ONE HUMAN FAMILY and the Key West Pride Parade

June 18, 2014 by Candi Licence Leave a Comment

“Like fingers on a hand … We are all different and unique. We are all of equal value. We are all created to work together. And although we appear separate, we are all linked to – and a part of – each other.”

On the first day of the new millennium, a Key West Artist started printing and handing out free ONE HUMAN FAMILY stickers. It was unanimously adopted as the inclusive philosophy of the city of Key West. More than 1 million stickers have been sent worldwide and ONE HUMAN FAMILY has become an international grass-roots movement to unite all people and guarantee everyone equal rights, dignity and respect. (Words courtesy of ONE HUMAN FAMILY website).

_MS40267 — Rob Smith waving to the crowd

The ONE HUMAN FAMILY theme was a big part of this year’s Key West Pride parade that took place on Sunday, June 15th and was the culmination of a multi-day Pride event. Rob Smith, Iraq war veteran, author and openly gay activist, was the Grand Marshall. The VFW, who joined the parade for the first time last year, were the first to sign up for this year’s event. Active duty service personnel and VFW representatives brought tears to my eyes as they proudly marched at the front of the parade.

After our service men and women passed by, the politicians rode by in numerous vehicles. It was great to see them turnout and support their constituents and, my guess, in some cases themselves.

There was also great representation of a number of pride groups, local hotels and businesses. In October, Key West holds their annual Fantasy Fest and the Kings and Queens from the past few years were also part of the extravaganza.

Dogs are welcomed everywhere in Key West

And as would be expected in Key West there was lots of color, over the top costumes, floats and great enthusiasm. Everyone in the parade and watching it were having a great time – including of course, the dogs!

Michael has many more really fun pictures at StraleyPhotography.com . Check them out, they are great.

You Tube also has a great video that captures the highlights of the parade including one, very public, marriage proposal in front of a large, cheering crowd.

Cajan Delights at the Blossom Cafe

June 14, 2014 by Candi Licence Leave a Comment

Michael was walking the dog on Sunday and strolled by the Blossom Cafe. They were closed but had an enticing sign so we walked over again mid-week to stop by for lunch.

Besides the great sign, they had a beautiful parrot named Skittles in front of the store. She is a Catalina Macaw, is beautifully marked and quite a show off.

Key West is a VERY dog friendly town and you can take your dog most everywhere including most stores. Mick was invited in to join us for lunch and was perfectly behaved. So many new experiences for him.

Shannan and José own Blossom and are gracious hosts. They stopped into Key West for a day a couple of years ago and decided they had to move here. They are originally from New Orleans but had to move as a result of Katrina and ended up in Rochester, NY. Beautiful upstate New York but cold and snowy. A year after their trip they moved south again and the Cafe has been open about 11 months.

Shannan serving Gumbo and Etouféé — Shannan serving Gumbo and Etoufee

We had a delicious lunch – we split the Seafood Gumbo and Crawfish Etouféé (sweet crawfish stew) and each had a crawfish BLT. Yummy!

UPDATE: We stopped by this morning for a breakfast sandwich and had an egg, steak and cheese sandwich on Cuban bread – Delicious and too much food, we’ll split one next time. I’d like a little hot sauce on this sandwich so will need to check if they have that as a condiment on our next visit.

Candi and Michael’s Honey Moon

June 14, 2014 by Candi Licence 2 Comments

Because we are close to the Summer solstice (June 21st), the June full moon appears over the horizon as a huge butterscotch orange orb and is called the honey moon. June traditionally was the month that most weddings occurred and the time couples spent alone after their wedding became known as their honeymoon.

Michael and I were out on the Higgs beach pier to see this beautiful moon rising on Friday, the 13th. The horizon was cloudy so it took a while for the moon to appear but it lived up to its description and was beautiful.

After peaking through the clouds, it disappeared again for a short while and then triumphantly lit up the sky – smaller and whiter, but reflecting beautifully off the water. The breeze was strong and welcoming cool as we and the other moon worshippers waited for this event that will not occur again until June 2098. (a June, full moon on Friday the 13th)

Earlier, we strolled downtown to the Pier House to support a charitable event and had lovely tapas and rum tastings. We had some good conversations with other visitors to Key West and got a couple of great recommendations for things to do and places to eat. The tapas were very good, rum is never bad but it was hot, hot, hot over on the western side of the island. The sun was blazing, getting ready for its sunset performance and there was very little breeze. It was a stark contrast to the eastern shore breezes we felt later and often have at our house. Definitely something you want to consider if you move here or visit in the summer months.

We strolled over to Mallory Square to check out the action. It was about 7:20 PM and there were people gathering for the sunset celebration but because it was still over an hour away, not too much performance art was going on. It was fun seeing the ships coming in and out of the harbor. We will definitely book a sunset cruise one evening soon.

Because we were shooting the moon rise, we left to meander back to our car. Key West is a great walking town with lots of interesting places to see and people to watch. And, oh yes, of course the chickens!

Hunting for Iguanas

June 4, 2014 by Candi Licence Leave a Comment

When we were on the Olde Town Trolley the other day, the driver stopped near the airport and pointed out iguanas hanging out in the grass near a mangrove stream, right behind a hotel. There were brown ones as well as bright green ones. Today we’re on the hunt to see if we can capture some pictures.

Only saw two iguanas today. This one is a veteran pro. He posed like a model – standing still, eating grass, walking towards Michael, holding his head up and then moving it from side to side as if saying – which view do you like best?

Check out his coloring and markings, pretty incredible. Overall, I’d say he’s a pretty handsome dude.

We tried to get pictures of a bright green iguana also, but the one we saw was much more shy and ran into the mangrove when we were still very far away. We’ll need to go back and try again another day.

Can you imagine coming out of your hotel room to get into your car and seeing one (or more) of these guys right next to your car?

Rainy Day and Café Solé

June 2, 2014 by Candi Licence Leave a Comment

Spitting a little bit of rain this morning, the first time in 2 weeks. Key West is having a drought so any rain is welcomed. The day continues to be cloudy with threat of rain and finally as we jump in the car to go to the dog park it starts raining. We go anyway and sit under a covered table. Mick and a few other dogs romp around. Mick hasn’t run at this dog park as much as he did in JAX and I wasn’t sure if it was because the weather has gotten warmer or different location/different dogs were the cause. None of the dogs here run as much plus I know Mick misses the pond at our old dog park. Well he was running and romping today in the cooler, wet weather – having a great time.

We went out to dinner tonight at Café Solé a lovely French restaurant that specializes in fish. I had read great reviews about the food. I noticed that I really wanted it to be special and arrived with all kinds of expectations that it would be wonderful and was prepared to be enchanted. Michael is more realistic – wanting a great meal but taking a wait and see attitude. The setting was lovely – covered outdoor seating and attentive wait staff. Our waiter, Trip, was overly enthusiastic about everything, a little over the top for Michael.

I had Portobello mushroom soup that was sublime, Michael had lobster bisque which was very good but not the same with Florida lobster. Michael wants to get back north and gorge on Maine lobster until we can’t eat anymore. Sounds great to me –we haven’t had cold water lobster in years and really miss it. We split a good seafood risotto and both had the hog snapper which is the café specialty and it was wonderful; slightly breaded, flash fried then baked with a lovely sauce. Michael makes a terrific Hog Snapper with Teriyaki that he thinks is even better. I love his dish but since they are so different I’d be hard pressed to choose a winner, both are divine. Desert was a disappointing Bananas Foster – good but not at the level I expected from this restaurant. We agreed it was a 7-8 meal overall. Setting was lovely, fabulous company and good to very good food.