We stayed at breakfast yesterday until after last call. Only the first day so far has the breakfast special been appealing. The other days I’ve settled for fruit and an English muffin. At least they have honey for my hot tea though. Today’s special is bagels with lox. Somebody Jewish must have arrived.
After breakfast yesterday, we biked to Truman’s little white house, the only open-to-the-public presidential retreat. The reason it is open to the public still is because, in my opinion – while indeed it is still used – who would want to go there today? The furniture is uncomfortably outdated even though we were promised the new presidential suite is kept updated and off limits. And while it is near the water, there is no view through the massive condo complex across the street, which used to be a Navy administration building that Truman refused to raze.
Mom was moved to almost, but not buy Truman’s biography. I bought Grandma her birthday present.
After our tourist experience of the day, we were hungry and went in search of the crepe place we passed the previous night. When I asked the vendor on the street which way on Duval was the crepe place, she responded, “You mean the one that burnt down?” … ooops, guess we weren’t too attentive the first pass.
So we settled on a Thanksgiving wrap from Logos, to go, which we ate on our patio with our newly installed ceiling fan.
Mom took a room sabbatical and I read by the pool, in the pool, in the hot tub and back by the pool. The book I’m reading is Ragtime… I bought it from an online used bookstore because I’m going to see the play in May. While I’m almost done with the book and I see some societal messages within, the character development hasn’t happened throughout the entire book. I have no idea who the first person narrative is and while there is somewhat of a plot emerging as the primary plot now that I’m three quarters done with it – I don’t understand the tangential stories going on with all the non-fictional characters woven throughout such as Harry Houdini, JP Morgan, Henry Ford and Tom Thumb’s wife. A very strange book indeed.
As the afternoon marched on, I decided to go shop at a novelty store in search for something appropriate for my Memorial Day trip to Chicago, where a niche festival will be happening. I’m going to visit my friends there, but we have all decided to go to the festival, which requires certain attire. Leather attire. Leather Masters in Key West is something between a clothes store and a sex shop. When I walked in, two burly, hairy gay men were behind the counter with two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels barking for attention.
I wandered around looking for something inexpensive to fill the requirement and didn’t know what to buy, or if I found something, if there would be an alternative unintended meaning to it. So I told them where I was going and that I needed the “starter kit.” Picture the scene now in Pretty woman when Richard Gere goes shopping on Rodeo Drive with Julia Roberts and tells the clerks to suck up. Now picture this in a leather store. There were many snarky comments – instructional books thrown my way and movie quotes… “The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize!” … which proved humorous later as mom and I went to the theater to see Steel Magnolias on stage. I walked out of the store not buying anything, but contemplating a vest, which actually looked good on me and might double one day for a cowboy Halloween costume or something. It was the only thing in the store I thought might one day have a practical purpose. At least for my lifestyle.
When I got back to the hotel, mom was already ready. I had showered earlier in mom’s favorite shower outside so I just changed my shirt and shoes. We biked back to the theater and picked up our tickets, which included a theater menu at the Pier House resort at the end of Duval.
I was a bit disappointed in the meal at Pier House. The one thing on their regular menu that both of us wanted to try – the conch fritters – were not on the abridged theater menu so we bought those separate. I started off with a “blue goose” martini, which was supposed to have blue cheese olives in it, but came with regular so I had to remind them of their recipe (vodka, blue cheese olives… how hard is this?) My starter was conch chowder, which may have been what did me in later… very rich and creamy. The meal was a mayonnaisey mix of veggies, shrimp and conch displayed lovely with a pineapple peal around the mound like a boat floating in a sea of mixed greens. While the flavor was good, this dish should have been a small plate. The salad didn’t lend itself to a full entrée. For desert, we found the winningest key lime pie yet here, which had a heaping mound of scorched marange on top of a creamy and not too tart yellow filling. The shell was graham cracker based, but a bit soggy. While the wait staff at the restaurant seemed untrained or new, they were friendly and pleasant. As the first customers to use the dinner option, I was impressed by the manager’s personal attention to us complementing our decision to go see the play which starred one of his coworkers The best part of our meal was the ambiance of the restaurant. Sitting right on the water, shielded from the sunset – a cool breeze was upon us. Children played on a small beach next to the restaurant and sailboats passed in the sound. We watched paratroopers drop out of a C-130 in the distance over the Navy base. I thoroughly enjoyed the location, and while the food was okay, I won’t ever recommend this place in good conscience simply because mom and I were both sick by 11:00 – thankfully not attacking us during the play.
The play was at the Red Barn Theater, tucked away behind the Women’s club on Duval Street. The theater has been a stage since the late 1800s, which impressed me quite a bit. In what used to be the home’s carriage house, a number of local theater troops have performed for years. Steel Magnolias was fantastic. The locals here really know how to put on a show. The set, a hairdresser’s shop, was very detailed and well done. Each actress was perfect for their parts – impressive for a community of only 20,000 people. My favorites were Ouizer and Clarice – both epitomizing the characters and paying homage to the performances by Olympia Dukakis and Shirley MacLaine in the movie. The rest of the characters fit their parts but were only okay. The girl who played Shelby seemed to have early onset Parkinson’s – very jittery and never making eye contact with whoever she was speaking to.
The play ended and we were content with the evening, but with upset stomachs, our night was over. Not even a scrabble game.
Since I threw up my evening contingent of meds, I woke up with some serious back pain early this morning and decided only the hot tub would fix this problem… so with my book, I ventured out. Mom woke up and asked the time and what I was doing… she decided to join me. Hence another day has started…
I am now going to go finish my book and wait to kayak.
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