Christmas festivities

 I love this time of the year.  Not quite as mad as Ireland (side story: where "silly season" started on November 17th, as designated by my best friend in work because that is the date that brokers started bringing us out for Christmas parties - this was during the Celtic Tiger years when there were so many brokers and so many parties that it all had to start that early in order to get them all in before Christmas), but probably more straight forward "wholesome" than Ireland.  More festive gatherings versus mad drinking parties I guess.  That was the Celtic Tiger for you I guess.... Insert "eek emoji" here.

Soooooo.  Here is some "wholesome" for ya! Ok, ok, with a few little sneaky spiked drinkies snuck in there too :)

Patrick came up with great idea of Christmas Lobster rolls.  The absolutely best place on the island, like literally the best, do not go anywhere else, is DJ's crab shack.  

Maine Lobster with a local Islamorada beer

Afterwards we headed to meet our friends in the Truman park car lot where we had some festive drinks, eggnog and the like. Yes that is bucket of fireball.  In the cup is hot chocolate with double chocolate vodka in it.

And then! Then we boarded the conch train for a tour of the island and all the houses lit up for the holiday.  Christmas songs blaring and lots of holiday cheer.  It was a wonderful evening!

Irish artist Pigsy in Social and Personal (Ireland's ruling fashion magazine Est. 1934)

 Dublin's DesignYard has a very exciting online exhibition of artist Pigsy's latest work, featuring more than 20 vibrant pieces ranging in price from eur1,300 to eur24,000.  The show titled "Seven Spanish Angels", runs from November 28 - December 12, and each piece will ship directly from Pigsy's Malaga studio free of charge worldwide.  

Born on the north side of Dublin, Ciaran McCoy, is an award winning architect of (ODKM Architects) who borrows from his architectural knowledge to create his diverse expressionist artwork as his alter ego "Pigsy".  Featured in this new collection, the painting here is called "I Went to Mass" (eur4,800).  

See the show at Designyard.com

Elvis: That's The Way It Is - Special Edition

 Just before covid19 hit and the cinemas closed one of the last films we saw in The Tropic cinema here in Key West was the Robbie Robertson documentary about The Band "Once Were Brothers".

The Tropic is (softly) reopened, and when I saw an ad on facebook for the re-release of "Elvis: That's the way it is", and that it was playing in the Tropic.....well I just hopped on it and bought two tickets.

It felt incredibly safe in the theatre....well there was only us and two other couples there! Great for us, but I do worry how the cinema will survive with that kind of attendance.

What was really cool is that the major of the film is clips of (full songs) of his Las Vegas concerts so, as Patrick said afterwards, in a bizarre pandemic kind of way it felt like we were at a live show. It is as near to a live concert you will get right now so we will take it I suppose!

Sorry :(
I can't rotate this pic

We both really enjoyed the gospel songs part of the show so went online and ordered a CD of them.  Best deal was to also get his number 1's also.  And then, I went the whole hog and ordered a cd of The Band also. Spent the afternoon today listening to them while swimming in the pool. Pretty good afternoon me thinks!

Success!

 Great day out on the water this morning!

First, caught a ginormous parrot fish.  This feeds on the coral and cleans it, so after a quick photo and swift removal of hook (me and my trusty pliers) we got it back in the sea and on its way.

Then we went and checked the crab traps and caught this ginormous stone crab!  Same as the fish: swift removal of ONE claw and back in the ocean asap.

Sugarloaf Lodge

 We got off the rock for a little getaway, which I admit does pose the question do you really need to take a vacation from an island where people go to vacation?  Probably not I say, and in fact we were dying to get home the next day, but that doesn't mean we had anything but a wonderful time.

We stayed at a quirky little hotel that I had my eye on.  Sugarloaf Lodge is located on Sugarloaf Key which is about 20 miles away from us.  Our room had a lovely view of the ocean and was warm...but yes, quirky, read old and dodgy lol. Just the way I like 'em lol! Clean though! MUST be clean!!

We ate that night in Mangrove Mamas and it was really really good. Great atmosphere - although we stayed in a dining room separate to the bar, that was just us within it, to stay safe - we could hear the vibe though and it felt good.  And wonderful food! I had Shrimp Coquille St Jacques and I just loved it.  Patrick got paella with a Cuban vibe which he too loved.

The next morning we drove home, stopping at Baby's Coffee on the way. 

10/10.

"Me and my Tree" The Christmas 2020 portrait series

 I've always loved old photos from the 1960's.  I love looking at the fashion, "the what people wore", the furniture and imagining "how people lived" based on their photos.  I particularly love Christmas ones.  People dressed up for parties, such glamour! And their cocktails!  The craft cocktails of our day can't hold a candle to the old classics of a Saturday night, in my opinion.

My friend Feliz came up with a great facebook idea for this Christmas:

"We need a little glamour in our lives right now.  This Christmas season 2020, let's put on our fanciest dresses, pour ourselves a martin, and pose in front of a tree.  Post those pictures! Extra credit if you have a silver tree, or those silver tinsel thingies".

So taking Feliz's idea I put this challenge out to my friends on facebook and the photos are coming in!  Photo of my album so far, plus of my pics.  I'm really loving this fun little project and I think it will be a nice little memory of this crazy coronavirus pandemic year.

If you're reading this blog and you want to be part of it that would be great! Just send me your pic :)

Manai (A man cave in Key West, Florida)

I love our little outdoor space aka "the lanai".   

We recently got it wired up properly by an electrician so it means we have the option of watching tv outside. Patrick particularly likes it for watching sports and having an evening drink so I guess it is a bit of a man cave.  Hence the name "the manai".

We scored the white wicker chairs at a yard sale.  They are REALLY good quality.  Proper old wicker, and heavy and solid.   Whereas the brown yokes are just Home Depot plastic wicker...

...BUT! When the brown are sprayed up white, they sure look better don't they?  

Before and After pics below!