Ixora Big Pine Key

It has rained a bit in a series of slightly odd weather events that have seen fog, heat and humidity and a snap cold front that came and went ion half a day and left winds out of the southeast and cold as though they should have been out of the north.The gray skies didn't show Big Pine Key, off County Road at it's best, but this is a good place to walk Cheyenne after rains have flooded many of her preferred off-street walks. It's isolated but the road surface is solid.Years ago our realtor showed us this house, much bigger than the home we bought on Ramrod Key, but we have no regrets about not buying it.It lacks the charm of our little wooded tree house and the swimming outside the canal is much better where we currently live. This house on Ixora Drive is quite large, however.There are lots of side streets leading intriguingly into the woods...... and this is a place where a lovely tamarind tree is just another flag pole for some.It's a long enough way to open waters from here. This house intrigues me, a single level home on a large dry (no canal frontage) lot with a lush lawn and landscaping swept up to the house itself.

This sign makes no apology for the occupants:

And this welcoming committe was just a sample of the vociferous residents. We went away.This home had far less signs of life but lots of signs protecting the trash dumped inside the fence.The skies remained overcast and I had a waterproof jacket on but the rain never came.I'm not sure but I did wonder if this might not be an actual Ixora plant:I had looked up the exotic name of this street previously and found this entry in Wikipedia:Ixora is a genus of 529 species in the family Rubiaceae, consisting of tropical evergreen trees and shrubs. Though native to the tropical and subtropical areas throughout the world[2], its centre of diversity is in tropical areas in Asia, especially India, Ixora now grows commonly in subtropical climates in the United States, such as Florida. Ixora is also commonly known as West Indian Jasmine. Other common names include: rangan, kheme, ponna, chann tanea, techi, pan, santan, jarum-jarum, Jungle flame, Jungle geranium, and many more. Plants possess leathery leaves, ranging from 3 to 6 inches in length, and produce large clusters of tiny flowers in the summer. Members of Ixora prefer acidic soil, and are suitable choices for bonsai.

So there you have it, everything you might ever have wanted to know about the Ixora. Meanwhile back on Planet Earth I was wondering what it might be like to own enough land to get lost in, on Big Pine Key.

Cheyenne and I were happily lost on our own account simply following the rapidly deteriorating street.

We marched right along, passing mysteriously large homes on equally impressive sized lots.

We met some of the reclusive inhabitants...

...who Cheyenne ignored completely in her pursuit of the ultimate good smell.

We got home in time to settle in for an afternoon of wind howling, plumetting temperatures (52 degrees that night) and rain slashing around the house. Cheyenne ignored it all and slept the sleep of the just.