January Birthdays

On the Saturday of MLK, Jr. weekend, Matt and Amy hosted a great party at their home. Unfortunately, Debbie had to work in her shoppe and wasn't able to join us. We missed her.  But everyone else came and we had a really nice time. Amy and Matt's home is really beautiful. When we first arrived, Matt showed Neal some of the work they'd done in the front.

Liv wanted to know what was going on out there so she pulled on her boots, wrapped Nonno's scarf around her neck and headed out.

Nonno made her a snowball.

Back inside, Amy had set out wonderful appetizers for us to enjoy - cheeses, dips, fruits, vegtables, crackers. It was great. And like everything Amy does, it was served with great flare and style. Check out the star-shaped baskets she used to present the appetizers!

Andrea, Drew and Liv enjoyed some snacks.

And so did Matt and Amy.

Amy set up a "Kid's Korner" in the living room. She had markers, coloring books, drawing paper, crayons - everything for the kids to play with and be creative!

Liv loved Kid's Korner.

She and her Nonno colored together.

Matt and Amy have a great big fireplace in their living room and Matt made a wonderful fire that afternoon.

Brian, Maureen and the boys came, too. It was really nice to see them all again. Everyone enjoyed pizza and had a great time.

Before he left, Jack got a nice hug from his Aunty Amy.

When it was time to go, Liv put on her jacket, got her backpack and followed the boys out the door.

Happy Birthday to Matt and Andrea. And thank you to Matt and Amy for a great day!

Lynnfield Does Key West!

While we were in Key West for the holiday, Kent and Mary stopped in to see us. They share their time between Florida and Massachusetts. They were on a New Years Caribbean cruise and their first stop was Key West. We got to spend the afternoon together! Their cruise ship docked in Key West at the Outer Mole. The Conch Train brought them to the top of Duval Street by Mallory Square. This is a picture of some of the passengers on their cruise ship as they arrived. Kent and Mary's train actually let them off around the corner from Mallory Square at the top of Duval Street.

The weather was sunny and warm that day. So we got an electric car to go around the island. Neal practiced being a tour guide - in case he decides to be a Conch Train driver in retirement!

We took a ride by the beach and it was packed. We stopped by at Ft. Zachary Taylor Park and walked through the Fort. Neal, Kent and Mary checked out where some of the cannons were originally mounted.

 

We also walked along the top of the wall the surrounds fort. There's a really beautiful view of the entrance to KW harbor from up there. Here are Kent and Mary with their cruise ship in the background off to the right. It was a beautiful ship they were cruising on.

After walking through the Fort, we climbed back into the electic car and took a ride down Duval Street and around Old Town. We drove by the 801 block and the Bourbon Street Pub. This is where each New Years Eve the KW drag queen "Sushi" climbs into the pink slipper and is lowered down at the stroke of midnight to welcome in the new year!

And of course we drove by Sloppy Joe's Bar at the other end of Duval Street where the conch shell is lowered at the stroke of midnight to welcome in the new year. Key West has something for everyone!

Like I said earlier, the weather was warm and sunny on this day so the Key West chickens were out  and about crossing the street.

After our tour around town, Kent and Mary treated us to a wonderful lunch in the warm sun on Sunset Pier. Thank you again - that was really great. We loved it!

After a lazy, late lunch, they had to start to head back to their cruise ship. It would not have been a good thing if the ship sailed with out them! So we walked to the top of Duval where the Conch Train was waiting.

Their cruise ship was set to sail out of Key West at around 6:00 pm.  So Neal and I rode our bikes down to see them off. We weren't sure if they would see us on the shore or not. But Kent called us to say they did in fact see us - that was great!! The sun was setting as their ship left Key West. It was a really a beautiful night.

Their cruise ship looked really amzaing on the ocean and it started to leave oh-so-slowly and carfully.

And the sun continued to set.

Their ship passed in front of us as we waved from the shore.

We think this is Kent and Mary on the top deck on the left side waving! (double click on the picture to enlarge it)

Then the sun slipped away.

Good-bye to Kent and Mary. We hope you enjoyed the rest of your cruise and had a wonderful New Years Eve. We enjoyed spending the afternoon together and are so glad you stopped by to see us. Thank you for a great lunch. Life is good and we are looking forward to joining you in the ranks of retirement!

Not only was it a beautiful sunset, if you remember New Years Eve was a full moon. This picture of the moon rising was taken as we rode our bikes out of the beach just after Kent and Mary's ship had sailed. It must have been just a wonderful evening to be on the ocean.

Key West Legal

There were several things we wanted to accomplish during our holiday trip and one was to 'get legal' in KW and Florida. There are several significant financial advantages to doing this and we wanted to get this done as close to January 1 as possbile. As it turned out, it's quite a process you have to go through. Our first step was to file for Florida domicile. So, we got ready to head out on  Monday morning only to find that one of the bikes had a flat tire. So, it had to go "Trek Hospital" before we could get started.

But, Neal fixed it all up and we were off before you know it!

We printed off a sample domicile declaration from the county web site and went to get it notorized.  The declaration states that we now intend to become Key West residents.  After getting the declaration notarized at our insurance agent, we headed over to the Clerk of Courts to file it.  Step one complete!

Next, we wanted to register the Mercedes Benz in Florida so we could have a Florida plate on the car when we drive it down later this year. However,  before we could do that, we needed to transfer the insurance coverage from Massachusetts to Florida.  Before we could do that, we wanted to get Florida driver's licenses. This was the most challenging thing because we thought we could keep our MA licenses and also have FL licenses. But, that provision in the FL law changed in November. What we learned was that to get a FL license, we'd have to surrender our MA license. We had not been expecting this and actually stopped the process for the day so we could carefully consider what that might mean. We talked to Kent &  Mary and Phil & Anne. They have all done this and were able to get us comfortable with it. So, the next day we went back to the DMV and got our new Florida licenses.

So back to the DMV

Out with the old.....

.......in with the new.

With our New Florida licenses in hand, we were ready to get the Mercedes registered in Florida. So, our next stop was at the insurance company to get a binder.

With insurance binder, new Florida licenses, old MA title, and mileage certification (thanks, Steve!) in hand we headed over to the County offices to register the car. We were succesful and got our new FL license plate.

Neal and I consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to do all this at what is really a relatively young age. There are many people who helped contribute to our success. Like many Fidelity employees, we have frequently said 'thanks' to Uncle Ned over years. We didn't order a vanity plate in KW but how weird is the license plate they assigned to us for our KW car?

We're almost done getting KW legal. The next step was to file for Homestead in Florida. After all, the tax benefit of homesteading is one reason for becoming a Florida residence. So, we climbed back on our bikes and headed back to the Monroe County Court House where we completed that filing.

The last thing we did was to stop at the Truman Annex building at the entrance by the fountain to get our Resident parking sticker for Porter Court!! For the last 10 years, we've had to stop at the guardhouse on Southard, get a temporary pass, and keep it displayed on the dashboard of a rented car. Not anymore!  Now we have a Resident Parking Sticker for the windshield of our own car.

It had been long couple of days with a lot of bike riding back and forth and all around the island. But, it was all worth it. And when we were all done, we stopped at Grand Vin and sat on the front porch where the sun was shining and the sky was blue. We had a glass of red wine and toasted the day!

We are looking so forward to being able to get away for the winter, watch the Minimal Regatta in May, go to Hemingway Days in July and celebrate Fantesy Fest in October!

Holiday's in Key West

After a wonderful holiday season at home, we headed to KW to ring in the new year and enjoy some warmer weather. Although it wasn't as warm as we all tend to think of Florida as being, it was warmer than Boston. You might remember that before we left to come home in November, we put up our tree. So, when we got back there after Christmas, it was waiting for us!

On our first morning in KW, we rode our bikes up to Fausto's to get some groceries. When we came back, Santa had stopped by and left us a Christmas present under our tree! Thanks Fran and Adam for the nice Christmas tree ornaments.

We decided since it was still the holiday season, the we'd have a 'Christmas Roast' in KW. Neal talked to Jimmy Weekly at Fausto's and he cut Neal a wonderful roast.

He brought it home in his bike basket and roasted it for dinner on Sunday evening. It came out great!

After dinner, we went for a walk down Duval and then along the waterfront. It had been really nice day and evening. We were pretty happy when we thought about the year that was coming to a close.

Since we will be spending a lot of time in KW going forward, we want to do the kitchen over. So part of our plans for the week included meeting with the cabinet-makers and having them start on designs for the kitchen. So on Monday morning, Neal got our bikes out.

And we headed off to meet with the designers. On our way, we rode past Louie's Backyard where one of Santa's reindeers was hiding in the bushes out front.

It was a little cool that morning but a great morning for bike ride. I really enjoyed it.

 This is a self-portrait by the multi-tasking photographer - he's taking this picture while riding his bike  along Flager.

We arrived safely at Hansen & Bringle. They will help us design the kitchen, build our cabinets, and install the counter tops. Because the kitchen in KW is so small, in order to maximize the space, we decided we'd need custom cabinets which Hansen & Bringle is known for. Every inch will count in the KW kitchen.

After finishing up with H&B, it was mid-afternoon so we headed back home. We decided to take Duval Street back so we could see what was going on in town. Red Sox Nation was prominently positioned in front of The Bull making straw hats from palm fronds.

This guy had wheeled his piano onto Duval and was playing some tunes for all the people.

By now, we were ready for a little break so we headed back home. Neal ground some fresh coffee beans and we sat out on the front porch and enjoyed a cup of expresso in the afternoon sun!

Over the next couple of days and evenings, we rode our bikes all around the island and walked the neighborhoods looking at all the Christmas decorations. The KW locals decorate for Christmas with the same spirit and passion as they do for Fantasy Fest (though the decorations and costumes are certainly very different....). This is the Red Door Barn on Caroline Street.

This the Cypress House

The Curry Mansion looked very nice.

Even the sea captain's wife who looks out from the widow's walk atop the Curry Mansion for her husband's ship to enter the harbor was dressed for Christmas!

For New's Eve, we made dinner reservations at Michael's Restaurant. This is one of our favorite places to celebrate a special occasion. We have been on Duval Street for the midnight celebration in the past and you only need to do that once! So we made our reservations for 9:30 pm so we could be at Michael's at midnight. It's about a 20 minute walk from our home but we wanted to take our time getting there. So, we got dressed and headed out around 9:00 pm.

On our way, we passed the Mangoe Tree Inn which was all dressed up for the holiday.

Mangia Mangia looked nice, too!

What do you think - Clark Griswald must have been in town for Christmas this year?

After a nice stroll, we arrived at Michael's and had a wonderful dinner.

After dinner, we walked home by the waterfront. There was a wonderful Christmas tree over by Schooner Wharf.

There are 3 places to ring in the New Year in KW - the conch shell drop at Sloppy Joes, Sushi in the Red Slipper at the Bourbon Street complex, and the lowering of the Pirate Wench from the tall ship Halie and Mathew which is docked in front of Schooner Whart. This is a picture of the Halie and Mathew. If you look close, you can see the countdown 10, 9, 8, etc to 1 and then "2010". Evalena Worthington, co-owner of the Schooner Wharf, is hoisted up the mast and decents the mast to the roar of a very lively crowd.

Even though it was around 1:00 am by this time, there we still lots of people celebrating at Schooner Wharf on New Year's Eve.

On way home, we decided to walk from the zero Duval down to Fleming Street and back home.

This is Sloppy Joe's after the conch shell dropped.

Although there wasn't any trouble, the KW mounted police were out just in case.

The day after New Years, there was a big snow storm back in Lynnfield and it got cold. In Key West they weren't shoving snow but rather were busy trimming the coconut palms around the pool!

Happy 2010 to everyone and we hope you enjoyed the holidays!