boston originally, bloomington most recently, portland eventually

My mother and I decided to take a spontaneous vacation to Key West to bond, since we're both in liminal spaces - me between graduate school and life after graduate school, Mom between college presidents and close to retirement. It's been the best vacation I've had in ages - the perfect combination of activity and relaxation, doing what we feel like when we feel like it, and serendipitous discoveries. I haven't seen any geckos, but the big surprise for me was how many wild roosters hang out all over this island. Also, I've seen a number of chihuahuas running loose, and I have a theory that the gay men who come visit here lose them and now they run wild in packs, getting ready to challenge the cats at the Hemingway house to a gang war dance-off.

Today was a momentous day. I:

• Saw Hemingway's typewriter and toilet.
• Petted one of Hemingway's cats.
  
• Ate conch fritters.
• Narrowly escaped getting chomped on by a shark in the ocean (for reals!).
• Watched 3 weddings happen simultaneously on the beach.
  
• Went to the Southernmost Dairy Queen.
• Saw a giant rainbow rooster float at the Pride Parade.
  
• Waved to Cuba.
• Took pictures of the zero mileage maker of Route 1 (a road that has deep childhood meaning for me).
• Got caught in several rain storms.
• Watched my freckles surface.
• Watched a manatee-dolphin-shark frolic in the waves.
• Ate Cuban bread for breakfast.
• Read some of Junot Diaz's latest, finally, which is awesome so far.
  

There was a lot more, but I can't remember now. Tomorrow we're going kayaking and hopefully we'll see sting rays and egrets. We'll be making our way back tomorrow night. I'm hoping for one last ocean swim. I left my phone in Connecticut, so if you've been trying me, sorry. Then it's Vermont on Thursday and Portland after that.

Really, I recommend everyone go to the warm ocean after moving. I did yoga in the warm water and my sore muscles feel much better. Pictures when I get back!

dilly dilly

I was googling Bloomington to try to find more pictures of the flood-ravaged downtown (water up to folks' knees!) or information on tomorrow's predicted severe whether when I came across this news story. Somehow it seems to perfectly encapsulate one aspect of Bloomington to me.

small town part II

There's a sweet little cafe in town, Neannie's, where I like to go for brunch on occasion. It's in my neighborhood, not "downtown" like most of the other restaurants, and thus attracts a decidedly older, more local crowd than the undergrads who frequent many of the other spots. Sadly, shortly after the new (young!) owner bought the business, her landlord decided not to renew her lease, hoping for more money from an office. Nearly every time I go I get the Mediterranean quiche; although I'm not the hugest quiche fan, the spinach and kalamata olives in this quiche are surprisingly delightful. Seriously, it's easier to find good Tibetan food in Indiana than good Italian or Greek. So I ate at Neannie's yesterday and as I was ordering, I lamented to the owner/server that I had unknowingly eaten my last of her delightful quiches. She promptly ran into the back and gave me the recipe. Her recipe. On an index card. With her handwriting. Torn out of a recipe box. What a nice thing to do for a relative stranger! It made my day. I can only hope she has it memorized and not that she's never going to make it again.