ALLY GRADUATES TODAY

Posted on by

Grandaughter Ally having a big time! Her ninth birthday Sunday past! Today, she graduates from third grade at Montessori. Without getting into the whys, Montessori graduates their kids from the third and sixth grades. Ally is all excited! So am I! I will be there.

Gym and trainer yesterday. Day 3. Harder each day. Still not as bad as first day in December. I woke this morning with neck spasms. Not often. However when one hits, wow! Hope I am better by tomorrow morning when I have another hour with the trainer.

The gym yesterday was 11-12. I went straight home and to bed afterward. I was exhausted! The workout tires me out big time.

Spent last night working on tonight’s blog talk radio show. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Join me for a quick paced half hour of interesting and revealing items. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Topics tonight include the government wanting to close all Social Security field offices, the government’s big return on student loans, Medicare’s new ruling that sex change surgery now covered, why the price of food is so high and continues to rise, the human organ trade, and more.

Larry and Christine Smith are talented and well respected Key West entertainers. Christine is also a noted artist. Their daughter Journey lives in Hawaii. She is visiting. Mother, father and daughter will appear together next Tuesday evening at Virgilio’s. Journey is a musical talent in her own right.

Larry told me a trip to Europe is planned for the near future. First stop will be England to visit John and Ali. Then here and there in Europe. One stop will be Camogli on the Italian Riviera. I love Camogli, having been there several times. Apparently it is one of Journey’s favorite places and she wants to show it to her parents.

My friend Dee from Cape Cod and Cudjoe Key has an interesting family. Her uncle (her father’s brother) was baseball great Stan Musial. Turns out movie star  and Oscar winner of yesteryear Jack Palance was a close friend of her grandparents. He used to winter one to two months with them at their Florida home each year. Dee posted several photographs of her grandparents and Palance on Facebook yesterday.

Dee’s grandfather is still alive. 100 years old, blind and lives alone! The family is of Ukranian heritage. As was Palance. All tough people. Worry not about Ukranians protecting themselves against Putin and his thugs.

You have discerned from my writings the past three years that one of my favorite places world wide is Courmayeur. A small village in northern Italy sitting half way up Mont Blanc. Mont Blanc is the highest peak in the Alps.

A beautiful community. Out of books. Swiss chalets, streets without vehicles, high end shops, warm people. A money town. Must be the local government wanted outsiders to know Courmayeur as a ski town. A referendum was held to rename the town Courmayeur-Mont Blanc. Voted down overwhelmingly. Properly so.

Two Key West eateries changing hands. Square One has been sold. Presently closed for renovations. Finnegan’s to close June 19. The new owner plans renovations also before reopening.

Sad to see the proprietors of both places moving on. Good people who significantly contributed to the odyssey known as Key West. Square One’s Carmelo and Carolyn will remain in Key West. They still own and operate the Bottle Cap.

A stupid study of no significance was worthy of comment on Morning Joe and in the Key West Citizen today. The study revealed that female named hurricanes were worse than male ones.

One of my favorite poems is Casey at the Bat. The opening line fits every sports occurence wherein one’s team loses. “There is no joy in Mudville, Mighty Casey has struck out!” How many times I have used the line to refect Syracuse defeats.

Today is Casey at the Bat’s birthday. 126 years old. It was first published on this date in 1888 in the San Francisco Examiner.

Enjoy your day!

 

SYRACUSE NUMERO UNO

Posted on by

 

Syracuse won yesterday! Beat #1 ranked Louisville.

It was a game of games! March Madness! The Final Four! Great basketball!

What a game!

Sixth ranked Syracuse won 70-68.

One of the finest basketball games I have seen. And I have seen many.

Does this make Syracuse #1 nationally? I think it should. Syracuse has only lost one game. There are about three other teams left who have lost one game, also. Syracuse should come out on  top of the heap because of the Louiville victory. Many prior to yesterday’s game considered Louisville man for man the best team in the country.

I watched the game at John’s Big Ten Sports Pub. John had 3 TVs set up for the Syracuse game.

I watched the contest in the back bar room with Don, Chris and Dan. Plus, several other Syracuse fans. It was high fives all around at the end!

Don has a friend, Ed. I have never met Ed. Ed was in Des Moines, Iowa yesterday. Ed apparently a die hard Syracuse fan, also.  He kept calling and texting Don every few minutes during the game.

Prior to yesterday, I thought Syracuse would lose. I am glad I was wrong. The reason Syracuse won was they made their foul shots, controlled the defensive backboard, and Trisch scored 18 points in the first half. Syracuse finally blended and played as a team.

I say Syracuse has earned the #1 ranking. We shall see.

Stan Musial. A baseball immortal. Member of the Hall of Fame. A giant. Musial died yesterday.

Today, he is sits with other comparable baseball greats in the heavens above. Persons like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, and Ted Williams.

I have a Key West friend of many years who lives on Cape Cod. Musial is her uncle. He is her father’s brother. Dee. Dee also has a home on Cudjoe Key. Dee is most likely with the family in St. Louis today. My condolences, Dee.

When I was a grammar school kid, baseball was big in my life and that of my friends. We were all die hard Yankee fans. A few also liked Stan Musial. So we would listen to St. Louis Cardinal games too. Note the use of the word listen. We would lie on a living room floor and listen to the games on a radio. No TV back then. It was the mid 1940s.

We headed over to the Chart Room after the game. JJ bartending. Captain Peter, Sheila, Frankie, Sean and Katherine, plus a big tourist crowd, present. We celebrated the Syracuse victory.

Captain Peter is 70 years old. I am 77. He always offers me his seat when I arrive at the Chart Room. Makes me feel ancient!

Friend Anna in Novara is celebrating the Feast of San Gaudenzio today. In italian, Fiesta San Gaudenzio Novara. The holiday is some what like the Feasts of Sts. Cosmo and Damien that my family celebrated in my youth. Fanfare, food. Roasted chestnuts are a favorite.

Anna will visit today the Basilica of Saint Gaudenzio. The Church. Then home to cook a big holiday meal for the family. The same as was done back in Utica on the feast days of old.

Do not forget. My blog talk radio show tuesday morning at 7. Current events, plus anything that comes to mind. A talk show. Call and chat with me. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

It’s sunday. Don’s for football playoffs this afternoon. Maybe a stop at the Gardens afterwards. I have not been in ages.

Enjoy your day!