No Direction Home

This humble blog was started to document our travels around the country during the summer of 2006, We have opted to continue updating it due to the requests from family & friends. Enjoy!

Monday, June 24, 2019

Show me a Ray of Sun


June 24, 2019

Izzy, Marlo, Jodie and Kathy

Cale, Kathy and Caitlin 

Debbie



Show me a Ray of Sun

June has been unbelievably hot here in Key West, with each day seemingly reaching record heat and the heat index at one point reaching a boiling 110 degrees, which is hot as I can ever recall it being here, especially this early in the summer, which makes us nervous for what the traditionally hotter months coming up will bring us. The heat has made us want to hole up in the comfort of our air-conditioned house and we haven’t really been out as much as we might otherwise have been.


 



Holing up has its benefits however as it has given us time to do a little reading which is perfect timing as three of our wonderful writer friends have new books out at the same time and I have to give them each a little shout out and recommendation. It is fun having three such talented female friends who all happen to be fantastic writers all currently touring on their most recent book releases which are all doing wonderfully well.



Malla Nunn lives in Australia, but we have remained friends on Facebook since she was here a few years ago for the Key West Literary Seminar and her new mystery novel, “When the Ground Is Hard” just arrived at our house meaning I have not yet delved into it just yet, but it has been getting wonderful reviews and if it is anything like her Edgar Award nominated earlier work, then I am in for a real treat. 


Our friend Kali Fajardo-Anstine recently released her first collection of short stories, “Sabrina and Corina: Stories”. I am thrilled to say I have read it and I loved it so much that I bought a dozen copies and sent them to friends and family that I knew would enjoy the terrific stories told with an intimacy and power that I could not believe was coming from someone who I thought I knew pretty well. The book is an absolute treasure and both Kathy and I are thrilled with Kali’s success.


Key West is incredibly fortunate to host our third terrific writer friend this week as Nicole Dennis-Benn is here teaching the Key West Literary Seminar’s Young Writer’s Program, so Kathy and I were able to join her and her lovely wife Emma for dinner along with our friend Kate who is organizing the KWLS program. We are so lucky to have Nicole here because since the time she agreed to participate and now, her book, “Patsy” has absolutely blown up and has been getting wonderful, well deserved reviews everywhere including, “The New York Times”, “Oprah”, “Vanity Fair”, “Entertainment Weekly” and even “Time” magazine.



We had an wonderful dinner at BlackFin that included fantastic food and conversation. Nicole will be doing a reading and book signing this Friday here in Key West at Books and Books. Try and get out to see her and even if you can’t get her incredible new book.  Celebrating our successful author friends has not been the only thing keeping us busy this week.

Kate, Nicole and Kathy 



We also got a taste of Pride Fest which is celebrated each June by heading out to see the annual performance by our friend Allen and his drag alter-ego Alma Jean at the 801 bar. Allen is one of the sweetest and nicest people we know and though he has retired Alma Jean, the World’s Ugliest Drag Queen, each year he does a single show for the 801 crowd of friends and family. The show was fantastic, at turns funny, touching and mostly just plain good. 

Alma Jean

 


This week has also been cool in that it has seen the return to Key West of some old friends and that always makes me happy. The first was something of a complete surprise when I learned via facebook that a high school classmate who I had not seen in some thirty years was going to be in town for just a few hours having come down on the Ft. Myers ferry for just an afternoon. I met Deb downtown where we shared a beer and some fun memories and I played tourist with her for the afternoon, before she was back on the boat headed home.

Michael and Debbie 



Jodie, Izzy, Craig and Marlo

Also this week, our friends Craig and Jodie along with their daughters Izzy and Marlo were back in Key West for a few days. I had not seen any of them since they moved to Australia about ten years ago. Craig is a longtime friend, former colleague and the person responsible for me getting hired by RPM Nautical back in 2005. We all had a great dinner at Roostica and it was fun to catch up with him and his family. We had not seen the girls since they were very young children and here they were young women complete with cool Australian accents. Again it was nice to catch up and we were very happy that they chose to come back and visit Key West, hopefully it won’t be ten more years until we see them again.

Trevor and Meredith 


We also had some good times with other friends, a wonderful meal at BlackFin (again) with our friends Effie, Cale and Caitlin and attending another 5th birthday party for Meredith, the daughter of our friends Nadene and Trevor. When we did get out, we made the most of it. Of course into every sunny day, a cloud sometimes appears and this week we lost a wonderful friend with the passing of our friend Terry Scott.

Effie

 

Rob and Meredith

Terry was one of the kindest, gentlest and most generous people in Key West and she always, always made everyone around her, including thankfully, Kathy and myself, feel like family. In fact being at Terry and her late husband Tom’s house always felt like one of those big wonderful family gatherings that everyone loved. She had been battling illness, yet her death still hit with a suddenness that was shocking and incredibly sad. To all her family and many friends, Kathy and I send our deep sympathy and love.

Terry Scott