I PANICKED

Strange experience yesterday.

It is difficult for me to become discombobulated. I did yesterday. Panicked!

Barbara was driving from Utica to visit. I last heard from her 7:30 in the morning. She had just passed through Jacksonville. Expected to arrive in Key West around 2.

Two came and went. As did 3, 4 and 5.

I tried telephoning. She did not answer her cell. Finally at 5:30, I telephoned the police. Assumed the worst. She had been in an accident.

Florida does not have a one call line system for accident information. An area by area system. Each has to be called individually. I started with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department. Then to the State Highway Patrol in Miami-Dade, Jacksonville, Orlando, and finally the Florida Turnpike itself.

All courteous. No help, however. No record of an accident. The Turnpike operator the best. I expressed concern. If she had not been in an accident, something worse must have occurred.

I was in the process of filing a missing persons with the Turnpike operator when my cell rang.

It was Barbara. She had been held up by traffic in Islamorada for 3 1/2 hours.

Respectfully, I ripped her a new a..hole. Why wasn’t your phone on? It was. No, I called six times and left messages. Must have been while I stopped to go to the bathroom. No, you don’t go to the bathroom that often.

Whatever.

I was glad she was alive and well. I had visions of her in a roadway ditch with her throat slit. Don’t laugh. We live in strange times.

She finally arrived a little after 9. She was mad. Felt Florida should have a better system of dealing with heavy traffic through the Keys. I was upset she had the phone turned off.

We were not on the same wave length.

Again, the police officers were helpful and sensitive to my concerns. One complaint. The State should have one number to call for accident victims. Not a sort of county by county system. In the age of computers, such cannot he difficult to set up.

A quick shower and we were off to get a bite to eat. Ended up at Tavern ‘n Town at 10:15.

As is said, all’s well that ends well!

Barbara brought several baskets of fresh strawberries and a big bag of peas from upstate New York. The season for them there. The strawberries not GMOs. Not big and shiny. Different sizes. Most small. Sweet and juicy. Enjoyed them for breakfast this morning.

The peas will likewise be delicious when we get to them.

I am in Starbucks again this morning. Comcast comes late tomorrow morning.

Starbucks packed again this morning. Most European tourists. Like a United Nations. I hear no one speaking English.

Some studies are just plain unreliable.

I love Key West. It has many pluses. Many negatives, also.

A company called WilliamHub (no space between first and last name) recently released a study. Key West was determined to be the second best Beach Community in the U.S. Two hundred twenty seven beach areas studied.

The criteria primarily involved housing costs, share of waterfront homes for sale, and the quality of beach water.

WilliamHub obviously used bad data.

A sadness yesterday. A 15 year old boy died while snorkeling at Fort Zach Beach. Cause not yet known. His family pulled him from the water and tried to resuscitate him.

Hemingway ended his life on this date in 1961 at his Sun Valley, Idaho home. Another sadness.

I close with a Trump reference. Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus in a  6/29 column wrote: “Authoritarianism does not announce itself. It creeps up on you.”

Enjoy your Sunday!

LET MY PEOPLE GO

At sun down tonight, Passover begins. Families and friends will join in what is referred to as a Seder dinner. Passover will last 8 days.

A celebration. Passover celebrates freedom of the Jews from slavery in Egypt.

I will join my dear friend Donna and her family for Seder. Donna has always required her family to join her where ever she is for Passover. They come. Religiously! The one year one of her sons and his family could not make it, they were here for the Seder dinner via Skype. Skyped from both ends.

We are also celebrating Donna’s birthday tonight. Seventy. She does not care I mention her age. She wears it well. She is proud and happy she is still here.

I must mention my Father. Today is his birthday. He would have been 103. He died 5 years ago at 98. I miss him.

Back to Passover. The Hebrew word for Passover is Pesach. Means to pass over.

Moses had visited the Pharaoh. “Let my people go!” The modern version. Actually, “Set forth my people.” Intent of either: Set my people free.

Pharaoh said no. God delivered 10 plagues upon Egypt. All kinds of bad things. The tenth plague was that on this evening the first born of each family would die. Except for Jewish children. Death would pass over their homes rather than enter. The source of the term Passover.

My yesterday began with 5 Guys for lunch. I have been on a diet for 2.5 weeks. Lost 12 pounds. Only problem is I lost 11 the first week. However, I am losing inches. No question. Can wear shorts once too tight. More impressive, I can cross my legs.

The diet high protein.

Lunch consisted of 2 hamburgers, no bread, topped with mushrooms. No fries either.

Then to Walgreens and Publix. The worse time to grocery shop at Publix is sunday afternoon. So many people!

Conch Republic Days begin friday and will last a week. Fun time! Exciting events! My favorite is the Sea Battle. Conch Republic against the forces of the United States. U.S. jets versus pre-World War II bi-planes. Bombs of rolls of streaming toilet paper dropped on U.S. Coast Guard vessels.

The Conch Navy valiantly opposing Coast Guard vessels. Conch pirate ships hosing sea water on the Coast Guard together with eggs, tomatoes and cabbages. Many on the Conch vessels lovely bikini clad young ladies.

An event not to be missed!

I have been opposed to GMOs. I suspect the battle has been lost. A Republican President, Congress and Supreme Court make it impossible to win the fight.

Florida Keys Community College’s Bill Irvin will speak to the GMO issue next sunday at the Botanical Gardens at 1:30. He is a biology professor.

On this day in 1953, the 3-D color film House of Wax appeared on the screen. Starred Vincent Price.

I was a senior in high school at the time. Everyone went to see the movie. Young and old alike.

Especially thrilling was that we had to wear some kind of glasses while watching the film.

The scariest part of the film was not people being killed, dumped in hot wax, etc. It was a fellow on the street hitting a paddle ball. A hand paddle with a rubber ball attached by an elastic string. The ball came flying right out into the audience! Everyone yelped and screamed at the sane time!

Harry Truman time again. On this day in 1950, Truman left Key West after a one month vacation.

Key West loves Harry Truman. Harry Truman loved Key West.

Enjoy your Sunday!

TONIGHT, TONIGHT…..

The Presidential Debate this evening is going to be fantastic! West Side Story’s classic song words have been running through my head all morning: Tonight, tonight won’t be just any night…..

The shame of it all is that the subject matter won’t be what it should be. Sex should not form the basis of one’s vote. We have heard extremely little in this campaign re issues.

A corporate America type activity took place yesterday that could have had disastrous consequences. I refer to the Notre Dame/North Carolina State football game. Played in Raleigh, North Carolina. In the midst of Hurricane Matthew.

The bottom line the motivation for the game to proceed. Money. Not the health and safety of the players.

I watched the game awhile in the afternoon. The field in most places was covered in water. Appeared at least six inches in many places. Heavy rain off and on. Players falling and sliding all over the place. A broken leg or arm possible. Fortunately, one did not occur.

The young men on the field had talent. Some big time talent. Notre Dame’s quarterback DeShone Kizer is expected to be the #1 pick in the draft. A serious injury could have negated his professional career.

Universities are run like corporations. Been this way for at least 40 years. The schools playing yesterday receive hefty pay from TV for performing. Reschedule the game and who knows to when, whether advertising fees will be the same, etc.

So everyone from TV to league officials to university leadership opted to play.

Sports writer Keith Arnold said it best, “An act of God is no place for a football game.”

The final score was North Carolina State 10, Notre Dame 3. The game  not representative of the talents of either team.

Another great dinner with Liz! Hot Tin Roof.

The Hot Tin roof is different without Joseph. Probably just me. I sensed his not being there.

Amazes me. In spite of every negative thing impacting Trump this past week, Liz is still voting for Trump. My sense is not because he is the better of the two. Rather because she is a die hard Republican.

Oh Syracuse, my Syracuse. Another bad football day. Syracuse lost to Wake Forest 28-9. Fortunately, the basketball season is less than two months away.

I watched the Syracuse game when I got home last night. Caught the last quarter.

Key deer continue to be in the news. The screwworm problem. A killer. The disease easily transferable from one animal to another.

Key deer are small deer. Tiny. A subspecies of white tailed deer. Only found in the mid Florida keys. In the area of Big Pine, No Name Key and a few small islands off the keys. No where else in the world.

In the 195o’s, Key deer were close to extinction. Only 25-50 left. The federal government considered them an endangered species. The National Key Deer Refuge was established in 1957. Key deer were protected.

Today, there are more than 1,000 Key deer. A far cry from the 25-50 of the 1950’s.

The screwworm has invaded the Key deer refuge. Already 50 euthanized. Eight since last Sunday.

There is a cure. Sterilized male screwworm flies. Successfully tested and used over the years to rid an area of the problem. Safe for humans, other animals and anything that grows in the earth. Planes will start dropping the flies this week. 2.5 million of them. Then 1,000 more a week for several weeks.

I wrote about the screwworm problem a couple of days ago. Repeat it today.

With an additional observation. The sterilized male screwworm flies are not genetically modified. Merely radiated. Nothing added. The male flies shoot blanks.

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

 

MIGHTY OAKS FROM LITTLE ACORNS GROW

Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.

The old English phrase came to mind as I read this morning’s Key West Citizen. A picture of the then new Pier House Motel circa 1968 appeared on page 2. The seed of today’s magnificent hotel property.

My yesterday began with the anti-gravity treadmill. I keep saying…..love the machine!

Then to another love. Tammy at Lee Nails. Manicure time.

Tammy shared that husband Ricky’s uncle and family had visited for the weekend. Uncle, wife and two children. Lots of people. Lots of cooking and eating. Lots of fun. She was tired, but still enthused from it all.

Tammy was born in Vietnam. She has lived in the U.S. 12 years. Her weekend reminded me of the visits by Italian relatives when I was a child. The same scenario.

The Cuban Coffee Queen my next stop. A Cuban cheese toast and Cuban coffee. Read the newspapers.

Spent the afternoon working on tonight’s blog talk radio show. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Nine my time. Join me. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Topics include the past week’s police fiascos, the U.S. Marshalls who raided the wrong apartment and required a mother and her two daughters to stand naked outside, a GMO update, gangs in America, free college educations, compulsory military service, and more.

The Chart Room first last night. Sheila and Jean there. Lovely people. Great personalities. The three of us a mutual admiration society. I enjoyed my time with them.

Decided to have dinner at Tavern ‘n Town. Struck gold! Met wonderful people.

Sat at the bar per my usual custom. Seated nearby were Bill and Joyce. Bill lives on Sugarloaf and Cindy on Cudjoe.

Bill originally from Pittsburg. He and his family are in the wholesale food business. Publix a customer. Bill’s company is known as Pati Petite Cookies.

Joyce a personality. Full of vim and vigor. Delightful. Beautiful. A contagious laugh. Recently retired.

There had to be a reason for Joyce’s bright honest exuberance. It finally came out. She is from Indiana!

Joyce has part time position. She is a roving security guard at Venture Out, a housing complex near Square Grouper. Roving the operative word. She rides a golf cart.

I felt a soft arm around me. It was Mary Ann Westerlund. A Key West friend of many years. Her husband Roger passed on two months ago. Mary Ann is getting along.

Bill and Joyce left. Mary Ann Westerlund appeared for a moment. Then came Lisa who sat where Bill and Joyce had. Lisa another great meet.

Lisa an orthodontist. Root canal specialist. She is from somewhere on the mainland. Has a Key West office in Perry Plaza that she visits each week.

Excellent company. Tired. Decided to stay overnight at the Marriott rather than drive back.

Lisa is married. Mother of two. Proudly showed me her children’s pictures. Her Dad badly ill. The concern heavy on her.

A lovely young lady. She is friends with my Key West dentist George Linder. I spent a few minutes boring her with the story of my implants which Dr. Linder did. Love my implants!

I finished the evening sitting alone at the bar with a snifter of Grand Marnier. Thinking what a pleasant evening, what nice people.

I wrote yesterday that Terri White would be appearing in New York on October 16 at the Kennedy Center. Did I screw the whole thing up!

Terri is appearing October 16 in Washington, DC in the Terrace Theater Upstairs at Kennedy Center. Thank you Marty from Blue Ridge for correcting me. I have not heard from Donna yet re the mistake. I am sure I will.

Enjoy your day!

BOCCE PLAYOFFS TODAY

We made it! The bocce playoffs!

We ended the season in 4th place. The top 5 teams in each of the four leagues make the playoffs. We play at noon today against the 5th place team of the wednesday night league.

A big deal! A festive occasion! Tons of people watching. Tents and food.

Another pleasant evening last night. Stopped at Louie’s Backyard first. Met Aziza. A local. Lives on Big Coppitt. Married. Four lovely children. Proudly showed me their pictures. Her husband prominent in the area. A realtor. Aziza a paralegal.

Aziza is originally from Russia. This led into Flora and Albania. Recall Flora’s Story in my book The World Upside Down.

A lovely interesting woman. She was killing time. She had an hour till her husband’s plane flew in from Washington where he had been on business a few days.

Then to the Chart Room.

Che at the bar. First time I have seen Che in three months or better. He was sick and rushed off to Miami. A stent problem and pneumonia.

Che is a robust appearing 82. He left, never telling anyone he was sick, etc. His door was locked, his car gone, no one answering the telephone. We all thought the worst.

I chewed Che out royally for not letting anyone know what was happening with him. We were all worried. Properly so. Chart Room regulars consider ourselves Che’s family.

Met Laureen and Chris at the bar. An enjoyable conversation evolved. Included Che.

Laureen and Chris have been visiting Key West for 18 years. They live on Amelia Island. Probably the northern most point in Florida. They come to Key West to visit Florida’s most southern point.

Laureen is CEO of a private health care company. Ted a third grade teacher.

Nice people.

Several movies have been filmed in Key West over the years. One is the 1947 Reap The Wild Wind. Starred John Wayne. The movie was based on a 1940 novel by Thelma Strabel. She serialized the story and sold it to the Saturday Evening Post.

Apparently the book resulted in big dollars to Strabel. She took the money and built a home in Key West. She did this immediately upon selling the story to the Saturday Evening Post.

The house was at 400 South Street. At the time, it was the southernmost house in Key West. The house no longer exists. Someone bought, demolished, and built another in its place.

My personal reading is not consistent. I seem to enjoy everything. Mid-week, I mentioned reading several World War II stories. Yesterday, I got into Fatima. Our Lady of Fatima.

Catholics believe that the Blessed Mother appeared before three Portuguese children in 1917. I am a fallen away Catholic. Nevertheless, I continue to believe Fatima occurred.

There is much to read regarding Fatima.

All that glitters is not gold. As we all know. I refer to a GMO situation not in the best interest of the American people.

The Agriculture Department has or soon will adopt a regulation permitting GMO Free to be put on the labels of all foods not containing GMOs. A sop!

The movement across the country is to have foods containing GMOs labeled as containing such. Monsanto and the other GMO big guys have been fighting this movement. By providing the opposite, the government has once again succumbed to the desires of Monsanto and friends.

GMO Free is not Contains GMOs. Intentional misleading.

Big sports day! The bocce playoffs and then the Preakness. I have always enjoyed racing. As a sport. A gambler I am not. I spent many an August day in Saratoga.

Enjoy your day!

JOHN G. RINGROSE

I learned this morning that my former classmate and friend John Ringrose had passed on. A nicer guy never lived!

John and I went to law school together. John was from Rome, about 15 miles from Utica. We were both married while in law school. John’s wife Darlene a gem. We had our first borns while in law school. We occasionally babysat for each other.

John went on to become a Judge. Surrogate. Surrogate Judges handle wills, estates and the like. I did not do that work at all. I only once appeared before John. It was a court proceding. I thought John did a good job as Judge. I hope he thought I did a good job as a lawyer.

John and I roomed together in New York City for six weeks while taking a cram course for the bar exam. We stayed in a dilapidated fire trap of a hotel. Our room was on the sixth floor.

It was the middle of the night. I was sound asleep. I was hearing fire engines and smelling smoke. I opened my eyes. There was John going out the door with his books and notes in his arm. I asked what was going on. He yelled there’s a fire. He was leaving without waking me! I never let him forget.

Though John’s upbringing was far from wealthy, his early years were more affluent than mine. I knew no affluence. John’s father was a Surrogate and Supreme Court Judge.

John’s background provided him with a degree of experience that accompanies such. John unknowingly introduced me to many new and exciting things. He expanded my world.

John took me to my first Broadway Show. Sound of Music. He introduced me to fine New York City restaurants. I enjoyed my first Manhattan with John at one of those restaurants. I tasted my first standing prime rib with John. John and Darlene invited my wife and I to dinner while we were in law school. We all lived in left over army barracks from World War II.

Friends come in and out of our lives. Especially if we live a long time. While John and I were close in law school and our early years in the practice, we drifted thereafter. No particular reason. Just the way it is. We always remained friends, however.

I feel sad. It is that time for our generation, however. We move on to that other life. I look forward to running into John there. Perhaps enjoying a Manhattan with him.

FRIDAY NIGHT WITH JENNA

A very pleasant evening with Jenna last night. Dinner and the movies.

Dinner at Outback. It was a stretch to stay on my diet. However, I made it.

The movie was American Sniper starring Bradley Cooper. Excellent! Received six Academy Award nominations. I can understand why.

The movie was first shown for a full weekend last week. Grossed over $100 million. This being the second week, I assumed the theater would not be crowded. I was wrong. Not a seat left in the house. Jenna and I had to sit in the fourth row. The spread of the screen was wider than my eyes could encompass.

Jenna has a new Audi. Big and sleek. Black. With Jenna behind the wheel, it looks like the car was made for her.

The history portion of the Key West Citizen mentions Sally Rand. A fan dancer in days of old. Made 26 movies from 1925-1938. Danced at the World’s Fair in 1933. Danced for the astronauts and their wives at a Right Stuff party in the late 1960s.

More importantly, she was a part time resident of Key West.

I met Sally Rand. Enjoyed 10 private minutes with her. It was 1964. I was at a Police Conference PBA convention at Grossinger’s in the Catskills. I was counsel to the organization at the time. Rand did her famous fan dance for the conventioneers.

Afterwards, there was a private cocktail party. I was there. She was there. I got roughly 10 minutes alone with her. Which meant we were so engrossed in whatever we were talking about that no one interrupted.

She was on in her years. Still the perfect body. The face showing a bit of aging. The aging was not apparent while she was performing. Whether the distance of the stage or make up, I do not know.

I was 29 years old at the time. I found her exciting. I wish I could remember what we talked about.

The Key West Craft Show this weekend. On Whitehead in the area of Caroline. One of Key West’s top events. About 150 white tents with various hand made items for sale. I bought my first Jack Baron years ago at the Show. A black Madonna and Child.

Syracuse/Miami at 4. Syracuse a 3 1/2 point favorite. I don’t know. I have no opinion. I will be watching the game. I am not sure from where.

About six weeks ago, I wrote a column for KONK Life concerning Theodore Roosevelt. Somehow, I lost it in the computer’s never never land. Somehow, it reappeared this week. The article is Theodore Roosevelt the Phrase Maker. It publishes next Wednesday in KONK Life. It has already been posted on Facebook.

I have concluded that the battle against GMOs has been lost. The only fight left is labeling. While the world slept, the international food corporations snuck genetically modified seed grown foods into our diets.

Seventy countries presently grow, import and/or use genetically modified foods. All of north and central America. Only two countries in south America forbid it. France, Germany, Russia, Hungary, Greece and Poland oppose. The tide is obvious however.

Certain central American and south American countries have fought and continue to fight the use of GMOs legislatively and in the courtrooms. With a degree of success. However, giants such as Monsanto fight back in appellate courts. In the meantime, GMOs move ahead in those countries.

We were not vigilant. Some may have been. Others did not pay attention.

My concern and opposition was based on the fact that no one knows the long term consequences of eating such foods. In the next 10-20 years, we will find out.

Enjoy your Sunday!