LET THEM EAT CAKE

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As the French Revolution approached, it is claimed Marie Antoinette was told the people had no bread. Her purported response: Let them eat cake!

Historians claim Marie Antoinette never uttered the words. First, because they were recorded when she was nine years old. Second, she was too nice to have spoken thusly.

An observation. Bread was cheap to make. Cake, not. The cake referred to in the statement was actually brioche. A luxury cake full of milk and eggs. Expensive.

Tomorrow Trump’s proposed budget will be made public. A lot of cuts affecting the poor and middle classes. One item food stamps.

Food stamps feed 42 million people. Trump wants to cut food stamps by 25 percent over 10 years. $193 billion. The cut by a man who obviously eats the best and richest of foods. His body size speaks for itself. A man who luxuriates at Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower. A president who causes protection costs to skyrocket because his family and he live in three different locations.

Trump’s life style suggests…..Let them eat bread!

Trump forgets his obligation to take care of all the people. I make this statement based on  the further fact that his proposed budget contains big tax breaks for the rich.

The message seems to be…..Screw the people!

Turtle nesting time! All along the Keys. In Key West, Higgs and Smathers Beaches.

This week’s Keynoter has an excellent article on the nesting subject.

Each of 100 to 200 female loggerhead turtles will lay 100 to 120 golf ball sized eggs in the sand. Incubation is two months. Followed by the journey back to the ocean by the baby turtles.

I live and learn. Turtle sex is determined by sand temperature. Hotter sand yields females. Cooler, males.

Another interesting tidbit. There are not many nests laid on Key West beaches. Smathers for example had only 7 nests in 2015. Last year things improved. Ten.

Our friend William Hackley sounds cruel this morning. He was walking along Simonton Road near the beach and came upon a turtle nest. He took 110 turtle eggs. Broke more than a dozen in the process. Food for Hackley and his family.

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog that I saw Forever Plaid saturday night at the Waterfront. The show thrilled me. Songs from my past. Tunes I danced and courted to. One of them, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.

Last night on Turner Classics, the movie was shown. William Holden and Jennifer Jones. Touched my heart. Saw the movie for the first time in 1955 at the now gone Olympic Theater in Utica with my fiance. The movie had emotional parts. Our hand holding got tighter at those times.

Nothing is forever. Live long enough and you realize it. Gone are major companies such as Eastern Airlines and Montgomery Ward. More businesses have failed in recent times.

Yesterday, one of America’s most beloved closed its doors. Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. My father took me. I took my children. My children took their children.

Enjoy your day!

 

SONGS OF MY TIME

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At dinner friday evening, Joseph told me about Forever Plaid. He had seen the show at the Waterfront Playhouse the night before. All he said was, it made him feel happy.

Enough of a sales pitch for me. I went to see Forever Plaid last night. It was easy to understand why Joseph felt as he did.

Four young male singers. On their way to their first major concert. An automobile accident. All four killed. The good Lord revived them for one last performance. Forever Plaid.

Songs of my time. My day. Like Three Coins In the Fountain, Catch a Falling Star, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, and Lady of Spain.

Feel good music!

The show runs through May 27. See it if you can.

Spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon continuing my rewrite of Growing Up Italian. Will I ever finish? I seem to be fighting myself.

The Preakness. Yesterday’s, one of the best horse races anywhere anytime. Cloud Computing came out of the pack to pass the two favorites on his way to the win. You could see Computing Cloud in the background as he made his move. A terrific horse! A terrific jockey!

Remember Lawrence of Arabia? We now have Donald of Arabia. The only thing missing in pics and videos of his Saudi Arabia visit was the flowing white gown and headpiece Laurence wore on top of the train. The wind majestically blowing his gown behind him.

Trump was enjoying that type day.

The man is a hypocrite. He beats Muslims up during the campaign and since he has become President. Regs adopted barring /limiting Muslim immigration. Calls Muslims all kinds of names. Criminals, rapists, etc.

Now he goes to Saudi Arabia. Our friends! They gave us $4 a gallon gasoline. Seventeen of the terrorists on the planes on 9/11 were residents of Saudi Arabia.

Even today, we are not on the same ground as they. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia support opposite sides in the Syrian conflict.

I am an old man. Eighty-one. I do not recall any President ever being treated in any country visited as Trump was in Saudi Arabia yesterday. It was as if he were a visiting monarch.

Honored with a gold medal. I wonder if he can keep it.

He and Tillerson danced with Saudi royalty. I think it was a dance. They were lined up shoulder to shoulder. Sort of continuing short jumps into the air. Some sort of black sword (?) in their hands.

A disgrace. In spite of when in Rome do as the Romans do.

The Saudi’s appealed to Trump’s ego. They do not care about the Muslim bans in the United States. They got more planes, Trump more jobs. Both sides winners.

The losers, those affected by the muslim ban in the U.S. and the American people themselves. Our country was not intended to be lead by a narcissistic duplicitous bully.

Yesterday was a mutual admiration one for Trump and the Saudis. They kissed each other’s asses!

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

SQUATTER’S RIGHTS

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The side of the White House sitting on Pennsylvania Avenue is closed to vehicular traffic, sales stands and any type edifice. Only pedestrians allowed.

All this the idea of President Clinton. In 1995, he closed Pennsylvania Avenue down for two blocks. For safety and precautionary reasons.

Authorities moved everyone and everything out. Dispossessed them.

One elderly woman refused to move. She had been there for years. A tent erected. She was anti everything. As far back and including the Vietnam War.

She contested her eviction. The courts said she could stay. The government had failed to file a necessary document. The courts permitted her to remain forever.

With one condition. The tent always had to be occupied at all times. Generally, by her. If she had to be away for a short time, by another. Never could be empty, however. The tent included several feet of street surrounding it.

And so the lady remains. She was there five years ago when I played tourist in Washington for a week. Short, thin and wrinkled. Her face weathered from the sun.

A police car remains 24 hours a day up Pennsylvania from her. Waiting for her to violate the occupancy provision of the court decree.

I spoke with her. In and out of her tent. A bit screwy. Remaining has become her life cause. As she put it, “They aren’t going to get me!”

I wrote at length about the woman in this blog or a KONK Life column following my visit. I cannot locate the specific writings. Ergo, I cannot provide her name.

Joseph’s 69th birthday last night. We had dinner together at Berlin’s. He is still walking with a six foot staff. I introduce him to people as John the Baptist.

An intellectual. Always a pleasure chatting with him.

Janyne was at the bar, also. Lovely lady. Sweet. She has been the day Beach Bar bartender at the Pier House for fifteen years.

It was good to see Bria again. Her singing special. She, special.

I wrote a lengthy blog about her around May 1. The Best of the Best…..Bria Ansara. Knew she had failed to read it. Makes me laugh. When I said nasty things about her, she did read it.

She had not read it. Was going to look it up when she returned home last night.

A woman of many jobs, one is art teacher at Montessori. The school Robert and Ally attend. She knew them both well. Was taken with Robert. She said he stays after school frequently to help paint the large mural her classes are doing by day. He enjoys painting, she said.

I saw a picture of a Mother’s Day skeleton in KONK Life this morning. Key West is a strange town. I did not know there was a holiday skeleton house on Virginia Street.

For Halloween, the skeleton was as expected. For Christmas, dressed like Santa Claus. For Mother’s Day, a mother holding a baby. Mother’s Day…..Gross, hideous, no teeth, rotten teeth. Ugh!

The Preakness 6:45 tonight. The second step in the Triple Crown. Will probably watch the race at Don’s Place.

Have to move my ass. A manicure with Tammy at 10:30.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

A COW’S LIFE

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Many times it has been said…..In my next life, I want to be a dog. Most dogs have eternally been well treated by their owners.

Such may soon change. A cow’s life may be a better. A milking cow’s life.

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal carried an enlightening article on the new Dairy Queens.

A happy cow apparently is a cash cow. Dairy Queens produce more milk!

It is a new life for milk cows. Soothing classical music is played in milking rooms, fans and sprinklers to mimic spring breezes, robotic back-scratching sessions. Plus, manure clean floors and climate controlled barns. Cows milked when they want to by robotic machines. Perhaps the best, cows sleep on water beds.

Farmers believe cow cuddling to be critical. Free from stress.

It’s goodbye to a dog’s life, hello to a cow’s life!

My day began with a haircut with Lori. Always interesting. Fifteen years now she has been cutting my hair. Then I had hair. No more today. A once over with #1 on the electric razor and I am done.

Lori never wants to charge me. She says she does nothing. I always leave her $20. It makes me feel like I still have a head of hair.

Harpoon Harry’s for lunch. Hot turkey sandwich. Read the papers. Followed by a walk around the waterfront.

Last night at 6 at the Tropic cinema, the lecture I have been waiting for. The Jewish Underground Rail Road in Key West. The room was packed.

Primarily those of Jewish extraction. I may have been the only gentile. While waiting for the doors to open, a Jewish friend asked if I was waiting to see a movie. No, I told him. The lecture. He looked at me with a some what surprised expression.

I would like to say the lecture was fantastic! Off the wall! I cannot. I slept through the whole thing. For shame!

I dozed off as it was starting. Woke during the question/answer period. Fortunately, I sat in the last row end seat. The only one who knew I was sleeping was the woman next to me.

From the question/answer period. Stalin was anti-Semitic. He killed and threw Jews out of eastern Europe countries controlled by him through the 1920s.

America was anti-Semitic during the same years. Warren Harding in 1921 and Calvin Coolidge in 1924 had legislation passed limiting Jewish immigration. I have to add, Italian also.

History records both immigration laws as rigging the system against Jews.

Don’t ask me how the Jews got to Key West. I slept through that portion. However once here, there were underground tunnels in Key West. they hid and/or were moved through them to safety.

After the lecture, it was off to the Chart Room. Congenial John bartending. Ken and Alice there. Two people who worked hard, raised a family and now have almost totally settled in Key West. Purchased a home on White Street. Both always good company.

Things I learn. Gatorade is a Florida discovery. It was conceived in a University of Florida lab in 1965.

Today is Joseph’s birthday! Joseph, former manager of Hot Tin Roof. He and I are celebrating his birthday together tonight at Berlin’s.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

OCTOPUS FOR DINNER

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I enjoyed a rare meal last night. Octopus. Not squid/calamari.

The last time and only time I ate squid was on my Greek trip where I failed in attempting to climb the Santorini volcano. My poor body could not make it up the hill. I thought I was going to die.

The boat did not return to Oia immediately. It took us to a very small island. One tiny white stone house.Extremely small.  A larger white stoned bathroom building.

A husband and wife living on the island.

We had stopped for lunch. The couple’s place was the only game in town. The menu limited. Octopus and wine.

The octopus was a baby one. About three feet in diameter. Cooked on a large outdoor grill. The charcoal type we use in the U.S. The husband  kept basting the octopus with oil.

I was served a chunk of one of the tentacles. I would judge it was cut from the middle of a tentacle or closer to the body. About ten inches. One and a half to two inches in diameter. The skin a quarter of an inch thick. The center hollow and empty.

Absolutely delicious! Tender! Tasty!

I heard Bruschetta had octopus. Decided to stop and have some last night. Ordered it without looking at the menu.

Not quite the same as the Greek one. Size only. What I was served last night was the end of the tentacle. Slender. Totally filled with meat. The tiny suction cups part of the meal. A bit gross. Did not recall them on the island.

About 15 inches in length. Every inch a delight! I enjoyed each morsel. The taste the same as on the island.

For dessert, I enjoyed Sicilian cassata.

An outstanding meal!

Previous to Bruschetta’s, I was at the Chart Room.

A bunch from Philadelphia. Ate the hot dogs. John had to replenish the supply.

Chatted with one of the guys. He was very interested in the Chart Room. I explained David Wolkowsky’s  involvement. Threw in the Jimmy Buffett story.

Then asked since he was from Philadelphia, did he know Rittenhouse Square. Of course, a big Philadelphia deal. I then shared with him that Wolkowsky was responsible for its rejuvenation and what it is today. He was amazed. He did not know.

A couple at the end of the bar from London. Sixtyish. John and Marie. We chatted a while. Nice people. Interesting people.

John a retired London cab driver. The stories he had to tell! Drove a lot of movie stars. The nicest was Lauren Bacall.

Marie still working. An accountant with Zippo. The lighter company. They have a London facility.

I got into my Beefeater problem. Could find it at only one bar when in London several years ago. He was not surprised. Depends what the liquor distributors are pushing.

We talked about London food. Excellent! The London theater, also. Equally excellent!

About plane travel in Europe. Not like the U.S. Cheap. Meals on most flights. All the booze you want. Polite staff.

Trump watch out! Mueller will follow you to the ends of the earth! If you are guilty of any wrongdoing, he will discover it.

Tonight, a Custom House lecture. The Jewish Underground Key West 1918-1939. A large crowd expected. It is being held at the Tropic Cinema.

Have to move my ass. I have a haircut appointment with Lori this morning. Following which a visit to Farmers Market to pick up a few things.

I do pretty good for a bachelor.

Enjoy your day!

 

LOUIE, LOUIE

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Louie, Louie is a famous tune in the world of music. An American rhythm and blues song. Today recognized as a pop rock standard.

First recorded as a Jamaican ballad in 1956. Its lyrics written on toilet paper.

Louie, Louie was the back side B side of the first recording. The flip A side was You Are My Sunshine.

To this day, I have never heard nor was aware of Louie, Louie. I was aware and knew well the lyrics of  You Are My Sunshine. Sang it often over the years at parties, etc.

I came across a note this morning that on this day in 1965, the FBI concluded a two year investigation of the song.  The purpose: To determine if Louie, Louie’s words were pornographic. Dirty. Someone had complained.

Research indicates the words were difficult to understand. The FBI was asked to make a determination as to its pornographic quality.

The FBI Lab found the song’s words to be totally non-understandable. The FBI conclusion stated Louie, Louie’s words were “unintelligible at any speed.”

Louie, Louie is recognized as one of the most covered songs in rock and roll history.

My blog talk radio show last night. Half of it devoted to Trump. Difficult not to.

I thought things changed daily with him. New items popped up each day concerning him. My thoughts have changed. Trump moves fast. There is something new or a new position by him it seems every hour.

As a result, I never got into the Comey memorandum last night. I stopped listening to the news around 4. Had to. Otherwise, my topics, notes and flow for the show keep changing. I can only redo so many times.

In spite of my shutting down such research early, I still spent the first 15 minutes of the show discussing Trump. He has sinned in other regards.

The cry for impeachment is on many lips. My advise: Slow down! Comey’s memo and the facts surrounding it may not be enough. Give the President a couple more weeks. He will bury himself further. Then will be the time to zero in on impeachment, assuming solid grounds exist.

Ernest Hemingway. USA Today reported a new biography. Ernest Hemingway by Mary V. Dearborn. The first full fledged biography of Hemingway in 15 years.

Some suggest more books have been written about Hemingway than any other person in history. Whether a valid statement, I do not know.

The book spends a bit of time examining Hemingway’s sexual interests. One being gender switching. If true, it may answer the question as to why Hemingway had a special attraction to bi and lesbian women.

A return to American crocodiles.

Cleatus is an American crocodile. Cleatus has spent the last 14 years in the Dry Tortugas swimming in near shore waters at Fort Jefferson. Named Cleatus by National Park employees.

Since January, Cleatus has been moving inland. Closer to shore. In the area utilized by humans for swimming. He has interacted with visitors. Some even fed him.

A disaster in the making. Cleatus had to go.

Last sunday, officials captured Cleatus and delivered him to West Lake in the Southern Everglades.

I hope Cleatus will have no difficulty in adapting to his new home.

Enjoy your day!

 

TRUMP…..WHAT NEXT?

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Better than a television series! Donald Trump!

The most recent episode the disclosure of highly classified intelligence. To Russians, of course. Showing off? Trying to make whatever his relationship is with Putin more solid?

A man who calls Russia a friend and Canada an enemy gives me concern. Trump consistently treats our enemies as friends and friends as enemies.

He is President, not dictator. Maybe he would like to be a dictator.

Beware. The time could come when we have martial law. Troops in the streets.

An observation: The media is our savior. Without their investigations of Trump’s activities, we would be ignorant of the true facts.

I went to the Republican meeting last night at the VFW. Even though I am a Democrat. I wanted to hear Commissioner Mike Forster of Islamorada speak on why he wants Route 1 to become a toll road.

The public was invited. I am one of the public.

The meeting got started. Pledge of Allegiance. A few opening comments by the chairman. Then his apologies. Forster would not be attending. He forgot to invite him.

Such is life. I had to get out of the meeting. I did not belong there. Fifty feet to the door. I hung my head and tip toed towards the door.

Silence! Everyone looking at me. I looked up, smiled and said…..I’m a Democrat. Wanted to hear Forster.

Smiles and laughter accompanied me as I left.

I decided to stay at the VFW for dinner. Sat at the bar. Mike to my right. We talked most of the night.

We both have Christian Brothers backgrounds. He went to La Salle, I Manhattan. Got into basketball.

Mike is night manager at Hogsbreath. We spoke of George, a friend of both Lisa and I who has bartended at Hogsbreath for years.

He suggested I order the braised ribs sandwich. Did. Wow! Delicious! Yesterdays ribs between freshly baked ciabatta bread. Cheese, onions, etc, also.

A young man to my left was discussing Isaiah Thomas with a friend. I interjected that Thomas was the last selected in the NBA draft his year. Number 60. He looked at me as if I was crazy.

He was drafted #60. Hard to believe!

I was told the VFW kitchen was now operated by La Trattoria. The food overall must be good!

I learned for the first time this morning that Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough were engaged about ten days ago. Stars of the Morning Joe Show. Theywere vacationing in the South of France when he popped the question.

I have been watching Morning Joe religiously for years. Could see the closeness developing. Wonder if the engagement/marriage will affect their relationship when Joe yells or puts Mika down. As he is prone to do.

My blog talk radio show tonight at 9. Join me. Topics interesting. Trump, of course. Also, new kinds of GMOs, whites sub-human, a Venezuela update, and more.

Enjoy your day!

STONE CRABS BYE BYE

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Tonight ends the stone crab season. My favorite food. At this time each year, I think I have not eaten enough.

Supposedly a good season. Overall catch and dollars appear down. Not by much. I will advise the numbers when they are out.

A major industry. A year ago, I recall mentioning the number of tons shipped to Asia. The major market for Key West stone crabs.

Spent yesterday afternoon writing.

Last night, celebrated Mother’s Day with Donna and Terri. Dinner at Duffy’s.

I finally returned! Yanna, the manager, came running over. The prodigal son had returned!

Terri looks fantastic! Absolutely amazing considering what she is going through. Next weekend the ladies drive to Tampa. Donna has a week long series of tests scheduled at a Tampa cancer hospital.

I wrote yesterday about Thelma Strabel and Reap the Wild Wind. Mention of the film could be found in the Key West Citizen’s Historical Section this morning. Paramount’s photographers had completed their work on the film and left for Hollywood this date in 1941.

One of Reap the Wild Wind’s stars was John Wayne.

Two Trump updates.

Media reports the past several days claim Trump runs around screaming at the TV set every time the Russia links matter is shown. The screaming is to have occurred both before and after the Comey firing.

Concerning the law firm letter Trump released last friday. It basically gave Trump  a clean bill of health. The certified one  as Trump constantly states. As if certification gives any truthfulness to its contents.

Two oddities re the letter.

First, it is written and signed by the Washington law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bachius. The firm was named “Russia Law Firm of the Year” in 2016. So named by the London based legal research publication Chambers & Partners.

Second, the letter was dated March 8, 2017. It was not revealed/made public by Trump till May 12, 2017.

I conclude on a happy note. McDonald’s is as American as apple pie. There are 36,899 McDonald’s worldwide. U.S. ambassadors!

Enjoy your day!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

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Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers! Happy Mother’s Day to my mother!

My mother has been gone some thirty odd years. I still think of her every day.

I have a large painting of my mother that sits over my desk. I see her constantly. I even talk to her on occasion. I vent.

We had a good relationship. She was retired. I would stop by to see her almost every day on my way home after work. Not for long. Fifteen minutes to a half hour. A bottle of Beefeaters and a glass of ice on the kitchen table. My mother did not drink. The Beefeaters was for me.

We talked about this and that. Rarely important. Just mother/son chit chat.

I miss her.

Hurricane season is around the corner. Begins June 1.

The prediction is the season will be slightly below average. Six hurricanes anticipated. Two which will be major ones.

We have been lucky in recent years. Hurricanes, yes. But they always bent at the last minute and missed us. May that continue to be the case!

Key West Songwriters Festival this weekend. Musicians come from all over. They play just about every bar and location in town.

I walked Duval and the side streets yesterday listening.  Occasionally, stopping. I stayed a while to hear the group playing on Duval in front of Sloppy Joe’s. Then to Smokin’ Tuna. Finally, Margaritaville.

The walk, crowds and heat did me in.  I had anticipated it would. Knew dinner would be at home for me.

I took out one of Fran’s containers of frozen pork sauce in the morning. Left it on the counter to thaw. Last night, I enjoyed stove pipes buried in Fran’s thick red pork sauce. Covered generously with Parmesan cheese.

Ate too much. I did not care. Good was good.

Fran and husband Tom are in Paris for ten days. I e-mailed Fran and told her how great her sauce was.

Some things I do not understand. Like why a toll on US 1. The only road in and out of Key West.

An Islamorada councilman named Mike Forster went to Washington last week to discuss a toll. He favors it. He is pushing it. Why, I do not understand.

US 1 is generally a narrow two lane road for 140 miles. Key West at the southern end. When I go to Hogfish, Roostica, Geiger Key, Square Grouper, Mangrove Mama’s or to visit my Sugarloaf friends, US 1 is involved at some point.

I have to pay to travel 1/2 mile to 20 miles?

Forster is speaking to the issue tomorrow evening at 5:30 at the VFW on the Boulevard. I plan on attending.

This will be a big week for me. Thursday night the Key West Art & Historical Society is sponsoring a talk at Tropic Cinema. An Arlo Haskell speaking. His topic: The former Jewish underground involving Key West and Cuba. 1918-1939.

Charles Krauthammer is a noted columnist for the Washington Post. A conservative.

He wrote in a recent column re the Trump/Comey situation: “The king asked whether no one would rid him of this troublesome priest, and got so impatient he did it himself.” Henry VIII had Thomas More beheaded.

Comey’s firing no different.

History may speak of it as the beginning of the end of Trump’s Presidency.

Reap the Wild Wind was published by Thelma Strabel in 1940. A story of Key West and wreckers. The Saturday Evening Post immediately serialized it.

Strabel used the Saturday Evening Post money she received to build a home in Key West. In 1940, she obtained a building permit to construct a house at 400 South Street.

At the time, she claimed it was the most southern point in the United States.

The home was later demolished and a larger one built on the site. Strabel was long gone from Key West by that time.

Enjoy your Mother’s Day! Enjoy your Sunday!

SHIRLEY VALENTINE

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Love Shirley Valentine!

A 1989 British film. Warm and touching. The story of a middle aged woman who visits Greece and decides to remain. Her love and life come into play. The wakings and complexities of middle age.

The film touched me. I have reseen it several times on television.

When on the London stage, it was a one woman show. The film was expanded to include many characters.

Key West’s Fringe Theater is performing Shirley Valentine May 17-27. I do not know how many in the cast. What I do know is I plan on seeing the show. Everyone should.

Last night, another evening at the Chart Room. The bar full. One seat at the far corner of the bar available. Said hello to John.

The gentleman next to me said, “You’re Key West Lou.”

It was Mark from five years ago. He had a better memory than me. We had met in the Chart Room five years ago. We spent a couple of hour last night chatting.

Mark 55. He has spent most of his adult life in what I would describe the sophisticated medical supplies field. Does a lot of traveling. Off to Munich next.

Married, lives in Boston.

Politically, a Trump fan. Made our conversation even more interesting.

Hope we run into each other again in the days he has left in Key West.

Left the Chart Room hungry. Was heading to Hot Tin Roof when I recalled the cupboard was bare once again. Skipped the Hot Tin Roof and headed to Publix. One of my purchases was a barbecued chicken which I enjoyed later at home.

The Minimal Regatta coming! Technical name the Schoonerwharf Minimal Regatta. The 26th annual one. May 28.

I am providing early notice so you can get ready to participate, if you so desire.

The race is directly in front of Schooner Wharf. The boats all man made. Materials skimped on, of course.

The following represent ALL the materials that may be used in the boat’s construction: 1 sheet of plywood, 1 pound of plywood fasteners, 1 roll of 2″ x 60 yards duct tape, and 2 2 x 4s.

Success is not dependent on sea prowess. It is all dependent on constructing a boat that does not fall apart and sink.

A fun time!

The Minimal Regatta reminds me of what grown people do in Key west. Return to their childhoods!

Several years ago, I wrote a lengthy column in KONK Life on embalming. Surprisingly, the only country where embalming is a common practice is the United States. Not legally required by federal law. A few state laws mandate it.

Lincoln’s funeral train brought embalming to the attention of the American public. The train was carrying Lincoln’s body to Springfield, Illinois for burial. The trip took 13 days. Traveled through seven states and 180 cities.

Decomposition of Lincoln’s body was a concern. Especially the decomposition odors that would emanate  from it. The decision was to embalm.

A popularity for embalming grew slowly over the years following Lincoln’s burial.

This past week Trump signed another Executive Order. This one establishing an Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. Commission seats are being filled rapidly.

Trump’s puppet Vice President Mike Pence is chairman. Commission members appointed thus far are state officials. Most of whom already have a track record of supporting state laws that minimize a person’s right to vote.

A stacked deck.

Trump continues to believe he would have received 3 million votes more had there not been irregularities at the polls. All information/investigation to date reveal no voter fraud.

Wasted money, wasted time. To satisfy one person’s ego.

Enjoy your day!