Hide & Seek

So as I've mentioned before, Key West has two Publix grocery stores located just blocks from each other on Roosevelt Boulevard. The original is the 'Old Publix' and the newer one, the store that moved into Albertson's space in Key's Plaza, is the 'New Publix.' The chain is working hard to make the 'New Publix' even newer by redesigning the space. They've been at it since mid-summer. It's kinda making me nuts.

We don't have the shopping options of the rest of the state, and I've made my peace with that, but I always found solace in knowing where EVERYTHING I need is located for my quick trips to Publix between other errands or before picking the girls up at school. Yesterday as I wandered around looking for something, noting that the aisle sign was completely wrong, I briefly considered finding the manager to point out the incorrect signage and tell him or her how this whole renovation thing really wasn't working for me. Fortunately, because I live on a small island, I don't actually go through with these plans because I will run into this manager weekly if not daily, at Publix and every other place in Key West.

I was talking to a woman the other day about the renovation at our local K Mart. She was completely exasperrated that everything was someplace different. She went on and on. I hadn't known about that project because I only go to K Mart under duress. But it made me think that maybe my feelings are an island thing....maybe I'm not the only one who has a hard time dealing with change.

While on the topic of shopping, I could write several blogs on Key West's 'Dollar Store.' I'm not sure of it's official name, everyone just calls it that so I do as well. It is a microcosm of island life....a bit chaotic, slow moving, with a dose of crazy most times I go in there. Last weekend the girls and I ventured into the island's new dollar store, called Deals on Flagler Avenue. Josie said, "Wow! This is fancy!" I wouldn't go that far, but it is DEFINITELY a much nicer alternative to the other one. There are many reasons to move to Key West, but shopping isn't one of them.

Tales from the Cafeteria

I started this school year with a big volunteer project, one that I am truly enjoying. I'm the assistant lunch lady at the girls' school. I help the paid staff person prep and serve, and I write the monthly lunch menu and order the food from vendors. This may not sound like a fun gig to most people, but it is perfect for me.

I helped to set up the lunch program at a previous school, and I have a long history of food-related projects. I'm good at shaving food costs and maintaining inventory. But that isn't why I enjoy it so much. It's the diners who make the job so much fun.

At 11:30 the first students arrive in a surprisingly orderly fashion. If you packed your lunch, find a seat with your classmates. If you are purchasing lunch, form a line in front of the serving area. The youngest kids are just adorable, and some of them are really hearty eaters for little people! We had some communication issues in the beginning. It can be loud in the cafeteria with the oven vents on so we have to speak up. But after just a few weeks even the three year olds say 'yes, please' and 'no, thank you.'

Yesterday was a school favorite, chicken strips or chicken nuggets with macaroni and cheese. These kids can eat some macaroni and cheese, let me tell you! Each day brings something funny to the serving line. Sometimes we lunch ladies have to hold back a full-on giggle fit. Yesterday's joke was this:

Me: Would you like strips or nuggets?
Kid: No, thank you. I'll just have chicken.

This conversation happened many, many times over the hour of lunch service.

Each class sits together to eat, joined by their teacher. It is calm and surprisingly quiet. If things get too loud, it is quickly hushed. Tables are wiped, lines re-formed, and the students file out with their friends. They often wave and thank us. These are some polite students. I am impressed by them each day.

It's all over by 12:40 or so. At the end of it I am generally tired, hot, and my feet hurt. But I also feel happy and satisfied to have used my skills to help my daughters' school (by donating my time and experience) and to provide a nice meal to some nice kids.

On the first day of classes this year, on pasta and meatball day, one 5th grader saw the pile of freshly baked garlic bread sticks I added to the usual offerings and said 'This is going to be the best year ever.....we have bread sticks!!' This job reminds me that, yes, it's the little things that make life fun.

Dear Fall...

It is with regret that I must inform you, fall, or autumn, as you are sometimes called, that after a long and passionate relationship I am breaking up with you.

Yes, I'm sure it comes as a shock. I was definitely one of your biggest fans. Remember all those pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin scones from the various Starbucks in Frederick, almost every morning after I dropped the girls at preschool? And all those decorative pumpkins and gourds that I purchased each year to pile high on every fireplace mantle and flat surface large enough to hold them. I know, I know....but sorry, I'm just truly over you.

I blame Facebook for some of it. Since August each morning's news feed has displayed some traditional food item now available in pumpkin spice flavor, and it just started to get to me. Hey, I'm all for pumpkin bread and flavored coffees and all, but pumpkin pie spice just really doesn't belong in every single thing we eat. Seriously, it just doesn't. It's getting creepy.

Also, after living in Key West for a bit over five years now, I'm just not into celebrating a season we don't really have here. Early fall is our rainy season, a time for storm tracking and hurricane parties. And later fall, after Halloween and Fantasy Fest are over, is the beginning of our best weather of the year. Warm days, cool nights, windows open. By Thanksgiving I'm sure we will have a few jack be littles and gourds on the table. By then I'll be ready. It will finally be fall here on the island by then.

It seems like fall has gotten so commercial. We are bombarded with Halloween craft ideas and recipes for a perfect pumpkin patch picnic while the kids are still in the pool and people are at the beach on summer vacation. None of us really need to buy more stuff, do we? Just go outside and enjoy the changes. And if you don't buy a bunch of fall stuff, you won't have to buy those black and orange bins at Target to store it all in. I've got a stack of them in a house in Frederick, filled to the brim with the decorations of autumns past.

So, thank you, fall, or autumn, for the many, many years of cinnamon-scented memories, piles of perfect pumpkins, and wreaths of orange leaves. It's not you. It's me. I'm truly an island girl now.

Photos & Directions

My husband John starts most weekdays the same way. He leaves our home at 7:22 am for 7:30 mass followed by a run. He usually does about 5 miles before heading back. During these runs around Key West he does much more than just stay fit.

I never know what tale he will tell when he comes home. It's usually around 9 am, but sometimes it's almost 11. On those long days, he could have met a team of cyclists visiting Key West from Sweden and stayed to take each one's picture with their bikes. (Yep, that happened.) Or maybe he met a nice couple from Minnesota on the way out of church and gave them a tour of the Stations of the Cross garden, chatting all the way. (That happened, too.)

Sometimes he ends up running with complete strangers he meets and they often become friends. He will say "Remember that architect from Chicago? He'll be back in town in a few weeks and we are going to run!" I can barely keep the list of semi-acquaintances straight, but his enthusiasm is kind of contagious. 

He gives tourists directions and is happy to take their photo when he sees a couple taking individual shots....'Hey, do you want a picture with you both in it?' The answer is always yes. In front of Hemingway House, Customs House, Mallory Square, but most often in front of the Southernmost Point buoy. I would love to know how many times he has done that in the five years we have lived here.

A few days ago, I got a message from one of those people, and she even sent me the photo John took last year. It turns out that this woman, my new friend Miki from Charleston, SC, her husband, and my husband spent 45 minutes chatting about life in Key West, kids, blogs (she has one too), and much, much more. Miki says the conversation stayed with her and she has been following my blog since then. It turns out she is writing a book set partly on the island. I look forward to reading it soon and will make sure to post about it so people can look for it.

While there have definitely been times I have been irritated by John's open-arms approach to strangers ('Hon, you REALLY didn't invite them to come see your studio NOW, did you???') after talking to Miki I see his treks around the island as more of a public service. Palm trees, blue water, and super nice people. It's really what Key West is all about.

Miki and her husband in 2014, photo taken by John.

Happy Anniversary, Peaches

Oh, she's still around. Over the last year she fell into two pieces, so now Mari has 'Big Peaches' and 'Little Peaches.' I still find little bits of fur when I run the vacuum....where even 'big' and 'little' will end up eventually. I've made my peace with her. And as strange as it is, I figure I could have WAY worse problems....pet tarantulas, for example.

In case you haven't been following the Facebook posts over the last year, Peaches is Mari's mink stole. She found it last summer when we were going through storage at one of our houses in Maryland. It was John's grandmother's stole originally, and it was passed to his mother. It probably dates to the 1940s.

Mari was helping us go through boxes and she just squealed with delight when she found it. 'I'll name it Peaches!' And around her neck it went. No matter that it was July. And hot and humid. While most people, especially kids, may be grossed out by the little feet and face on the thing, Mari was not. My older daughter is a compassionate soul, always willing to look past appearances.

So last summer, from July on, just about every photo we took includes Peaches around Mari's neck. Or curled up on a comfy Hampton Inn bed while we made our trek back to Key West. I started posting about the whole thing on Facebook, because really, who wouldn't? It was hysterical. Soon Peaches had a BIG following.

The hashtags were awesome! I started with #goawaypeaches but #teampeaches soon became a real thing. Friends started asking for updates and when I posted something it got a huge response with lots of funny comments. Two friends had an ongoing hashtag contest. We posted photos of anything that looked like Peaches....I think Mari may have been responsible for last fall's fur trend in fashion and home decor.

When school started last August, I'd say about half of the teachers/parents I saw on Back to School day asked how our summer was. The other half asked about Peaches.

Fortunately, Peaches now spends her days at the bottom of Mari's bed along with the ever-changing pile of books and other, more traditional stuffed animals. I've stopped taking photos of her because, well, if you were grossed out by her last summer, as she lost an eye in Frederick and a leg or two in Savannah, you REALLY wouldn't want to see what's left.

So I will end with some photos from last summer, of the old, all-in-one-piece Peaches. It's been a year, so I guess it's an anniversary of sorts. #teampeaches4ever

Bob the Mailman, Part 2

I wrote about our mail carrier Bob previously. He's a good guy, with a great sense of humor. If he sees us outside sometimes he brings the mail up and chats for a minute. If we hear the truck, John or I will walk out to grab the mail and say hello. In our chats we've covered local politics, parenting issues, school choice, shopping for homecoming gowns for his daughter (she graduated from KWHS this past June), and lots more.

Bob knows the girls, of course, and they think he's a celebrity when we run into him at Publix. He truly IS a local celebrity. Just ask any of the customers on the route he delivered for the last 20 or so years, or those he worked with heading up the annual food drive, and probably lots of other things that I don't even know about.

Two weeks ago Bob walked up to hand me the little note I show in the photo. He said 'I can barely talk about it....see you tomorrow.' His recent knee surgery didn't deliver as promised and Bob will be taking on a route 'up the Keys' as we say here, just a few miles out of Key West near Baby's Coffee. Less walking and less climbing in and out of the truck. Much less stress on a painful knee until he can get that straightened out with the orthopedists.

'Everybody tells me there aren't any people up the Keys. You'll only see them on Saturday,' said Bob. I told him he will be chatting up the iguanas sunning themselves along the roads, and he probably will. I'm hoping what's good for Bob's knee won't be too hard on his soul since he is the true definition of a 'people person.'

On Friday afternoon, I told the girls it was Bob the Mailman's last day so they needed to come out and say something to him. I didn't tell them what to say or coach them in any way. I think he got a little teary when he saw all four of us standing by the mail box, but I know he appreciated it. Mari said 'You're the best! Good luck!' and Josie summed it up perfectly with 'You are an EPIC mailman!'

So good luck to Bob on his new route. I'll bet it isn't too long until the iguanas start gathering when they hear the mail truck's distinctive rumble, just like we did. See you at Publix.

Weekend in Miami

This past weekend was the first time we stayed in the city of Miami, heading north from Key West for some shopping and off-island fun. We usually head to Broward County for retail therapy....Aventura, Hallandale, or Fort Lauderdale. All those stores we miss from home, in suburban areas that really could be in Maryland or any place else, except for the palm trees. This weekend gave me a little taste of the 'glitz' I often miss from traveling to large cities. We all enjoyed it.

We stayed at the Conrad hotel in Miami's financial district, a sea of high rises surrounded by Biscayne Bay. The view from our suite on the 22nd floor was amazing! It reminded me of our stay at the Conrad in Battery Park in Manhattan a few summers ago....replace the Biscayne Bay with the Hudson River, switch Goldman Sach's with Chase.

In Battery Park, there are many families living in the neighborhood high rises, so the waterfront park and local restaurants are dotted with kids. On Brickell Avenue (our address in Miami), things were definitely geared to well-heeled adults. And soccer fans. We watched Peru v Venezuela while we ate some delicious Mexican food near the hotel. On our walk back, the girls posed in front of the many 'step and repeats' (those backdrops listing sponsors of special events) in front of restaurants and bars we passed. I saw the highest heels ever on some gorgeous Latinas.....how do you walk in those things? And the valet parking (something I will never understand about South Florida) was in full swing, with the best cars placed curbside for all to see. I'm talking Rolls Royce and Maclaren.

The staff at the Conrad may have looked like the staff in New York in uniform and grace, but this hotel had a Latin flair that befits a luxury hotel in the city called 'the gateway to South America.' My girls became instant celebrities upon check in. Everyone assumes they speak Spanish (they don't.....yet!) but after the first conversation the staff was enchanted. Lots of special treatment, which they completely loved. At check out Mari told the concierge 'You did a great job and this is a WONDERFUL hotel. 'Bye!'

High rises and Biscayne Bay. That is the causeway to Key Biscayne in the background.