Monthly Archives: May 2020
So Long and Thanks For All The Fish . . .
Some of you will get this, but most of you probably won’t.
A couple of days ago, I blog-posted about my porpoise training days down in Florida during the the summer of 1967.
And I talked about how Lori, the smaller one on the left,
once caught a fish in her pen and gave it to me as a gift, I guess because I had given her so many fish.
Well, apparently it wasn’t just Lori. It seems that dolphins at the Barnacles Café and Dolphin Feeding, an attraction in Australia, are missing all the tourists, who aren’t coming to see them, and feed them, so they’re bringing them gifts to try and lure them back.
Dolphins who frequent Australia’s Tin Can Bay, a popular tourist spot, have taken to bringing “gifts” ashore, apparently missing the visitors who would normally be lined up to feed them before the coronavirus pandemic.
The pod of humpback dolphins has brought sponges, barnacle-covered bottles and fragments of coral to Queensland’s Barnacles Cafe & Dolphin Feeding in recent weeks, a volunteer told Australia’s 7News.
“Nothing surprises me with dolphins and their behavior anymore,” Barry McGovern, a dolphin expert and PhD student at University of Queensland, told the outlet. “They do everything – they use tools, they have culture, they have something similar to names in signature whistles.”
Now, before anyone corrects me, yes I know Lori and Thor were dolphins, NOW. But back then, they were porpoises.
This was a dolphin, and actually still is.
It’s a fish. A Dolphin Fish, to be precise.
But somewhere along the line it became a Mahi-Mahi.
I wish they’d just make up their minds and stop changing the names of things.
Since a number of readers have commented on how much they like my reposting of places we’ve visited in the past, I thought I repost this compilation of a week we spent in Key West, FL 11 years ago this month.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
May 15, 2009
We pulled out of the RV park in Homestead, FL and headed down to Key West about 11:30 am.
This is later than we had thought to leave, but we were waiting for the mail to come at the park office.
Our daughter Brandi had send us a Priority Mail letter on Monday containing a replacement debit card. One of the two we normally use has lost its magnetic strip and will no longer scan.
It should have been here Wednesday or Thursday, at the latest. But it still hasn’t shown up. Since we’ll be passing back thru Homestead on our way back north, the RV park is going to hold it for us, assuming it ever shows up.
We’ll see.
We arrived here in Key West about 2:3opm and have a waterfront site here at Geiger Key RV Park. We’re about 10 miles from Key West proper.
Here’s a couple of pics of what we see from our site. Nice!!!
We actually about 5 ft from the water’s edge.
After we had gotten things set up, we headed into Key West to grab a late lunch/early supper.
We decided to try Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville Cafe in downtown Key West. We’d eaten at his sister’s place in Gulf Shores, AL called Lulu’s at Homeport, so we had to try Jimmy’s too.
We were surprised how small the place really is.
Jan had the Caribbean Club Chicken Sandwich and I had the Caribbean Chicken Salad. We both really liked what we had.
Hopefully we’ll have a chance to go back.
Tomorrow some friends of ours are coming down with their RV from West Palm Beach and will join us for a few days. We really look forward to seeing Charlee again. It’s been a long time.
May 16, 2009
Our friends showed up about 4:30pm after driving down from West Palm Beach with 5th wheel trailer. They’re parked about 3 spaces down from us here at the RV park.
As soon as they got settled in, we headed the 10 miles down the road to Key West and sunset on the historic Mallory Square.
From where we were on the pier we couldn’t see the sun set directly, but it was beautiful, none the less.
After watching the sunset we walked across the street to the world-famous Hogsbreath Saloon. The food was really good and the drinks were great.
Jan had Chicken Tenders and Jalapeno Poppers appetizers, and I had the Grilled Chicken Sandwich. But the drinks were a whole ‘nuther story.
Jan had the GoomBaySmash, which is pineapple juice and coconut milk mixed with Bacardi Coco Rum. It wasn’t long until she feeling very, very good.
And I think my Hogarita was made with rocket fuel. The few times I order a mixed drink I normally complain about the fact that there seems to be little or no alcohol in it.
A couple of weeks Jan and I were eating a Cuban restaurant in Downtown Disney, a commercial shopping/restaurant area that’s not actually part of the Disney theme parks. Since I had never had one, I decided to order a Mojito, a drink made with rum, sugar, lime juice, soda, and mint leaves.
And I would swear that this drink had absolutely NO alcohol in it whatsoever. I mean it was sugar/lime/mint favored, but I might as well have been drinking ice tea, and it would have been a lot cheaper, too.
However I think my Hogarita had my drink’s alcohol in it and two or three other people’s drinks. I certainly got my money’s worth.
And I’ll just say that I’m glad I wasn’t driving us home.
May 17, 2009
After eating a great breakfast at the Geiger Key Marina Smokehouse Restaurant here at the RV park, we headed back down to Key West with our friends to spend some more time exploring.
The first thing we noticed was that there was a new addition to the scenery. Since we left last night, a Disney Cruise ship had docked right on the square.
After finding a place to park, we wandered some of the many gift shops before taking a tour of Key West on the Old Time Trolley. It’s a 90 minute ride going past all of the major sites in Key West. Our tour guide, Tim, was excellent and really kept us laughing.
We also came across what seems to be the original ‘Sponge Bob’, although his pants weren’t square.
After wandering thru more gift shops, we ate a late lunch at Alonzo’s Oyster Bar, right on the water at the Key West Marina. Once again the food was good and the scenery was great!
Right across the dock from us, a fishing boat had come in and was cleaning some of their catch, throwing the waste overboard.
This attracted a lot of gulls, and some very large tarpon, all of them fighting over the feast.
Some of the tarpon seemed to be at least 6ft in length.
But now it was time for us to head back to the RV park since our friends planned on heading back up to West Palm Beach, about 220 miles north.
We had a great time visiting together and will see them again in a few days when we stop over in West Palm on our way up north.
May 18, 2009
After bidding our friends goodbye yesterday afternoon, we had a somewhat quieter day today.
We headed back down to Key West to try out a little Mexican place on Duval St. that we had heard about called Old Town Mexican Cafe.
This was probably the best Mexican food we’ve had since we left Houston. We’re going to try to go back before we leave.
On the way back to our RV we mailed some postcards and stopped by a Winn-Dixie for some Valencia oranges and fresh strawberries to have for supper.
Tomorrow I think we’ll drive back the Keys toward Homestead and do some sightseeing.
May 19, 2009
Jan and I decided to explore back up the Keys today. We went all the way up to Key Largo and then back down to Key West. There were several places that we drove by on the way down that we wanted to take a closer look at.
Strangely enough, most of them seemed to be gift shops.
Lunch was at a small but very good Chinese buffet restaurant in Marathon called Panda Cafe. Really good!
We drove in and out of several rainstorms both up and down the Keys. But it did produce some very pretty pictures. And the ‘Glades and Keys can certainly use the rain.
One thing we got see on our trip today was ‘Fat Albert’ floating over Cudjoe Key.
‘Fat Albert’ is a 175 foot long helium-filled blimp floating at 10,000 ft. It is tethered to a pickup truck at the small blimp base on Cudjoe Key.
It is used mainly by NORAD, and the radar it carries monitors suspected drug smuggling flights, fast boats smuggling Cubans, weather, any low flying plane and other potentially harmful activity.
It is also sometimes used to broadcast ‘TV Marti’, which consists of anti-Castro TV programs beamed toward Cuba.
After we got back we headed down into Key West for another dinner at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. Just as good as last time.
And of course, a few more gift shops had to be visited.
Tomorrow will be our last full day in the Keys before we head north to West Palm Beach on Thursday. We’ve really enjoyed all the sights we’ve seen here in Southern Florida and the Keys.
Here’s a few pics…
We also saw this interesting lizard while we were at Coral Castle.
This one was about a foot long and I had never seen one like it.
A quick Google told me that it is a Red-headed Agama, native to Africa. It seems that some agamas being kept as pets had escaped and there are now a number of colonies thriving here in South Florida.
When they are in courting mode, the males are even more colorful.
We’ve also seen a number of interesting signs.
Looks like this guy has his business plan mapped out.
Yes there are crocodiles in the Keys. The really scary part about this sign is that there is a 6 ft fence on both sides of the highway for the entire 6 miles. I’m not sure I want to think about crocodiles that can jump 6 ft fences.
And finally, like I needed another reason to eat more Key Lime Pie!
May 20, 2009
Today is our last full day here in Key West.
After lunch at the Eat N Grinn deli, we headed over to Mallory Square to catch the Conch Train Tour.
We had already taken the Old Town Trolley tour on Sunday when our friends were here, but we wanted to take the train since although there is some overlap, the Conch Train concentrates more on the historic Old Town part of Key West.
One of the places we visited was the Southermost Point of the United States, and the southern end of U.S 1
What I didn’t realize until several years later was that 4 months to the day, we were 2,369 miles north in Fort Kent, Maine at the northern end of U.S. 1.
And a few minutes later we were crossing the St. John River into New Brunswick, Canada, on our way east through Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, before coming back into the U.S. near Buffalo, NY.
Another place we drove by was the old shrimp boat docks.
Twice in the early ’60s I was on one of my father’s shrimp boats when we docked here at Key West for supplies. There wasn’t a heck of a lot in Key West then, except for the docks and the Naval Base, which closed down in the ’70’s.
After wondering thru some more gift shops, we headed down to the Old Town Mexican Cafe for our last Key West meal. We ate here Monday and really liked it so we thought we would try it again. Still great!
After dinner we headed back to our rig at Geiger RV Park. We’ve been parked right on the water with a great view.
When we got back, Jan was putting clothes in the washer to run a load. Right before she locked the door she noticed the clothes were ‘moving’.
A few seconds later, Mister popped out. He’s bad about crawling into places, and this time, he almost got washed and dryed.
Tomorrow we head north to West Palm Beach to meet up with our friends again. It’s about 234 miles, but will take us 6-7 hours due to the slow speed limits getting off the Keys.
May 21, 2009
Well, it turns out that today was not our last day in Key West.
I wasn’t feeling well this morning so we decided to put off leaving for another day. Just stayed around the coach all day and then walked over to the RV park restaurant for supper. This place is an outside bar/restaurant with the tables right on the water.
The food was great and the view was fantastic!
Jan had the Turkey & Dressing and I had the Cuban Roast Pork dinner. Both excellent!
While we were sitting at our table a guy brought by a small batfish he had caught.
This is one ugly fish.
Since we have a long trip tomorrow to West Palm Beach, we’ll try to get an early stop, probably around 8pm.
Thought For The Day:
The longer this goes on, the harder it will be to return to a society where pants and bras are required!
k
More Memories . . .
In the latest HCQ news –
Talking about HCQ, Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie said “… the Department of Defense and VA have been using it for 65 years. On any given day, VA uses 42,000 doses of this drug, and what we did when this virus first hit us was to use every means necessary to help preserve life.”
Sec. Wilkie also said that Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.), who has been widely praised by the media for his coronavirus handling, had requested “tens of thousands” of doses of hydroxychloroquine.
So listen to the experts, they said. But which ones.
The FDA who says that it will kill you, despite the fact that millions of people take it every day for lupus, arthritis, and other auto-immune diseases. As well as people like me, who took it for malaria in 1962 when we were in South America, and again for a relapse in 1967.
Or the VA who uses it every day with no problems.
Here’s another compilation of two related blogs from the past.
A week ago last year, when we were passing Buckingham Place, we saw a lot of fancy dressed women wearing big hats, getting out of limos, and Jan wondered if Sam was among them.
I’ve talked about Sam, though not by name, a couple of years ago in a long blog post called The Pixelization Of Memory. Here’s some of what I wrote back in 2017.
Believe it or not, Jan and I were recently talking about an old girlfriend of mine this morning. Now Jan’s pretty good about this. She has been known to point out an well-proportioned young lady in a bikini, and I’ve been known to point out a well-muscled guy in tight biker shorts.
I guess you could call it ‘tit for tat’. Or maybe ‘tit for lats’, maybe. Anyway we’ve always had a ‘You can look, but you can’t touch’ philosophy that’s worked for us for over 50 years.
I’ve mentioned in the blog before, how when we visit my relatives in north Alabama, part of me is looking around for old girlfriends when we’re in a restaurant or store. But then it dawned on me that I’m looking for them as they were at 14, 15, or 16, not as they would be in their 60’s now.
But we were specifically talking about a girlfriend I had when we were living in Colombia, South America and I was 13 and she was 14. Though actually she was just a few months older than me.
Yeah, I know. What kind of girlfriend can you have at 13? But we were close, considered ourselves boyfriend and girlfriend, and spent a lot of time together.
I told Jan, No, I had never followed up on her, or any of my other past girlfriends for that matter. I don’t want to find out they were killed by a drunk driver while in their 20’s, raped and killed by an intruder, or even died in the World Trade Center.
I prefer to keep my memories of them intact, when they were beautiful young teenagers in the prime of life, and not possibly moldering in the ground somewhere. But that’s when I discovered the pixelization problem.
I found that, although I could visualized her generally, wavy red hair, bright green eyes, I could not zoom in on her face in my mind. As I said it was like zooming in a digital photo, with her face becoming more and more blocky and distorted the closer I got. I couldn’t see any details. And it wasn’t just her.
The rest of them were the same way. I could see them generally, but not in detail. Now it’s different with Jan. I met her when I was 18 and we’ve been together ever since. And I can see her, see her face back then, with no problem.
But then she hasn’t really changed all that much. I swear she has picture in an attic somewhere.
And this is what we were talking about in London.
The whole idea started when we were visiting my old hometown in north Alabama a few years ago, and I mentioned to Jan, that I had been checking out people around us, wondering if I would run into one of the several old girlfriends that I had back then. But as I told Jan, I realized that I was looking for them like they looked back when they were 16 or so, not in their 60’s like they are now.
And that’s why Jan brought up Sam as we passed Buckingham Palace.
It all started here.
Beginning when I was 13 we lived in South America for a while, mostly staying at a large old hotel that had both nightly guests, and also long-term residents like us.
Turns out there was a very cute British girl, about 14, also living there. Soft red, curly hair and bright green eyes. Since we were the only English-speaking kids our age around, we naturally ended up hanging out together. She told me her name was Sam (Samantha) and that her father worked for the British government.
After we had been together for a month or so, one day she showed up to where we usually met on the large landscaped grounds, all dressed up for a party, frilly dress, hair piled up on her head, the works. A big change from the shorts and T-shirts she usually wore.
She told me her mother wanted to meet me for afternoon tea at 4pm. Told me in no uncertain terms that I was to dress nice, wear long pants and a nice shirt, and comb my hair. (Yeah, I had hair back then)
And “DON’T BE LATE!”
As she left, I ask what suite she was in, and she said, “6th floor”. And when I ask what room, she smiled slightly, and said, “You’ll figure it out.” And I did.
When I got off the elevator, there was no hallway, just a vestibule and a set of ornate double doors with a pull rope for a door bell.
A few seconds after I rang the bell, there stood a butler in full regalia, but young and very fit looking, and about 6’6” tall. Looking down at me, he said, “Ah, Master Gregory, right on time, wonderful.”
Then, after he closed the door behind me, he said, “Please follow me. The DUCHESS and LADY Samantha are waiting for you in the library.”
Wait, What?
When I followed Andrews into the library, I found Sam standing behind her mother who was sitting at a writing desk. And I could tell from the look on her face that she was terrified that I was going to screw this up. And knowing me, she had good reason to worry.
After Andrews introduce me, I said, “I’ve never met a Duchess before. Am I supposed to bow, or curtsy?”
Sam blanched white as the proverbial sheet.
Her mother looked at me very seriously, and said, “In this informal situation, neither is required. Then with a big smile she said, “But I would like to see your curtsy sometime.”
With that the ice was broken, and Sam started breathing again.
After that I was regularly invited for tea. The only time the Duchess ever got mad at me was when I made the mistake of referring to Sam as ‘Sam’ instead of Samantha in front of her.
Her eyes flashed black and her voice got cold as she said, “Sa Man Tha”
Turns out that Sam’s stepfather was Consul General, and Sam would inherit her mother’s title someday, a title that had been in the family since the late-1600’s. And with that title came, not one, not two, but three ancestral estates.
But when I asked, Sam said only one of them was really a castle. Well, that was good to know.
And if that’s not bad enough, it turned out that both Samantha and her mother were actually royalty, and in line for the throne, though in the double-digits position.
But I didn’t tell her, mainly because I didn’t know then, that I also had a close brush with English royalty. This photo is from our visit to Hampton Court, the home of King Henry VIII.
And this is where my ancestor Katheryn Parr married King Henry on July 12, 1543, and became his sixth, and last, wife. With Henry the 3rd of her four husbands, she was married only two less times than Henry.
And also, like Henry’s wives, Katheryn’s husband’s didn’t fair well, either. His first two died, and Henry only lived for about 3-1/2 years after they were married.
Then about 4 months after Henry died, she married Sir Thomas Seymour, a somewhat scandalous marriage since it was so soon after Henry’s death.
Our ancestor, Mary Seymour, was born on August 30, 1548, with Katheryn dying from childbirth fever six days later at the age of 36. So I’m not related to Henry, but Henry-adjacent, I guess.
However, since Katheryn’s father, Sir Thomas Parr, was a direct descendent of King Edward the III, I guess I do have a little royalty in my blood.
Where all this comes down to me is that my father’s mother, Sara Anne Parr, was born in England and migrated first to Canada and then to the States in the late 1800’s, where my father was born in 1909.
So, getting back to where this all started, was Sam among those limo passengers at Buckingham? I’ll never know, and I don’t want to know. I prefer to remember her when she was 14.
And I never did learn how to curtsy . . . or bow.
a
Thought for the Day:
“The triumph of Hope over Experience” – Samuel Johnson on 2nd marriages.
hh
