Chicken City USA

If you haven’t been to Key West, then you may be surprised to know that it has a lot in common with third world nations… the island is overrun with chickens whose ancestors were survivors of the cock fighting parlors that were popular (and legal) during the early part of the 20th century. Here are two photos of chickens that were taken around the former shop on Margaret Street.

So, as you might expect, residents and tourists are fond of owning things that remind them of chickens. Last week, when Jo and Terry (they're my parents - if you're new here) were at the furniture market in Highpoint, they saw a number of “chicken items” for sale:

And after much deliberation (and pricing considerations), the following were selected for the shop:

LOVE that last one! So colorful.

Tune in tomorrow to see a couple of sea-inspired rugs that will be making an appearance in the shop soon!

Las Benditas de Key West

This week, Terry and I attended an art show featuring a portrait of me!

The artist, Michael Philip, is a dear friend of mine. He and his partner, Doug are members of our wine group and we've known them as long as we've been in Key West.

Michael did a show like this with portraits of, I believe 14 women in New Orleans with great success, and he decided to approach the director of The Studios of Key West (TSKW) with a similar idea for a fundraiser using their space. TSKW is a large, beautifully restored armory building now housing small studios for artists and several gallery spaces.

He proposed that they invite 21 women, Las Benditas, to be models for portraits in a specific style. The "subjects" would pay a fee, and then the night of the opening they could buy their portrait or someone in their "entourage" (oh yes - I left out that part. each of us had to invite ten people to attend the opening) could buy it for a certain price. After that, the show became public and anyone could purchase a portrait for a higher price. They loved the idea and their board approved the choices.


I was selected to be one of the 21.

Needless to say I was truly honored to be included in this group of women, most of whom do a lot of charitable work and contribute to the community in other ways that I don't.

I was pretty nervous the night of the exhibition since I knew the style of the portraits was to be "Cubism and Neo-expressionism." We had had an initial interview and picture taking here at the house and talked about things that were important to me, inspirations, colors I love. All kinds of things to help him portray me not as just a face but also as an inner person. It was a fascinating process. He did this with all of the women and then proceeded over the next six weeks to produce 21 portraits. A monumental achievement!


The opening was a huge success. The gallery was so packed with people you could barely move. Luckily the "Las Benditas" were allowed in first to have time to find their portraits and be photographed. In case you're wondering, the name means "the blessed ones" so you can see why I feel so honored.

I can't thank Michael enough for including me in this spectacular event. And in case you were wondering, we did purchase my portrait. I have already selected a place of honor for it in my home.

Smells Like Team Spirit

I've been working out at Stay Fit Studio ever since I moved to Key West two years ago, and this year the gym sponsored the first ever Key West Triathlon. Several of my friends trained faithfully for months and completed the full Olympic length triathlon: 1 mile swim, 24 mile bike, 10K run. This is not their story.

Meet The Team:


Mary and I had been planning to compete all along; we even went to some training sessions: open water swims, long bike rides, but as the training threatened to interfere with our social calendars, we decided that we would find a third and be part of a TEAM! Yes, that's it! We couldn't manage the rigorous training to compete individually, but with the pressure of being part of a team, we would surely press through with whatever training our schedules permitted. We couldn't, we wouldn't let the team down.

We did find a third. However, three weeks away from the event we discovered his devotion to "The Team" was even weaker than our devotion to training. I begged my significant other, John, to please, please, please fill in for this slacking ne'er do well who let the team down. John had been on swimming teams through high school, and his level of commitment in all things matched our team philosophy completely. He agreed and a new team was born.

So on the morning of December 5, 2010, the very last person to jump in the water was John:


Biker, Mary's team affiliation was in question...are we team 619 or 617?


And finally, the senior member of the team crossed the finish line....I know, it looks like I'm walking, but if you look closer, neither of my feet are touching the ground...pretty cool!


We had a blast, didn't make too bad of a showing at all, and we've vowed to do it again next year. We might actually train!

Today's Headline: Flaming Flags in Key West!

Last week Key Westers found yet another cause for celebration (that's not hard for us to do).

December 1 marked the end of an uneventful (for Key West) hurricane season, and tourism and weather officials celebrated by burning the red and black hurricane flags that are flown at the Coast Guard stations when the islands are under a hurricane warning.


We're out of the woods until June 1 next year! Hooray!

Cosmo the Boat Cat

Please allow us to introduce you to Cosmopolitan Von Moxie Sweet Tewell, or Cosmo the Boat Cat, as he's known in Key West.



Cosmo and his trusty human side-kick Sherry Sweet T were our featured guests at last week's Caroline Street Art & Design District First Thursday event. Sherry has created a beautifully illustrated children's book telling of Cosmo's adventures when they moved onto a house boat.

Now, some of the story may seem a little hard to believe, but Sherry swears, and I've seen photos, that the manatees and various and sundry other sea creatures swim right up to the boat and Cosmo truly seems to interact with them. And the poor little guy did end up in the drink one day.


This is a great gift for the children in your life and it comes with a DVD, and you can get a little plush Cosmo to go along with it! And the best part of it is that not only do the children learn how important it is to protect and preserve the reef, but a portion of sales goes to support Reef Relief, Save the Manatee Club, and the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, FL.


I bought the book for my grandchildren and they love it. Now they call all black and white cats they see, "Cosmos."

Fantasy Fest Week 2010 - Adults & Their Significant Others

There’s nothing like Fantasy Fest to bring couples together in a common cause… exposing your woman to a world of grateful admirers.





Seems like everyone gets into the act. Even respectable CEO guys…


Unfortunately, it looks like Mrs. Kiss didn’t get the memo…


Creativity was also alive and well on the couple’s front…





Although for the life of me, I can’t figure out the connection between BP and pink flamingos…


Some relationships didn’t seem long for the world…


While others seemed to be made in heaven…


And then, of course, there was the occasional ménage a trois (or is that ménage a weird?).


Finally, I leave you with a couple of close couple friends.