Hellos & Good-byes

June 11, 2009





Hellos & Good-byes

Ellen, Alison, KJ & Martyn

The slow and steady pace of summer has continued to creep along. Hurricane Season has begun and the activity level of our island has switched into neutral. Things still happen, but at a greatly reduced level than just a few months ago. On the bright side, the weather is great, the water has been almost flat calm for weeks and there are far less tourists about. In fact, you actually see people you know out and about.

Betsy, Kathy & Ellen

Island life moves on, and sadly so do friends; which is another fact of life in certain segments of the community. Key West has always been largely transient as people come and go for all sorts of varied reasons. You get used to saying good-bye to friends as they move on, of course the benefit is that you have friends scattered across the globe.

Martyn

The most recent departure of friends is due to one of the major factors in frequent departure, service in the US Military. Our friends KJ & Ellen and their family fall into this category as they are re-locating to the Netherlands after KJ’s service working for JIATF (Joint Interagency Task Force) has come to an end. We joined them and other military personnel (6 people were leaving or transferring), for a nice going-away party at Finnegan’s Wake.

Deb & John



As we say goodbye to friends, we also say hello to new and interesting things, and the same evening as the going away party, we headed over to the Grand Opening of the latest Key West bar and restaurant, Grim’s Grill. Located away from the tourist mecca that is Duval Street on Flagler, Grim’s Grill is a local friendly sports bar owned and operated by our friends John & Deb Grimesey. The opening seemed to be a huge success. We hope that it works out well for them.

Jim & Fiona

Doug

I also was happy this week to get a call from a friend from Indianapolis who happened to be in town on vacation. Doug Barry was actually a good friend of my father, Bill. They worked together once upon a time at the Carvel Club in Indianapolis is still there, now serving as manager. It was great to see Doug, we went out for dinner at the Hogfish Grill and caught up with all the happenings back in Indianapolis and at the Club, a place that really served as a home away from home for my father.



Garden

Finally things around the house have gotten interesting. The mother chicken that lives in our yard hatched out 10 baby chicks last week, a small iguana has taken up residence in a tree in our yard and our garden is going gangbusters. This week we harvested the first batch of tasty tomatoes and the other vegetables are growing like crazy. It has been a busy time at the house.