The Babbling Conch: January 2013

A Mile of Wine Tasting

So yesterday, we walked down to the craft show down on Whitehead St. Before we got there, we passed this friendly cat who was sitting on top of a sign that said not to feed him. Because he ate chicken poop (??!!).

We also passed this quirky art in someone's yard. I love stuff like that.

Yes! This is the kind of street fair Michael & I miss! We've been disappointed with the last couple of smaller ones here, but this was more like what we remembered in Arizona. Of course, many of the artists that we gravitated to at this one turned out to be from Arizona, Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico - which is exactly the same artists that came to the Arizona art festivals - so apparently our tastes haven't changed.

Next up was the Duval Uncorked, where about 39 businesses along the mile-long Duval St. offered up beverages, snacks, and maybe a product or two, depending on the type of business. We heard 700 to 800 tickets were sold to this event, so expected longer lines at each place, but I think we were starting at the opposite end of Duval than most of the others. The event was supposed to take place from 3:30 to 7:30pm. We started around 4:30. It took us a bit to find the sign-in table because it wasn't quite where it was supposed to be, but before we knew it, we had these cute little wine glasses hanging from our necks, our trusty list of all the participants, and a bright pink bracelet letting everyone know we were trick-or-treating for booze and gourmet food.

Aaah, Apartment Living

I've truly forgotten how much fun apartment living is. Makes me long for the days when all we had to worry about when we slept on our boat was the anchor dragging, sending us onto the rocks; or getting hit by lightning and getting sent to the bottom of the sea. We now live in a house that's been divided into four, using nice, flimsy walls as separators. We've been pretty lucky that the person we share the upstairs with is somewhat quiet - most of the time. Fridays are party nights though. She and her friends clomp up the stairs, located right next to our open window, anytime between midnight and 2am, and then have a good ol' time until they all pass out or clomp back down the stairs, giggling. Reminds me of my dorm days. Michael & I have an occasional night out, but we're usually back by 9pm and out by 10pm (unlike my dorm days).

I'm pretty sure that's what they look like.

(BTW, if you email subscribers are not seeing the images, go to the blog - it's more fun that way.
Today, I needed animation.)

Last night's fun (or early this morning's) involved the lone neighbor. She fell up the stairs, sounding like she might have hurt herself after missing a step, bounced around in the hallway for a bit, fell into her apartment, and then immediately passed out. Snoring. Really loud. Incredibly, Michael didn't hear the initial ruckus, but eventually the guttural breathing, sounding a lot like a scavenging wart hog, woke him from his slumber. He actually got up, walked around the apartment, and checked the outer stairs for good measure. Because that's how loud it was. It sounded like someone (or something) had gotten into our apartment and had, or was still having, a little too much fun.

Honey is that you?

The Night(s) After

So what do you do when the pressure of public speaking (in Toronto) and the physical stress of running 13.1 miles is behind you? Party! One of the things on Tina & Ron's to-do list was to watch the sunset, so we headed for Sunset Pier. Ok, here we are. Hey - where's the sun? I think it's around this thing...

Yep. We've got a good spot. Beer? Check. Sun? Check.

Second and Last Half Marathon

This was the day before. You know, the fun part when you're getting all kinds of "free" stuff (I won't mention what I paid to run in this thing).

The next day it was time to get our run on. My main goals were to beat 2011's time of 2:10:35, and to get out of the middle of the pack. I am always in the middle in any race. I can not be more literal about this than when in Barbados out of the 202 runners who finished, I was 101. I also secretly hoped that I'd get in under 2 hours on this one, but considering I didn't really train, that was unlikely (and - spoiler alert - didn't happen). I was relieved about two things - the humidity was finally down (comparatively speaking) and winds were light - no headwinds.

Fun with Statues

Ok, this wasn't at the Custom's House but still funny.

A couple of weeks ago when I posted some people having fun with statues, I hadn't quite thought that it was just a matter of time before I'd be posting my very own. Our pals Tina and Ron are in town to abuse themselves in the Half marathon tomorrow (Sunday), and on the way to see if there was going to be an interesting sunset (there wasn't), we passed the Custom's House and its huge statues and couldn't help ourselves.

This, of course, led to us having to pose everywhere there was an opportunity, and we're still laughing at the photos this morning. I'm going to save the best for last so keep going.

We really are geeks.

And I'm back

So after that last post, I lost my gloves, had to deal with a snarky gate attendant at the Toronto airport, missed the tiny sign pointing me to Newark's terminal bus again (with a bunch of other confused travelers), got all excited when we flew close enough to the Statue of Liberty for me to wave, and then sat in Tampa for an extra hour and a half when the crew that was supposed to be flying with us "timed out" and we had to wait for a fresh crew. When the plane got into Key West after 10pm, the airport had to scramble for staff because they normally weren't open that late. Let's see, my first flight left the ground at 10:50am and we pulled up to our apartment at 10:50pm. I was traveling for 12 hours - shouldn't I be in Tahiti or something? At least it's warmer here - warmer than when I left too.

A side note...I'm curious. Has anyone ever been on a plane when someone farted? I'd never thought about it until someone did pass some serious gas on the final flight. It was rather eye opening (or watering) and while I was wishing the oxygen masks would drop, it occurred to me that after all my years of flying, and I've flown a lot, I have never had to contend with someone farting. I think that's pretty amazing when you think about it. It must happen though, because when I searched for "farting on a plane image" several came up.

The cats went crazy when I came through the door, running around like they'd taken a hit of catnip, and showing off like little kids do when new people visit. When the show was over, Jack became stuck to me like glue,

but Zura had to shun me as punishment. She finally came around this morning and wanted some cuddle time, but I'm still having a hard time dislodging Jack from my side. Michael's feelings are hurt, they're not quite as enthusiastic with him (even when he was all they had), but cats are like that. I was more than happy to snuggle with him, so all is well.

Next up? Running 13.1 miles on Sunday. This is another event I have mixed feelings about, but I am looking forward to having our pals Tina and Ron sleep over.

This is going to be like putting dozens of clowns in a Volkswagen Beetle, but we're all boaters so know how to live and entertain in tight quarters. Michael was having knee problems, so his job is to man the beer cooler and take pictures as we all cross the finish line. I'm hoping to beat my time from the last one I did in Barbados (although, like the last time, I haven't really trained for it) and then would like to just stick to 10Ks in the future. Ready, set, go!

There I did it!

I did Ok

When I walked into the expo the third time, Monday, things were so quiet I secretly hoped that no one would come to my final presentation. No such luck. I might have even had a few more people than the day before. That's ok though because I had added to my presentation, practiced some more, and thought I would really wow them. Then I got done more than 10 minutes early - AGAIN - and had a very nice woman who gives presentations all the time tell me afterwards that it was great, enthusiastic, and very informative but.....say it with me people...I talk too fast.

Remember this guy? I think we're related.

Nooooo!! Do you know how often I said to myself "slow"? I really thought I had this one (it didn't help that I was cold - 3 layers on and then put my winter coat back on - in the conference room). I will say that this group was much friendlier than Sunday's and I had fun talking to everyone afterwards (and hugged all the ones that bought books - including my cheerful critic), but still. Ok, so I've learned that I'm not great at radio interviews or presentations - not sure if it's just because they're about me or if I'm not great at them in general.

Small World

I know I said I wouldn't update often, but it turns out if I stand by the window I can pick up a connection from a condo across the way, so I'd rather not get bottled up on the posts if I don't have to. Plus the sun doesn't come up until noon here (feels like), so when I wake up at 5am, I figure I might as well make myself useful.


me with the Exuma Grouper crew Paula & Doug

So where were we? Sunday's excitement was that I was pleasantly surprised when a couple I knew from the Luperon anchorage in the Dominican Republic came to see my presentation. I hadn't realized that they had left the Caribbean - they were out much longer than we were - or that they were from Toronto, but they've taken a temporary detour as well. Like us, they're hoping to get back out there (to the Caribbean). Unlike us, they still have their boat so will jump back on it eventually. (Yes, that photo is a cut/paste jobber - Doug looked bored in the 1st photo and Paula had her eyes closed in the 2nd - Thanks Doug, that was much better - sheesh).

I survived! Am I Done Yet?

Let's start with the pleasant view from the hotel room. Very nice.

The view the other way reminds me I'm still in the city. Despite the fact that I've become rather anti-crowd and anti-concrete over the years, I always feel at ease in a major city. They're pretty much all the same and they always remind me of "home" (NYC), so I feel pretty comfortable whenever I find myself in one. I've been glad not to have to deal with traffic here though, because like most cities, there's lots of road construction going on screwing things up.

Before I headed out yesterday, I made sure that I was all layered up. Long johns? Check! It's actually been really mild here (in the 50s), but I was more worried about getting cold in the conference center.

I'm in Canada, Eh.

I'm always impressed with myself when I can pull off fetes like this. Of course, I learned from the best (thanks Mom). That little suitcase is for 5 days of travel, to a cold place, and I still had room for sneakers and 2 days of work-out clothes, and 3 of my own books. Not only do I hate lugging big bags around, but I was not paying $25 for a checked bag.

I hate it when this happens. I'm not sure why I have a pair of holey socks in the first place, we're not that poor (yet), but these are what I grabbed at 5am this morning. I didn't really care until I got to airport security and realized they still make you take your shoes off. Hello tootsies! Jeez.

So the 1st flight was only an hour long to Tampa (I will do everything in my power to never go through Miami again) and was surprised that we were offered a snack - a little bag of food for free. On the flight attendants' final pass through they even offered us a mint – what were they trying to say? I felt like I was in first class. Thanks Spirit.

Whose Idea Was This?

There's no turning back now. I'm officially on the Toronto Boat Show's seminar speaker's listing. Look at the others in that list. What the heck am I doing going there?!

I do have my slide show ready and am working on the verbal part. I leave early Friday morning and then set up for my first (ever!) presentation on Saturday at 4:45pm. AAAACK!!!

Thankfully, my brain is treating this like sky diving.

When people find out we did this, they usually ask what we were thinking jumping from over 11,000 miles high - weren't we scared? No, neither of us were. Not because we're adrenaline junkies, there was no adrenaline. Our brains just could not fathom what we were about to do. It truly did not compute. I couldn't have been more relaxed. It wasn't until after I stepped out of the plane that I wondered if I had lost my mind. It's cold...the earth is coming up at me....I can see Michael off in the distance twirling.... I was more scared that the guy who was piggy-backing me would make me twirl like that too and I'd throw up all over us.

I don't think my brain can figure out what I'm doing now either. But when I get in front of all those people staring at me, I might just take off like a run-away-bride. If that happens, I will have a few witnesses that can tattle on me. But you won't, will you my Toronto fans?! Ha - of course, you will. Wish me luck!

Locals Day in The Garden

Photo from: Sandy Hunter Guy

You'll recall that we've been able to take advantage of the great offers by several Key West museums (and conch train) to get in free on Local's Day - the 1st Sunday of every month. The Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden decided to get into the action for the first time and we, of course, jumped at the opportunity.

Photo from: Bahama Bob's Rumstyles

I might have questioned the "tropical forest" aspect of it, but it's been really humid here lately. Even the long-timers have been complaining about it - it has been like living in a rain forest. Fog rolled in the other night (again), was gone by the time I went running early the next morning, but rolled back in again around 8am and stayed around for hours, wreaking havoc with boaters. Strange.

As we left our apartment this morning, we noticed our own pine forest and neighborhood mammal (Calvin).

Once at the Gardens (on Stock Island), we barely left the parking lot before we saw turtles and lizards/iguanas.