When I was younger I remembered houses on stilts off the coast of Key Biscayne. Okay this doesn't look like much, but that's what those little dark spots on the water are. I had no zoom lens on my camera.
The lighthouse at Cape Florida on Key Biscayne. This is a really good picture, which is strange for me. Now this is a good postcard shot.
Miami from Key Biscayne. These are mostly waterfront condos. Downtown Miami is tucked behind there somewhere.
Famous South Beach in Miami Beach.
This is the view from my window at the Holiday Inn in Fort Lauderdale. Just to make you beach lovers jealous, I grew up here. Well, not in the hotel, but you know what I mean. When I was a kid I was as tan as Harry Belafonte. Now I burn like an English tourist.
Sunrise over the ocean from my hotel room. That's a tanker just off shore. You know, I could own the best camera and all the fanciest photographic equipment money can buy and I would still take tilted photos. I have scanned it level for your enjoyment.
The house I grew up in. It actually looks better in this picture than it does in person.
This is what it used to look like in November 1969, a couple of months after we moved in. As you can see there are all sorts of trees and things all around that are no longer there. The bottlebrush tree in the front yard that I used to climb in. The gardenia bush that served as first base in games of kickball in the driveway. The coconut palm that was cut down by the agriculture people during a palm tree blight. We had grapefruit, orange, mango, lime, banana and fig trees. The current owners have a broken down basketball hoop.
Here begins the "Schools Jeffrey Duly attended" photo series. 1971-1973, Broward Estates Elementary School. The building on the right did not exist thirty years ago. This is not really in a nice part of town, but the school is fixed up a lot more than when I was there.
1973-1976, Plantation Elementary School. This school is just around the corner from my old house. This used to be a much nicer school than Broward Estates, but since my old neighborhood has really gone downhill, the school also shows similar wear.
1976-1979, Parkway Middle School. This was a huge shock. I would never have recognized this school if I didn't know what it was. When I was there, the surrounding neighborhood was one that you did not want to have to walk home through. (It still is, but it doesn't look too bad.) The school was dingy and had a tall chain link fence around it. It later years, the fence was topped with barbed wire. We used to call it Parkway Prison Camp. Now it seems to be a school for the performing arts, a magnet school I guess. They have built this facade and a large extension off to the left of the picture which seems to hold a theatre and stuff like that.
1979-1983, Plantation High School. Home of the Colonels, as opposed to Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is the home of the Colonel. This school pretty much looked the same, except for a media center that seems to have been recently added.
A hallway in P.H.S. There used to be lockers along the walls. I don't know where students keep their books these days. Broward County schools had a half day on this day, so that's why there are no students around. It's also how I was able to walk around without getting in trouble. I should have obtained a visitor's pass from the office, but the halls were pretty much empty and who was there didn't really seem to care.
Another hallway in P.H.S.  Look, lockers! The first door is to the band room. Back in my day (using my best old man voice), the band was great and the football team was bad. We used to go to competitions all over the place and bring back plaques and trophies. Now the football team is great and the band is bad. Oh well.
After driving around in the morning seeing how much has changed, and not necessarily for the better, I started to get depressed. I went to the Broward Mall and found one thing that did not change, at least not much. Cozzoli's Pizza. I remember riding my bicycle out to the mall and ordering a slice and a root beer. On this day I ordered a slice and a root beer. Comfort food.
These are the soccer fields at Pine Island Park. Playing defender and midfield, I wasn't much of a goal scorer back when I played. Then again, I'm not scoring much now. But that's a different subject.
The Plantation Library. Behind the library is a little Plantation museum. That museum has the fountain that used to be in front of the Broward Mall when I lived there. The fountain included a bronze statue of little naked boys jumping into a swimming hole. Given the way things are these days, I guess I can see why they took it out.
This is part of Plantation Heritage Park. Actually, unless I am mistaken this little park was there before they built the larger park across Peters Road. Anyway, it was always known to us as "the duck pond". See that duck? Those are the nastiest ducks you would ever want to meet. They will chase after you and bite.

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