KEY WEST 3 BEDROOM APT…..$63 PER MONTH

A 3 bedroom apartment in Key West for $63 per month! Impossible! There was a time, however.

The Florida Keys History Section of the Sunday Key West Citizen said it was so 50 years ago. In 1964, there was a 3 bedroom for rent at 16th Street and Duck Ave.

Those were the days! No more! Never again!

Mandy Miles writes a column for the Sunday Citizen called Tan Lines. She wrote yesterday about her experience playing bocce for the first time thursday evening. No way, I thought! Thursday is a league night. Outsiders are not permitted to play.

She was speaking the truth. She played at Turtle Krals. Turtle Krals has constructed two bocce courts. I have to go down sometime this week to see them.

Speaking of bocce, my team played yesterday afternoon at 4. A make up game. It was hot!!! Too hot!!! I left immediately following the second game. My end of the court was a furnace. A building blocking the ocean breeze and no shade. Knocked me on my ass. I was sweaty and did not feel right. Drove home and fell into bed. Air conditioning! Nothing like it! As soon as I had the energy, I took a cool shower.

We won the first game, lost the second. I played the second. I do not know how we fared in the third.

Sunday’s Key West Citizen contained all kinds of goodies. One involved the first US Coast Guard Station located in Key West. 1824. That far back. A 63 foot Coast Guard schooner named the Florida sailed into the Port of Key West.

Florida State Judge David Audlin is retiring next month after eight years on the bench. I met Judge Audlin socially just after he was elected the first time. We became friends. He used to invite me to his office for coffee. If I had been a practicing attorney, it would not have been possible.

Judge Audlin has a special distinction. He was the first openly gay attorney to be elected Judge in the State of Florida.

My friend, I wish you a happy and healthy retirement.

I was glad to see the code violation charges against the White Street Station dismissed. The City is appealing, however.

The White Street Station is owned by the same people who own Michael’s Restaurant and Dennis, a former manager of Michael’s. All good people. Not the type who would flaunt the law.

Key West is a wonderful place. However, it has many warts. One is the fervor of the City Commission. An overly enthusiastic fervor! There is an ordinance for everything. Too many, in my opinion.

A new noise ordinance has just been adopted. The old one was not working as intended. This one will not either. Some things cannot be law driven.

The Wizard of Oz is 75 years old this year. It hit the movie screens for the first time in 1939. I can remember watching the movie at the Rialto Theater in Utica. I was four years old. Since, my children and grandchildren have all watched it. All of us several times. Everyone several times.

On May 14, another Oz movie is coming out. The Legend of Oz. Dorothy and Toto return! New adventures await them!

I visited the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, DC last summer. Displayed were Dorothy’s red shoes.

I read a lot. I learn things I was unaware of. Yesterday, tombstones.

I thought tombstones were placed over a grave to identify who was buried under it. Originally, no. Tombstones were originally placed on plots over the dead so that the deceased could not come out and harm the living.

I visited for several summers Block Island. It is off the coast of Rhode Island. There was an old Indian cemetery. Each grave was covered with a large stone. No markings on the stones, however. I always wondered why no names were etched on the stones. Now I know. To keep the dead under the ground!

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

GREAT PARTY!!!!!

Party time last night. At the home of Larry and Christine Smith. A good time was had by all. Larry and Christine know how to throw a party.

The event seemed to have had a three fold purpose. To welcome our friends John and Ali back from England. They are in Key West for a one month vacation. To celebrate Mary Deasy’s 39th birthday. To welcome Larry’s high school classmates from up north. They are here enjoying Key West, also.

A pizza and salad party! All kinds of pizza! I pigged out. I normally do not partake of pizza. In addition, Mary’s birthday cake. Oh, so good! Chocolate throughout!

As I parked my car to go into Larry’s, I heard…..hello Louis. It was Jackie Lefferts, my doctor. Walking her dog. I went across the street to kiss her and let the dog sniff me. He was a big guy. I wanted to be sure we would be friends. The Doctor mentioned how her husband Michael enjoyed my book The World Upside Down. She gave an autographed copy to Michael for his birthday. Her comment made me feel good.

Would you believe…..bocce tomorrow afternoon  at 4. A make up game. It will be boiling hot! I am not looking forward to the game.

Shirrel Rhoades is my publisher.  Shirrel had a terrific video and tale in yesterday’s Facebook. The video was the first film ever shot in Key West. It was 1898. It was of the burial of sailors killed when the Battleship Maine was blown up in Havana Harbor.

The film was a bit rough. Probably because filming was relatively new at the time. It showed the burial procession, the sailors accompanying the caskets which were on horse drawn wagons, family and friends following in procession.

Why was/is the film such a big deal? Besides the occasion, it was the person who did the filming. Thomas Edison. The man himself. Filming the occasion on the streets of Key West.

Yesterday marked the anniversary of Chernobyl. The Russian nuclear reactor which ruptured and spread radioactive material over much of Europe. The disaster occurred on April 26, 1986.

Illnesses and deformities occurred for many years thereafter. Cancers and deformities especially in new born infants.

Roughly ten years ago, a young mother brought her child to see me in my Utica offices. Her baby daughter was ten months old. She had been born with one arm missing from just above the elbow.

The story was that her prospective husband lived about 15 miles north of Chernobyl at the time of the radioactive spill. They did not marry till about 15 years after. The daughter was their first child.

She visited me with the child. The husband would not come. The husband was of the opinion his wife was at fault. She wondered if Chernobyl had anything to do with it. She told me her doctor said responsibility lie with her husband.

I knew nothing about radiation deformities. I did my homework, communicated with the doctor, and decided I needed more help. The case was out of my class. I contacted lawyers and barristers who had handled Chernobyl cases. They were in London and Rome. I also communicated with a medical college physician in Rome who was considered an expert in these cases.

Turned out the husband was probably the cause. The radiation affected males so that the semen they would make was contaminated in some fashion. The semen could result in a deformed child.

The case was sad. I could not put it together. Even with the help of the London and Rome professionals. It was too late and questionable because of the time factor.

The ten month old baby was lovely. Cute and bubbly.

I do not know how the child has fared since. I have the feeling well. We all make do with what we have. We accept that which life has foisted upon us.

I feel bad to this day that I could not help.

Enjoy your day!