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Fort Taylor Pyrate Invasion, Dec 2013 - Key West, FL
Chapter 8th: Saturday, December 8th, Morning. Presenting to folks during the morning of the event's Kid's Day; The kids at Kid's Day; Curious musing on standards; Of the Key West Sea Glass & Custom Jewelry booth across the way and its owner Tiffany King; The search for vegetarian couscous; and Speaking of Skylar Gray.
Photo: Mission - For Best Results, Please Do Not Add Water
I showed up promptly at opening. My first order of business was to check on my tools. We had had a downpour the night before and I had left the steel surgical equipment out without any water resistant covering over it, so some of the tools got wet and were spotted with rust. Fortunately Iron Jon had moved the table back away from the edge of the canvas fly under which they were sitting and the rust spotting was not too extensive. (Besides, rust adds character.) He had also wiped some of the tools down to remove the water. Kudos to him!
My second order of business was (naturally) to get my scarf tied by a charming lass. So I enlisted the aid of Anastasia. I believe she is a member of the Captains of the Devil's Triangle out of Key West. (I know she was a Key West local. In fact, she reminded me a bit of Scarlett Jai.)
 Photo: Mission's Camera - Anastasia Fixing Mission's Scarf 1 |
 Photo: Mission's Camera - Anastasia Fixing Mission's Scarf 2 |
I
Photo: Mission
A Young Pirate (And His Dad) at
the Surgeon's Booth
was going on a boat today during the battle (the Jolly II Rover), which meant I would be out of the fort from noon to 4pm, so I started doing presentations immediately. Since it was Kid's Day, there were a lot of little ones around. So I had to tone down my presentations a bit. Given what appears on TV and in video games these days, I'm not sure if this is entirely necessary. However, kids are usually with parents so I tone it down more so the parents don't get offended that I am presenting all this gross stuff in front of their children than anything else.
Not to wander too far off topic, but the reason I say lessening the grotesque aspect may not always be necessary is based on something that happened
Photo: Mission
Syd Leach & Scarlett Jai Talking
With a Young Girl
this Halloween. I was in Target, looking for skeleton parts when I came across a family with a 3 or 4 year old and a baby. They were looking at one of the end caps, which contained a bunch of masks and such. The toddler pointed and yelled "Walking Dead!" at one of the masks and then went up and grabbed it. (I'd put a WD image in here, but I don't watch it, so I wouldn't know what image to use). It's a whole new world…but I digress.
There were several child-oriented activities scheduled for the day, most of which I was going to miss by being on the boat. I did manage to see some of the costume contest, although I didn't get to stick around for much of it because my table was so busy. In fact, most of what I saw was balloon sword fighting. (And most of the pictures I got of that were terrible, but I'm sticking them in here anyhow.)
 Photo: Mission Kids Balloon Fight With Chrispy (Off Stage) |
 Photo: MissionKids & Chrispy Balloon Fight (Very Blurry) |
 Photo: Iron Jon Chrispy Balloon Fights Kids (Off Stage) |
Photo: Tiffany King - Tiffany and Her Friend Terry Who Was Helping her
The woman across from me in the Fort had a booth selling sea glass and we had sort of been chatting all weekend. Her name was Tiffany King, which I know because I actually took notes.
Tiffany's husband is in the Coast Guard, so she lives in the Coast Guard area on this side of the island. "I can see the 90 Miles to Cuba marker from my window." She has been making jewelry for about 9 years and collecting sea glass since she arrived in Key West Four and a half years before. She started out keeping the sea glass "in shoe boxes because she liked it."
You regular readers of the Surgeon's Journal web page may recall a tale about a woman collecting sea glass while we waited for the ferry to arrive
Photo: Mission - Tiffany And Her Wares
during the Put-in-Bay pirate festival in 2012. Sea glass is basically pieces of glass that have fallen into the water and been rolled about on the sandy bottom which sands off the edges making nice rounded shapes.
It hadn't occurred to Tiffany to use the sea-glass for anything at first; she just liked it. A friend of hers saw her collection one day and asked if she was using the sea glass to make jewelry as well. She was not, but since she now had a nice collection of it, she started doing that and her business Key West Sea Glass was born.
While talking to her, I learned that Tiffany had met her husband when she was working as a bartender in St. Croix. He was on shore leave where she started flirting. She explained that this involved walking her horses (she had horses in St. Croix) in front of the Coasties and making some poignant comment. (I don't remember what that comment was, although I believe she told me.) His shore leave ended and he went back to Miami. Nine days later, she quit her bartending job and moved to Miami as well to continue the romance.
 Photo: Tiffany King Key West Sea Glass & Custom Jewelry Left |
 Photo: Tiffany KingThe KW Sea Glass & Custom Jewelry Booth |
 Photo: Tiffany King KW Sea Glass & Custom Jewelry Right |
Photo: Mission
Scarlett Jai's Camp - Remind Anyone Else of Robinson Crusoe?
Around 11:30, I closed up shop and went looking for some food. One thing about being a diabetic – you can't just wantonly skip meals. Scarlett Jai had told me the night before that she had some couscous "with loads of vegetables in it" at her encampment because she had a vegetarian in her crew.
Her camp was located up behind the forge and she explained that there was a Crockpot sitting there with the veggie food in it when I found her. So I ambled up there to search for it. I couldn't find it. I asked the guys working the forge if they knew anything about it. Alas, no. So I went off to find Scarlett Jai again. She was at the Welcoming Booth with Skylar Gray, the girl who had tied my scarf for me on Friday. Skylar was the other vegetarian, so Scarlett asked her to show me where the food was.
Photo: Mission - Skylar and Friend Working the Welcoming Booth
While we were heading back to Scarlett's camp, I asked Skylar how long she had been in Key West and she replied that she had been there for about six months. Then she thought for a second and said, "Except I think I have been saying that for about six months, so it's probably more than that." She had tried being veggie/vegan at 10 years old, but her parents apparently weren't interested in buying her the food needed. Around 17 or 18, she had money of her own and went back to being a vegetarian.
She wanted to be vegan, but said she wasn't quite there yet. (That is a challenging thing to try and be.) She wasn't currently working, but when she did work, she worked in retail. She didn't seem to like that job much. "Right now, I'm working at this," indicting her garb. "Ah, but that doesn't pay very well," I commented. She laughed and said, "No, I'm spending more on this than I usually make." We've all played that tune, right?
 Photo: Poppa Ratsey Skylar Gray 1 (Arms Akimbo) |
 Photo: Poppa RatseySkylar Gray 2 (Arms Akimbo) |
 Photo: Poppa Ratsey Skylar Gray 3 (Happy Zen Pose) |
Back at camp, I munched on my veggie couscous while handling the surgeon's table. About quarter of 12, the Mercury Crew started heading for the parking lot. Everyone was invited, but Iron Jon and Steve decided to stay behind. It's a good thing they did; the goat for the feast tonight had been set up next to our fire pit and sort of left there. So Steve and Jon kept an eye on it and sure it was getting all the care and feeding that a goat corpse spitted over a fire requires. (I'll just leave you with that lovely image.)
 Photo: Mission Jon & madPete Prepare the Goat Fire Pit |
 Photo: MissionDeadeye Gets Her Goat (Ha!) |
 Photo: Iron Jon Preparing the Goat Corpse for Cooking |