Key West Pink

It's always hard to decide what's for dinner. Here is what Capt. Tavern suggests: Shrimps! I never knew that they have invented a new designation - Colossal! Hhmmm... Key West pink! Looks very inviting!

Pretty In Pink

Here is a beautiful in pink look of the Miami's sky late in the afternoon today. Sorry about all the ugly wires. I can't help it!

Colorful Juveniles

After several days of much rain from tropical storm Isaac, the baby giant blue crabs (Cardisoma guanhumi) appear in droves here... Remember that they only get the boring pale blue when adults. When still in juvenile stages, they are really pretty in all rainbow hues: green, yellow, red, orange, purple, pink, black... Do rainbows have pink and black colors in them? Do you know??? If not, why not???

Because...

Isaac is gone ...



Photo taken today at 10:27AM.
Click on the player above to hear a sad song...

Misery

Isaac has come and gone, but the story does not end there. We have a lot of flooding from the rain that accompanied Isaac. Isaac's center is way over there... but its arms reach way over here on Brickell avenue, and the end result is that we are still having a wet and windy day to deal with. Tomorrow will be back to normal again, I am sure.

It's Only A Tropical Storm

Thankfully, we are spared of an encounter with a hurricane. Tropical storm Isaac is supposed to skirt the Florida Keys and emerge into the Gulf of Mexico. So we are safe... but as you can see, we are still very, very wet. This is the wet coral rock wall of the very beautiful Plymouth Congregational Church in Coconut Grove.

Prelude To A Cane

This is a miserable day to drive around in Miami. This is Brickell Avenue... and this is NOT Isaac yet. Isaac is supposed to become a Hurricane sometime late tomorrow and will cross the Florida Keys to enter the Gulf of Mexico where it has plenty of warm water to grow stronger. South Florida, including Miami is under a hurricane warning (meaning hurricane conditions may prevail) and everyone, myself included is trying to hibernate and weather this storm. I want my blue sky back... Boo hoo hoo!

Only a TS

Friday afternoon, and the traffic is crazy... This huge ad usually talks about Coconut Grove's commerce but this time, Coral Gables is paying to get the attention away from Coconut Grove. In a nutshell, if you want to be "trendy," and if you're a Who's Who, you need to be trendy... so you obviously need to shop with the "trend setter." Clear? No? But look at the black storm in the sky... here comes the fringe of Isaac. It is still only classified as a tropical storm (TS) with wind speed of about 70mph. We may be OK because the weather forecasters only issued TS warning for us and no one is uttering the word "HURRICANE." Hope they are correct this time.

Detour Ahead

This is Brickell Avenue as seen today at about 2PM when the heat is suffocating, especially with this traffic jam caused by ongoing road work. This is about 12th or 13th street... I'm not sure because I have to pay close attention to these Bob's barricades (the orange and white cylindrical things with an orange light atop.) Thankfully they are turned off. When on, they can easily drive me gaga!

Isaac!

Just when you thought it's a good time to talk about pleasant things in life... then you have to start worrying about dealing with Isaac! I need to wake up early tomorrow morning to put some drinking water and food in my refrigerator because it's pretty empty right now. When Isaac comes, and he will whether he is welcome or not..., I'll be forced to go into a long term fasting spell if I am not careful... I may be able to get some photos of the frenzy at grocery stores starting... about... NOW! Looking at this forecast from the National Hurricane center, we'll get very windy this weekend for certain! Aye yei yei! Yikes!

... Addendum... I didn't feel like waiting until tomorrow morning, but look here... The shelves are already empty and it's only 8:13PM. I can't wait to see the water rush tomorrow morning, but I don't think I want to wake up that early for a crazy photo shot... but if I can't sleep.. I may consider...

Catch Me If You Can

The giant blue land crab (Cardisoma guanhumi) is the largest of Florida's semi-terrestrial crabs. In its juvenile form, the crab is a dark brown, purple, or orange in color. As an adult, it is a bluish-gray color. Females sometimes appear light gray or white. A distinctive feature of these blue land crabs is that one claw is larger than the other. In southern Florida, these crabs are seen in low-lying areas of coastal counties and they rarely are found more than 5 miles from the coast. Adult blue land crabs are terrestrial (land-dwelling)critters and they return to the sea only to drink or to breed. They live in burrows several feet deep or at least to a level that will allow water to seep in for moisture. . Giant blue land crabs are primarily vegetarians, preferring tender leaves, fruits, berries, flowers and some vegetables. Their peak reproductive activity occurs during full moons in the summer. After mating, an adult female lays her eggs but carries the egg mass beneath her body for approximately 2 weeks prior to migrating to the ocean and releasing the eggs into shallow inshore waters. After hatching in the open ocean in October and November, the young crabs are carried by the ocean tides back to the shores.

The adult life of the blue land crab is spent away from salt water and in burrows 3 to 5in (8 to 13cm) wide and up to 5ft (1.5m) deep like what you see in this photo. In Florida, state regulations forbid harvesting of the blue land crabs for food from July 1st to October 31st so these crabs are safe today until November 1st of this year.

If you want to catch these fellows now, beware, because this is what The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says:

68B-54.002 Statewide Open and Closed Seasons for Harvesting Blue Land Crabs.

(1) Blue Land Crabs shall only be harvested during the open season, which is from November 1 of each year through June 30 of the following year.

(2) No person shall harvest, attempt to harvest, or possess any blue land crab during the period beginning on July 1 and continuing through October 31 of each year.

Bag Limit - No person shall harvest in any one day or possess at any time more than 20 blue land crabs.

It's not easy to catch these crabs because they can feel your foot steps and "poof," they disappear in their burrows before you can even blink. The decree above also says that these crabs can only be caught bare hands or with a landing or dip net. So... Good Luck!

My Rolls Royce

While I'm on a Roll, let's continue talking about the rich and the famous... the Rolls Royce type! Got that? Roll... Rolls Royce! How clever! Well, the car in the photo I show you today actually could bring shame to the elite group that I will be introducing to you... but hey, it's a Corniche, so it's not something to sneeze at.

But first, you ought to know something in the history of the famous Rolls Royce automobiles that is quite cute. The Corniche, like the one you see in my photo taken at Commerce Lane, was Rolls-Royce's coupé and convertible version of the Silver Shadow produced between 1971 and 1996. The Corniche was named "Silver Shadow Mulliner Park Ward two door fixed head coupé" (alternatively, drop head coupé... Eddie Murphy owned that one.. but I am getting ahead of myself...) from 1966 until 1971 when the Corniche name was applied. The exterior design was by John Polwhele Blatchley. It's kind of ugly, if you asked me.

Although the 1971 Corniche was the first car of that name that the company sold, the "Corniche" name had been registered by Rolls-Royce in the 1930s. The original Corniche was a prototype based on the Bentley Mark V featuring coachwork by the Paris firm, van Vooren. The single car drove 15,000 miles (24,000 km) of endurance testing in Continental Europe before being BLOWN UP by a bomb at Dieppe, France while waiting at the dockside to be shipped to England. How do you like that? So the original Corniche production was killed by World War II.

Do you know who owned these Rolls? The list is very long, but it's interesting to know some of the more famous Rolls owners:

Michael Jackson - 75 Corniche Turbo - 90 Silver Spur II - 99 Silver Seraph (all three were stretched models,)
Freddy Mercury, singer of the group Queen - 74 Silver Shadow,
Sylvester Stallone - Phantom,
Elvis Aaron Presley - 66 Silver Cloud,
Brigitte Bardot - Corniche,
John Lennon - 65 Phantom V,
Eddy Murphy - Phantom & Phantom Drophead Coupe,
Donald Trump - He collects Rolls Royce!
HRH Sultan de Brunei - every shape and sizes of Rolls-Royce and also one specially made for his highness. This super super rich sultan owns about 5,000 cars, but who's counting?

And... drum Roll, please... Lan - 'cause I'm going to buy this one so I can be listed!

Munroe's My Name

The Coconut Grove Peacock Tour, an organization that develops and brings public art exhibition to Coconut Grove, during the Spring of 2010 through the Winter of 2011, hosted a herd of beautiful peafowl, fiberglass peacocks decorated by Coconut Grove artists one of whom is Deborah Starbuck who was the author of the peacocks. The funding of this project were to benefit local charities and non-profit organizations. The peacocks were on display throughout the Coconut Grove village and main through fares in March 2010. The charity auction was held one year later in March 2011. Local sponsors included the Mayfair Center, the Miami Heat, the Zoo of Miami, the Port of Miami, Hampton Inn hotel among other businesses and individuals, and a peacock adorned with different decorations was made for each sponsor.

Here is one such peacock that was sponsored by the Cloisters on the Bay and Munroe is in display inside this gated community. Yes, that is the name given to this peacock, named after Captain Ralph Middleton Munroe who was one of the earliest settlers of Coconut Grove which was accessible only by water at the time he was here. If you pay close attention and zoom in on this photo, you would see that the artist has faithfully fitted this peacock with Captain Munroe's signature bow-tie and Captain's cap. The distant images on the Peacock tail illustrate the beautiful club house at The Cloisters on the left, the playground at Peacock Park on the right, and the Barnacle house at the center.

By the way, you didn't think for a minute that I would be deterred by that iron gate? Right?

You Shall Not Pass

I heard about this exorbitantly luxurious place in Coconut Grove: The Cloisters In Coconut Grove. It is a gated community of 40 tri-level villas located right in the heart of Coconut Grove’s village center. The market in The Cloisters dipped about 22 -28 months ago when there were several short sales (in case you do not live in the US, short sales mean the mortgage is in distress and the house is for sale at large discounts) that were purchased for less than $200.00 per square foot. Now prices are starting to slowly rise again. This year a unit traded for US$1,285,000 or $227.00 per square foot and all of the active units are listed for $265.00 per square foot and higher (up to $503.00 per square foot.)

I am not sure how I can get past this formidable looking gate to get inside for a few shots. Let's see... Peanuts... Open up! No?... Ginger... open up! No?... Pepper... Open up! No?... Abracadabra... Open up! No?... Pedaliaceae... Open up!

Nah! This thing does not seem to understand Latin! I'll return some other time...

Ackee

You saw an Ackee tree previously, now you can see up close one of its fruit that has fully ripened and split open to show the three black seeds surrounded by the soft creamy and spongy white aril. If you are real hungry and want to eat this, you need to clean and wash the aril before boiling it for approximately 30 minutes. Don't use the water because it has residue of the toxin hypoglycin. The Ackee fruit is used to produce soap in some parts of Africa where it is also used as a fish poison. The dried seeds, fruit bark and leaves are known to have been used medicinally as a treatment for colds, fever, water retention (edema), and epilepsy. Beginning 2005, the first commercial shipments of canned ackee from Haiti were approved by the United States for shipment to the US market but I have never seen it sold in the local stores in Miami. I may have to venture into Miami's Little Haiti to find this fruit in cans... not that I would eat it, ripened or not. Luckily, I don't think I have any cold, fever, edema or even epilepsy at this time, at least not that I know of. When I do, I'll think about this some more.

Caliente

It's high noon. I stopped by and hollered at the workers on the roof of this new house being remodeled. How hot is it up there? "Caliente!" is what they hollered back. It must be 100 degrees plus up there. All of a sudden, I feel so cool although my shirt is soaking wet from my walking in this hot high noon sun. I am glad I'm not up there!

Christian Cyclist

It's early in the morning and it is already getting very hot... This cyclist is taking a break from his riding and he is really concentrated to read what looks like a bible. There is a remote chance that he may be reading a copy of The Bicycle Rider's Bible by Jeff Marshall and George Laycock but I don't think so, judging from the shape and the thickness, this is the real Bible that he is reading.

Wanna Get Drunk?

Once in a while, life gets you down, like right this moment for me. It's easy to say "Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and move on!" But to do it? You need help, real help... and here it is: Hyphaene coriacea in person, the Natal iLala palm! Hear me out!

Southernmost of the ten or so species in the genus Hyphaene which are found in Africa, coastal Arabia, western Madagascar and southern India, it is Hyphaene coriacea that is found mostly in KwaZulu-Natal and southern Mozambique. Female plants like this one bears pendulous inflorescences from the leaf axils, on which large bunches of fruit develop that can be up to 2,000 per plant, but I am not going to count them here. These fruits take about two years to reach maturity and another two years before falling from the plant. In their native countries, the fruits are dispersed by elephants, monkeys and baboons.

The iLala palm is an ethnobotanically-important plant to the Maputaland, part of which is the vigorous local industry in the manufacture of palm brews. That's what can perk you up when you are all black and blue and melancholic: the sugary sap extracted from the stems and flowers is fermented by natural yeasts into a kind of beer called ubuSulu or iNjemane which, when fresh, tastes rather like gingerbeer.

As much as 60 to 70 liters can be obtained from an average tree and the alcohol level reaches 3.6-3.7% by volume within 36 hours. I understand that this rather potent spirit is consumed during social events in its native land accompanied by much laughter and conviviality.

That's it, I am coming here tonight and I know what to do: "The growing tip is cut away, leaves are stripped, incisions made and a leaf stalk inserted as a spout. The sap oozes down and I will get drunk over my sorrow! There is no need to wait for fermentation by yeast!"

Golden Hasselblad

I often talk about Miami's golden shower flowering tree, but this is the first time I really get intimate and have a close up shot of its flowers. As I said, yellow is my favorite color. This is one reason why that is so. I think I need to get myself a professional grade Single Lens Reflex camera. This iPhone really does not do justice to this tree and its flowers. May be... if I stop eating and live like Mahatma Gandhi for a few decades, I may be able to pay for something like a Hasselblad H4D-60. What do you think?

Cumulonimbus capillatus incus

OK. Let me give you a mini lesson about why we have afternoon thunder storms in Miami. This photo is taken at South Beach's Pier park. The public beach is to the left. Ocean Drive is to the right along with all the famous tourist attractions. Please concentrate and look up to the sky.. Higher, please!

What you see are cumulus (cumulus congestus) clouds. These clouds can rapidly develop vertically into Cumulonimbus capillatus incus clouds that go higher up to an altitude between 2 to 16 kilometers.

Cumulonimbus is thus a towering very tall, dense, vertical cloud that has the bad habit of generating thunderstorms and other inclement weather. Cumulonimbus originates from Latin: Cumulus "heap" and nimbus "cloud". It is generated from atmospheric instabilities. These clouds can form alone, in clusters, or along a cold front in a squall line. Once formed, they can create lightning and other dangerous severe weather. Cumulonimbus clouds can further develop into supercells whose features are severe thunderstorm with generous water downpours.

Are you following my lesson? Didn't think so!