Happy Birthday Effie!

May 2, 2019

Elle and Effie 

Happy Birthday Effie!!

This week, we were on hand to celebrate the birthday of one of our most lovely friends at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, one of our favorite places in the world. Effie turned the ripe old age of 27 and Kathy and I were happy to be included in a birthday picnic and celebration marking the date. Many friends and family were on hand and her father Tom grilled up some delicious treats and as at every function involving their family, there was food galore on hand.

 

The weather could not have been more perfect for a day at the beach and it was just a spectacular day. I love this time of the year here, as the seasonal crowds and tourists have pretty much thinned out and mostly locals were on hand at the park to spend a beautiful day at the beach. The temperature and weather conditions were just about perfect as it was sunny and warm, with a wonderful refreshing ocean breeze blowing in off the Atlantic.

 

Kate

The spring wreckers race that is held each year as part of Conch Republic Days was being held and the boats started in the harbor just off of Ft. Zack and raced out to the reef in what was a beautiful and no doubt fun day of sailing for those participating.  

 

 

I am pretty sure I have known Effie, or at least known of her since she was born. I was good friends with her grandparents back in the days that I worked at Reef Relief, shortly after arriving in Key West. Her grandmother Fran was the President of the Audubon Society and we served on any number of boards, committees and environmental meetings together.

Cale 

Later, I became friends with Effie’s parents through taking water aerobics classes at FKCC where Greta was an instructor and Tom often was taking the class as well. Effie and later her younger sister Caitlin worked at the pool as lifeguards so I got to know them as well. In fact Effie signed up to take the Archeological Diving class that RPM was involved with in Albania, Montenegro and Croatia and so we got to take a couple of trips to Europe together.

 

 

She later worked for me, helping me get and keep the RPM office in Key West organized. She may well be one of the most organized people that I have ever known and she did a fantastic job before moving on to bigger and better things. Kathy and I are thrilled to count Effie and all of her family among our best friends in Key West. Better people you will have a tough time ever encountering and we both were thrilled to be on hand to help her celebrate her birthday. 

“And all you touch and all you see Is all your life will ever be.” Pink Floyd

April 26, 2019

Kathy, Greta, Paula and Jean

Paul and Ashley

“And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be.” Pink Floyd

For years I have heard about the almost mythic mash-up between Pink Floyd’s 1973 album, “The Dark Side of the Moon” with the 1939 classic film, “The Wizard of Oz”.  The idea being that if you start the album at just the right time and sync it over the film that the actions on the record and in the film seem to magically line-up and reflect each other. This had to be first discovered by some stoner laying around listening to Pink Floyd while the movie played in the background, but it has gained quite a cult following over the years and this year to mark 4/20, the Tropic Theater decided to show the synced movie. 

Mike and Dorothy 

Debbie and Matt 

Initially it was to be a single showing, one night only but the amazingly quick sell-out and demand for another showing had them adding another earlier showing that Kathy and I were able to attend. It was also close to sold out and it made for yet another interesting and unique experience. Many of those on hand dressed up in Wizard of Oz inspired costumes or wore their favorite classic Pink Floyd shirts to experience what had been come to be known as The Dark Side of the Wizard of Oz, Dark Side of the Rainbow or the Wizard of Floyd.

 

There have been many arguments over time over exactly where to start the sync, about whether the band did this intentionally (they are adamant that there is no connection), and about how significant the connections are. My thought is, who cares, it is a fun and different way to spend an afternoon and whether or not events in the film and album are intentional or mere coincidence does not matter in the slightest. There certainly are moments where the dramatic scenes seem to match the lyrics and certainly the tone of the music, but as Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason told MTV in 1997 regarding the connection, "It's absolute nonsense. It has nothing to do with “The Wizard of Oz”. It was all based on “The Sound of Music.” “

 

This week was also the Easter holiday and we had a couple of fun Easter related events to attend. The first was an invitation to our friend Brenda for an Easter Egg hunt and Brunch at her home on the Saturday afternoon prior to Easter Sunday. A number of our friends and more importantly their children were invited to attend and participate in the Egg hunt in Brenda’s yard.

Brenda

 

We also enjoyed a delightful Easter Brunch and were treated to a fun puppet show that was staged by the adorable children who were on hand. It was an absolutely gorgeous Spring Day and fun was had by both the children and their parents and friends. Easter has always been a time about family and friends for both Kathy and myself, so it was really nice to enjoy celebrating with good friends.

 

We spent the afternoon of Easter itself with our friends Greta and Tom, who once again included us in one of their awesome holiday celebrations that brought together their family and friends at their home for an amazing meal and just a wonderful day of spending time with good friends. They have been so kind over the years and we have shared many holidays and good times with them and their family and friends. 

Michael, Jean and Tom