I smell Christmas in the AirDec 11, 2005
|
|
encampment
Fire!
The Gov'ner...in charge
| Well, we're settling in - been here two weeks. The hurricanes were so quick and close together that all the fall celebrations were delayed. All the festivals and parties that normally take place in October are in swing now. So far we've gone to the Goombay Festival, which is Caribbean inspired; not a "must do" again as it was just food stalls and second rate manufactured "hand crafts." How do you spell oxymoron? Then we welcomed Santa (on a 38' Sport Fishing Boat) and his "Holiday" parade with the lighting of the "Holiday" Tree, which, not withstanding Bill O'Riley's campaign against Walmart and Target, are all old Druid customs, any hoo. We wanted to get a good site at which to lean so, organizer and fore-planner that I (John) am we made sure we were in place at 6:30 for the 7:00pm start. At 8:15, I was having a creditability problem with my other half. Finally the police cleared the streets and the parade started. Key West fronts the longest "Holiday" parade you could ever wish for. Everyone was parading; from the Miata roadster club to the local Motorcycle group to the Girl/Boy/Cub/Brownie Scouts to Grandmothers United for Affordable Plastic Surgery (GUAPS). This left very few people to actually watch the parade. Next it was time to protect the city from the marauding pirates - as in "Pirates in Paradise." We biked out to Fort Zachary Taylor; built in the mid-1800's as Florida's southern-most fort (surprised?) and which played a large role during the "War Between the States" and the Spanish-American War. So the premise of 18th century British troops protecting the Fort from attacking pirates makes for good fun but not good history. The waters off the Keys made for a lucrative, but treacherous, route for the Spanish in the 17th century so this area has a rich history of pirates. If you were on the Crown's side and shared the booty you were a "licensed privateer" but if you didn't listen to your mother and didn't want to share, you were a pirate. Simple. We had a lot of fun as the participants are really into the pirate thing and each has his/her unique character he/she plays at these reenactments. Last night we went to the Captain Morgan Fantasy Fest Parade. This is a bigger deal than the Holiday Parade - a much bigger deal. The Fest actually goes on for almost a week and there are major bucks to be had if you win one of the major costume events. Unfortunately, I didn't learn anything about Parade etiquette in the week since the Holiday Parade. If the start time is scheduled for 7:00, chuckle and get there at 8:30. You'll still get to see the Grand Master lead off. The parade is normally held the last week of October in much warmer weather, which brings out a lot more skin than was in evidence this year. Most participants seemed anxious to preserve a little warmth, if not a little dignity. Most of the participants make you think - "well, isn't she perky?" but as for some others - well as the lady next to us succinctly put it "What was she thinking?!!!" But we had a good time as always. We arrived home to a scare though. We got into the motor home and an ear splitting alarm was going off. We had closed all the windows due to cloudy skies when we were leaving so the alarm was just faintly audible from outside. We searched and searched for the cause - it didn't seem to be the fire or the carbon monoxide alarms that we could see. It took us a while to figure out that one of the stove burners had been bumped on and propane was leaking into the RV. We hadn't noticed it before because the widows were always opened; but when the RV was closed up.... We were lucky the covered roof vents were still open. We will now check everything before we leave! I think I hear the beach calling so bye for now..... |
Advertisement 
|
