Happy Birthday Lucy!!

March 25, 2013







Leigh

Happy Birthday Lucy!!

One of the best things about living in a community like Key West is the wonderful mix of truly extraordinary people who live here and who we have the privilege of calling friends. You meet people from all walks of life, all different backgrounds and encounter a wacky diverse, stimulating, interesting and talented group of people. One of these people celebrated her birthday this month and invited Kathy & me along with many other familiar Key West faces to her wonderful birthday party.

Perry, Erin & Joel

Martina







I am not sure how we came to know Lucy, possibly through mutual friends or perhaps at the Studios of Key West where she is a frequent and regular volunteer and patron of the arts, but to know her is to love her and the love this community has for her was on full display at the wonderful birthday party she hosted at Black Fin Bistro.





Dan & Marcus



Michael & Jean

She had a desire common to many transplanted Key West folks in that she really wanted her family to meet and interact with her Key West family so she invited all of her children and their families down for the party and then added a large chunk of the artsy, eclectic Key West family of friends and voila , the elements were in place for a wonderful mix where she could at once show off her children and grandchildren and show her family the type of love and community that she has built here. It was a carefully crafted, relaxed and ultimately wonderful time for all as we got to meet her wonderful family and enjoy a great party.

Nancy 3 & Steve





Besides the great food, drinks and company, the party featured a variety of entertainment including musical performances, dance, poetry and speeches honoring Lucy. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.  The beautiful perfect weather did not hurt either as it was about as perfect a spring day as you could have in the Keys.

Michael, Noa & Kathy



Erica, Liz & Jenn


 
The beautiful weather was also a great back-drop for the 5K race that Kathy and I participated earlier in the day. The St. Patrick’s Day 5K was organized by our friend Liz and was a rare Sunday race. The race followed a familiar route along Smather’s beach and was yet another in a series of 5K races that we have been participating in recently. Our friend Noa also joined us as did the regular crowd of 5Kers who frequent the races.

Leanne & Liz



Liz

35th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Bar Stroll

March 18, 2013



* photo by Noa Siegrist



Kim



35^th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Bar Stroll



Matt

The 35^th annual St. Patrick’s Day bar stroll took place recently and for the second straight year, Kathy & I got to participate together. This year we were joined in the shenanigans by our friends Noa and Lee. For the past few years, I have taken photos for the founder and organizer of the event, our friend Rick who has been there since the beginning when the stroll was actually a race, known then as the St. Patrick’s Day Suds Run.

Lee

Jill & Graf

The competitive nature and increasingly number of ill participants who could not handle running over a mile and downing beers at a series of a dozen or more stops precipitated a move to a more leisurely and popular bar stroll a few years in and it has been one of the largest events of the spring in Key West ever since. A few of the old original suds Run crew are still around, including our friend Buco, who won some of those earliest races and as recognition is given entry # 0001 every year.

Revati

Traditionally held on the Saturday that is closest to St. Patrick’s day itself, the event  was held this  on the day prior . We gathered at the starting location along with perhaps a thousand other revelers, both official participants and those who simply tag along, often pulling wagons, kegs and small homemade bars along with them on the route.

Robyn & Bethany

Michael & Lee

The weather was perfect and the crowd, which was a diverse mixture of locals, spring breakers, old-timers and young kids almost all wearing green, either the t-shirts from the event or some other manner of festive St. Paddy’s gear. At noon sharp the beer started flowing at the Southernmost Beach Café as Rick gave the official starting command.  We had  an additional two large groups of friends that we sort of took turns hanging out with in a very disorganized meandering as we headed down Duval Street, stopping at every official stop for our free beer plus a number of unofficial stops that were not actually part of the organized stroll.

Marco & Tess

With-in a few stops the mass of participants was strung out along the length of Duval Street, a green-hued parade of happy people enjoying the day. Stops included the Tiki Bar at the Southernmost Hotel pool, , McConnell’s Irish Pub, Aqua, Charlie Mac’s, Jack’s Seafood at the La Concha, Kelly’s, The Bull, Rick’s and the Schooner Wharf Bar. 

Kathy & I made additional stops at the likes of the Green Parrot as well and we stopped with our friends in front of the Court House for their annual St. Patrick’s Day pyramid photo, which is always fun. In fact the entire day was fun, a lot of fun. I’m sure that I had a few too many, but Kathy was there to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Debbie

 

One of the traditions of the stroll is for pairs to perform wheelbarrow walks across Duval Street in front of Rick’s & Sloppy Joe’s. The police actually stand there and stop traffic for the generally drunken strollers to perform this feat, which often has hilarious spills and thrills as drunken wheelbarrowers often face plant into the asphalt.  We did not see that happen this year, but sadly heard that it happened to a friend of ours who bruised her face up pretty good. Ouch. Well time heals and maybe next year she will be content to just watch with us.

 

Jim