What I've been up to

I marched in the Key West March for Women's Reproductive Rights.  

There was a crowd of about 150 of us which I thought wasn't bad for a little island of this size

Went back to yoga and did two classes last weekend which was lovely!

Got my hair cut and colored by an awesome Irish stylist who like myself lives in Key West

Am digging The Bobby Shop where I got it done.  Anywhere that has this many Elvis and albums/pictures of albums and little models of Elvis has an immediate fan in me.

My friend Katrina made HOME MADE TORTILLAS.  From scratch.  Completely home made.  

They were amazeballs

 

Buddy

 We've had Buddy for about two or three weeks now and honestly it feels so much longer.  Last night when we went out for dinner to Shanna Key, Patrick (not a cat guy Patrick) commented that it feels like she has been part of the family for a couple of months now.  He also said that he wished he didn't delay in getting a cat (i.e. listening to all my hints) for as long as he did, that he wished we got her at the beginning of pandemic.

She is a right little character, just the right mix of boldness and mischief and also cute and cuddliness.  And so SMART! Lol seriously.  Every evening she drags one of her toys out of her bedroom to the living room and plays with it in front of us (noisily!).  And when finished she drags it back into her room - we sometimes hear her in the middle of the night playing some more.

Round her neck we have an airtag tracker which gives us the reassurance that if she ever got lost we can ring her on her iphone ahahahahahahhaaha :)

Buddy. And crabtraps

Stone crab season is coming up soon so we did a bit of work today building some new crab traps to replace lost/stolen ones from last year.

Look at the difference between new and the old ones from last year!!!

Patrick: Ok, go easy now on all the photos of the cat on facebook

Also Patrick: Hey, do you know what would make a really cute picture, if we put Buddy in a crabtrap

 

Buddy!!!!

Buddy the kitten lives with us now!

A friendly little thing, adopted from the Florida SPCA.  She is settling in nicely and we are just delighted with her.

Her name:

We decided to call her what is Patrick's default name for all pets (and fish while removing hooks, before throwing back). And a name that we probably would end up calling her anyway, no matter what we named her.  I like to think she is also called after Buddy Holly who I love

Odds and ends, bits and pieces

My friend Katrina called bingo at The Green Parrot in aid of Sister Season and she was awesome

Look at her! She was a little superstar

Posting the next few photos for posterity

Drinks with your neighbour during these times.  Stay safe and well everyone

My brother in law's (Pigsy) art exhibition continues in Kenmare, Co Kerry and continues to be very successful.  Open until the end of September/beginning of October.  Stop by The Buttermarker and check it out if you are around

September Supper Club

September is a quiet month for tourism so many of the (good) restaurants on the island do a locals special as a thank you for your support during the year.  Plus I guess it also means the restaurants stay somewhat busy in what can be a very quiet month (not this year!!! But others).

So I've been getting together with the Squad (as Joe calls us) and we've been making good use of September to eat out.

Here we are in Bel Mare who had a good deal on their pasta dishes and wine. And in such a beautiful setting.  This place gets a recommendation from me.

/

And then! Last Thursday.  In what is officially my favourite restaurant "Cafe Sole".  A nice discount off the whole bill for locals (broadly your tip I guess), lovely atmosphere, amaaaaaazing food.  If you are coming to Key West and planning just one good restaurant I say consider this.

 

Baby Boat day out on water - Happy Labor day weekend

This morning we had an awesome time out on the water and caught NINE fine size, fat 11 inch lane snappers. Patrick fileted them all and we have over a pound of fish in the fridge.  Plan is to have fish curry on Tuesday evening and one lunch during the week for Patrick.

And this evening:

The big smile is because we are having dinner in a tiki hut bar

We had a bit of an adventure when a thunderstorm and rainstorm rolled in out of nowhere and we had to wait it out before setting off back home.  And while going home it was a little "weathery" too, nothing bad but we were glad to get in when we did.  It was a lovely trip to make but we both did agree that it is a tough enough challenge for the baby boat going that distance to Stock Rock Cafe.  But worth it all the same!

Brewfest 2021, Key West

 After a 2020 hiatus (Goddamn you covid) Brewfest was back in Key West.  My first time attending and I was just thrilled with it - a beer festival beside the sea, how delightful!

I am already looking forward to next year and will do everything exactly the same, except next year I shall have a home made, real, edible PRETZEL NECKLACE around my neck for nibbling on.  This is apparently a thing over here in the USA!!  And a good thing I must say!

Jenni and I both got the pink check shirt memo.  Out of sight in this photo is her pretzel necklace

Saved the best for last.  He found the Guinness!

Megan and Amy.  You can kind of see Megan's pretzel necklace in this photo?

Oh! You can see more of it in this one.  

Look! A beer festival on the beach!!

Mahou.  A Spanish beer from the Granada area.  This emerged to be Patrick and mine's favourite

Pink Smirnoff Ice. Em.  No comment. Because I am far from my twenties in Ireland in Boomerang Nightclub, Temple Bar I did NOT try this.

Look at that view!!!

This is fun! About two blocks away from the beach is a house which was used as a film location for the James Bond "License to Kill". Conveniently the number of the house is 707 lol.

Pigsy in Kenmare

For the most part, I love living abroad and only occasionally do I really miss home. Well one of those "missing home" times is now!

My twin sister and her husband, the Irish artist Pigsy, are putting on a big wonderful art show in the beautiful town of Kenmare. If you've been following my blog you will know that I've worked with them on many exciting projects in the past including art exhibitions in Dublin and London.

The good news is that they are not missing me! I.e. everything is going swimmingly and they don't appear to need me even one little bit. Gee whizz you guys, that hurts! Lol, I digress, plus am joking.

Without further ado please let me give you a pre opening overview of Catharsis of Collapse by Pigsy

There's Enid, hard at work with the hanging of the artworks.

They hired a van and drove down from Dublin - themselves, all the art pieces and Bones the dog.

This exhibition is sponsored by Torc Brewing,  exciting new craft beer brewers from Killarney.

Pigsy and his art show got nice coverage in a good few publications over the last few weeks. Pictured is a little piece from Ireland's Social and Person magazine.

And finally! The space. With all the art hung in it. How beautiful and awesome is this venue, The Kenmare Buttermarket. Would you believe it was an old dance hall in the 1960's. The space and scale works perfectly for the scale and vibrancy of Pigsy art.

Well done Enid and Ciaran aka Pigsy! I am excited for you and I know this show will be a success. Enjoy the fruits of your hard work!

And if you are in Kerry for the next month, why not stop by and see the show?!

Farmer's Market, Truman Waterfront

For a long time now, I've been saying we must go check out the farmer's market which is held weekly in Truman Annex near the kid's waterpark and the coastguard ship Ingham.  We had nothing on this Thursday so we figured this was the week to do it.  It was great!! We will definitely be back - probably twice a month we are thinking

L-R Cheese made with Welsh ale and mustard seeds, aged cheddar, Indian lamb samosas, chili & mint chutney (which can also be used as marinade) and little mini toasts from France.

Fish on! Part ????

After our lovely road trip, I guess we just weren't quite tired enough so decided to push the boat out (d'ya geddit) and nip out for a few hours before sunset.  We always do that!!! Push and push, and by the end of the weekend are completely exhausted.  Ah sure, look, isn't life for living?!

For our efforts I was rewarded with THIS.  A fabulous big grouper, which was unfortunately not big enough!!!! He had to be thrown back in sob, sob, sniffle sniffle.  But wonderful sport bringing him in.  I was delighted with the catch.

Instead of dining on grouper we caught a few lane snapper which Patrick fileted and made into a fish curry - using a lovely marinade that we bought at the farmer's market on Thursday.  We both really liked it. This is going to become a regular: fileting the fish versus eating a whole fish.

I feel really lucky that we both share a hobby/love for fishing.  And eating the catch!

 

Inter Miami FC v Toronto FC Drv Pink Stadium

We took a little trip in the jeep up to Fort Lauderdale/Miami to see a football (sorry, soccer!!) match this weekend.  I may or may not have been enticed into this football watching thing by the chance of seeing David Beckham.  He does after all own Inter Miami FC.

Delighted with how the jeep handled the drive.  To be fair it felt like it almost needed the stretch and responded accordingly.  We stayed in a hotel, just a 5 minute walk from the stadium - the stroll being right alongside the concourse/runway of the executive airport was a bonus. I do love aircrafts, especially private jets, lol!  And Patrick RELAXED at the hotel! Imagine!!! He actualy lay by the pool both on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. 

The less said about the football the better.  It was not a good score for Toronto FC.  But it was some quality play, heck you'll take what you can.

And of course I just loooooove stadium food and drinkies :)

We were home early Sunday afternoon - in time to sneak out for a few hours fishing - all in all a lovely little get away!

Hey! We saw David Beckham,  To assist you in seeing him, I've added a helpful arrow to this photo

Why does it look like I photoshopped myself into a random football stadium?!