LLoyd of Lloyds Tropical Bike Tour with his herd of ibis 
When we ride Lloyds Tropical bike tour the highlight for me is always the Key West Wildlife Rescue where he calls the ibis. 

I love drawing them as much as I love drawing the chickens. No Key West sketchbook is complete without the ibis and the chickens.  

These ibis were very intent on Lloyd who had been feeding them. Hoping for more food they follow him like trained dogs. 

Trying to decide whether or not to go back and splatter the brush. Mostly painted with Ted Nuttalls transparent colors in my Stillman and Birn Zeta. 

I laid down a light wash of Daniel Smith Quin gold adding burnt umber and ultramarine blue in the dark areas and quin burnt orange in the light areas. The water is Daniel Smith hematite green and Marine blue with bits of ultramarine blue. The legs and beaks are pyrrole red and aureolin yellow. 

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​​Ttyl Atlanta awaits. 

Margaret xoxox 

I don’t think I have published this page from the Key West sketchbook. THE Buzzard at Buzzards Roost hides in the beautiful flowered hedges which I have forgotten the name of. Here’s what he looked like as I drew him but I pulled the bush back so I could photograph him. A lot of peeking around the bushes went on while I quickly sketched him. 

Here’s the flower on the bush. I actually drew our view too but yet to paint it. What to do with those lights?! Eeek. 

Our view to the left. 

Ttyl 

Back to Call the Midwives Christmas show. Pass the Kleenex! 

Margaret xoxoxo also doing battle with a programmable thermostat. Tired of being chilly on this rainy foggy day. 

I have spent the last few days madly working on this stocking to get it done in time for Christmas. I am posting the pattern for it at the end of this edition. 

If you decide to knit this stocking it is not quite two feet long. Difficulty.  Similar to knitting an easy  sock decorated with cross stitch. 

Once you get to the heel you are close to done because it’s knitted on size six needles. 

These Christmas hats are a big hit and very easy to knit. Just a regular knitted cap decreased at the top to a point. The green one is decorated with icord. 

All of the socks look great hung on the fireplace ready for Santa. 

Knitted from a great Christmas sock book called Knit Christmas Stockings!: 19 Patterns for Stockings and Ornaments (September 4, 2003) available on Amazon. Comes in a Santa version. 

We have a Snowman theme going on. 

Same sock Henry’s version. 

My mother knitted this for my younger son using the following pattern. One of her most creative socks. 

This is the original sock pattern that my mom knitted all our socks from when we were kids. Nobody knows where it came from or who copied it it’s been around so long. Knowing my mom it was some freebee you got when you bought yarn from Columbia Minerva yarn corporation. 

Santa too hard. Substitute something like a snowman or a train. Both much easier to knit. 

This stocking is knitted from pattern. It’s easy to choose a simple crossstitch pattern and add it to the sock instead of the very complicated Santa. 

My dad knitted this one for his mom in 1970 or so. Instead of knitting in the letters he actually whip stitched them on. A quirky fun effect. Now it’s my stocking. 

Knit them from wool and they will last a long time. 

Merry Christmas. Get those needles clicking so you will have them done for next year. 

Margaret whose going to play with the grandkids now. Hohoho 

What can I say?! It’s my favorite. The food is wonderful. And sitting under the trees with a view of the Atlantic is hard to beat. 

Here’s our first trip. Here’s our second. 

Gotta run. Decorating a cupcake Christmas tree with the elves help soon.

Margaret who also has to make mac n cheese from Scratch  xoxoxox

The original tiny house is in Key West and everybody wants one. Well if you have a spare million or two laying around.

 Just off the Main Street duval and a block down the street from the cemetery. No we were in modern condos on the ocean. 

This house was so tiny the door was narrower than a regular door and the palms were that tall and skinny. Adorable tiny house.

I drew it in standing in the palm shaded road which was a nice respite  on my four mile self guided historic house tour.  Very interesting but takes longer than the two hours it says. 

Ttyl off to Atlanta. Down to the heel on the stocking. Christmas is coming. 

Margaret off to finish loading the car. Xoxoxo

The Abbey Road Snack Shack at the Hyatt Windward. In case you are wondering why it’s called Abbey Road the Beatles actually stayed here during Hurricane Dora. Originally this was their two cottages on the Key Wester Hotel grounds. 

  

They played pool here. So when the Hyatt built they preserved these cottages combining them into one. 

It’s now used as a pool house and a place to eat meals or get drinks and of course a Beatle souvenir or two. 

If you look carefully you can see ibis which kept walking through my drawing and an iguana which skittered everywhere. 

Here they are in the same door that I drew. 
Another shot of the Fab Four. 

Ttyl

Margaret who actually lost two pounds while she was eating her way thru Key West. Xoxoxo

Our second trip. ‪Louie’s back yard Key West restaurant. Awesome yellow snapper & ocean view on bkporch incredible #keywest #louiesbackyard #foodie #ink ‬

Time to head home. 

Margaret xoxoxo

Heading north to freezing Atlanta after spending the night in warm Ocala Fl. 😱 where are those lovely ocean breezes? Still at Key West? 
Funny thing happened last nite. I turned on my iPhone maps to see what restaurants were near our hotel in Ocala. It said it would take us Three Days and seven hours to walk to Carolines on Duval where we had eaten the night before. 

Bytw we voted to eat at the nearby IHOP instead of riding in the car to another restaurant. So tired of riding. 

Dinner at the Half Shell Raw Bar. Yes I was naughty. Fried shrimp and excellent fries. The reason to eat at Half Shell Raw Bar is NOT the food which is good but the view of the harbor while we waited for the Christmas lighted boat parade to begin. 

Our view is the Bar with our waitress in the center of it. Fun place to hang out. 

The lobster pot Christmas tree at the Half Shell Raw Bar. 

A tree on the docks. 

A bit of The Christmas lighted boat parade. 

A random entry.  Oops the back of a really fun boat. The front is on my camera which is NOT wifiing to my phone like it is supposed too. 
The coast guard entry.
One of the boats. 

Another shot of the decorated docks. 
Ttyl 
Margaret xoxox who has to get back to navigating. 

ETA Tomorrow?! Lots of sketching done. Some painted some not. 

The view from our condo not that we were there to enjoy it a lot. 

Mostly we were running and doing.  This is what we did. Not painted yet. But we looked so cute in our elf hats we got Our pic in the local paper during the historic inn tour. 

Our view from the top of the Seven Mile bridge on the 125 mile Overseas Highway  heading to our lunch destination with watering mouths. 

Lunch at Buzzards Roost on Key Largo. Complete with Pelicans. Love them. 

The view from our table and the reason we stop although the food is great too. 

Bye bye to the Keys. 

Ttyl 

Margaret xoxox

Yesterday was awesome fun and the two captains were fascinating. They knew everything about the Key West ocean wildlife. 

No animals were harmed. 

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We went out to the buoy where the two “Shark Whisperers” called the lemon sharks by chumming. It only took a few minutes for the Lemon Sharks to show up and start hitting the Bonita which was on the end of a long line.

The lemon shark is small and afraid of humans. Hides when it notices us. It hunts small fish not giant people and never got near us. We were not afraid for even a second.  

Capt Clay in charge of cruising the catamaran. Harbor views. 

Dockside. Time to get off. 

Tam enjoying the views. 
Just a fascinating way to spend a perfect day out on the beautiful blue green water. We highly recommend Key West Extreme Adventures. Google them to book a date soon! 

Margaret off to draw her last Key West day away xoxoxo