STATUE OF LIBERTY

The Statue of Liberty has been in view the past few days. The Barclays Golf Tournament was played in New Jersey directly across the river from New York. Many of the television shots of the players had the Statue of Liberty in the background.

Imposing!

I visited the Statue of Liberty twice.

The first time was when I was 4 or 5 years old. My father took me. I remember the mob of people, the elevator, the long walk up a spiral staircase, the heat, and finally reaching the crown. The arm and torch were closed off.

My father had to lift me so I could look out of one of the small windows surrounding the crown.

A memorable occasion for a young boy. Here I am more than 70 years later and can still remember as if it were yesterday.

The second time was when I was a father. I took my four children to visit the Statue of Liberty. They were early grammar school age at the time. Unfortunately, all we could do was take the boat ride over and walk around the island. The entire Statue was off limits to visitors. I cannot recall why. I believe my children never the less were impressed with the majesty of the Statue.

Visited the Chart Room last night. JJ, Sheila and Frankie at the bar.

JJ asked me about Le Grand Bleu. I mentioned Le Grand Bleu in one of my blogs while on the Greek isle Amorgos. A French movie, part of which was filmed on Amrogos. JJ had come across it and recalled my having mentioned it. Today on Amorogos there is a restaurant by the name. Every wednesday evening, the restaurant plays the movie for free outdoors to induce persons to patronize the restaurant.

A family of three came in. The father was a big man. Like 6’6″. Big chested, also. A dark black beard. Big black eyes. His wife was very short. Around 5’2”. Pudgy and wore round steel rimmed glasses. The third person was their son. A teenager.

Just prior to the family arriving, two men came in. One was with the U.S. Navy and stationed in Key West. I believe he was an officer.

The big guy father of the family announced in a booming voice…..We are Russian!

We were all immediately interested in the family.

They were vacationing in Key West.

The Navy man said he once had a beer with a Russian in Korea. The father immediately came back with…..North Korea? The Navy man said no, my recollection is South Korea. Pusan.

With that, the mother said….Let’s go. And away they went saying their good byes as they left the Chart Room. It was a quick exit.

I pondered. How many Russians have I actually met? Few, when I thought of it. I know some from the former Soviet states. I have a close friend from the Ukraine. However as to real Russians, maybe only this family and one other.

The one other was Alexander Kerensky. He was Russian born and taught me Russian history for one year at Manhattan College. He was a most interesting professor. Especially as concerned the Russian revolution. He had been part and parcel of the revolution.

Kerensky was the second Prime Minister of free Russia. The Russia that existed after the Czar had been deposed. He was the boss.

Following the Revolution, the Russians were divided into two groups. The Whites and the Reds. Kerensky was a White. The two groups were not of the same thinking. Civil war began.

Eventually, the Reds took over. They were also known as Bolsheviks. The Reds were led by Vladimir Lenin.

Kerensky had to flee Russia. His life was in danger. He eventually made his way to Germany. When the Nazis gained power, he left Germany for England. Then he made it to the United States.

I took Kerensky’s course in 1956. Kerensky was teaching at Columbia University. He would take the subway to Manhattan College twice a week to teach the course.

Tomorrow is Tuesday. Tuesday means Tuesday Talk With Key West Lou. Nine in the evening on the internet. A fast moving interesting one half hour show. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

One of tomorrow’s topics involves Bruce Manning and transgenders. There is much that most people are unaware of regarding transgender persons. The discussion promises to be an eye opener.

Enjoy your day! It looks like a rainy one in Key West.

THE BREEZE AND I…..

The wind is fantastic! Never stops blowing! Strong! Last night bent me over when hitting me from behind. Pushed me back when I was walking into it.

I have never felt wind this strong. The exception of course would be a hurricane. However, who goes out in a hurricane!

The locals tell me the wind comes in three day cycles. Last night was the fifth day in a row. Apparently no one told the wind its three days were up.

Yet, it is interesting. No one lets it inhibit their activities. The only change is in attire. You dress for it. The wind is cold. A sweatshirt for me.

My landlord Elini changed the Wi Fi system. Her previous one sucked. Of little use. Low frequency/power. The system has been upgraded. Yesterday and today I have been able to do the blog from my kitchen table. No need to wait till 10 for the internet store to open.

I intend to continue visiting and chatting with Spyros, however.

I just heard a strange noise. I am working with the door open. Two goats! Yesterday the albino. Today, what appear to be a father and child. Two weeks no goats where I am living. All of a sudden, they are my neighbors.

They looked at me with sad eyes. I thought they might be hungry. Ran in and got some bread. They would not eat it. What do I know? A goat expert I am not.

Yesterday morning was easy. I sat on the terrace and read. Went for a swim. Back to reading. I love it!

Lunched in. Made myself a sandwich. Then napped. Napping a lot.

The goats are back. Baying. Is that the proper word? They are eating the greenery around the terrace. Bread no, shrubbery yes.

Flora and I had coffee together at the end of her work day. I wanted her to read Flora’s Story. It will be available in the Florida keys in this week’s KONK Life which comes out tomorrow. I have decided to run Flora’s Story as my blog for tomorrow, also. For those outside the keys who might be interested.

This blog is far reaching. The last statistics I saw indicated in was being viewed in 49 countries. Amazing! An example is a woman who I heard from today. She lives in Ireland.

Yesterday, I wrote about having observed two Greek women rolling their own cigarettes. Apparently rolling your own is not uncommon in Ireland. Cost being the reason. Cigarettes are cheaper that way. I can understand. Cigarettes have gotten very expensive in the United States. Eight to $13 a pack depending where you are. Cost alone should be enough make smokers give it up!

Flora enjoyed the article. She wants me to mail a hard copy to her at her home in Albania.

Walked to the other side of the bay in the evening. In the dark of the night.

The Le Grand Bleu Restaurant was showing the Le Grand Bleu movie. Outside. About 40 people sitting around watching. I stopped for a while.

Le Grand Bleu is a French film that was made in English with French subtitles. Last night’s version was in French with English subtitles.

It was after 10. I had not eaten since my sandwich at lunch. I was hungry. Stopped at Mythos. Spaghetti bolognese. The same taste and texture as a few evenings earlier. Good!

Nothing like a pasta filled stomach when going to bed!

Vangelis’ wife’s name is Susanna. Learned it for the first time last night. A strange name for a Greek. Is Susanna from the deep South? She speaks excellent English. I will have to chat with her to learn from whence she comes. She is at the restaurant all the time. The cook. A very good one.

Met Claudia yesterday. Two times. First in the morning when I was coming out of the water after my swim. Then last night when I was walking around.

Fate?

Claudia is Italian. From Verona. Thirtyish. Thin. All Italinas are thin. Tall. Taller than me. She had to be around 6′ 3″. Spoke excellent English. More than bilingual. She speaks several languages fluently. She has spent a significant amount of time working in Austria. I never got around to learning what her work was.

Enjoy your day!

SUNBURN / NO WATER

I did good yesterday. Got sunburned. Then no water when I returned to the apartment. No water till this morning.

After an interesting lunch with some Amorgos businessmen, I decided to go to a beach. The businessmen had educated me further on the economic crisis. I would not be surprised if the Greek people at some point end up in the streets as the citizens of Egypt and Turkey recently have.

Greek isles have tons of hidden coves and beaches. I decided to spend the afternoon discovering one. I opted for Saint Anna Beach.

A twenty minute drive away. Cab or bus. Cab driver wanted 20 euros to deliver me and another 20 to pick me up. A rip off. I decided on the bus. 1.6 euros each way. The bus drops you off and picks you up four hours later.

Saint Anna Beach turned out to be two coves. Just for swimming. No boat activity. The bus dropped me and the two other passengers off. Canadians. The bus driver said business is terrible this year. They are considering cutting out some bus lines.

The road to the beach was up and down. More up than down. A narrow road. Only wide enough for the bus. I wondered what would happen if some one came driving the other way.

There was an immediate and direct drop down the mountain on one side of the road. A couple of inches to the wrong side and it would have been all over. The bus driver was a jockey of sorts. A rough rider. He had the steering wheel in one hand and a cell phone in the other. I got sufficiently uncomfortable at some point with the speed of the bus and the drop down the hill that I yelled out to him…..Two hands! He replied with a smile…..No problem, I do this every day.

We finally arrived. The beach was down a dirt pathway. Rather steep. I made it without falling. The beach is close to the monastery I visited last year. The water was clear. Very clear. Pure. Colored blue and green. Shades changing constantly.

The beach is dedicated to Saint Anna. Called therefore Saint Anna Beach. A small church was nearby bearing her name. I tried to enter. The door was locked.

The water is so crystal clear that back in 1988 a major French movie was partially filmed here. Le Grand Bleu. A diving film. Much of the filming was done at Saint Anna Cove because of the clearness and unobstructed view below the surface. Many underwater scenes were filmed. The movie has become a cult classic for divers world wide. The film was in English with French subtitles.

Le Grand Bleu won several major European awards. There is a restaurant on Amorgos called Le Grand Bleu. It shows the film twice a week for free to entice business.

I went in the water. The glorious Aegean. For the first time this trip. The water was cold. Though the days are hot, there is a constant cold, not cool, breeze running over the water. Once I adjusted, the water was fine.

I noticed a lot of little fish gathering around my feet. I was told later that they actually eat the top skin off. I could not tell.

I was in the water and then flat out on the beach. Back and forth. The sun was getting to me. I looked for some shade. No trees. Ho ho! I was in trouble!

Four hours later, the bus picked us up. As soon as I got into the apartment, I stripped and looked in the mirror. I was lobster red all over, except for the area covered by my bathing suit. I assumed I was in for a painful night.

The sun had tried me out. I spread a large towel over the bed and took a nap. Did not even bother to shower.

When I woke two hours later, it was time for dinner. Had to shower first. No water. I was still covered in sand and sun tan lotion. Waited a bit and tried again. No water. Eleni, help!

Eleni was no help. The water was off on the entire island. She did not know why. She did not know when it would return.

Screw it! I put some clothes over my sun tan encrusted sand body and headed out for dinner.

It was Mythos again! The food that good.

I had a dako salad to begin. My first. Fantastic! Small diced tomatoes on top of a thick slice of bean bread covered with crumbled bits of feta cheese. A light oil accompanying the dish.

Bean bread was a fist for me. It is dark. Hard. Before being placed in the salad, it is soaked in water to soften it. Then everything loaded on top. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed the salad.

My meals have been outstanding. The Greek food on Amorgos the best. Sometime however there is a need to revert. I had a desire for pasta. Mythos had spaghetti bolognese on the menu. I ordered it. Another delight!

The pasta was more like perchetelli. A bit larger than spaghetti with a hole through it. The ground beef was tasty. The presentation top shelf. An inch of parmessan cheese spread around the outside of the dish.

What a meal! Enjoyed two gins and a large bottle of water with it. Total cost, including tip, 16 euros. $21 American money.

There was a table nearby of Swedish women. Two mothers and what appeared to be three daughters. The daughters college age. What beauties! Each dark tanned. Each with long flowing blond hair.

There still was no water when I returned to the apartment. I slept on the towel. Did feel grimy. Nothing I could do about it.

The water returned about 8 this morning. The shower felt terrific!

Yesterday, my computer set up was supposedly all fixed. Turns out it was not. What worked yesterdasy afternoon, did not work last night. I brought everything back to Spyros this morning. He cannot understand. It is getting confusing. I am doing this blog on one of his computers in his internet store. He just advised the tablet and data port were talking. The laptop was not. He will continue working on it. I refuse to let the situation bother me. However, I am occasionally compelled to mutter under my breath…..F__k Verizon!

Enjoy your day!