The Loch Ness Monster spent the winter in Key West a couple of years ago.

Actually, a lot of celebrities have wintered on the subtropical island where daytime temps in January and February generally exceed 70 degrees.

New York artist Cameron Gainer settles the Loch Ness Monster into its winter home in a Key West pond at the beginning of the 2008 Sculpture Key West exhibition. (Photo by Rob O'Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau)

Robert Frost, for one — the renowned poet abandoned New England for a cottage on Key West’s Caroline Street each winter from 1945 to 1960.

But until a couple of years ago, though Key Westers had seen plenty of snowbirds flocking to the southernmost city to escape the northern cold, they’d never seen anything like the Loch Ness Monster.

Nessie journeyed south on a boat trailer with New York artist Cameron Gainer, who was participating in the 2008 Sculpture Key West exhibition. The annual juried exhibition features work in many types of traditional and experimental media, displayed beside the island’s Civil War-era forts and public gardens — and in several other “surprise” locations around Key West.

Nessie, who turned out to be quite a surprise indeed, was destined for a winter home in a local pond at the entrance to Key West’s picturesque Old Town. But installing the 12-foot by 12.5-foot foam-and-fiberglass monster in the pond was no easy task.

Nessie isn't the only sculpted creature to visit Key West during the annual Sculpture Key West display. Here, artist Doug Makemson introduces "Henry," a nine-foot steel dog that starred in a previous exhibition. (Photo courtesy of Sculpture Key West)

Cameron was inspired to create Nessie by a 1934 photo that supposedly showed its humped back and long curving neck rising out of Scotland’s Loch Ness. To settle the monster in its warm-water winter home, he donned a wetsuit and jumped into the pond to guide the installation.

A Bobcat tractor, a small floating platform and a thick rope “leash” were required in the effort, which drew double-takes and laughter from passing drivers.

For the rest of that winter, much to the delight of absurdity-loving locals, Nessie startled unsuspecting passersby as they entered the historic Old Town district.

The 2010 Sculpture Key West exhibition doesn’t feature any legendary monsters — but that’s perfectly okay, because it includes plenty of other intriguing examples of artistry.

A sailboat is framed by the wood sculpture "Forest of Souls" on display at Sculpture Key West 2010. The wooden hoop by artist Jonathan Schork is composed of buttonwood, Brazilian pepper and Australian pine branches. (Photo by Rob O'Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau)

Thirty-some artists hailing from Paris, Berlin and 11 American states are showcasing their work in three venues at this year’s exhibition: the waterfront grounds of Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, the tranquil and inspiring home of the Key West Garden Club at West Martello Tower, and the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden near the entrance to Key West.

Favorite sculptures include an 18-foot-tall wooden hoop-shaped memorial, a commentary on consumerism crafted out of recycled plastic bags, and an interactive “musical chairs” installation made (believe it or not) from discarded brass instruments that people can actually play.

At all three locations, the sculptures will remain on display through April 16.

Take a tip from a longtime Keys local who’s seen many previous Sculpture Key West exhibitions — Nessie might not be lurking around, but even so this is a “monstrously” good show. If you’re in the Keys, don’t miss it!

Topics: Animal Ambassadors, Arts, Festivals, Florida Keys, Key West, Keys Quirks, Local Color

Harry Truman slept in a double bed in Key West in a room that, by day, was warmed by the subtropical sun. Close to his bed was the simple desk where he wrote daily letters to his wife Bess. Downstairs, on a sun porch overlooking a broad sweep of lawn, stood his discreetly-covered poker table.

Harry Truman's former "little White House" in Key West is now a world-renowned museum. (Photos courtesy of the Little White House Museum)

Harry Truman could relax in Key West. From 1946 to 1952 he spent 11 working vacations on the island — taking brisk morning walks, playing poker, swimming and fishing, and making some of the most important decisions of his presidency.

Truman first visited Key West when his doctor ordered rest to fight a bad cold. Entranced by the island, he quickly adopted the one-time commandant’s quarters on the Key West naval station as his “little White House.”

Today, that West Indian structure is a noteworthy American historic site known as the Harry S. Truman Little White House Museum.

Florida’s only presidential museum, it’s located on the former Navy base in an enclave now called Truman Annex. There, visitors can tour airy, comfortable rooms that look much as they did in Harry’s day, listening to guides tell tales of his presidency and Key West sojourns.

During his Key West sojourns, Truman made momentous decisions and conducted important meetings away from the pressures of Washington.

The house’s easygoing atmosphere offers no hint of the momentous issues decided there. According to Bob Wolz, the museum’s executive director, it’s believed that Truman decided to adopt the Marshall Plan to aid postwar Europe while he was in Key West — as well as deciding to relieve General Douglas MacArthur of his command and to forego running for reelection.

Bob should know. Seemingly born to nurture and guide the Little White House, he’s a passionate historian and an expert on all things Truman. He even co-wrote a book about Harry’s Key West years.

The end of those years certainly didn’t mark the end of the Little White House’s role in politics. Since then, the house has hosted former presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Carter and Clinton — and even the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan during a historic four-day peace conference.

The Little White House has also hosted other former presidents and political leaders -- including Bill and Hillary Clinton, seen here chatting with the museum's guiding spirit Bob Wolz.

Last May, a rededication ceremony commemorated a seven-year, nearly million-dollar research-intensive restoration that brought even greater historical authenticity to Harry’s one-time headquarters.

For example, all the interior walls were repainted to match the 1949 colors revealed by a detailed paint analysis, and the foyer’s original wallpaper was recreated and hung. The living room draperies and upholstery were replaced with fabric that matched the original, located after an Internet search.

The restoration team even found (and had reproduced) 18 oil paintings and prints that were displayed in the 1949 Little White House. Outside, the Truman gardens were replicated based on site plans and their appearance in vintage photographs.

Even small details weren’t overlooked. Volunteers searched industriously until they found and obtained duplicates of the lamps that graced Harry and Bess Truman’s bedside tables — and flower arrangements were recreated from photographs showing the rooms in the late 1940s.

Today, visitors to the Little White House seemingly step back in time to view the property just as the late president did.

Each May, the museum co-hosts a Key West symposium that examines Truman’s legacy.

During the opening reception on the grounds, attendees can hear nationally recognized speakers and meet VIPs like former Truman aide Ken Hechler, who later became West Virginia’s secretary of state. In past years, many reception guests have chatted with the late president’s grandson Clifton Truman Daniel.

Not surprisingly, he seems right at home in the Little White House his grandfather loved.

Topics: Florida Keys, Highlights, Key West, Keys History

Some people might dread a mundane workweek, ticking off the days on the calendar until their next vacation. But not Armando “Mandy” Rodriguez. The guiding spirit behind Marathon’s Dolphin Research Center, or DRC, Mandy calls his job a blessing and a gift — one that the Vietnam veteran says rescued him from deep post-war despair.

Mandy Rodriguez, the guiding spirit behind Dolphin Research Center, enjoys a quiet moment with a couple of good buddies. (Photos courtesy of DRC)

In 1984, Mandy and his then-wife Jayne Shannon-Rodriguez founded the nonprofit DRC after working as head trainer and manager of the research facility that previously existed on the property.

Now, more than 25 years later, both remain actively involved in DRC’s operation. Their underlying philosophies — to teach the world about marine mammals’ innate intelligence and problem-solving skills, as well as how to care for and protect them — are the principles that guide the facility.

With its protective environment for dolphins and sea lions, DRC draws national and international visitors to the Florida Keys. It’s also a center where people can increase their awareness of marine mammals and environmental conservation.

In addition, DRC is a great place to learn and work for young people pursuing careers in research and animal behaviors.

Under Mandy's watchful eye, dolphins Kibby, AJ and Tanner have some fun taking turns on a training platform.

Mandy’s connection to marine mammals, however, predates DRC. It began during his childhood in Cuba.

“I was taught to swim before I could walk, exposed to mammals at an early age,” said Mandy, who arrived in the United States at age 10. “I was an ocean brat.”

When he was 20, after fighting in the Vietnam War, Mandy worked at the Miami Seaquarium as “low man on the assistant trainer totem pole.” The experience left him unfulfilled and in search of a teaching institution.

He found it at the New England Aquarium in Boston, where he trained with harbor seals, sea lions and fur seals. Yet it was interaction with dolphins that ultimately captured his attention and became his passion.

A trio of "mellow fellows" share a swim in DRC's protected waters. The center has performed groundbreaking research on dolphin intelligence.

Mandy’s war experiences had left him edgy and suffering from persistent post-traumatic stress disorder. He credits the dolphins — their energy, behavioral responses, ability to evoke emotions and calm the soul — with helping him coexist better with fellow humans, including those who had harassed and persecuted him when he returned from Vietnam.

“The dolphins taught me to live life, accept life and to be … a mellow fellow,” said Mandy.

Now that he has spent decades with the gentle cetaceans, he admits to having a few favorites: Kibby, a resident of DRC for nearly 30 years, 21-year-old A.J. and his 7-year-old son Tanner, whose cognitive abilities earned him a brainiac reputation as the “jock who’s smart.”

The “four boys” like to play and romp together, with the dolphins gathering around for the kisses that Mandy generously doles out — all while maintaining an eye contact that demonstrates the trust between them.

“They taught me to have fun in life, to eat, play and make love,” said Mandy of the dolphins. “Anyone that goes wrong with that is nuts.”

Topics: Animal Ambassadors, Highlights, Keys Environment, Marathon, Profiles

“You just keep fishing with it, Andy. I guarantee you’ll catch a quality fish.”

Those words of veteran ESPN angling broadcaster George Poveromo, who also hosts the annual Salt Water Sportsman National Seminar Series, had become permanently etched in my mind for almost three years.

But despite logging literally hundreds of trolling miles on the purple Yo-Zuri bonita lure, the plug had not yielded a single fish — or even a hit.

George Poveromo, all smiles after landing this large dolphin, will head up the Jan. 23 Salt Water Sportsman National Seminar Series in Islamorada. The touted Yo-Zuri lure was not utilized to catch this fish.

My frustration started after Poveromo published one of the best how-to dolphin fishing stories I had ever read in “Salt Water Sportsman” magazine. In the article, he touted the Yo-Zuri as a must-have lure.

After reading his prose, I wandered in to Captain Harry’s Fishing Supply in Miami and searched out the can’t-miss plug. Poveromo’s wonderful praise made me quickly forget about the $40 price tag.

Time after time, I trolled the Yo-Zuri behind my boat and, despite catching fish on other lures and natural baits, the Yo-Zuri failed to yield a strike.

I called Poveromo and expressed my disappointment.

“Just keep fishing with it,” he said. “The strikes will be few and far between, but it will be a quality fish that will bite that lure. I guarantee it.”

One day I was out fishing with “Sun-Sentinel” outdoors writer Steve Waters off the Upper Keys. I dragged the Yo-Zuri then, as well. After several hours, I replaced it with a blue and white Islander and almost immediately a nice dolphin gobbled up the presentation.

As I was cranking in the fish, Waters queried me about the lure. I explained that I had purchased it based on Poveromo’s glowing report.

Waters laughed and said, “Andy, don’t you know that Yo-Zuri sponsors George?”

The next day I called Poveromo. He assured me that, despite the sponsorship, the Yo-Zuri would produce.

Andy Newman displays his "quality fish" and the Yo-Zuri lure that made the catch possible. (Photo by Roy Hughes)

“Just keep fishing with it,” he said. “The strikes will be few and far between, but that lure will catch a quality fish. I guarantee it.”

Well, I kept fishing with that lure and finally about a year later I had success.

I was out with some friends chasing schoolie dolphin (mahi-mah) about 30 miles off Ocean Reef. We came upon a floating palette. There were no dolphin, but we did see about seven tripletail. We managed to nab four of those fish, including a biggie weighing almost 8 pounds.

Before we left, I decided we should try a deep-running bait in the event a wahoo was in the vicinity. Of course, I thought about the Yo-Zuri — the pride of Poveromo — and rigged it to a 50-pound Penn International.

We went ahead and moved several hundred yards away from the palette, circled around and came back dragging the Yo-Zuri behind the boat.

Three minutes later, the rod bent hard and the drag signaled a fish. I couldn’t believe it. In less then 10 minutes we gaffed a small wahoo, about 15 pounds.

George Poverormo (right), senior editor of "Salt Water Sportsman" magazine, presents Andy Newman with a wahoo mount at the Salt Water Sportsman Seminar Series in Islamorada.

I told Poveromo of the achievement and several months later, at the inaugural National Seminar Series seminar in Islamorada, he was kind enough to present me with a King Sailfish Mounts’ wahoo reproduction in front of the entire audience.

“Well, it’s about time,” he told me and an audience of about 400 anglers. “You see, I told you that you would catch a quality fish with that lure.”

I responded to George that, while the wahoo was a welcome surprise, at 15 pounds it certainly was not going to get me in the record books.

“You just keep fishing with that,“ Poveromo said. “I guarantee you …”

“I know,” I interrupted. “I’m going to catch a quality fish.”

###

Blogger’s Note 1: Poveromo is scheduled to stage another Keys-based seminar Saturday, Jan. 23, at the Coral Shores High School Performing Arts Theater, mile marker 89.9 in Islamorada. A number of Keys captains and guides will share the stage providing Keys angling tips. A ticket to the Seminar Series costs $55 per person and includes a year-long subscription or extension to “Salt Water Sportsman” magazine, as well as other incentives. To order tickets online — and for more information — visit www.nationalseminarseries.com.

Andy Newman has scored many blackfin tuna catches off Islamorada with this Rapala lure.

Blogger’s Note 2: Poveromo is no longer sponsored by Yo-Zuri, but recently announced an affiliation with Rapala. I have had personal experience with a red-and-white Rapala CDMAG14 lure and can verify its effectiveness when trolled quickly for blackfin tuna off the Florida Keys. It’s sensational … and I guarantee it!

Topics: Florida Keys, Islamorada, Key Largo, Keys Environment, Local Color, Marathon, On the Water

There are bars in Key West that open and close in a season, with no one realizing they’ve been there at all. And there are bars that almost effortlessly make a place for themselves in island history, that live on in the collective memory forever, their characteristics affectionately exaggerated with the years. The Full Moon Saloon was a bar of the latter sort.

Sid Snelgrove (left) and Vic Latham were the guiding spirits behind the legendary Full Moon. (Photo by Richard Watherwax)

The Full Moon opened its doors to the rowdy, raucous Key West of the late 1970s, and it could never have succeeded without owners Vic Latham and Sid Snelgrove. Big men with lived-in faces, they dispensed drinks and careless hospitality while carefully asking no questions of their patrons. Although they were joined by other managers in time, and even other partners, Vic and Sid were the Moon’s guiding force.

Key West in the late 70s and early 80s was a magnet for adventurers of all sorts — whether they were transporting dubious substances, heading for Afghanistan in search of a story for “Esquire,” or seeking the treasure of the Spanish Main. As the Moon’s popularity grew, its freewheeling atmosphere made it a natural gathering place for people in such irregular professions.

Ultimately, the Full Moon Saloon came to exemplify a wry, raffish, outlaw era in Key West. Over the years, it was mentioned in more than 20 novels and the pages of “Playboy,” “Esquire,” “Mad Magazine,” “Rolling Stone,” “People” and “National Lampoon.” Its patrons included gonzo journalist Hunter Thompson, poet Jim Harrison, “pirate laureate” Jimmy Buffett, and novelists Bob Stone and John Leslie and Phil Caputo.

In my mind, the Full Moon Saloon will always be associated with Phil Clark. He introduced me to the place half a lifetime ago, when I was a shy 22-year-old naive in the ways of the world. A larger-than-life character who had then been on the island for more than a decade, he not only imbibed and socialized at the bar, but also used its convenient pay phone for low-voiced conversations about questionable enterprises.

Phil Clark, whose life inspired Jimmy Buffett's "A Pirate Looks at Forty," was a regular patron of the Full Moon Saloon. (Photo © 2009 Tom Corcoran from the book “Jimmy Buffett — the Key West Years”)

Immortalized by Buffett in “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” Phil was one of the daring Keys renegades who always seemed on the brink of metamorphosing into a living legend. Seeking adventure, he had tried almost every hazardous occupation known to man — from mercenary soldier to gentleman smuggler to New York City advertising executive. The last, it must be said, gave him the largest twinges of conscience.

He and his cohorts drank at the Moon, argued about philosophy at the Moon, held uproarious birthday parties at the Moon and even, on occasion, dozed off at the big horseshoe-shaped bar.

Years later, when Phil died in Sausalito, donations from the Moon paid for his cremation and brought his ashes home. That’s the kind of place it was.

Like most denizens of the island’s old days, the Moon weathered many changes: moving from its original United Street home to new quarters on Simonton Street, finding its niche in a suddenly chic Key West, struggling to become a “serious” business. Nevertheless, when the 70s scammers evolved into the slightly bewildered survivors of the 90s, the Moon was still the place they went for a generous drink, a well-cooked meal, and a chance to ponder the legacy of their lives.

"Roy's Dead Now," painted by Key West artist Martin Laessig, hung in a place of honor at the Full Moon Saloon.

Yet in July of 1993, the Moon abruptly closed its doors. Sadly, Vic went to Chicago. Sid went to Costa Rica and other faraway locales. The long-time customers scattered.

Tax troubles, some said, led to the Moon’s demise. Others blamed the inexorable march of progress, or the zealous federales who had put much of its regular clientele behind bars of a different sort.

Although the property’s later leaseholders tried to capitalize on the Full Moon’s popularity by opening the “New Moon,” the attempt (predictably) was a failure.

Today, the Moon’s former building on Simonton Street sports pink awnings (!) and houses a wonderful restaurant called Camille’s. All outward traces of the bar are gone.

But that doesn’t matter at all. The essence of the Full Moon Saloon, like the essence of the era that spawned it, remains alive in all of us who were lucky enough to be part of it.

Topics: Highlights, Key West, Keys History, Keys Quirks, Local Color

This might be her 31st year in the scuba diving business, but Amy Slate has not lost an ounce of her enthusiasm for diving, ocean preservation or the Key Largo community she’s called home since the 1970s. Owner and operator of Amy Slate’s Amoray Dive Resort, she’s living a dream of being connected to marine life that began when she was a child growing up in Miami.

Amy Slate, today the owner of Amoray Dive Resort, discovered her passion for the world beneath the sea at an early age. (Photo by Frazier Nivens)

At age 6, a swim with the dolphins at Key West’s Flipper Sea School launched Amy’s passion. Afterward, convinced she would spend her life in, on and around the ocean, she excitedly told her parents, “This is it!”

Years later, as a teacher in rural Jacksonville, Fla., Amy taught sixth-grade students lessons in all subjects with teaching tools derived from the ocean. Utilizing seashells, students learned how to take measurements, use multiplication and explore scientific origins by reading about shells and marine life.

Amy also conducted dive training classes at the YMCA. Yet the tug of her South Florida roots (coupled with morning frost on the car windows), were enough to make her decide, along with then-husband Spencer, to head for the Keys in 1978. There they started a dive business named Atlantis Dive Center.

Amy Slate shares her Upper Keys life with Labrador retrievers Mia and Tia. (Photo by Peter Lorber)

In 1992, Amy dissolved her personal and professional partnerships to branch out on her own with brother Justin. After years spent studying other dive resorts — “research” that involved diving with humpback whales in French Polynesia and on the reefs of Bonaire, Cozumel and the Caribbean — Amy opened Amy Slate’s Amoray Dive Resort.

The property, and its name, were born from Amy’s deep love for the ocean and a play on her Italian family roots in the province of Sant’ Agata di Puglia. After every dive trip, the Amoray boat crew plays “That’s Amore!” on the return to the dock, and the resort’s signature logo is a moray eel in the shape of a heart.

The resort reflects Amy’s love of the Keys environment. All rooms are named after reef fish and brightly decorated with Caribbean-style colors, tropical linens, furnishings and wall hangings.

Amy still dives at least two afternoons a week along the reefs and wrecks of Key Largo. (Photo by Frazier Nivens)

Over the years, Amy and Amoray have earned a reputation for excelling at underwater weddings. Amoray Dive Resort ceremonies have been featured in “People” magazine and on a television show hosted by Geraldo Rivera — who even blew a conch shell on-camera for his audience.

Amy’s activities, however, aren’t limited to operating the resort. She has focused on fundraisers for local dolphin care centers and shelters for women and children, has served on the board of the Reef Environmental Education Foundation, and is active in furthering coral restoration and transplantation projects with a local marine scientist.

Despite her wide-ranging travels, she believes the Florida Keys are still the best place to dive. In fact, she dives the Upper Keys’ Molasses Reef at least two afternoons a week to relax.

“Not everyone can live their passion,” Amy says. “But if you do what you love, the rest will follow.”

Topics: Florida Keys, Highlights, Key Largo, Keys Environment, On the Water, Profiles

Dorothy, you’re not in Kansas anymore.

While most visitors to Key West catch on to that fact fairly quickly, the island city’s New Year’s Eve celebration should provide definitive proof for anyone still in doubt.

Sushi, a.k.a. Key West resident Gary Marion, stars in the "drag queen drop" that welcomes the New Year in Key West. (Photos by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau)

Granted, the festivities include a ruby slipper. But instead of adorning Dorothy’s dainty foot, the sparkling shoe is a supersized power pump — and it serves as a chariot for legendary drag queen Sushi.

For more than 10 consecutive years Sushi, otherwise known as Key West resident Gary Marion, has starred in the New Year’s Eve festivities at the Bourbon Street Pub/New Orleans House complex at 724 Duval St. — while perched in a gigantic red high heel suspended high above the street.

This year will be no exception. Seconds before midnight on Dec. 31, the shoe bearing the lavishly gowned and coiffed Sushi will be lowered from the second-story balcony of the complex toward thousands of cheering spectators below.

Sushi reaches the end of her descent to Duval Street during the revelry welcoming 2009.

As midnight strikes and 2010 officially begins, she will land and pop the cork on a ceremonial bottle of champagne.

Even if you can’t make it to Key West this year for America’s southernmost New Year’s Eve celebration, you can still share in Sushi’s “shoe-nanigans” through the magic of cable TV.

In what has become a tradition over the past seven years, CNN plans to be in Key West with correspondent John Zarrella as a facet of the network’s live New Year’s Eve coverage hosted by Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin.

While Sushi presides over the revelry from her “throne” in the second-story shoe, the unflappable John Zarrella, a favorite of Key West audiences, will offer street-level commentary.

Appearances on CNN are just one high-profile outlet for the multitalented Sushi. She’s also the leader of an acclaimed troupe of drag performers called the 801 Girls who strut their stuff at the 801 Bourbon Bar on Duval. A skilled costume designer, she’s even been prominently featured in a book titled “Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret.”

CNN correspondent John Zarrella provides live on-air commentary each year from the Key West festivities.

But it’s her role as a New Year’s Eve icon that has earned Sushi the most widespread fame. For starring in the island city’s “drag queen drop” — an offbeat take-off on New York City’s traditional New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square — she has even been mentioned in the “New York Times.”

“I never thought, growing up, that I’d be on television in a giant red heel,” confessed Sushi. “That’s not something that a young kid aspires to. But I’m so thankful that we live in a country that lets us do whatever we want to do as long as we don’t hurt anybody else.”

Topics: Events, Florida Keys, Highlights, Key West, Keys Quirks, Local Color

Crazy as it sounds, the Weather Channel is forecasting snow in the near-tropical Florida Keys on Christmas Day.

Weather Channel meteorologist Adam Berg (right) surprises Lower Keys resident Howard Livingston with the news that his family won the network's "Guaranteed White Christmas" contest.

Specifically, though snow has never been recorded in the island chain, they’re forecasting it at the Lower Keys home of musician Howard Livingston — winner of the network’s nationwide “Guaranteed White Christmas” contest.

For Howard’s grand prize, The Weather Channel plans to orchestrate a massive manmade snowfall at his home overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Meteorologist Adam Berg will be on hand to broadcast live coverage of the unprecedented “snow event” between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. Christmas Day. It’s likely he’ll be broadcasting from the Lower Keys on Christmas Eve as well.

Michael Walker, Howard's grandson, starred in the family's video entry that earned them an unprecedented snowfall in the balmy Lower Keys.

“I didn’t think we had a chance, because I didn’t think they could possibly make snow when it’s 80 degrees,” said Howard, who shares his home with his wife of two months, Cyndy, and their two dogs.

He found out differently when Adam and a Weather Channel crew flew in Dec. 13 to deliver the good news in person.

“When Adam Berg showed up, our jaws dropped because we recognized him,” he admitted. “I was flabbergasted.”

Howard was chosen from hundreds of contest entrants who submitted brief videos explaining why their families deserved a white Christmas. His 60-second piece shows the touring/recording musician and songwriter in his sunny waterfront yard, trying to make snow for his six-year-old grandson Michael Walker in a quirky blender powered by a 1952 Johnson outboard motor.

Using an offbeat blender/boat motor, Howard attempts to blend snow for his grandson Michael in the LIvingstons' winning video entry.

According to a Weather Channel spokesperson, on Christmas Howard’s yard will be blanketed by tons of snow created from shaved ice by a snowmaking and special effects company.

The white stuff is designed to be “packable,” making it ideal for shaping snowballs and snowmen (much to the delight of Michael, who has already figured out the accessories he needs to construct the perfect snowman).

Before learning about their surprise contest victory, the Livingstons were planning a family Christmas with Michael, Howard’s daughter and Michael’s mother Amanda Walker, her partner Tyler Hanson and their 11-month-old daughter Courtney Hanson, who live nearby.

Wearing Santa hats in anticipation of their white Christmas, the Livingston family awaits the first flakes in their sunny oceanfront yard.

“We generally spend Christmas at home with Michael, open gifts in the morning and cook some lobster on the grill,” said Howard.

Grinning broadly, he added, “We’re going to do the same thing this year, but with snow.”

The happy contest winner — whose infectious tropical rock tunes with his Mile Marker 24 Band include “Blame It On the Margaritas” and, coincidentally, “Local On the Eights” about The Weather Channel’s local forecast segments — also intends to fire up the offbeat blender/boat motor featured in his video entry.

On Christmas, however, Howard won’t need to employ the blender for making snow. Instead, just as he does onstage when he performs with Mile Marker 24, he’ll use it to blend margaritas for new and old friends.

Topics: Big Pine Key & Lower Keys, Events, Florida Keys, Highlights, Keys Quirks, Local Color

Sixteen Florida Keys women are giving the term “naturist” a new meaning — proving their commitment to nature and community environmental efforts by posing au naturel for a 2010 fundraising calendar in some of the Keys’ most picturesque green spaces.

The "Women Sustaining the Earth" calendar showcases the Keys' natural beauty and its models' environmental commitment. (Photo by Sheelman)

The models for the calendar, titled “Women Sustaining the Earth,” are not typical cover girls. Their chronological ages range from 44 to 78, though their grace is timeless, and the calendar combines their images with thought-provoking statements on nature and the environment.

Among the women who posed for the project are hotelier Kate Miano, proprietor of Key West’s Gardens Hotel, organic restaurant owner Charlie Wilson and former Florida Keys Mayor Shirley Freeman. Some are draped in fabric or foliage, but they all display a comfort in their own skin — plus the courage to put themselves on the line to support the Keys’ natural world.

Calendar model Rosi Ware, one of the guiding spirits behind the Key West Garden Club at West Martello Tower, was photographed in the club's lovely secluded garden. (Photo by Carol Tedesco)

That natural world is one of the calendar’s enduring beauties. Locations for its mostly black-and-white art photographs include Nancy’s Secret Garden, a secluded Key West enclave nurtured by a local artist/environmentalist; the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden, home to countless rare trees and plants; the Key West Garden Club’s historic waterfront haven at a former Civil War fort; the lush and lovely grounds of the Gardens Hotel; and a remote locale called Geiger Key that was named to honor a friend of John James Audubon.

The calendar was the brainchild of Erika Biddle, host of the Key West radio show “The ECOcentric View,” who poses with recycling groundbreaker Lucy Carleton on one of its pages. She drew inspiration from a statement, credited to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, that the environmental movement needed to get sexier to garner more participation.

Calendar creator Erika Biddle (left) is pictured in its pages with fellow environmental activist Lucy Carleton. (Photo by Richard Watherwax)

For Erika, the calendar’s elegant sensuality was a means to an end: raising awareness and funds for earth-friendly Keys initiatives. The first printing of 500 calendars, which sold out almost instantly, benefited the local Green Living & Energy Education community garden effort. The second printing benefits the Mana Project, a nonprofit organization striving to sustain Nancy’s Secret Garden.

“The whole calendar is a collaboration of people who are working for a cause,” said Erika. “I’m just trying to connect the green dots.”

Like Erika and the women who posed for the calendar, the photographers who shot them — Carol Tedesco, Richard Watherwax, Lynne Bentley-Kemp and Sheelman — donated their time, energy and passion.

“The women featured in this calendar are each outstanding advocates for planet earth,” said Carol Tedesco, whose goal was to communicate their unique spirit in her photographs.

Find out more about the 2010 “Women Sustaining the Earth” calendar at www.keywestcalendargirls.com — and order one to support Mother Nature and her valiant “daughters” in the Florida Keys.

Topics: Big Pine Key & Lower Keys, Florida Keys, Highlights, Islamorada, Key Largo, Key West, Keys Environment, Local Color, Marathon

What happens when several Florida Keys captains get together for a busman’s holiday angling trip?

Anglers on Captain Jim Sharpe's Sea Boots display some of the nine wahoo the contingent caught Dec. 8 in about 3.5 hours of fishing off the Lower Florida Keys. (Photo by Jose Hernandez)

They catch fish.

Tuesday, captains Mike Weinhofer and Rob Harris fished on Captain Jim Sharpe’s Sea Boots along with several of Sharpe’s neighbors, including Jose Hernandez, Al Burns, John Crockett and Albert Medina.

In about 3.5 hours of fishing, the contingent caught nine wahoo ranging from 22 to 65 pounds.

Fishing in about 125 feet of water off the Lower Keys, Sea Boots’ anglers high-speed trolled Williamson black and red Diamond and Rapala Mag 30 artificial lures.

“We hit ‘em sometimes six at a time,” said Sharpe. “We had a total of 18 fish to the boat, but we lost so many, because they were so big and they were all coming in at the same time.

“It was just insane,” Sharpe said of the successful outing.

Topics: Big Pine Key & Lower Keys, Florida Keys, Highlights, On the Water