Key West

Mallory Square has a pretty impressive line up of street performers. This guy takes it for best street acrobat. 

Key West

Key West has more bicycles than any other place I've been. This one with the weenie dog is hands down the cutest. 

Lake Okeechobee and the Town of Belle Glade

Lake Okeechobee is the 2nd largest fresh water lake wholly in the United States. Okeechobee means "big water" in the language of the Seminole tribe. The lake is the source of most of the water in the everglades and is a pivotal part of Florida's water table. I visited the lake after my husband ran the Palm Beaches Half Marathon, because I had never seen it before and wanted to know what it looked like. I was surprised to find that beyond the dike the lake didn't even really look like a lake, but a series of lakes connected by clumps of grass and trees. It looks like much of the everglades, complete with alligators. I drove through the tiny town of Belle Glade to get to the lake and stopped at the chamber of commerce to see what exactly was in Belle Glade. Apparently not much because the only thing they could direct me to, other than the lake, was the 1928 hurricane monument beside the town's library, which was next door. The monument was exciting to me because I had read about the 1928 hurricane and their monument in a book I'm sure they would rather not be in: "The Worst Towns in the USA" by Maurice Crow. The 1928 hurricane caused a huge wind tide off Lake Okeechobee that flooded the town and drowned over 2,000 people.  After the incident the US Corps of Engineers constructed the dike around the lake that is present today.  The monument is a sad reminder of the devastation a hurricane can produce.  The Christmas lights the town decided to wrap around the monument's base didn't really do much to cheer it up either.

Homestead Fall Carnival

Carnivals have always had a certain allure for me.  When I was a kid I went to the Fourth of July carnival every year with my mom in Kentucky.  I loved everything about it, the rides, the games, the food, and even the sickly goldfish I won playing the ball toss. As an adult I have found that many people aren't as enchanted with carnivals as I am, including my husband. I wish people could see the magic that I see when those strange people come to town with all their rides and games. Hopefully I can communicate that feeling through my photos.

Wendell

When I was driving to Cauley Square to take the photos posted earlier, I saw a young man on a large tricycle that had been customized with a very large stereo system at a red light in Naranja.  I thought to myself, "I wish I could have gotten a picture of him!" but I quickly put the thought away and finished my journey to Cauley Square.  After I took a few shots at Cauley square I drove towards my home and decided to stop by the Homestead Fall Carnival to take some night shots of the carnival rides.  As I was setting up for my first shot of the carnival's midway and ferris wheel, I noticed something coming down the midway straight for me...it was the kid I had seen hours earlier 20 miles up the road!  I was shocked, amused, and amazed all at the same time.  I stopped him and introduced myself, and asked if he had just come from Naranja.  He (laughing the whole time) told me his name was Wendell and that he had in fact been the young man I had seen earlier that day.  His oversized tricycle was fitted with a speaker box with two more speakers sitting atop the box and a loud speaker on the front of the trike.  He had  a CD player hooked up to his massive sound system and had the controls mounted to his handle bars complete with a chain steering wheel.  He was by far the loudest thing on three wheels, and he made my night.

Cauley Square Historic Village

Cauley Square Historic Village in Goulds, FL was once the home to the workers who built Flagler's Overseas Railroad. Now it is a quaint little shopping village boasting upscale dining and a wedding area. Most of the architecture is original, which adds to the magic of Cauley Square. The photo above is of the "Wedding Place" a beautiful tropical garden paved in brick complete with Victorian street lamps and a fountain. For Christmas the garden decorators added white lighting to the large trees that grow throughout the property, giving the "Wedding Place" a whimsical and almost dream-like appearance at night. Even the  cutest places on earth have a bit of a dark side, which brings me to the picture below. After walking around in the dark for about an hour, I stumbled upon this creepy shell of a building behind some of the shops in Cauley Square. It is apparent that the building is being used for storage, but it reminds me of a witch's house from my childhood stories. The Strangler Fig growing on the roof and over the wall just adds to the creepiness, but I really like it and honestly wouldn't mind having this shed behind my house.

Homestead Town Hall Museum

Ruth Campbell is the director of the Homestead Town Hall Museum. She is 89 years old and has lived in Homestead most of her life. Campbell Drive in Homestead was named in honor of her family. Ruth is a wealth of knowledge, not only of Homestead, but most of South Florida. If you ever have the time to stop in and listen, she can tell you all about South Florida's history. The museum itself is small and quaint, but houses Homestead's original Fire truck as well as other relics of Homestead's past including photos and books. I wanted to get a portrait of Ruth beside the Fire truck because I believe she is as much a part of Homestead as it is. Being the warm and generous person she is Ruth graciously accepted my request.

Key West's Feathered Residents

Anyone who has ever ventured down to Key West knows that there are a large number of hens and roosters roaming free. You can find them in people's yards, sleeping under historic monuments, and sometimes milling about in the local bars. The life of a Key West chicken is a good life indeed, and of course they are protected by the city. It is believed that these roosters and hens are the descendants of Cuban fighting cocks set loose after the sport was banned, and local domestic chickens that were set free by their owners. No matter how they actually arrived in Key West, they have become a sort of icon of the Key's laid back culture. I met this handsome rooster on Caroline Street and managed to get him to stop for a photo with the persuasion of a few crumbs of bread. Apparently he wanted to make it very clear to me that this was his sidewalk because when I got down on his level he crowed at me several times before strutting on down the street.

Self Portrait

This picture was an experiment in the use of lighting for portraits. I had tortured my poor husband for several hours and decided to give him a break and take some self portraits. This tree is in my neighborhood and was dimly lit by a street lamp. I thought it looked like an interesting spot to take a picture. I covered myself with a blanket because I have to wear a big ugly CAM walker boot on my left leg until my ankle heals and I didn't want it in the picture. I think it gave the picture a more mysterious look. The hardest part about taking this picture was setting the timer and moving fast enough with my bum leg to get in the picture, get situated, and hold still until it finished the exposure. I'm pretty happy with the end result, so I guess good planning and knowing what you want pays off some of the time.

Key Biscayne Lignthouse Run Start

Maybe you're starting to see a trend by now, two photos and they have one thing in common, running. I love running, and since my injury, I have had to live vicariously through my husband and take a spot on the side lines. It has, on the other hand, given me a unique opportunity to take photos that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to take. I took this photo of the Key Biscayne Lighthouse Run start as a panning experiment. I focused on the woman in the middle and this was the end result. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the affect. I think it does a good job of showing the frenzied start of the race.