Another Mixed Bag

A little of this and a little of that today.  Once again I am feeling very over-extended.  Tomorrow is a bit of a nightmare.  Workmen coming at 7:30 a.m., painting from 10:00 - 12:00, crazy quilting from 

1:00 to 3:00, home to let in another worker at 4:00, and finally, off to our friends' house to watch the last in the women's basketball championship series.  That is a bit tight, but what is really getting me crazy is the list of Important Things that Must Be Done Soon!  When am I going to get to that list?

So, I will return to my New Year's resolutions, take a deep breath, and deal.  I'll let you know how that works!

Anyway, here's a stress reliever - another day in Key West!

This is a cruise ship coming in to dock in the early morning; it may not look very large at this point, but oh, my!  They are BIG!

This is a street scene that with the buildings, people, bicycles, colors, and palm trees all of which say Key West to me.

Another specimen that I have to check in my tropical plants of Florida book.  I really need to remember that before I start writing entries!

I have several (okay, many) photos taken in and around the harbor, but I eventually found what really said "painting" to me.  These are the scruffier boats in the harbor.  These are the ones people like you and me use to go out and catch fish or to putter around for a bit. They are clearly banged and battered, not spiffy like the clean white schooners, torpedo boats, or cruisers that shriek wealth and privilege.  It's not my favorite shot of these hard-working boats, but it's one I took as we wandered around on the seventeenth.

While we were nosing around the harbor, we headed over to the Sea Turtle Museum.  It didn't have a lot to see, but it was worth going to.  It's run by the volunteers who watch over the sea turtles nesting sites and protect the hatchlings.  They count the number of hatched eggs, take care of the late hatchlings that frequently have trouble getting to the sea, as well as a lot of record keeping.  It also had a section on the turtle industry, the historic slaughter of sea turtles for food.  Indeed, the building was once part of a turtle cannery, I think.  It was a big industry for some time.  The gray building at the right is the Museum.

This is just an amusing sign post we passed on our way back to our hotel.