Friday, January 5, 2018

Old Man Winter Claws His way to Key West

Let's be perfectly clear, we are not complaining about the weather here, but having to dig out our cold weather gear to go exploring in Key West, FL is kind of a bummer.  Hey, it's cold riding a scooter around in 60 deg air, don't you know.  I know we are not getting any sympathy from our friends north of us but just want to report what's going on down here and the talk of the town is how cold it is.  Fortunately, it is only for 3 days, then back into the 70's.

The good news is that the cold air has kept us around the boat and eating what we fix in the galley.  We also catch up on some cleaning and solving problems with posting our blog, (more on that later).  The cold air didn't stop the tourists from coming off the cruise ships and invading the island like locusts in hoodies.  Even in the cold, wind-driven drizzle, tourists were sitting outside eating and drinking like it was 80 degrees.  I guess that's good for the shops and restaurants in old town, so more power to 'em.

As the old saying goes, "If it ain't broken, fix it till it is."  I am referring to Apple and their new photo format known as the HEIC format.  Apple has replaced the tried and true .JPEG that used to be universally compatible with almost everything and this caused us to not be able to upload any of our iPhone photos to blogger.  It took a better part of the morning to find a work-around just to get these photos to load on our blog site.  I tried all recommended "fixes" in the settings folder but none worked.  What we have is a clunky process to convert HEIC to JPEG, and it will have to do until updates are made to accommodate the new format.  I guess it may be a good thing in the long run, but for now it is very inconvenient.  OK, enough whining.

That's the news and here are some views, (finally).

 We are enjoying our Christmas gifts from our sons and daughter-in-law.  Here are some leather cozies that William made to fit our tumblers and another set that fits 12 oz. cans.  Now we can enjoy a hot beverage with the two boxes of assorted chocolates that Stephen & Sarah sent!

 Desperate to find warmer air we decided to go to the southernmost point of the United States to find it.  The marker in the background marks this location but sadly the air was just as cold there.

 Even if it is chilly we were still able to find places all around that looked like they should be bathed in warm tropical air, like this.

 Even though iguanas are freezing and falling out of trees by the hundreds north of us, butterflies are busy going about their business, reminding us that this is still Key West, FL.

 The cold air forced us to visit the creperie, for the third time.  This time we sat inside and got to watch the chef prepare our crepe.

 No wonder these dishes are so good.  They use the real stuff here!

 Nough said!

 Forget the cold air outside.  It's warm in here.

Yes, those are eggs over easy on buckwheat crepe:)

6 comments:

  1. OK. I finally have my satisfaction. I will take the pins out of my Veridian model so that you can have your deserved warm weather back. As you know it has been frigid here since Christmas day, but at least the sun has been out almost every day since. It doesn't help much, but it makes the cabin fever a bit easier to take. The good news is the cold spell will begin to break here tomorrow and get into the mid-50s later during the week. I now that sounds arctic to you banana republic denizens, but we will welcome it. That pic you took of the butterfly is a class photo. Worthy of National Geographic.

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  2. We are finally back to normal Key weather, mid to upper 70's. There are so many photographic opportunities here but we haven't put in the time to experiment with artistic side, just shooting from the hip with a cell phone and getting luck every once and awhile. As this is one of the most photographed areas in the country it would be worth the trip here just to take some shots. I would love to see what Rusty could do with a few days of photographing.

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  3. Going to enjoy following you fellow travelers. My first outing with my Christmas present from my co-captain...Jeanne!

    Look forward to perhaps seeing you in Chesapeake Bay country,

    Alan & Jeanne Cecil

    M/V SIGMACHI

    AGLCA, MTOA, RMHYC, SOS

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  4. New IPad and initial view of Viridian-s blog.

    Look forward to meeting you perhaps in Chesapeake Bay Country!

    Alan & Jeanne Cecil
    SIGMACHI

    AGLCA, MTOA, RMHYC, SOS

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  5. Hi George,
    Glad to see you are enjoying Key West! It’s been pretty cool and windy here in Ft Myers. Going to get down into 30s early Thursday morning. Here until end of January, then to the Keys somewhere if I can find a marina.

    Mike Sheehy
    Dash Away Monk 36

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