Living In A Tent On The Beach Of Sugarloaf Key, 50 Feet From The Ocean...

It may sound idyllic, but when you're living right there with all the tiny sea oriented critters, --- holy, jumping sand fleas!...  Yes, those '"no-see-'ems" bite fiercely!  This is why most vacationers stay in hotels.  But, the Florida keys are beautiful and not tropical, but semi-tropical.  It's a wonderful 55 to 75 degrees in December to February, yet in August the temps are over 100 with high humidity...  WHOA!...  Look out!  The only way I could stand it was to wear a bathing suit all the time and spray myself constantly with a little bottle of cool water!  And, the sun is furious; you WILL wear a hat.  I wore quirky straw one that I became quite attached to.    

Big blue gray crabs scuttle sideways across the beach in the morning; palmetto bugs wander around constantly (sort of a huge beetle, and strictly vegetarian) and jellyfish come up on the beach to die.  (I don't know why....???)  The long, ghostly white, spaghetti-like stingers of jellyfish are just as potent when they're dead as when they're alive, so matter how curious you are: MUSTN'T TOUCH IT!  And, if you are in the shallows and thinking of fun walking on the coral reefs, you DO IT wearing sneakers with thick rubber soles, - no flip-flops!  I knew why the first time I did it.  Moray eels hide in the little spaces and holes in the coral formations, with their mouths of very pointy teeth half open and their beady white eyes, watching, watching, watching, and it seems like they're just waiting to bite you on the ankle!  

Naturally, land animals live on or very near the beach too.  Stray cats and dogs (often well fed), raccoons, armadillos and many, many salamanders and lizards are there.  You can hear them scurrying away as you walk down the paths of sand bordered by tall beach grass, which is very pretty and is called "sea oats".  I learned fast enough to wear my flip-flops almost everywhere because once you walk away from the lapping surf there are these little blackish-green plant things in the ground called "sand spurs" and they are very sharp, ending up sticking in the soles of your bare feet!  

The ground is white everywhere, or very, very pale gray, even away from the beach.  All the rocks are of coral.  A common rock in the Northeast U.S.A. might be brown, brownish gray or gray because it's usually limestone.  But, in the Keys all the rocks are white and if you study them you'll see the tiny holes of typical coral.  (Coral that fishing people sometimes bring up on their hooks is a brilliant red, but when it dries it's white...  Too bad.)  

Shells are very plentiful.  Most of them are of the small white clam variety, or tiny shimmering gray shells called "jingle shells", or of the little cone type, but sometimes you'll find a helmet shell or a big whelk, white-bleached and dry as a bone.  I found a small abalone shell lined with the silvery turquoise and light blue mother of pearl.  I hear that abalone steaks are delicious, but you have to pound them until you think you'll die from exhaustion or they are as tough as shoe leather.  Of course, there are pinkish conchs too; couch chowder is delicious!  (I LOVED shelling!  I was there right after a hurricane and the shell collecting was fabulous!  I felt a little bad about taking so many of them away, but a beach ranger said not to because the shells would only be smashed by grading tractors, anyway.  The shells I gathered were perfect for making necklaces; each one had a little hole in it, made by a borer.)      

There isn't much land in the Florida Keys.  Key dwellers and Floridians know that a lot of land down there was "created".  That is, the sand was dredged up from the ocean bottom and dumped on shore.  Actually, as you drive down the ONE MAIN road of Sugarloaf Key you can see the ocean on each side.  (I don't know what permanent residents do during hurricanes.  The water must REALLY come up.  There are beautiful homes in the Keys, many of them painted tropical pastels, - pink, light turquoise, sunny yellow, creamsicle orange.) 

Live oak trees, THE Florida tree, grow rampantly and so do hibiscus bushes with their shocking pink trumpet-like blooms.  Little shore birds, the sandpipers, several types of them, roam the wavelets.  It's comical to see them rush down to the water when the waves retreat, then scoot back as the waves come back again.  They do it over, and over, and over, and over, --- all day long.  Seagulls are always flying and cawing.  They chase the fishing boats, hoping that passengers will throw them used bait, which they cleverly catch in midair...

Some people do surf fishing, standing on the beach, casting their lines into the waves.  I went deep sea fishing ONLY ONCE!  (I get violently seasick.  So much so that I'm actually still sick for hours AFTER I get back on land.)  While deep sea fishing I was rewarded with a great sight!  A whale surfaced right beside the boat, not six feet from me, as I was standing at the gunnels.  He was 3 times as long as the boat, which was not that small.  His one eye, toward me, was the size of a basketball!  He wasn't really very interested in us.   He slipped back in the ocean, with hardly a splash.  SO COOL!  I'll NEVER forget it.  That whale seemed so gentle. 

Key West is a very, very neat place, very quaint in it's own way.  Of course, there are wonderful bars there and the living is - take it easy.  Key West was a favorite place of author Ernest Hemingway.  I got to go through his house there, to see his writing room with his typewriter and to walk around his fancy swimming pool.  He loved cats and had many of them.  The descendants of his pet cats still live at his house.  A lot of them are polydactle cats, or cats born with extra toes.  All the Hemingway cats at Key West are very, very pampered and have their own maids.  Oh, ME-OW, ME-OW, ME-OW, ME-OW!!!...  =^_^= ,  =^_^= , =^_^= , =^_^= , =^_^= , =^_^= , =^_^= , =^_^= ...   :D 

                  

Re-told Tales: The King Of The Cats...

     This very old British folk tale implies that cats have a secret world that we know nothing about...

     One moonlit night, while going over the moors,, a man see a strange funeral.  A solemn line of cats are walking on their hind legs, carrying a small golden coffin encrusted with jewels.  As he watches the funeral procession passes slowly from his sight.  The man is so enchanted by what he has seen that once he is comfortably back home he pets his magnificent tabby cat, who at first, is snoozing.  He begins to tell him the story, even though he thinks his cat won't understand.

     The cat looks up at him with big, beautiful eyes and when the man finishes the tabby blinks once and once again and jumps to the floor.  He turns and looks lovingly at the person whose home he has shared for years and years.  But, he cries loudly, in perfect English, --- "Now, I AM the King Of The Cats!," and leaps out the window.  The man never sees his cat again.      

Re-told Tales: The Selkie Wife...

     The Irish call them the roane, pronounced "ron".   The Scots call them the selkies.  They are the seal people, and they are among the gentlest residents of Faerie. 

     It is said that:  In the sea they long for the land; on the Land they long for the sea...  So, they are in constant indecision, never satisfied with one or the other.  This is actually a type of curse... 

     One night a Scottish fisherman, Neil Mac Coddrum, came upon an enchanting sight, a group of lovely young women dancing and twirling in the moonlight. He meant to watch them unnoticed, but he stepped on a branch of driftwood; it made a loud snap! 

     Instantly, the women rushed to a pile near them and grabbed up what looked like fur coats. The coats were their seal skins. Swiftly, they rushed down to the waters edge, donned their skins and dived into the waves.

     But, one of the women was not as quick as her sisters. Neil snatched her sealskin from her. Pitifully, she pleaded for her skin so she could join her sisters in the sea, but the fisherman wouldn't return it. 

     He knew from old stories that he had caught a selkie woman and that if he hid her skin from her he could force her to become a good, if wistful and sad wife. So, the selkie maiden was forced to stay with him.

     In time, she bore Neil a son and daughter. They looked like normal humans except they had webs between their fingers and toes. 

     The selkie wife lived for many years with Neil Mac Coddrum, until one day her children came to her with a strange discovery. "Look, Mother, what we have found behind a locked door! It looks a bit like a coat, but it is so soft and warm-feeling!"

     The selkie woman was overjoyed! After so many years, her skin returned to her! Quickly, she told her children the story of the Selkie race, but she said, "Tonight I must leave you."

     That night the she made dinner, as usual, but after her husband had gone to sleep she took her children and her sealskin to the edge of the sea. Tearfully, she hugged them. "I will go now. As you know, I must return to my natural life as a selkie, but I will come to you again. You will hear me singing from the sea for you are half-selkie. Then you will come to me and together we will swim the waves." 

     With that said, the selkie woman donned her sealskin and dived into the water. In the morning Neil searched for his wife and questioned his children. Gravely, they told him, "Our mother has returned to her home in the Sea."

     There was nothing he could do about it. He missed his wife badly, but never saw her again. His children lived with him until they were married for they were as gentle and agreeable as their mother, still they never forgave their father. 

     Being half selkie, they knew how the many years of the loss of the Sea had been to their mother. For the rest of their lives they heard her selkie song calling them to swim the waves, especially on moonlit nights. 

     Their father, of course, could not hear the beautiful sea-song, but he knew when he could not find his son and daughter where they were. His children would come home. They looked so much like their mother. Their soft eyes would burn his heart like a brand. 

      In the coastal areas of Scotland, for generations, there would sometimes be children born with webs between their fingers and toes.

(The stories of the selkies are some of my favorites. If you liked this story you might also like the movie "The Secret Of Roane Innish", and also the short story in the paperback book "Irish Magic" called "Galaway Bay" by Morgan Lewellyn.  I have read in folklore that certain Scottish and Irish families have had children with webs, the Mac Coddrums, of course, being the most well-known for it.) 

Rugged Chiricahua Apache Life In The Old West...

     The Chiricahua Apache lived in the dry, mountainous region of the Southwest,  mostly in southeast Arizona.  They were an extremely tough people.  Their land was a difficult place to find food, one of the harshest parts of the whole country.  And, yet, the Chiricahua survived, and even, thrived.   (At one time in their history great efforts were made to exterminate all Apaches, of course, including the Chiricahua, and bounties were placed on all Apache scalps,---man, woman and child.)

     The tactic of destroying their food sources would not work on the Apache, as it did on the Native Americans of the Plains, who were devastated by the mass slaughter of their buffalo.  The Apache  who were used to the hardship of never having plentiful food or supplies and to whom raiding was a way of life survived in spite of practically all efforts to destroy them.  If they didn't have enough they would get what they needed by taking it.

     Raiding was usually done on foot and at night.  Apaches could sneak in and make off with what they desired before anyone noticed; their stealth was amazing.  The scarcity of food meant that they were a nomadic people, moving around a lot.  But, although they were very tough; there were never that many Apache.

     They were, in general, a very healthy people.  Their isolated territory, nomadic nature and basically unsubmissive attitude protected them from the onslaught of European invaders (Ugh, the explorers and missionaries.) so that the Apache didn't suffer greatly from "white man's diseases": smallpox, measles and cholera.  Venereal disease was unknown among them.

     A rigorous, athletic outdoor life made Apache endurance nothing short of astounding!  An Apache warrior in his prime could cover thirty miles a day on foot.   On horseback, he could go seventy miles in one day!  You can imagine how hard it might have been to catch an Apache.  It was said that only an Apache could catch another Apache. An Apache could live outdoors in freezing temperatures and in conditions that would kill almost anyone else in a matter of days.

     Apache boys were taught to run up hills and down continuously, holding water in their mouths, to train.  And, girls were encouraged to run too.  Both boys and girls were taught be be excellent on horseback, their skill rivaling the Comanche,  who could shoot arrows from a galloping horse bending over, using the horses body as a shield and who could retrieve a fallen comrade at a gallop, reaching down to grab him, of course, without stopping.

     Apaches were taught to swim and enjoyed it very much.  Apache girls, especially, swam a lot because they believed that swimming kept them from developing a lot of body hair, something that was detestible to all Apache.

     Apache women often went to war with their men and were very fierce in battle.  The Chiricahua, clever mountain people that they were, were skilled ambushers, going to the edges of their cliffs and raining obsidian-tipped arrows and big rocks down on their enemies, taunting them too, by waving their breech cloths and slapping their asses... (Sort of reminds me of the defiant Scots in "Braveheart"!)

     *** The Apache nation consisted of quite a few tribes: the Chiricahua, the Lipans, the Mescalero, the Jicarillas, the Mimbrenos, the Mogollones, and the Western Apaches, - the Tontos, the Coyoteros and the Pinalenos.  Of them all, the Chiricahua were considered the most fierce.

Cap'n Teach, --- Blackbeard, --- SIR!!!!!!... :D

Eleuthera Island -- The REAL Bahamas HD

That Beach Is As Pink As A Rose On A Birthday Cake & The Sand Is Almost As Fine As Face Powder!...

The sand is pink because it's blended with red coral.  Isn't that POSITIVELY SUPER!!!  I'd love to dance on it on a balmy evening in the moonlight and pretend I had gossamer faerie wings sprouting from my back!

Well...  If you've got enough moolah, [$$$$$ - $$$$$$ you don't mind spending] you too can twinkle your toes in fine pinky sand and live in a cute little private cottage and ride a horse bareback along surf that rushes gently on blushing Bahaman beaches.  In fact, you can wade out hundreds of yards into it and the warm water will only be up to your waist...

On the long and narrow islands of the Eleuthera chain, 3 islands, there are plenty of pretty pink beaches.  

Famous Harbour Island has a 3 miles stretch of serene loveliness.  There are no high-rise hotels there or luxurious spas.  But, there are cozy little inns, great bakeries and fabulous fishing.  "Sports Illustrated" has shot their swimsuit issues on Harbour Island.  The local people, who call their island "Briland" [rhymes with dry] are basically not impressed with the celebrities that rent and own houses here; among them are --- Martha Stewart and the Duchess Of York, Diane von Furstenberg, Tyra Banks, Nicole Kidman, Brook Shields, Jimmy Buffett, Elle Mac Pherson and Mick Jagger.  You can easily bring your dog to Harbour Island; there's no pet quarantine.  All you need is a pet permit and a small fee [ about $10], plus a health certificate from your vet and your pooch can relax on the beach with you. 

Must be very, very nice...  sigh.  ["...Wasting away in Margaritaville, --- and, drink up those Bahama Mamas!!!...  Giggle.]  :D