Breezin'

When the winds pick up -- and they've picked way up lately -- the Balinese flags we found in Islamorada have a snapping good time.

But all of them, including the red one around the corner to the left, are starting to show signs of stress. The bamboo poles are wearing through the fabric, which isn't visible from the street, or much from the deck, but obvious from the upstairs shower.

We'll probably have to wrestle them down and see if smoothing the tip with something like duct tape can prevent further damage.

When we first fell in love with flags like this, in Bali, we brought the flags home but had to fashion poles out of PVC for our deck in Wisconsin.

And speaking of deck: Notice the silver buttonwoods growing 4 or 5 feet over the fence? When they went in last summer, they were a foot below the top.