The Beach

If you want to know the truth, I could have written about the beach every week I've been here. Generally the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor has been my destination 3 or 4 times per week. I typically read the Key West Citizen and The Miami Herald at the beach. The two papers take about an hour and then, I either swim out to the swimming area buoy or I don't. Sometimes I do it twice - particularly if it's hot. Fashion at the beach is something I've paid attention to since day one. There are the outfits at either end of the appropriateness spectrum. An old guy, a regular, wears something called "a Hammock" and parades up and down several times for all to see. He has three, I think,  in different colors. Today, I saw my first, topless female. I positioned myself so I could see the reaction of folks as they noticed her. Without actually looking at her, I noticed the wives/girlfriends sock their man in the arm for either looking or making a comment as they passed by. The most fun was watching how often a group of 5 teen age boys found an excuse to walk by. Mind you, I did all this without even glancing over my own self. I think this about women's swimsuits: Black and any of the neon colors don't work down here. For a while, I was sold on green, but now that the crowds are here, I realize that purple bikinis are the hot item this year. They're not that common, and the really cool looking people at the beach are wearing them. And, oh yeah, there's a lot of nature and stuff at the beach, too.