The Weather is here, wish you were beautiful!

Last year as I struggled through the gray and dreary months of winter in Michigan as a 'newly minted retiree' it occurred to me that, "I don't have to be here!"  I'm not sure why that thought didn't happen before March, but when it popped into my head I decided to find a warm and sunny place to spend NEXT January!  After several interweb trolling sessions I settled on Key West.  I had visited a few times and found the crazy mix of people and culture intriguing and thought I would give it a go.

It turned out that even in March, rentable property on Key West is scarce.  I ended up with a 3 bedroom house in the middle of "Old Town."  It seemed like too much space for me, but it turns out that if you invite people to visit you in Key West, they say "Yes!"  I had plenty of visitors for my extra beds.

The house was perfect!  Bright, cheerful, lots of outside space to enjoy the sunny weather and right in the middle of everything!

John decided that it would be too hard to be in Michigan while I was tooling around on an island, so he arranged to be there for the first two weeks.  We arrived on January 1, 2017 ready for our adventure to start.  (It must be a great place to relax...)

We started from the beginning....

Our visitors....

Max and Georgia visited for the weekend and overlapped with Mark and Jill Reid....

Bev and Rob Crabb took the ferry down from Ft. Myers.  Boats are not Bev's favorite things, but she did fine!

Carol Snapp and Kelly Clarke drove all the way from Ft. Myers through alligator country to visit!

And Patti also took the ferry from Ft. Myers..she must really love me!

Fun stuff...

Eating in Key West is really easy to do!  John was in heaven with all the seafood options and put on a big orange hat to sample one of the many versions of Key Lime pie!  (Blue Heaven)

The Sunset Celebration happens everyday at Mallory Square.  

Lots of artists shops and street performers.  Dominic and his 'Flying Cats' have been entertaining people (and scaring children) for 18 years!  

Biggo iguana that lives at the Higgs Beach Garden.

Amazing Banyan tree at the Higgs Beach Garden.

We thought the Butterfly Conservancy might be a 'touristy' thing...it was, but also completely cool!

One of the 53 polydactyl cats that live on the grounds of the Hemmingway House.

Ft. Jefferson at the Dry Tortugas National Park.  (Bev braved another boat ride, she must really love Rob!)

Night kayaking through the Mangroves with Kelly and Carol was amazing and bit creepy!  Glad we had a guide.

Yeah!  Beach!

Duval Street...'nuff said!

Random stuff...

The first day we were there St. Paul's Church was being tented for termites.  It looked like a huge circus tent!  Two days later all back to normal!  Huge full moon with the elegant building.

Hands down the best way to get around is on a beach cruiser!  I loved my turquoise bike...I named her Penelope.  By the end of the month we had rented 10 bikes!  ...and one electric car! (Patti wasn't sure biking was for her!)

Along with the 6 toed cats, there are chickens EVERYWHERE!  ...and... you don't mess with the chickens on Key West!

Yes there is a fabric store on the Island!!!

When we arrived on January 1 this sign read "Westin"  by the end of the month it had been turned into a Margaritaville Resort.  ...and no we didn't see Jimmy Buffet!

We weren't sure whose bright idea it was to put the cruise ship dock right in front of the Mallory Square sunset celebration site, but every evening a biggo cruise ship backed into the sunset!  Brilliant!

Sunset money shot!

I took a class in iphotography at the local art studios...a couple of my practice shots!

It seemed to take forever for January to get here and then it just disappeared!  This was the sign in the window of the airport shop as I headed to my gate.  A very tempting idea!!! 

A Visit From St. Nicholas

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house...
Everyone was going stir-crazy 'cuz there was so much dang snow you couldn't go anywhere!  But somehow Max made it from NYC and Gus arrived just in the Nick of time!

...The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...
And sure enough...Christmas morning they were stuffed full of wares.

...The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow gave a luster of mid-day to objects below...
actually it was a night earlier in December that produced an amazing full moon.  Not quite the 'Super Moon' of November fame, but pretty spectacular all the same.

...More rapid than eagles his coursers they came...
well it wasn't quite an 'eagle' but Patti delivered this darling bird in a Christmas package before she 'dashed' off to Minneapolis!

...'We' was dressed all in fur from our heads to our foots...
not exactly fur, but very cozy down filled scarves made by Martha and new Samuel Hubbard shoes for everyone....

...And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow....
there were plenty of beards on chins, merry dimples and twinkling eyes!

...That shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly...

our bowls were filled with mashed potatoes, stuffing, sprouts, and chocolate trifle!!! YUM!

....Away they all flew like the down of a thistle...
Riley was looking pretty 'downy' for Christmas this year...

....Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!
"Good night!"  What a mess!   A sure sign of another happy Christmas!

Stay at Home Turkey Day

No traveling this year for Thanksgiving!  Just a quiet at home day for the two of us.

Best turkey I've ever made!!!  Thank you Alton Brown, Tyler Florence and Bobby Flay!

And looky what John has in the garage?!!!

Not sure how we will get the 60" wreath home from Badger Trees next year??????

A Christmas Carol in Chicago

I don't know if we call it a 'tradition' at this point, but it is the 'second annual' Chicago Christmas trip.  Last year we went to Chicago early in December to see "A Twisted Christmas Carol" which was Second City's parody of the Dicken's classic.  It was being performed right next door to the Goodman Theater's performance of the original Christmas Carol.  So...this year we decided to go and see the Goodman's version.  When we ordered our tickets we learned that it was the opening weekend of the show, but we managed to get Sunday matinee tickets which was really ideal with our train schedule.

We arrived on Friday late morning.  John hurried off to his annual eye doctor appointment and I hauled our luggage the six blocks to our hotel, The Kimpton Gray.  Nice room, no view, good location...

While John was seeing the doc (pun intended) I wandered around in the rain.  There was one shop I had read about and wanted to find.  It's called OSKA and it was great!  I found lots of beautiful things but settled on a boxy gray sweater vest.  I'll definitely be going back!

A highlight of our visit was dinner at Topolobampo, a Rick Bayless restaurant that we have been wanting to try for awhile.  We chose the chef's tasting menu WITH wine pairings...it was fabulous!  I am totally in awe of people who can match up food and wine, brilliant.  It was a totally 'gracious' experience.

On Saturday we took the "L" out to Oak Park to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studios.  It's one of those things that we never did when we lived there.  The house was interesting even though our guide was not particularly informative.  

Wright built the house very early in his career and it was interesting to contrast it with later projects like Falling Water.  When the foundation took over the property one of the issues they had to resolve was what date to choose as the restoration date.  The Wrights lived there for almost 30 years and made many additions and renovations, so which point should the foundation choose?  They decided on 1909 which was the last time that Frank Lloyd Wright had done anything to the house. (he moved out in 1910)

In the courtyard of the property there was the biggest Ginko tree I have ever see!  A Monster! It was gorgeous.  It made me think of the flowers I made with my ginko leaves this fall.

After lunch in Oak Park we "L'ed" over to Wicker Park.  When we left Chicago, Wicker Park was just starting to be "gentrified" and we had never see it.  Totally hipster.  I got cool John Fluevog boots.  

One of the things we discovered last year was the Christkindlmarket in Daly Plaza.  

It's the largest Christmas market in the US (according to the website!) and it is hopping!  Every year they have a special collectors' mug that people line up to have filled with mulled wine, hot chocolate, beer, cider....which they enjoy with their sausages, crepes, cheese, Christmas cakes....tons of people...but the funniest things was the fire pit.  A lovely thought, but it was surround by a 'protective' fence that meant that it was pretty much worthless for humans, BUT not for pigeons!!!!

Rather than a Christkindlmarket mug, John prefers the Lavazza coffee shop across the street!

A trip to Chicago wouldn't be complete without a meal at Eataly.  Sunday we had pasta before the show.

I remember the matinees of Christmas Carol at the Guthrie...there were always tons of families and kids...it was the same at the Goodman.  It really is a magical Christmas tradition.

                                                                                    Carolers in the lobby!

...Last stop...Nuts on Clark at the train station for the obligatory cheesy popcorn!