photo's. I'll leave the word descriptions to more qualified writers. And the Poets.

Roosters, roosters everywhere you look. At first I heard them. Cock-a-doodle-do. Why do they roam free? Going everywhere and any place they want? Into bars, into restaurants, into the traffic, strutting down Duval St?

Who knows, but they seem to own the town. There is even a  place that is like a haven for the sick and infirm, the unwanted fowl. You can even purchase one if you want.

Though they seem to have no master....if you ask me

SLEEPS WITH THE FISHIES

Leaving Paradise

I became slightly depressed knowing that the holiday was about to end. The familiar yet mundane life I left behind called me home. The creeping acceptance of the inevitable. The bittersweet. The realization that I actually did leave all my cares behind. For seven blissful days not once did I think about work nor my daughters situation! And on the evening of the last day aboard ship, I sat on the deck on the 11th floor,  the weight of what I left behind settled on my shoulder and watched the sunset in the stormy sky leaning on me.

On a ship, you are never alone for long. Behind me I heard the shrill and bossy voice of an eight year old girl. That tone is known to mothers all over the world. This bossy woman-child sashayed to the rail and looked towards the setting sun. She turned and ignoring me, concentrated her remark behind me, "No! No! You stay right there!"

Around the corner of the laid out sun chairs, with a the canister of soda pressed to her tiny breast, came the two year old. She wore a simple pink empire line dress with a ruffle on the hem and around the sleeveless arm holes. Her hair was so short, and so wispy, the fairy hair of the very young. On the island , she must have had beads braided along the top. On her tiny feet were girly-girl pink sandals.

She stumbled and staggered in that run/walk normally associated with drunks and two year olds.

She stood along side her sister and got tippy toed.

She pointed!

"I see a dolphin", she cried out.

Her older and much more sophisticated sister rolled her eyes and informed her..."You can't see a dolphin! It's too dark"

Her mother appeared from the right and in a soft murmur told her youngest daughter that the dolphins were sleeping.

Little Pink handed her mom the soda container. Turning towards the sea and grabbing the rail she puffed out her chest and began calling loudly, at the top of her lungs.......

"DOLPHINS!! DOLPHINS WAKE UP!!"

It was my very favorite moment of the trip.

Sadness took a dive. He sleeps with the dolphins.

I HEAR THAT LONESOME WHISTLE BLOW

A Foggy Morning

I awoke yesterday morning to the most dense fog I have ever seen. It engulfed everything and did not lift until well after 11am!

It beckoned me to walk along the River Green Trail with my camera. And what wonderful pictures awaited me.

Jeweled Dew Dripping Spider Webs.

Spooky Abandoned Train Station

The Endless Trail in the beginning of her Fall glory

The the sun was able to climb over the all encompassing wet gray mist and all was right with the world again.