TED WILLIAMS HAD IT RIGHT

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Ted Williams…..An All-American great!

Famous baseball player, Hall of Fame, World War II fighter pilot, and fisherman. It is the fisherman portion I am concerned with.

Williams loved fishing in the Keys. Especially for tarpon. He bought a home in Islamorada in 1943. Became a Florida resident. Stayed 45 years. Left in 1988.

The reason…..He said it was time to leave when he could no longer make a left turn on US 1 because of the traffic.

He will not be the last to leave for that reason.

I open with two great men today. The other is David Wolkowsky. Besides being my new found friend at physiotherapy, David is a Key West icon. Loves Key West. David is responsible for Key West’s development as a fun funky off beat place.

David is the reason for the Pier House. It was 1967. Where the Pier House sits today was nothing more than a ruddy dirty part of the waterfront. David was a visionary. On this day in 1967, construction began on the Pier House Motel. Fifty units.

Truman Capote was a guest at the Motel. Took over David’s trailer on the site. Capote referred to the Pier House Motel as “elegant inefficiency.”

The Pier House Motel was completed one year later in 1968.

Big trees from little acorns grow. Today’s Pier House.

My yesterday began with the anti-gravity treadmill. Love it! One problem, however. I have a lot of get up and go when on the treadmill. Once I am off, I am dead tired.

I began researching for a subject to write about for this week’s KONK Life column. Came up with nothing. I will come up with a topic. Generally, a gem. But it is always last minute that it hits me.

Last night was Schooners and the Waterfront. Schooners packed, as was the Waterfront. Waterfront food great again. Fried calamari, wings, and fish and chips.

There was a traffic jam of traffic jams yesterday. Construction on US 1 in the Cow Key Bridge area. One lane traffic for about 300 feet in the north bound lane. Traffic held up on Northern and Southern Boulevards, as well as Flagler, as far as the eye could see and beyond. Down to Sears Shopping Center on Northern Boulevard, around the curve on Southern, Flagler to Habana Shopping Center.

A one to two hour delay at noon time.

Police directing traffic would have helped. The delay would have been less. Only one officer directing traffic. At US 1 and College Road. The one place an officer was not needed. The construction and one lane traffic ended at the College Road intersection.

Don called me. The team won 2 out 3 at bocce thursday night. Though not playing, I plan on following the team.

Syracuse/Pitt this afternoon. Syracuse a 3 1/2 point favorite. I think Syracuse will lose. Definitely if the team plays as it did against Louisville.

Syracuse needed Louisville and Pitt wins to guarantee a bid to the big post season tournament. If Syracuse beats Pitt today, Syracuse will be on the bubble.

The game is at 2. Dan Reardon, I will be watching the game at Don’s Place.

Enjoy your day!

8 FOOT CROCODILE IN POOL

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We have everything in Key West.

Used to have many cats. Now, few. Some think the iguanas ate the cats. Chickens still around, though in fewer numbers. Pythons into the Keys. Only one so far in Key West. Two years ago. An 8 footer along the runway at the airport. Some think it may have been droped there.

Now, crocodiles?

Over the years, there have been a few sightings in the lower keys of a crocodile in a canal. Recently, one in an Islamorada pool.

A home fronting on the ocean. A pool between the home and ocean. Yesterday morning, an 8 foot croc seen in the pool. Authorities called. Nothing to do. Crocodile climbed out of the pool on its own and returned to the ocean.

No one wants a crocodile in their back yard. Whether Islamorada or Key west. Hope this was a one time occurrence. Islamorada is 77 miles from Key West.

What bugs me is that crocodiles are considered a threatened species. So says the federal government. Can’t kill them. Does not make sense. Crocodiles can kill humans, but humans cannot kill crocodiles.

Back on the treadmill yesterday. Felt good. Went slow. Spent the rest of the day writing. Dinner last night at La Trattoria Oceanside.

An excellent crowd. I walked around to determine local/tourist mix. I must have been the only local. Knew no one.

I spent five days nursing my cold. All five days spent at home. Killed the cold. Also rested my body. I felt rested yesterday. Ready to go! Must have needed the down time. I have been complaining to myself lately how tired I felt.

This week’s KONK Life column Late Night Diner published wednesday in KONK Life. Today, it is running in E-Blast.  It was also linked to my Key West Lou website this morning.

It is the story of artist Edward Hopper and his painting Nighthawks. People in a diner late at night.

Yesterday was National Hugging Day. Also known as National Hug Day. Not new. Began in 1986. Has grown dramatically world wide. Consideration is being given to renaming the day International Hugging Day.

The day was started to get people out of the lull/depression which hits between Christmas and Valentine’s Day.

There is a most hugable person each year. The Most Hugable Person 2016 is Tim Harris of Albuquerque. Tim is a 30 year old Down Syndrome individual.

Tim has hugged people on National Hugging Day for purposes of charity fundraising. In 2014, he hugged 1,000 people and raised $6,000. Last year, he hugged 2,000 people and raised $13,000.

This day in 1912 was a big one in Key West. Overseas Railroad’s first train arrived in Key West. Multitudes welcomed the train.  It was Henry Flagler’s dream come true. A train from Florida’s mainland to Key West.

The 1935 Labor Day hurricane wiped out a good portion of the railroad and killed hundreds. The railroad took its biggest hit in the middle keys. The hurricane was a 5. Was labeled Storm of the Century.

The railroad bed and bridges were not rebuilt. The railroad had not been making money. Remnants of the bridges can be seen in a drive on US 1 through the middle keys.

There was no blog published wednesday. Many of you contacted me yesterday asking where it was. I don’t know. I did what I always do and thought it published. I went back yesterday and tried to find it. No way. I must have hit a wrong key and the blog is out there somewhere in never never land.

Sorry.

Enjoy your day!

ROGER WESTERLUND

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We come and go. Death a certainty. Inevitable.

July 6 was a major milestone in my life. My 80th birthday. It was a sad day in Roger and Mary Ann Westerlund’s lives. Roger died. He was 83. The world lost a good man. Key West one of its favorite persons.

Roger was a retired anesthesiologist. He retired from the NYU Medical Center. He and Mary Ann moved to Key West sometime in the late 1990s. They were already here when I bought my Key West home in 1998.

My wife at the time and I were strangers. Knew few people. The Westerlunds were always quick to introduce us to others.

It is sometimes hard to describe the real person. Roger can best be understood by his plaque at the Tropic Cinema. The Tropic was raising money for the new location. Roger made a donation. A urinal donation.

There are two urinals in the men’s room. Roger paid for one of those urinals. On the wall over the urinal is a plaque. Eye level. It reads…..THIS STATION FOR YOUR RELIEF PROVIDED BY ROGER WESTERLUND.

Roger will be remembered by those who use the urinal and those who do not. Robert was a well known figure around town. Loved and respected by all.

My day began with my friend the anti-gravity treadmill. A real work out. I have increased the miles per hour and inclines. Thirty minutes and my tee shirt was sticking wet.

It was lunch time. The Cuban Coffee Queen. A cheese toast and large Cuban coffee. Sat there a while reading the newspapers.

The new location of the Cuban Coffee Queen in Key Lime Square behind Antonio’s has turned into a gold mine. Good for them!

Dinner last night at Hot Tin Roof with Rick and Cynthia. Wonderful people. We are relatively new friends. It was at their home three months ago that I suffered the first of my three consecutive days of falling. Not their fault. My body’s fault.

Rick writes. For KONK Life as I do. He is openly against anything he senses is wrong. He brings lawsuits on his own to fight what he perceives Key West injustices. No lawyer. Rick feels he is qualified, however. He did a year at Yale Law School.

Charlotte and Skip stopped by our table. I have seen neither in a couple of months. Skip is a premier radio broadcaster. Was the man in Key West. Relocated to another station in Islamorada where he and Charlotte now live.

Charlotte is from one of the Carolinas. She worked for United Health Care. I beat her up many times with my complaints about the company. United Health Care my AARP supplement.

If my recollection is correct, Charlotte is now associated with the dolphin facility in the Keys.

Charlotte lived many years on her boat in the Carolinas. Not taking well to apartment living. She intends to bring her boat down to Islamorada for her and Skip to live on.

Charlotte runs. The big marathons all over the country. She told me when last we met that she was going to do the 50 mile run from Marathon to Key West. She told me last night she did. Completed the run with no difficulty. I who cannot walk very far! I hate her sometimes!

Jean Thornton back in town. I looked for her before and after dinner last night. Could not find her. Emily at the Chart Room told me Jean and Sheila were participating in the Mel Fisher Treasure Hunt. The winners received $5,000. I don’t know if Jean and Sheila won.

Jean already won. Some years back, Jean was diving with Mel Fisher. She was either his guest or paid a small fee to do a one day dive. Jean found emeralds and gold. Changed her life! No more the Indiana school teacher. She and husband Joe now live in Birmingham and Key West. They have a condo in Truman annex.

Jean has come to be known as the Key West Golden Girl because of her find.

This morning’s KONK Life E-Blast carries my KONK Life column for the week. Illegal Human Trafficking. Not about prostitution. About Uber. An historical walk re a relatively new company.

You have picked up I am sure that I have not written re Greece the past few days. The situation confuses me at this point. My lips are sealed till there is a result/conclusion.

Enjoy your day!