Letter from Key West, May 19 2020 - June 1 reopening

Well it is official.  The checkpoints are being removed, and The Keys will be open on June 1.  Which means that come June 1, Key West is open for non residents i.e. tourists to come visit.

Restaurants are allowed serve diners inhouse at 50% capacity.  Bars - if you are also a fully functioning kitchen/restaurant then you are allowed open as per the restaurant rule.  If no food, bars are not mandated to open (yet?).  Hotel rooms/accommodations/lodgings are allowed open and have guests stay, at 50% capacity.

What can I say?  Like my previous post, I'm nervous. I'm anxious that just one asymptomatic carrier will kickstart the spread of the virus through our little community.  We have been incredibly lucky and our numbers are so, so low currently.  I am worried that is about to change.

But what is the alternative?  We cannot stay holed up forever. Would it be any better in another month?  I cannot say.  What I can say is that in one month the tourist season is practically over for Key West and unemployed service industry workers would then be looking at a lean few months until October for Fantasy Fest.  IF Fantasy Fest goes ahead?  Who knows at this point what is going to happen.

What I do know is what I can control.
Practice excellent social distancing, wear my mask at all times in public, wash my hands, wash my hands, wash my hands.

Stay well friends.

Letter from Key West, April 24 2020

A little bit of a catch up since I last blogged...

Today in Key West news the county (Monroe) have said the Keys will not be opening to tourists in May - it will likely be June 1.  I appreciate this decision has a huge economic impact. 

I am still nervous about when we do eventually totally re-open, and for going forward.  With key West being a tourist destination it will be very hard to identify and control people movement.  I see myself just being ultra careful with hand washing, wearing my mask and social distancing until the vaccine arrives....

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I cooked a dish for dinner the other night which was an absolute disaster.  Chicken, garlic, rice  and broccoli bake.  I used chicken soup in it and I simply did not add enough water/milk/liquid so the rice used it all up during the cooking and it was dry and awful.  I also used Panko breadcrumbs on the top.  I am only familiar with Panko from books and American recipes.  We do not have it at home in Ireland.  I can report it is awwwwwwful.  Weird processed, sweet (almost coconut flavor and texture???), NOT breadcrumbs, processed something or other made out of flour yock.

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I successfully cut a dress to a shorter length and hemmed.  It is a stretch jersey type of material so it was a pain to hem but I did it!

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Enid texted me yesterday evening and said quick go on InstaLive on Reece's Witherspoon's page.  I clicked in and joined a lovely conversation between Reece and Jenna Bush Hager talking about books.  It was a really enjoyable thing to watch and I liked the thought that my twin was watching it too at home in Ireland. 

That's it I think!  It's Friday evening and we are heading into the weekend woohoo!!!!

Stay well and healthy friends! Stay at home!

Letter from Key West, April 17 2020

One Human Family.
There are a number of charities and outreach programs here on the island who support people in need - rough sleepers/people who are homeless/unemployed/people who are laid off - now, and before, the Covid19 pandemic.

In addition to this there are restaurants around town who are giving out free food to people in need.Yesterday it was Margaritaville who stepped forward and I saw this in action as I out went to CVS for some essential items.

As I pulled up on my bike I noticed little pockets of people standing around eating.  Then a man across the street sitting on a step eating from a take out box, shouted across to me "hey, they are giving out free food at Margaritaville, make sure you go get some".  I thanked him for telling me and shouted back to enjoy his lunch "oh I am, I am".

His unbridled joy brought me happiness.  I am not too proud to admit that I was a little nervous when I pulled up initially.  But you know,  his happiness and his willingness to engage with me gave me perspective, we are all just humans, and all just trying to get by in this old world of ours as best we can.

Fair play to the following for what they are doing to help:
- Better than Sex Restaurant
- Off the Hook Grill
- Margaritaville
- The Florida Keys Outreach Coalition
- Sister Season
And many others no doubt, as I hear of any more I will add them here.

Hey, if any of you out there wants some of these stickers just let me know and I will post to you

Letter from Key West April 9th 2020

Hello from Key West!  Well I have some exciting news for you today.  But first, a coronavirus update...and the update is that I don't really have much of an update for you:

- Internationally/British news: Boris Johnson has apparently been moved out of the ICU onto a regular recovery ward.
- USA: I didn't really watch a huge amount of news today but one thing I am picking up on is that Small Businesses are having trouble getting access to the cash promised by the Government.

Okay! Are you ready for my exciting news?!  How about this for some treasure finds!

Do you remember my previous blog about cleaning out the shed?  I didn't say what I did with all the stuff I cleared out.  If you follow this blog regularly you will know I am a big advocate for avoiding landfill and "reduce, reuse or recycle".  So I do love Key West and the "curb alert" system where people put stuff they want to get rid of out for other people to poke through and take.  One man's junk is another man's treasure as they say.

So yesterday I put stuff out, and a decent amount got taken, yay!  But a decent amount was still left too.  Patrick really just wanted rid of it. He is, understandably, not mad on a big pile of rubbish outside our house, and not mad on strangers mooching around either. So he really would have liked to throw what remained straight into the rubbish bins at that point.  But he knows also how much I wanted it to be reused, so we compromised that I would put it out this morning for just one day more, and that anything left at 5pm today was for the trash.

So out it went:

Ok so this is where it gets interesting! The photo above is pretty junky right?  Bear in mind this is the remains from the second day.  There was some really good stuff on the first day. The type of Christmas decorations (sorry, ornaments!) that look like they would have been expensive and purchased in Fast Buck Freddies back in the day. 

This style of ornament (or even nicer)

And I am sure there are some people (Enid?!) reading this right now shouting, "no way, why didn't you keep them??!!" And while this is a reasonable question, I guess the answer to that is that I would prefer build up our own collection of Christmas tree decorations over the years. Plus there was an awful lot, boxes and boxes, remember my objective was to clear out that shed!! And also I am happy for them to go to new homes if other people will like them and they will be used.

But this morning while putting all the stuff out, my gut told me I should do a thorough search through them all and make absolutely sure I was happy for everything to go. 

Well guess what! I found THIS!

Oh, just a Waterford Crystal snowflake! The 2007 Christmas edition.

Can you believe it?  What is really funny is that this means a fabulous piece of (heavy) cut crystal worth approximately $100 (I looked it up!) was sitting outside of our house for a whole day, for the taking.

My gut was still niggling, urging me on that there was something else decent to be saved.  So when I saw these little teeny tiny guys I knew I had found something good!

They have a 1950/1960's look about them and I had a feeling that I was going to find some kind of identification on them that would be useful - I almost thought it would be something familiar like a steiff tag or something.

Well strangely, it was not Steiff, but it WAS German.

Original FDR Toys. Made in W.Germany

This dates them from prior to reunification i.e. between 1949 and 1990! And I would wager, going on the look of them they are late 50's/early60's.

I am just thrilled to bits with both my finds!  And to think that if I hadn't had that look this morning they could have been in the trash at 5pm.  Eek! Just doesn't bear thinking about.

Letter from Key West, April 8 2020

Since I last blogged it appears that masks, and the wearing of them, is coming to the fore.  As per yesterday's City of Key West directive all employees must wear masks.  Some stores are insisting on shoppers wearing them too. Home Depot is not letting anyone in without a mask, late last afternoon Fausto's posted on their facebook the same. 

Me, I stayed at home and cleaned my shed.  How the heck did it get packed full of all that junk?? When we moved in (mid January) I did a big clean out of the old owner's stuff but heck seems we managed to fill it with our own stuff since then.

It took me almost the whole day, with breaks, but I think you will agree from the photos; job well done.  Now just need to keep it this way!

Where ever you right now, stay well and positive friends.

Boris Johnson & new directives for Key West

Late afternoon (my time) the news emerged that the Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson had been moved to hospital to the Intensive Care Unit.  He had been self isolating with symptoms of (confirmed) coronavirus for approximately the last 10 days.  The news this morning is that he received oxygen, but is not on a ventilator, he is awake and breathing in the ICU.

Politics aside, I wish him a good recovery.

Here in Key West, yesterday, some new directives were given by the Mayor/city and these went into force last night at midnight and are live now.  They are mainly around "crowd control" in the supermarkets etc, and protective clothing/masks for employees.  These are things that have probably been in place in your area for a couple of weeks now e.g. controlled lines outside grocery stores etc.  There is a lag on things down here in the Southernmost city - i.e. the USA has a lag behind Europe, and Key West lags behind (for example) New York. 

Pic below shows the new guidelines.

In other news. I got a coffee machine! Nothing fancy, nothing expensive, but boy does it bring joy into my life drinking good coffee every morning.

Check this baby out! Sorry for the leaning photo lol

I have it pride of place on the kitchen island - I was able to fix the sockets behind the coffee machine on the pillar which were previously not working so am very pleased about that, and delighted with this spot for it!

For good coffee, you need to start with good beans! 

And the name of these "Key West Sunrise"  makes me happy

Good morning and Happy Tuesday all! Stay safe and healthy.