Blue Skies But Chillier Than Antarctica

For the first time ever, I spent Christmas alone. But at the Folly, it felt like just another beach day in spite of the seasonal decorations downtown.

Palm trees in natural light can be just as pretty as Christmas trees.

Walmart roses brightened up my simple holiday meal:  a stew of kale, cannelloni beans and sausage sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

The contrast between clothing displays in buttoned-up Palm Beach and let-it-all-hang-out Miami Beach windows always makes me giggle.

There's no question that I socialize more during winters in Florida than I do in New York.  Paul, Linn and I checked out Mizner Park where they bought Beatles-inspired prints from Carla Bank.  On another occasion, they introduced me to the guy who played guitar for the Andrea True Connection ("More More More")!  At least 20% of retirement is reminiscence with old friends and new.

Anthony and Zoltan, who stayed at the Folly a week apart, both ranked the Wakodahatchee Wetlands high on the list of places we visited.

Those lovey-dovey wood storks sure do know how to photobomb!

During a cold snap in February--which, according to a tradesman who has lived here for more than four decades, was the longest in his experience--iguanas literally fell out of trees, making close-up photography of the invasive species possible around our pool where they typically relieve themselves.

Upon returning from an Antarctic cruise with Steven and Andrew, Chris reported that the temperature there one morning had been higher than it was in south Florida!

Bird life made late afternoon walks around Lake Osborne more interesting

. . . and the gator Thom spotted was bigger than any other I saw this season, at least ten-feet-long and well-camouflaged.  Small pet owners may have been wary

. . . but its presence didn't deter jet skiers or fishermen.

Speaking of Thom, Lake Worth Beach's premier mixologist was in and out all season.

His Cosmos definitely improved the healthy appetizers, including tapenade, a holdover from the Pines.

We dined out more often than usual, too.  Sofra serves a terrific Turkish appetizer platter

. . . and you can't beat the crab fried rice

. . . or the strawberry almond shortcake at Oceano Kitchen.

I met Optimus while getting a firmware update at the Tesla dealer in West Palm Beach.  Let's hope the buff robot (and selfie magnet) can function with less hostility than its brilliant inventor.

Atmospheric museum selfies are more my speed.

The Chariot took us to Miami where we saw exhibits at the Bass Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art.

"Jack Pierson: The Miami Years"

Patio View, Institute of Contemporary Art

"From the Heart to the Hands: Dolce & Gabbana" brought back memories of my recent trip to northern Italy, particularly Venice.

Venezia San Marco Collection, F/wW 2021-22

There also were local cultural attractions, in addition to the first-rate Rembrandt exhibit Florian and I caught at the Norton late last fall.  Works by mostly contemporary LGBT+ artists comprised "Beyond The Rainbow," a terrific show at the Bunker Artspace, but a stellar group of guest curators from the community seasoned it with respectful nods to their elders, too.

"I Am Out Therefore I Am" by Adam Rolston (2025)

Alas, creativity at the Lake Worth Beach Street Painting Festival seems to be in decline, although there always are at least a dozen interesting works

. . . and colorful murals remain an integral part of the city's landscape.

A huge majority (80%) of Lake Work Beach voters signaled their determination to keep our community funky by defeating a ballot initiative that would have granted 99-year leases (as opposed to the current 30-year duration) to develop our municipal beach front and golf course. Look no further than our streets for evidence of the town's occasionally dilapidated charm.

Folly Bros

Zoltan paid a fast visit--his first--to the Folly.  Hosting a straight guy in his mid-30s was definitely a novel experience but he seemed to enjoy it just fine despite arriving in the midst of an Oscar-watch party.  

On Monday morning we drove to the Beth David Memorial Gardens so that he could pay his respects to his grandparents.  It was my second visit.  I'd been before with his father.

Audrey personalized her parents' niches on the top row with a crown and a harmonica. Simple, symmetrical and very cool.  I spent several Thanksgivings at their apartment in Jackson Heights in the late 70s. David came with me once, too.

Zoltan shares my fascination with cemeteries so we wandered around for a bit afterward.  

En route to the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, 20 minutes due east, he told me how much he had disliked Disney World as a kid and his contempt for single adults who visit it.  Walt struck back quickly.

Three tacos from Floridays helped him get over his childhood PTSD and empty his wallet.

We took this mermaid shot for the D-Girls who beat their uncle to the Folly by five years.

Spring Break was in full swing so we skedaddled to the Stranahan House in Fort Lauderdale for a self-guided tour of a remarkably well-preserved, multi-use structure which has fronted the New River for more than a century.

Frank Stranahan, an Ohio refugee and entrepreneur, first opened it as a trading post frequented by the locals, then mostly members of the Seminole Tribe whose trust he earned with fair dealings.

Frank and his wife Ivy, a young school teacher, lived together upstairs until the early Florida real estate market collapsed and two powerful hurricanes devastated the area in the mid 1920s.  Frank drowned himself in the river but Ivy turned the place into a boarding house, living in the attic when all the rooms were full. She remained on site until her death at the age of 90 in 1971 even after it became a popular restaurant under new ownership.  The woman had pluck

. . . and a close female friend, a pharmacist, whose home she often visited.  Hmmm.  The tabebuia trees are in bloom now, too.  That's how I know spring is imminent in Lake Worth Beach.

Frank, now considered the founding father of Fort Lauderdale was also its first postmaster. This oddly modern portrait was painted in 1929, the year of his death.

Florian and I had visited the post office almost two decades ago, when my beard was still dark.  Time waits for no one.

We ended the afternoon at the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Preserve under a rainbow.

Snowy egrets, ibises, a roseate spoonbill, a snake and a mostly submerged alligator definitely made the quick stop worthwhile.

The next morning, gray skies and a deep dive in the temperature, accompanied by blustery winds, sent us to Jupiter, the "elbow" or eastern most point of Florida, instead of MacArthur Park where we had planned to kayak in the estuary.  But first we stopped for a fascist photo-op on the Southern Bridge, soon to be re-named for you-know-who.  PBI is about to become DLT, too (if you know, you know).  Ugh!

Our tour of the Jupiter Lighthouse grounds included another of example of early white settler (a.k.a. "cracker") architecture in Florida.

Twelve people once inhabited the Tindall House, built in 1892 and re-located here for preservation purposes.  Mom and Dad conceived ten kids in this bed.

Zoltan and I agreed that Randy, our pompadoured tour guide, aced his assignment with solid information delivered with a subtle soupçon of defensive liberalism.  "There are times when I will be referring to the BLM," he said.  It refers to the Bureau of Land Management, not Black Lives Matters."  You definitely have to be careful what you say nowadays.  Randy seemed most at home in the kitchen and dining room.

I've photographed the Jupiter Lighthouse on multiple occasions but had never been inside. Built in 1860, it was designed by George Meade, a young lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. By the time the Civil War broke out, he had risen to the rank of brigadier general and eventually defeated Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg.  His short temper earned him the nickname "Old Snapping Turtle."

An enormous ficus tree at the base of the lighthouse shades the brick deck.

The original lantern, an antique now worth nearly $10 million, can be seen from ships up to 25 miles out on the Atlantic. It has been lit continuously every night since the defeat of the Confederacy.

No place in Palm Beach County offers better views.

Arthritis notwithstanding, I climbed steadily to the top, 105 steps in all without taking advantage of any of the rest stops.

Going backwards down the spiral staircase definitely eased my descent.

We stopped at the Loggerhead Marine Life Center and the Manatee Lagoon before heading back to the Folly where Thom had prepared his traditional Erin go Bragh dinner for St. Patrick's Day.  I hadn't noticed this prehistoric replica when I visited with Florian in December, but some of the turtles that had been given names from classical Greek mythology were still recuperating.

At 6'4," Zoltan measured up if the Manatee Lagoon did not.  None were present.

On Wednesday morning, we indulged in some nostalgia:  Zoltan still holds the Pines record for consuming the most pancakes flipped by me at breakfast.  He now holds the Folly record as well.

After dropping him off to see the Rembrandt exhibit at the Norton Museum, I explored the waterfront in West Palm Beach for the first time since the pandemic.  

The public has access to a promenade with views of the Royal Park Bridge which connects  the Palm Beaches.

For as little as $7.5 million (or as much as $78!), residents can watch the draw bridge rise and lower with super yachts docked in the distance.  In 2022, a woman fell to her death when a negligent tender raised the spans as she was crossing the fittingly named bridge with her bike.

You've got to wonder what the Apostle of Cuban Independence would have had to say about what's going on today in his beloved homeland.  He's also memorialized in Ybor City and New York.

Zoltan enjoyed the Wakodahatchee Wetlands, our final stop, more than any other tourist attraction he's ever seen in Florida.  It recycles millions of gallons of water on a daily basis and also serves as a wildlife sanctuary.  Dagny beat her uncle here, too, although there's no chance she remembers it.

Zoltan reprimanded another visitor for petting this anhinga.  "How would you like it if someone patted your ass?" he growled to a clueless teenager and his mother.

A marsh hare and a purple martin risked their lives to feed near the water. 

According to another excited visitor, this alligator just missed lunching on a bird that strayed a little too close.

A pair of wood storks photobombed us!