Karen Nichols

A garden is more than decoration or staging or investment. There is a saying: A bottle of wine will bring you happiness for an hour. Marriage will bring you happiness for a year. And, a garden will bring you happiness for a lifetime.

I don't particuarly agree with the first two statements. A bottle of wine will make me happy for more than an hour and my marriage has been happy for all these years. However, the last statement is certainly true. A garden is a place of pleasure.

For the most part, I stay with indiginous or tropical flowers and plants, but once in awhile I experiment. The soil on may be a bit salty for my current charge, but I am hoping for the best. In March, I planted a small Magnolia root. If my transplant is successful and it adapts to our hot Florida sun, I will have a Magnolia Tree.

You never know who you will see walking down the streets of Fort Myers Beach these days. A movie star, the news team from Wink News taking their lunch break on the Island or a one of mother Nature's finest creatures.

For a couple desiring to walk along the street of Fort Myers Beach and are thinking of visiting later on this year or in 2009, I have a romantic rental available, a very private studio cottage. Full kitchen, glimpes of the Back Bay from the Deck, gorgeous tropical garden and located in a quiet neighborhood, but within walking distance to the not so quiet Times Square area and the Beach.

View from the Cottage

So, who is walking aroudn Fort Myers Beach these days, anyway?

Karen Nichols/One Stop Rental Management

KarenENichols@aol.com

but once in 60 years, a hurricane does hit, and I was in Fort Myers (we had evacuated from Fort Myers Beach) when Charlie visited us. We lived through it. Our house lived through it. Charlie is only a memory now . . . . and a poem, a poem that was written by me in Aguust of 2004, a couple of weeks after Charlie. My Poem was published in the August 27, 2004 edition of the The Island Sandpaper, a local rag . . . ...

The Unfriendly Tourist

Red Carnations thrive in my garden

The sunflowers brushed rudely aside

The bouigainvilleas bush beaten to a pulp

The vileness of an unhappy tourist

Should not be underestimated;

Hemingway punched Wallace Stevens

In the nose down Olde Key West way

Over a brilliant lady singing by the sea

Then went home to kill himself in Idaho,

Stevens returned to Connecticut to die

In a hospital surrounded by priests

Claiming to have won him back in the end,

While Charlie came to his demise in Carolina,

The fate of many of his kind.

My carnatinos are happy visitors

Reveling in their unexpected feat of survival perhaps,

Adjusting well to the bright hot Florida lime light

And Estero Island night life,

Not so dark drooping Donna

And her even darker grandspawn, Charles;

The coconut does not fall far from the palm tree.

No doubt he would in this modern day and age. Key West is still beautiful, but has turned into the perfect tourist town. I don't believe that Hemingway would appreciate the throngs of people milling about Duval Street every night or the guided tours through his own home every day. These tours include even a visit to the Garrett where Heminway used to write. It's a great tour, by the way, and a great town, but would Hemingway live there today if he was alive?

Above is a photo of Bonita Bills on Fort Myers Beach. Click on the photo for a larger image of this wonder tavern on the bay. This, in my opinion, would be Hemingway's hangout. Fort Myers Beach is still a fishing village. The Shrimp boats are still here. There are the small local bars where Hemingway could hobnob and hear about the great storm of 2004 or the ten foot marlin caught by Captain Jack last Saturday.

1. Independent Book Stores. Not only is this a great way to support independent and community book stores, but many of the Independents are run by locals who will gladly allow you to leave a stack of business cards on the counters. My experience was even more positive. There's a used book store on Fort Myers Beach, Friends of the Library, and when I have a free moment and am passing by, I stop hin. I have actually purchased some amazing first editions here for a couple of dollars. But, one day a couple of months back, the manager asked me how my husband was doing in business. He and I chat whenever I come in so he knew that my husband was a Realtor. I informed him that my husband was doing fine, that he was receiving many calls from out of town clients who had heard rumors of lower prices. The mananger of the book store then asked if I had any of my husband's cards with me, as he had a number of tourists in his store recently askinig him if they knew of a good Realtor, that they were interested in finding a nice beach cottage. Some, of course, wanted to know about short sales. I, of course, obliged him. Perhaps this should be titled "Five Ways to Market You and Your Business and Your Spouse's Business."

2. Local Supermarkets. These establishments usually have bulletin boards. By all means, tack down your business cards and also listing flyers. Grocery markets are visited by Everyone.

3. Coffee (breakfast) Places. If you want to know what's going on in town and to meet locals and vacationers, go out for breakfast.