Amy hanging with Kenny Chesney

I MET KENNY CHESNEY!!

And he was so incredibly nice, that I need a new word for nice to describe him properly.  Famous, or not, I think he might just have been one of the most down to earth and genuine people, I have ever met.  So warm, and generous with his time in his conversation with me (I spoke with him about the book he has just written).  At one point he mentioned that "he was working" during the time he was writing the book, "so he wasn't writing the whole time".  "Working"!?!!- yes, we know, recording and touring as a C&W superstar!!! I just love his humility,

 

My sunglasses were really showing all the use they get and were looking very scratched up from the ocean sea salt.  I was going to just buy a new pair but then someone was telling me that I could order new lenses online and replace them myself.

I bought lenses for just $40 and watched a 45 second video on youtube explaining how to click them out and click them back in.  Et voila! Look at them!!!!! 

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Recent bloods showed I am mildly anaemic so I ordered a big load of supplements including this liquid iron and hopefully will see results soon.  Reason I got my bloods done was that last two times that I went to donate blood they would not take it because my iron was slightly low and my blood pressure was VERY low.  

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Vacation Time!

We went to Mexico with our friends!  It was a wonderful 6 days of relaxation, eating and drinking,  There are many vacations where I have "done a lot more" and "seen a lot more" but this was one where we all just needed to do nothing as much as possible. And it was fantastic!

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On the way home, Patrick bought a bottle of tequila in the airport.  I made a simple syrup and am enjoying a margarita once a week. Every time he sees me making the drink he says "best husband award to Patrick" ahahahahahahah

 

Lobster Club 2025

In a previous blog, I mentioned that the shed roof is leaking,  Well it has got even worse. Water pouring in when it rains bad. In an effort to manage it, I did a big shed clean up and moved everything to places where the water does not come in. But I don't know, I think we might need a new shed.  That pains me to say, I love our vintage old shed from the 1950's.

During the clean-up we identified some hurricane shutters that are no longer needed because we have got some new windows and doors on one side of the house that are hurricane strength.  We put these on facebook marketplace and where pleased to get a quick sale.

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The locals specials are in full swing here in Key West.  We have been dining a lot at The Grand Cafe where we have found a new favourite wine.  I am obsessed with their truffle penne.  Or else I am ordering their incredible burger with goats cheese and tomato jam and truffle fries.  Yup I am loving truffle these days.

Lobster Club is back in session!

August of every year, DJ's Clamshack offer their lobster rolls for half price with locals id.  $14 for the best Maine lobster roll, stuffed to bursting, that you have ever tasted in your whole life.  Oh, and the roll is the amazing kind of brioche toast.

Patrick, Bill, Feliz and I call it Lobster Club and we aim to attend every single Thursday in the month. 2/4 completed to date.

 

Anyone like tales of the paranormal?! Podcast recommendations...

I love these chairs in the Saint lobby, I guess they are reminiscent of  Philip Starck's ghost chairs.

Sooooo, how about this for an awesome story!

What a cool connection to make!

A few weeks ago, after one of my tours, a guest came up to me and said "strange question I know, but have you any info or feelings about any ghosts here".  I replied, "I don't really, but hey, if you are interested in that kind of thing, my friend has just recently started a podcast, the name of it is You Two Scare Me".

Well, it turned out that my guest was none other than journalist, TV presenter, producer and podcaster Aaron Sagers.  He has shows on the travel channel and netflix no less!  I was able to make the connection between my friends and him, and we ended up meeting at The Saint Hotel where I threw on my PR and Tour guide hat and gave them all a little tour, focusing on first the historical nature of some of the buildings and then some of the reported goings on in a certain room.

We then did some recordings - Aaron first of all interviewed myself and the two You Two Scare Me co-hosts for his podcast (Talking Strange).  And then, Feliz and Andi interviewed him for theirs. He was so nice and I think it was incredibly good of him to spend his time with us and doing all the recording.

I will finish by saying to you the same thing I said to him, if you are interested in that kind of thing check out my friend's podcast "You Two Scare Me".  

Get it where you get all your usual podcasts.....if you dare, muwahahahahahahaaaaaa

Catch up time - we have TWO CATS NOW!!!!

Yes! We have a new cat.

Meet Monty, on the left in this picture.

There is a big, long story behind how we got him (remember, we were very happy with just one), but long story short, it turns out they are actually from the same family.  Buddy and Monty are sister and brother!!! He was returned to the shelter by his adoptive family (ugh, long story there too, no fault of his!!!) and how could we leave him there?

Monty is a very friendly fella. We are all getting used to each other, Buddy taking a little bit more time, but overall things are going well.  

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Vic came on his yearly visit!

Patrick and him went out fishing literally every day, hence the red sunburnt faces lol. I joined them for dinner most nights.  Half Shell Raw Bar in this pic.

The Grand Cafe here.

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One of my colleagues organized a lovely treat of coffee and doughnuts.  I immediately sent pics to Enid and our cousin, Kasey.  Years and years ago, like maybe 15 years, Kasey was on a business trip in Boston and came home with stories of giant cardboard coffee pots to Enid and I :) So funny.  We all love a bit of Americana!

 

FML - Fix my life

So do you remember my last post about the restraining arm on the jeep? Well that one ended up getting mangled too. So I figured out that a flexible “strap” would be better - and it is, this one has been installed now for months with no issue.

The dashboard displays on the boat had become completely clouded over - not ideal, not being able to, see your fuel gauge or speed etc (although we had that on the gps screen also). 

Look at it now! Like brand new!

I stained the outdoor gardens. Don’t they look great?!

No photos, but other things fixed:

Boat steering wheel had gone really stiff and think it was because of air having got trapped in the hydraulics. So, thank you YouTube and our dockmaster’s advice, think I have resolved the issue - will not bore you with details except to tell you that it involves hydraulic oil and a tube.

Patrick’s outdoor bathroom toilet had been leaking a very small but steady stream of water. I hate wasting water so I got that fixed too. I first replaced the flapper but that didn’t resolve it so I did a bit more work and installed a seal to work with the flapper.

Work in progress: shed roof leaks during the rain

 

Another episode of Everything Breaks in Key West

 This is the old restraining strap for the tailgate of the jeep. It gave up the ghost during the week and I ordered a new part from Amazon.

Here is the new part. Made in Mexico I noticed when it arrived.

It was a tough enough fix to be honest. Took every tool under the sun for starters. And secondly, to get to the part I had to get past a big load of jeep screws that were rusted on and almost impossible to remove. Pleased to report, got there in the end and it is working perfectly now.

Everything Breaks in Key West - Part ?

 

Out of nowhere our bedroom ceiling fan started making a horrific (grating) noise in the middle of the night. Plus the pull chain malfunctioned when we went to turn it off because of the noise.

I thought I was going to have to replace the whole fan - eek! After some googling and YouTubing, where it was continually described as “easy, you can totally do it yourself”, I thought I might be able to do it. But it did involve shutting the power off and connecting wires etc so I was nervous.

Anyway, I went off to work leaving the fan on low (less noise) hoping the noise might wear it self out. Good news! It did.

Which just left the pull chain to deal with. More good news I was able to fix that (again, with the aid of google and YouTube).

Next up, is the retaining arm on the tailgate of the jeep.

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Oysterfest 2025

Every now and again we treat ourselves to a big old oyster night out.  We did one the end of December and February's just took place on Friday night.

We firstly, not pictured, went to Alonzo's where Patrick had some raw oysters and I had half a dozen baked oysters.  After that we headed up to one of my favourite places - a speakeasy called Berlin's,  I had a fancy drink (Paloma Margarita) and we shared a shrimp cocktail (plump and delicious) and my NUMBER ONE dish ever, my absolute favourite of all times.  Oysters Rockefeller mmm mmm,

We had a lovely night, finishing off our drinks enjoying the view out on to the marina,

 

Happy New Year 2025

 

Happy Nee Year!

I started 2025 the right way with my now traditional Oyster Shooter. Spicy hot and a bit vile and lot crazy. I laughed hysterically for 5 minutes afterwards at the photographs and am still smiling every time I think of it. I recommend this silliness lol!

*obviously ignoring the fact that I have not blogged since September!! Truth be told I actually thought it was July and was relieved when I saw September. Absolutely no reason for not recording events - all is good, just simply fell of the habit ugh. But I am back now and intend continuing for 2025!