Smiles on the street

"You've got some great neighbors," said Jon, the landscaper, whose guys were just finishing up the gravel paths and mulch.

Two old black ladies had just passed, pausing to compliment him on his work. I guess the pair of twinned Christmas palms had caught their attention -- or maybe it was the ground orchids inside the fence, on either side of the porch.

It happened all day as the drizzle came and went: The old Cuban guy on the bike, who waved and gave a big thumbs-up, Skip from Duval House, John from the guest house across the street, Steve from the laundromat, Barbara from a couple houses up across the street. . . .

Everyone had something nice to say about the house's new face.

Ferron, the guy who makes tiny Conch cottages, biked up late in the afternoon to sit and rest on the porch, talk about the weather and tell me about the show he had hanging at the Key West Art Center, near Mallory. "This is a true Key West porch," he said, watching the lazy traffic.

"Nice trees," he said in his understated way, and I took it as a huge compliment.