I’ve never been elevated to the title of poet - Thank you!
You are so kind with your comments. 💝
Some days the world just talks to me and it flows out across the keys. Other days, well, it’s more like a catbox disaster or Myrtle concocting a legendary family recipe for the first time.
Millie, “Island Time” comes through here as more than a slower pace; it feels like a different way of belonging to the day. I loved the way sunrise, breakfast, bridge traffic, tourists, music on the porch, and memories like meeting Myrtle all become markers of time that feel more human than a calendar. The keyboard detail is especially wonderful, because Weesa Buns’ “musical ferocity” turns ordinary porch life into a kind of emotional weather report. Thank you for letting us sit inside a world where time is measured by rhythm, presence, and the people who slowly become part of home.
I do know! My late wife and I used to take a couple of months each winter down into the Caribbean, which was great for her osteoarthritis and just good for us generally. But we didn’t feel like the regular tourist who came for like only a week or so we got to know a lot of our local people, and made friends with them. And even in the summer, which can be very nice in the region of Canada we came from, can be beautiful, and hot, the prairie region, where we had our home in Winnipeg and a cottage in Gimli up at the cottage right by a marina on Lake Winnipeg, my wife would sell her artwork (fiber art))) at the farmers market every Saturday.
And we learned things from our trips down south that we brought back with us. After the very first real one that we took, I bought a jet ski for the cottage in the summertime. And after another trip we came back, I decided that my wife got so much comfort from being in the water that I put a swimming pool in our backyard in Winnipeg so that we would have that too. I had never figured it could really be done, but when you hire the people who build the right things on. It was the second smallest pool they had ever built! But it was big enough to get some swimming exercising, and big enough for her to float on her back in which was the important thing.
And even here, and now, someone was talking on some post about brands, and whether people are into wearing them, although they were talking more about Gucci and Prada. I actually replied to it and told him that yes I do wear brands that appeal to me. Right now I am wearing a T-shirt from the dread or dead surf shop in Barbados with their logo on it, and when I wrote the other reply, I was wearing a Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville T-shirt that I actually bought, or my wife actually bought for me, at one of his places in Jamaica.
Those sound like some wonderful memories. Powerful ones that drove you into action! I'm glad you got to enjoy the island lifestyle. It's a beautiful thing.
And on the other stuff that you mentioned, that you warn people about at the beginning of the post, I agree too. People are not defined by what they do, but by some thing that is greater than the sum of all the parts of all the things that they like can do. Especially, the women that you were talking about who do the cam things, it’s not like they don’t have other interests. It’s not like they don’t read or watch movies or something like that, and can’t be on this platform, especially because of something like that. Nobody is only one thing, and everybody has to pay their rent. Me, for several years I was security at the place I live at, on the graveyard shift, but I have a tendency to resort to force much more quickly than I ought in many situations. So I’ve been taking off that, and right now for the summer, I’m in charge of the flowers, so now I’m kind of the gardener. Because of my history of violence! And that came from a lack of patience with a lot of people, which was probably generational, because I grew up at a time when guys in their 20s simply wouldn’t talk back to a guy my age, if he was in a position of authority. They would just settle down and do it was asked of them. Or told them.
Anyway, thanks for sharing your writings with us from the Florida Keys
For me, they are like a breath of fresh air, and a remembrance of things passed when my life was better.
This is really truly lovely. Your writing here is very poetic yet so does it feel that the poetry is in the slowing down! ❤️
I’ve never been elevated to the title of poet - Thank you!
You are so kind with your comments. 💝
Some days the world just talks to me and it flows out across the keys. Other days, well, it’s more like a catbox disaster or Myrtle concocting a legendary family recipe for the first time.
I generally don’t publish those.
Life is good. It’s something I like to share.
This is such a beautiful reflection. Thank you for sharin git with me. I'm glad life is going good for you too. It's a lovely feeling.
I enjoyed reading this the ebb and flow in itself was so relaxing
Millie, “Island Time” comes through here as more than a slower pace; it feels like a different way of belonging to the day. I loved the way sunrise, breakfast, bridge traffic, tourists, music on the porch, and memories like meeting Myrtle all become markers of time that feel more human than a calendar. The keyboard detail is especially wonderful, because Weesa Buns’ “musical ferocity” turns ordinary porch life into a kind of emotional weather report. Thank you for letting us sit inside a world where time is measured by rhythm, presence, and the people who slowly become part of home.
I was one of those moped tourists once upon a time and it was life changing. But you already know that. I'll take island time anytime, Mills. - Seth ✦
100% agreement!
Spoken like one who knows! Thanks for reading, Stephen!
I do know! My late wife and I used to take a couple of months each winter down into the Caribbean, which was great for her osteoarthritis and just good for us generally. But we didn’t feel like the regular tourist who came for like only a week or so we got to know a lot of our local people, and made friends with them. And even in the summer, which can be very nice in the region of Canada we came from, can be beautiful, and hot, the prairie region, where we had our home in Winnipeg and a cottage in Gimli up at the cottage right by a marina on Lake Winnipeg, my wife would sell her artwork (fiber art))) at the farmers market every Saturday.
And we learned things from our trips down south that we brought back with us. After the very first real one that we took, I bought a jet ski for the cottage in the summertime. And after another trip we came back, I decided that my wife got so much comfort from being in the water that I put a swimming pool in our backyard in Winnipeg so that we would have that too. I had never figured it could really be done, but when you hire the people who build the right things on. It was the second smallest pool they had ever built! But it was big enough to get some swimming exercising, and big enough for her to float on her back in which was the important thing.
And even here, and now, someone was talking on some post about brands, and whether people are into wearing them, although they were talking more about Gucci and Prada. I actually replied to it and told him that yes I do wear brands that appeal to me. Right now I am wearing a T-shirt from the dread or dead surf shop in Barbados with their logo on it, and when I wrote the other reply, I was wearing a Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville T-shirt that I actually bought, or my wife actually bought for me, at one of his places in Jamaica.
Those sound like some wonderful memories. Powerful ones that drove you into action! I'm glad you got to enjoy the island lifestyle. It's a beautiful thing.
And on the other stuff that you mentioned, that you warn people about at the beginning of the post, I agree too. People are not defined by what they do, but by some thing that is greater than the sum of all the parts of all the things that they like can do. Especially, the women that you were talking about who do the cam things, it’s not like they don’t have other interests. It’s not like they don’t read or watch movies or something like that, and can’t be on this platform, especially because of something like that. Nobody is only one thing, and everybody has to pay their rent. Me, for several years I was security at the place I live at, on the graveyard shift, but I have a tendency to resort to force much more quickly than I ought in many situations. So I’ve been taking off that, and right now for the summer, I’m in charge of the flowers, so now I’m kind of the gardener. Because of my history of violence! And that came from a lack of patience with a lot of people, which was probably generational, because I grew up at a time when guys in their 20s simply wouldn’t talk back to a guy my age, if he was in a position of authority. They would just settle down and do it was asked of them. Or told them.
Anyway, thanks for sharing your writings with us from the Florida Keys
For me, they are like a breath of fresh air, and a remembrance of things passed when my life was better.
I love having my stories support and connect with you. Thank you for reading, and for sharing a bit of who you are.
Sorry for the grammar and typos in the above post, it’s pretty much because I dictate my texts, and I really just woke up.
Ha! I didn't even notice. lol.