CHILDREN AGAIN

Bocce last night! We were vanquished. Won 1, lost 2. To a better team. However, we gave them a fight in 2 of the games. In addition to which, we had a good time! Both teams.

The team record is now 9-3. The team that beat us 11-1. Not bad.

Bocce brings me to something I have known, for some reason forgot, and hit me again last night. While playing bocce and looking at the 50 other people playing. Key West is where adults become children again. Especially those in retirement. We regress back to the days of our youth.

Key West is bocce, golf, tennis, beach volleyball, hanging out in friendly bars and restaurants, making believe, costume dressing for the slightest reason, painting, writing, and daydreaming. Especially the daydreaming. Nothing like sitting under a palm tree on the beach with the vast expanse of the ocean in front and letting your mind go.

Everything that is done is done with the same zest and enjoyment as when one was young. Remember?

Dressing is also a regression. Shorts and a tee shirt. Even for the ladies, though I must admit that some days the ladies enjoy dressing a bit more. I love it when they wear long. Sultry and beautiful.

Diana Nyad two years ago swam from Havana to Key West. A first! She has since become an integral part of our community. She loves us and we love her.

Now comes Ben Hooper. His game plan is to swim from Africa to Brazil. A bit of a long trip. He is spending a month in Key West training. We have it all. Calm seas, rough seas, and sharks. He is training six days a week at the Community College lagoon.

He says the trip will take three months. He will be in and out of the water. Twelve hours a day in, the remainder in a boat. It is described as an assisted swim as opposed to the one Nyad accomplished. Of course, she only had to swim 90 miles rather than almost 2,000.

I admire Hooper. I also think he is crazy. What he is attempting is not my cup of tea.

I love Oreos. Who does not! I mention Oreos for two reasons. The first is that the cookie was introduced on this day in 1912. The second has to do with my diet.

I am now at 36 pounds lost. Stalemated again! Just as at 27 and 30 pounds.

My Louis conceived diet includes Oreos. For real! Not to pig out on. One to four a day. Some days not at all.

When I started  this diet, 20 pounds was my goal. I then extended it to 30. Now 40. I suspect I will continue to lose even after I reach 40 and end the formal diet. The reason simple. For the first time in my life, I believe I have truly changed my eating habits. We shall see.

My doctors are thrilled with my weight loss. The diet also when it has been explained to them.

If all works out, I may write a book titled The Key West Diet. Has to be a best seller!

I received a comment to this blog on WordPress today. From a Sharon in Oklahoma. I am not sure yet who she is. I suspect a love from long ago. It would be nice.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

THE WEATHER

Number one news item the past few days unquestionably has been the weather. The whole eastern side of the U.S. is experiencing abnormal weather. Even we lucky people who live in Key West.

It dropped to 49 degrees during the night. Cold! I repeat something I have said before…..I need a woman to sleep next to me. It has been suggested, if not a woman then a dog. Who knows?

It is 53 as I write this morning. The high will probably be in the mid 60s. Today and tonight only minimally better. Saturday, a return to normal. The projection is for 76 degrees.

A cruise ship was required to avoid Key West yesterday because of high seas.

Bocce last night was played in a freezer. Not a refrigerator. It was 55 degrees. Blasts of cold weather were constant off the Atlantic. The coldest I have been in Key West.

I dressed for it. Long pants, a shirt and socks. Plus my leather jacket. The jacket is worn and old. Purchased it more than 20 years ago. Took care of the upper body. Not my legs and head. I was wearing a hat.

I discovered my body warmed up when I was playing.

We won all three games. We are now 6-0 for the season. A terrific start!

Good friends on the other team. Angus and Brenda from Schooner Wharf and Nate from Don’s Place.

My mind went back as I was sitting at bocce. Probably because of the cold. I remembered when I was young. Like 7 or 8 years old. Every time I got out of bed in the morning, the wood floor was freezing cold. My father would dramatically reduce the heat at night.

I was required to wear long johns in the winter. Clothes dryers were not invented yet. Or perhaps we could not afford one. So my mother used to hang the wash outside on the clothes line to dry. When taken in, the log johns were stiff as a board. Visualize it. From the waist to the ankle, flat like a pancake and hard. Cold, of course. I had to push and repush with my feet to get the long johns on.

Diana Nyad still in Key West. A welcome guest! She is performing in a one woman show which covers her life with emphasis on her successful swim from Havana to Key West in 2013. The show opened last night and continues through sunday.

Jenna tonight. We are having dinner together.

Enjoy your day!

ANOTHER MUNICH?

A Ukraine cease fire was announced yesterday at the conclusion of the Minsk conference. I fear Minsk may be another Munich. Putin is not to be trusted. Merkle and her European friends fear war. If war occurs, the European economy will go down the tubes. It was anything to avoid war.

It is interesting. The thief steals and gets away with it. Right succumbs to might.

Another bocce season opened last night! We won all 3 games decidedly.

My evening was especially exciting. I made a shot difficult to achieve. One that I can never duplicate. It was the high point of my 15 years of playing bocce.

The polina was about an inch from the rear backboard. The length of the court. Blocked in front by other balls. Three things had to be taken into account. Distance, speed, and hitting the side board at the right spot.

I was standing ball in  hand thinking…..What to do? Don ran over to the side of the court at the far end. He pointed to the spot where I had to hit the side board. Mighty Casey did not strike out! Everything perfect. My ball ended up in front of and barely touching the polina. Wow!

Weather up north cold. I was speaking to a friend in upstate New York yesterday. The chill factor was minus 40.

The bocce courts were cold last night. Mid to high 60s. Everyone dressed for the cold weather. A cold cutting wind coming in off the Atlantic. I froze all evening even though appropriately dressed, including socks.

Key West weather today will be in the mid 60s. This evening in the mid 50s. If you are a Key Wester, not for the weak at heart.

Today is friday the 13th. If you are superstitious, stay home. In  Western civilization, the day is considered unlucky. Some countries refer to it as Black Friday.

Now for a big word. If you have a fear of friday the 13th, it is called paraskevidekatriaphobia.

Diana Nyad and Key West have bonded. Diana was the first woman to swim from Cuba to Florida without the aid of a shark cage. Actually, from Havana to Key West. It happened in 2013.

She came ashore on Smathers Beach. Key West has placed a plaque where she landed commemorating the event.

Diana has returned to Key West several times since. She is here once again this week. She has become more and more involved in the Key West community.

A love affair.

The Florida Keys have all sort of strange animals, reptiles, birds, etc. Pythons come to mind immediately. There is a new one. The black bear is back big time in southern Florida. The species is protected. In 1994, there were only 400 black bears. The rest had been killed off. Now, it is estimated there are over 3,000.

The bears are visiting residential areas. Four maulings have been reported thus far. There is a move underway to remove the protected species designation. Bears will then be fair game once again.

The proposed regulation also will permit persons to use sling shots and paint ball guns to keep the bears away from homes. I would suggest everyone be prepared to run like hell after hitting a bear.

It appears government has twinked the permissibles too closely/minutely once again.

Big time professional golf this weekend! Pebble Beach!

I was probably the worst golfer in the world. I stopped playing five years ago for medical reasons. Even though not talented, I traveled around the country playing big time golf courses. One was California’s Pebble Beach and its two neighbors Spyglass and Monterey Peninsula. An experience! Loved it!

I watch Pebble Beach on TV every year. I can recall every hole distinctly. It adds to the excitement.

Enjoy your day!