RETREAT

Withdrawal? Shelter? Flee? Why do we take these painting vacations? They are retreats, or re-treats. They may be withdrawals from our daily lives, shelters from the mundane, and a temporary fleeing from our regular responsibilities, but we think of them as ways to TREAT ourselves over and over again! We connect with new knowledge, practice new skills, and search for inspiration among the unique local sights.  This trip met those expectations.

Oil Pastel of Banyan Tree, side yard- Little White House, Key West

Presidents have been finding Key West a splendid retreat since 1946.  According to the history of the Harry S. Truman Little White House, Truman was in sore need of a rest following the war years and war economy.  After an inspection of the Naval Station on Key West, Truman soon found the quarters there just the right place to recover his emotional and physical health. Since then many presidents and dignitaries have found it a welcome refuge.  We’d walked many miles down the main street of Key West before arriving at the Little White House, so we’d had our exercise and found the lawn chairs in the big side yard a welcome sight. Walt and I sat and spent a leisurely afternoon sketching there before taken the interior tour (no charge for sitting in the side yard). (I enjoyed experimenting with the oil pastels I brought.) The water and sun were to our back and shade and flowering shrubs were laid out in front of us. Perhaps “Harry” himself sat here and put his feet up.

This is the pie I made.  It's easy and fast.

Next stop was Kermit’s Key West Key Lime store for what else? Key Lime pie! I think I had a pie-a-day.  Now, with as much walking as we did, I could easily justify the pie, and a retreat is no time to say “no” to yourself!  A literal treat. Yum! We purchased a bottle of their key lime pie juice.  It comes with a pie recipe as follows:

1-9 in graham cracker crust

2 14 oz. cans sweetened condensed milk 

6 egg yolks

½ cup Kermit’s key lime juice

Blend milk and egg yolks at low speed until smooth. Add key lime juice and finish blending. Pour into pie crust and bake in preheated 300 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Cool 15 minutes before refrigerating.  Serve thoroughly chilled pie topped with fresh whipped cream.

  

Sometimes you find a moment of calmness and a reminder from another species to just “be”, breathe deeply and be still.  A sighting of a pair of placid manatees in a cove near our residence did just this. Unfortunately, they were a bit too far for a good photo, but we felt grateful for their presence.

"Once A Refuge" 24 x 24 oil on panel Available

Finally, we discovered the local Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden.  It's an interesting walk through local flora, fauna and relics of local history (Cuban boats).  My painting above is based on one of the Cuban boats displayed which once ferried hopeful Cubans out of Castro’s Cuba to Florida—a different retreat than what we were experiencing. Something for us to ponder. Learning is restorative in itself, and we felt refreshed by the diverse collection we encountered here.

We found Key West to be a multifaceted place—bars, bistros, music, fishing, sun, wild chickens, small homes, big yachts, museums, flowers, history, color, art—the low-brow and the high-brow. 

New knowledge.  New skills.  New ideas.  Refreshed. 

Key West:  What a treat!

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