Seven in the morning. The sun is breaking over the horizon. Another great Key West day in the making!

I never left the house during the day yesterday. Did a lot of paper work that I had let accumulate. Sometimes you just have to get to things.

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog about a Key West tradition which has people going to the beach for sunrise on Easter morning. Harry Truman did it when he was in Key West on Easter Sunday.

Sixty years ago! Easter fell on April 9, 1950. Then President, Harry Truman attended an Easter sunrise service on the beach with his daughter Margaret.

I tried to determine if another of Key West’s favorite sons ever did sunrise on the beach on Easter. Ernest Hemingway. I could not find anything on the topic.

I have a recollection that the Hemingway House used to have an egg hunt on Easter Sunday morning for children. That would be when I first started coming to Key West 20 years ago. I know there is none any more. It is a recollection. I could be wrong.

Hemingway enjoyed Key West. He behaved like a native Key Wester! Sloppy Joe’s, fishing and what have you.

He also did some serious work while he lived in Key West. His time here was only 9 years. But he wrote 70 per cent of his works in those nine years. Among them For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Snows of Kilimanjaro.

Hemingway also wrote To Have and Have Not. The novel was set in Key West. Interestingly, it was the only book he wrote whose setting was in the United States. Hemingway seems to have taken his earlier travel experiences and put them into print during his 9 year Key West stay.

Last night I had a date with June and Bill Nelson. They took me to dinner. At La Trattoria. They are my good friends from Delaware. We have known each other for about 15 years.

They return to Delaware thursday. I will not see them again till October.

They are true Key Westers. They built their keys home in Sugarloaf back in the 1970s.

Bill is a former divorce lawyer and a Republican. A black hearted Republican. To the bone! We have some great political conversations.

Kathy was bartending. Love her new hairdo!

Becha hosting. Lovely Becha! I got a hug and kiss when I arrived. I got a hug and kiss when I left. I am gong to start going to La Trattoria every night!

I hurried home after dinner to watch the Duke/Butler game.

A classic!

I was pulling for Butler. The underdog from my perspective. All of their starting five returns next year, except for one player. Beware! Butler is going to be a big time threat. At least everyone will know it. They snuck up on a lot of good teams this year, including Syracuse.

Enjoy your day!