$13

There is an old proverb…..For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. Followed by the horse, rider, battle and Kingdom being lost.

Yesterday, for want of a $13 payment, my blog was lost.

The blog never appeared.

Last week, one of my credit cards was fraudulently used. The Fraud Bureau picked it up and cancelled the card. I have been using a temp since then awaiting my new card from the bank.

The card cancelled was the one I have used for years to pay a monthly $13 fee to GoDaddy. GoDaddy had the card number and took $13 out of the account each month.

GoDaddy is a domain builder, domain registrar, etc. I am not exactly sure what GoDaddy does. However, it is the beginning of this blog and the foundation/platform for everywhere the blog goes, how it gets there, etc.

GoDaddy shut my blog down because my card was no longer good. All for $13. Therein lies the reason no blog yesterday.

An entity and person died this past weekend. Both renown. Syracuse University and Tom Oosterhoudt.

Syracuse made the Final Four. Lost to North Carolina last night. Beat badly. I am not destroyed. Syracuse overachieved in the tournament. Boeheim and the team outdid themselves.

Whatever abilities carried Syracuse to this point in the tournament were absent last night. The pre tournament Syracuse team was on the floor.

Such is life. Again, I compliment the team and coach for having made it as far they did. Made an otherwise poor season a great season!

Tom Oosterhoudt a Key West icon and legend. Died early friday morning in a Miami hospital at age 65.

Tom a former City Commissioner and presently editor/publisher of Conch Color. Tom started Conch Color 11 years ago. He and his mother Mary Ann Worth own Casa Antigua on Simonton.

The Casa Antigua carries with it a piece of Key West history that Tom was proud of. Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway came to Key West by ship from Paris in 1928. The Casa Antigua then known as the Trev-Mor Hotel. Where Pelican Poop was located for years was the Trev-Mor Ford dealership. Hemingway had ordered a Ford to drive north from Key West.

The Ford had not arrived. Hemingway and his then wife were put up by the Trev-Mor people at the Trev-Mor Hotel. Two weeks later, the car arrived. By that time, Hemingway was sold on Key West. He did not leave till years later. He spent the next two years living at the Trev-Mor Hotel. Then bought his famous home on Whitehead Street.

While living at the Trev-Mor those two years, Hemingway finished A Farewell to Arms.

 

Last night was Tavern ‘n Town early with June. Had to be home before 9 to watch the Syracuse game. Bobby Nesbitt entertaining. Ran into Harrell Odom and Barry Cook from Nashville. Snowbirds. Harrell a heart doctor. I met Harrell several years ago at a dinner party at Donna Barnett’s.

Research complete for this week’s KONK Life column. Writing the column next. Will do it this afternoon. Not sure of the title yet. The column has to do with he failure of America’s educational system. Education being something more of us should pay attention to rather than merely giving lip service.

Temperature 88 yesterday. A one day cold spell upon us. High today only 78. I hope you find amusing my representation re the drop in temperature.

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

 

HEMINGWAY’S PARIS

Tom Oosterhaudt publishes a popular Key West weekly. Conch Color. A well done work. His editorial this week involves Paris and Hemingway.

Hemingway spent seven years in Paris. He wrote of those years. The book Paris Est Une Fete. Translated, Paris Is A Party. The book was published in the U.S. also. The title different. A Moveable Feast. Why, I do not know.

The book was published long ago. Not mentioned in years. Till the recent Paris terrorist attack. The book came alive again. It is #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List.

Tom’s excellent editorial contains a Hemingway quote at the end. Reflective of Hemingway’s ability to blend words. “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”

I spent yesterday afternoon writing this week’s KONK Life column. The Eiffel Tower. A biography of the Eiffel Tower.  I was motivated to write something about Paris for the same reason as Tom. The terrorist attack. The column publishes wednesday.

Dinner last night at Tavern ‘n Town. I read Conch Color and Tom’s editorial while enjoying dinner at the bar.

Sue Puskedra is lovely, talented and hard working. She owns and operates Susie’s Key West Estates Sales. Does an excellent job. I know from experience.

Susie conducted an estate sale this past weekend that saddens me. I suspect also many Key Westers. After 21 years, Pelican Poop has closed its doors. A Key West icon gone. Never to return.

Paris continues to be in the news. The Paris Climate Summit begins today. Nearly 200 nations attending. Thousands of staff. I agree global warming is a problem. A significant one. However, I doubt the conference will have much success. Too many countries and corporations with divergent  interests affected.

I have yet to visit Paris. A must do for me. Hopefully in the near future. I have visited several small French towns at the foot of Mont Blanc. Ski country. I liked the area. The people not so much. I found the French to be snobbish.

Global warming and climate change being felt in Key West this year. The sea level has risen. Streets normally not flooded are flooded with salt water. Without a major rainstorm.

There is a three day conference beginning tomorrow at Casa Marina to begin dealing with the problem.

Tough to go undefeated in any sport these days. The Patriots found out yesterday when they lost to Denver 30-24. I watched parts of the game. The ability to play a game in snow and cold amazes me.

I am back to Body Owners today. I have not been on the anti-gravity treadmill since last wednesday. My body tells me I have missed it.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

BROADWAY 3 WAYS OUTSTANDING!

Mark Watson’s fund raiser for Fantasy Fest King/AIDS Help at Aqua last night outstanding! Without question. Seven years since Broadway 3 Years has been presented. The stars returned. Mark Watson, Bobby Nesbitt, Bruce Moore and Chris Thompson.

There was neither a seat nor standing space available. Everyone turned out. Everyone had a terrific time.

I enjoyed the show immensely.

Saw Mary again. Second time in two weeks. Mary was working the door at Aqua. Mary worked for me some 15 years ago taking care of my Key West home. A talented woman.

Decided to eat at La Trattoria after the show. Walked down Duval. La Trattoria closed. Decided on La Trattoria on the Ocean where I had been last week. The egg plant drawing me back.

Glad I went to the ocean side La Trattoria. Tiffany bartending.

Tiffany a friend from days gone by. Had not seen her in at least 5 years. When we first met, she was the bartender at Antonia’s. Left. Then returned as a waitress.

I last saw Tiffany at Antonia’s. We were happy to see each other last night.

Tiffany has a winning personality. She updated me on her personal life and other things. Now married. Has gone from 2 dogs to 3. Works La Trattoria on Duval. Duval La Trattoria closed till November 7. Kitchen being remodeled. She was filling in at the ocean side La Trattoria last night.

Tiffany bartending at La Trattoria Duval. Erin gone about 3 years.

I enjoyed the egg plant and Tiffany.

My yesterday began with the anti-gravity treadmill. First thursday. I am now up to 4 times a week. Working towards 5.

Three consecutive days a bit tiring. I will become accustomed.

Did my 10 minute bit on the KONK News Hour yesterday. 104.9 radio. Guy deBoer interviewing me re my KONK Life column this week concerning Pope Francis.

I learned yesterday that Conch Color has published its last issue this week. Described as a hiatus. So there is hope for its return.

Conch Life was Tom Oosterhoudt’s brain child. A paper full of photos of Key West events and people. Highly successful. Illness the reason for the temporary close down.

Tom has a bad back. Very bad. I have never met anyone with the problems he has had with his back. His mother Mary Ann Worth is getting on in years. Neither available to work the paper at this time.

Tom, get better quickly and back to of one Key West’s prizes, Conch Color.

Judge Peary Fowler has been a sitting judge for years. Quiet and unassuming. Rarely mentioned in the papers. Yesterday she became newsworthy big time!

She held a defendant in $13 million bail. Big! Unusual!

The defendant an alleged sex abuser. The victim  a girl, 6-13 years old when the acts were purportedly committed.

Justice!

One of the finest people I have been privileged to meet in Key West is Nancy Robinson. Nancy passed on recently. At 91.

Nancy can only be described as a class act. She was always out and about town till her recent illness. Loved by all.

Mother of 4, I only knew/know her daughter Martha. Martha a class act in her own right. She cared for her mother in the years before and at the time of her death. Care first class and without reservation. Sadly, few children assume the responsibility in today’s society.

No Syracuse football today. A bye week.

Enjoy your day!

SISTERS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

There is a touch of Hemingway everywhere.

St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church was in need of nuns. America’s young ladies no longer were entering the convent in droves. A priest at St. Mary’s knew of an order of nuns headquartered in Africa. In Tanzania. The Sisters of the Holy Spirit of Tanzania. He requested some be sent to St. Mary’s.

Three arrived in 2008. Sisters Mary, Marietta and Euphemia. Euphemia left last year and was replaced by Inviolata. The nuns a boon for Key West!

The good Sisters assist in every way. They teach religion at the Church’s school, visit and attend to the sick, elderly and homeless, help the needy, cook and serve at the soup kitchen, work at SOS Outreach on Stock Island providing free food and clothing for those in need, and take care of the Church sacristy.

A full plate. Yet, there is more. They pray for the Miami Heat. They are avid fans.

The Sisters were raised in a rural Tanzania village. Homes made from grass and mud. Thatched roofs. English the language.

Homeless are a concern of theirs. Homelessness as we know it does not exist in Tanzania. Yes, the people are poor. Yet everyone has a place to live. The land upon which the thatched roof huts sit are given free to those making their home there. The people of Tanzania are not faced with monthly bills.

Mount Kilimanjaro looms above the village. The Hemingway tie in. The Snows of Kilimanjaro.

On two occasions over the years, I have passed the Sisters while walking on Truman. Standing in the school’s driveway each time. I stopped to speak with them. They smile like little girls. They are not, of course. They are responsible adults doing important work. Warm and intelligent.

I decided to write about the nuns after seeing a picture of them in this week’s Conch Color.

A picture of Edith Amsterdam was also in Conch Color. As well as her summer home on Alexandria Bay. An imposing structure.

Alexandria Bay is in my country. Northeast upstate New York. Less than a two hour drive from Utica. Part of the Saint Lawrence. Many the trip I have made there. Boating up the river into Canada. I have also stayed at resorts on the water. Unique experiences.

I spent several hours yesterday continuing research this week’s KONK Life column which I will write today. It ties together Black Lives Matter, Oath Keepers, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Nixon dirty tricks, and George Soros. Guaranteed interesting.

Tavern ‘n Town for dinner last night. Sparse crowd. Sat near Amy. A new friend. She and her husband have lived in Key West ten years. He was overnighting in Miami last night. Amy works for the Tourist Development Council. Her husband, the State Attorney.

Good company. An evening of laughs.

After dinner, I walked to the other end of the bar to say hello to Adare. A former Detroit executive, he is a body builder today. I should have his body!

I have not seen Betty in ages. She stopped by to say hello.

Enjoy your Sunday!