I want to say that I am proud to be an American.  Yes, our country has problems; yes, things could be better and as Dorothy said in the land of Oz, "There is no place like home."  America is my home and I am blessed to live here.  This past weekend I decided to go to my library and pull out a book called America's Greatest Documents.  After consulting the index I found the "Declaration of Independence" and read it.  My brother who is an attorney  was a history major and explained how these great men who signed this incredible document that birthed our nation were affected.

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WOW...What a week last week was for not only the financial markets but the real estate market as well.  I believe it was historic as chairman Bernanke basically went what I call "All In".  The best analogy I can muster is a poker player who believes he has by far the best hand and takes all his chips and puts them in the center of the table. 

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Next year Key Colony Beach Realty will be celebrating its 30th year in business in the fabulous Florida Keys.  I am proud to be a second generation business owner in the company that my father and mother founded back in 1983.  As a matter of fact, our rental division still resides in the same building our company began in and has a really neat story in and of itself.

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Well Isaac has come and gone regarding the Florida Keys, leaving behind hot and muggy weather for sure.  Now the Gulf Coast is facing the storm and preliminarily it looks like it will be more of a rain event than a wind event. 

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Have you ever dreamed of flying through the air without a plane? Well, this could be your chance: a water-powered jet system called "flyboarding" has just come to the Marathon area.  It's a floating levitation device that is attached to a watercraft for power. With just a few minutes of instruction you will be "hovering" in the air like Tinker Bell! 

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Every high school longs for this day... graduation! It's one of the first big milestones in a persons life.  Tonight, the Florida Keys are honoring two students who will be heading to the University of Florida this fall as National Merit Scholars.

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Here are some interesting facts about Memorial Day—some you may know, some you may not!     (Information derived from:  http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeschooling/2010/05/about-memorial-day/

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Key West, Florida is the southernmost point in the United States, so you would assume it's always warm, right? Well, this morning they tied a low temperature record set in 1879. Yes, 1879! The low dropped to 49* in the wee hours of the morning.  Now if you're in Minneapolis,  Minnesota right now your temperature is 40* and you probably think it's a heat wave based on your normal winter temps. 

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Historical Pigeon Key in the Florida Keys is hosting its 100 year celebration of the Henry Flagler railroad.  Pigeon Key is nestled beneath the Old Seven Mile Bridge just two miles west of Marathon. The island is five acres in size and housed more than 400 workers who built the Henry Flagler railroad in the early 1900's.  The Keynoter newspaper states the island was a base camp with a commissary and one-room school during the bridges construction from 1908-1912.

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Is It Cold Where You Are?Ah, Christmas in the Florida Keys! My first Christmas in Marathon was in 1976. It was snowing all over the country ... but not in the Keys! People were shoveling and scraping their cars of ice... but  not in the Keys!  It was single digit temps all over the U.S.... but not here in the Keys!  My point: this is a great place to live.  Right now it's sunny, breezy and 74 degrees with blue skies. 

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