Tuesday, March 2, 2010

A big fan of Key West



Yup. That's the giant fan at Pepe's where we escaped a passing thunder storm by eating. What a plan. And, yes, so far, I, too, am a big fan of Key West. It's an artist date as big and overblown as those gigantic blades. The lady at Pepe's assured me the fan worked fine, but it would "blow us out of here" if they turned it on this moderately chilly day.

So, I love the chickens, especially those truly voluble roosters. I love the gaudy bougainvillea in shades of fuchsia, rose and orange. I even like the rumbling, grumbling motorcycles and the fat, tattooed, long-haired, leather-skinned old hippies who ride them. I admired a t-shirt the back of which said, "If you can read this, the bitch fell off." Such gentlemen, those bikers.

The Key West Artist Date is seeing your tame houseplant grown up taller than your head. It's an absolute homage to drunkenness. Turquoise water spread thin over pale sand. Trees, gnarly and tenacious enough to build islands in the midst of the sea. A culture of celebration, perched at the edge of a catastrophe of monster winds and tsunami storm surges. Key West is 100% found art, and it overloads your head with fresh beauty and strangeness.

I'm inspired by these things because they're new to me. They jolt my senses and wake up my imagination. And that's cool. But those of you adrift in winter limbo, open your vacation eyes and find art where you are. Viv has her jar of Fluff. (And her trip to somewhere really warm!) What have you? Weigh in! And you'll have to excuse me. There's a rooster hollering on the roof and I want to get his picture....

2 comments:

  1. OH, P.S. I'm doing my morning pages almost every day. You?

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  2. Oh yummy -- I'm just a bit south of you for the next . . . let's see, eighteen hours. Two days in paradise are drawing to their conclusion. Strangely, it's been cool (for Cayman that's low 70's) and rough surf. But still that spectacular turquoise. Morning Pages -- yes, writing them at dawn - different birds.
    Artist's Date: turns out I'm always an expensive date - got watch me like a hawk in the duty free shops where I tend to make best new friends with jewelry merchants.
    Today -- I walked nearly the entire expanse of 7 Mile Beach Road -- whatever that's called -- mostly barefoot on the beach, then into Georgetown-- where the ships generally come in -- weather has been prohibitive for landing -- so tourists are bused in from the other side of the island. It's all lovely.
    Sushi tonight -- and we have roosters, too. Walking around town like pigeons.

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