ITALIAN WEDDINGS

Bob Saraceno is a producer from Buffalo, NY. He sent me a You Tube video yesterday. Italian Weddings. Stars comedian Sebastian Maniscalco. Of Italian heritage, obviously. Only an Italian could tell the story he did.

The video concerns Italian weddings of yesterday. Like from my generation  and before. They were all the same.

Ninety nine per cent of the gifts were cash. Who knew about registering. Who knew or needed china, crystal and silver. We were neither affluent nor knowledgable about such things.

The gift was cash! At the reception, the envelopes were kept either in a satin bag or a white decorated box. The box had a slit in it like a mail box.

After the reception, the parents took the envelopes. They opened them in private. A book was kept. Each guest’s name was listed and the amount. This was so the parents would know what to give when they went to a wedding involving the other person’s family.

After the wedding reception, we went upstairs to a suite we had rented to change. My wife and I were leaving immediately for a Miami honeymoon. In August. What did we know!

My father and father in law were in the living room at the desk. The envelopes were spread on top. Each was being opened. The amount announced and entered into two books. One for my father and one for my father in law.

It was 1957. I was 22, my wife 19. We had no money for a honeymoon. I had just graduated from college and was three weeks from entering law school. I needed some money from the envelopes to finance the honeymoon. I told my father I needed some money. He said I could not have the money in the envelopes or on the desk. They were not done counting and recording. I said I was broke. He said I had to wait till they were done.

My wife and I had a plane to catch. I grabbed a bunch of unopened envelopes and my wife and ran out the door. Shouting behind me to my father that I would make a list and send it to him. Which, I did.

I spent yesterday afternoon fine tuning last night’s blog talk radio show. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Then drove over to Rosstica for a quick dinner. Meatball sliders. Consistent with the Italian tenor of this blog.

Did the show last night. Love doing it. 

The topics were basically twofold. Poverty and Russia. Post show comments liked them both. No disagreement with anything I said. At least not yet.

The Second Annual Humphrey Bogart Film Festival is this weekend. Starts thursday in Key Largo. Bogart and Bacall’s son Stephen will be there.

I have seen the movie several times. Great! Loved the hurricane scenes.

Surprisingly, the movie was not filmed in Key Largo. Except for some background filming, the film was shot on a Warner Brothers sound stage in Hollywood.

Two legal items came to my attention today which I would like to comment on.

Widow Eileen Battisti owned a $280,000 home in Beaver, Pa. She paid her taxes late.
Forgot to pay $6.30 in interest. The City took her home and sold it. She went to court to get her house back. The Judge said no. The City did everything right in taking and selling the home. She was $6.30 short so the city was correct.

The other matter involves a death penalty study which just came out. It stated that in every 25 executions, 1 is of an innocent man.

That is why I have been against the death penalty all my professional career. I worked in the system. The criminal justice system is not perfect. Innocent men go to jail. Some are executed as per the study.

As to the widow who lost her house over $6.30 in unpaid interest, her situation proves the point I have been making with some regularity. Our justice system no longer works as it should. Her situation is one example. Recent Supreme Court decisions another.

Enjoy your day!

 

MADONNA AND CHILD

Jack Baron’s art is as Key West as Tennessee Williams and Ernest Hemingway’s writings.

This morning’s KONK Life E-Blast published a story about Joy Gallery’s soon to happen Jack Baron exhibit. Some fifty pieces. I am excited! I own 14 pieces. Several will be for sale.

E-Blast ran a picture of one of Baron’s more famous works. The Black Madonna and Child. Black is how Baron described the painting. The Madonna and Child is my painting. The first I ever bought from Jack. The picture on E-Blast presented the piece well. Jack was a genius when it came to painting!

Key West weather continues to be outstanding! 85ish with a touch of humidity. Blue skies and water. Nary a breeze. A special time in Key West.

Sloan was here quite a while in the late afternoon. We are having mechanical problems with my blog and commentary which are being carried on E-Blast. We will have them worked out in due course. The problems exist because I am a pain in the ass. I require perfection!

The Chart Room first last night. Enjoyed Jean and Victor’s company. I learned two very close friends will be leaving Key West in two weeks. I am not at liberty to share their identity with you at this time.

I continuously write and talk about food and the prices thereof. I also frequently refer to genetically modified organisms.

Publix bananas have always concerned me. I would buy them green today and they would be browning tomorrow. The label said Chiquita.

The last two times I bought bananas at Publix, they were not green. There were no green ones. Only yellow. I was stuck, I thought. They would spoil even sooner.

The recent bananas had no Chiquita label. No label, in fact. Whatever, these bananas are still yellow 3-4 days later. I suspect genetically modified.

Tonight, Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. My blog talk radio show. Nine in the evening my time. A quick paced half hour of political and social goodies.

Tonight, topics like 49 million underfed people in the United States. Muslims and Jews now entitled to halal and kosher food in food banks in case of an emergency, five reasons why poverty is on the rise in America, the Brits revealing they will not send troops to Ukraine, Russia’s presence in the Arctic, China becoming the most Christian nation in the world, and more.

Join me. You will be glad you did. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-com.

Sunday’s bocce continued to bother me till around four yesterday afternoon. Wow! I was beat!

Enjoy your day!

KEY WEST 3 BEDROOM APT…..$63 PER MONTH

A 3 bedroom apartment in Key West for $63 per month! Impossible! There was a time, however.

The Florida Keys History Section of the Sunday Key West Citizen said it was so 50 years ago. In 1964, there was a 3 bedroom for rent at 16th Street and Duck Ave.

Those were the days! No more! Never again!

Mandy Miles writes a column for the Sunday Citizen called Tan Lines. She wrote yesterday about her experience playing bocce for the first time thursday evening. No way, I thought! Thursday is a league night. Outsiders are not permitted to play.

She was speaking the truth. She played at Turtle Krals. Turtle Krals has constructed two bocce courts. I have to go down sometime this week to see them.

Speaking of bocce, my team played yesterday afternoon at 4. A make up game. It was hot!!! Too hot!!! I left immediately following the second game. My end of the court was a furnace. A building blocking the ocean breeze and no shade. Knocked me on my ass. I was sweaty and did not feel right. Drove home and fell into bed. Air conditioning! Nothing like it! As soon as I had the energy, I took a cool shower.

We won the first game, lost the second. I played the second. I do not know how we fared in the third.

Sunday’s Key West Citizen contained all kinds of goodies. One involved the first US Coast Guard Station located in Key West. 1824. That far back. A 63 foot Coast Guard schooner named the Florida sailed into the Port of Key West.

Florida State Judge David Audlin is retiring next month after eight years on the bench. I met Judge Audlin socially just after he was elected the first time. We became friends. He used to invite me to his office for coffee. If I had been a practicing attorney, it would not have been possible.

Judge Audlin has a special distinction. He was the first openly gay attorney to be elected Judge in the State of Florida.

My friend, I wish you a happy and healthy retirement.

I was glad to see the code violation charges against the White Street Station dismissed. The City is appealing, however.

The White Street Station is owned by the same people who own Michael’s Restaurant and Dennis, a former manager of Michael’s. All good people. Not the type who would flaunt the law.

Key West is a wonderful place. However, it has many warts. One is the fervor of the City Commission. An overly enthusiastic fervor! There is an ordinance for everything. Too many, in my opinion.

A new noise ordinance has just been adopted. The old one was not working as intended. This one will not either. Some things cannot be law driven.

The Wizard of Oz is 75 years old this year. It hit the movie screens for the first time in 1939. I can remember watching the movie at the Rialto Theater in Utica. I was four years old. Since, my children and grandchildren have all watched it. All of us several times. Everyone several times.

On May 14, another Oz movie is coming out. The Legend of Oz. Dorothy and Toto return! New adventures await them!

I visited the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, DC last summer. Displayed were Dorothy’s red shoes.

I read a lot. I learn things I was unaware of. Yesterday, tombstones.

I thought tombstones were placed over a grave to identify who was buried under it. Originally, no. Tombstones were originally placed on plots over the dead so that the deceased could not come out and harm the living.

I visited for several summers Block Island. It is off the coast of Rhode Island. There was an old Indian cemetery. Each grave was covered with a large stone. No markings on the stones, however. I always wondered why no names were etched on the stones. Now I know. To keep the dead under the ground!

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

GREAT PARTY!!!!!

Party time last night. At the home of Larry and Christine Smith. A good time was had by all. Larry and Christine know how to throw a party.

The event seemed to have had a three fold purpose. To welcome our friends John and Ali back from England. They are in Key West for a one month vacation. To celebrate Mary Deasy’s 39th birthday. To welcome Larry’s high school classmates from up north. They are here enjoying Key West, also.

A pizza and salad party! All kinds of pizza! I pigged out. I normally do not partake of pizza. In addition, Mary’s birthday cake. Oh, so good! Chocolate throughout!

As I parked my car to go into Larry’s, I heard…..hello Louis. It was Jackie Lefferts, my doctor. Walking her dog. I went across the street to kiss her and let the dog sniff me. He was a big guy. I wanted to be sure we would be friends. The Doctor mentioned how her husband Michael enjoyed my book The World Upside Down. She gave an autographed copy to Michael for his birthday. Her comment made me feel good.

Would you believe…..bocce tomorrow afternoon  at 4. A make up game. It will be boiling hot! I am not looking forward to the game.

Shirrel Rhoades is my publisher.  Shirrel had a terrific video and tale in yesterday’s Facebook. The video was the first film ever shot in Key West. It was 1898. It was of the burial of sailors killed when the Battleship Maine was blown up in Havana Harbor.

The film was a bit rough. Probably because filming was relatively new at the time. It showed the burial procession, the sailors accompanying the caskets which were on horse drawn wagons, family and friends following in procession.

Why was/is the film such a big deal? Besides the occasion, it was the person who did the filming. Thomas Edison. The man himself. Filming the occasion on the streets of Key West.

Yesterday marked the anniversary of Chernobyl. The Russian nuclear reactor which ruptured and spread radioactive material over much of Europe. The disaster occurred on April 26, 1986.

Illnesses and deformities occurred for many years thereafter. Cancers and deformities especially in new born infants.

Roughly ten years ago, a young mother brought her child to see me in my Utica offices. Her baby daughter was ten months old. She had been born with one arm missing from just above the elbow.

The story was that her prospective husband lived about 15 miles north of Chernobyl at the time of the radioactive spill. They did not marry till about 15 years after. The daughter was their first child.

She visited me with the child. The husband would not come. The husband was of the opinion his wife was at fault. She wondered if Chernobyl had anything to do with it. She told me her doctor said responsibility lie with her husband.

I knew nothing about radiation deformities. I did my homework, communicated with the doctor, and decided I needed more help. The case was out of my class. I contacted lawyers and barristers who had handled Chernobyl cases. They were in London and Rome. I also communicated with a medical college physician in Rome who was considered an expert in these cases.

Turned out the husband was probably the cause. The radiation affected males so that the semen they would make was contaminated in some fashion. The semen could result in a deformed child.

The case was sad. I could not put it together. Even with the help of the London and Rome professionals. It was too late and questionable because of the time factor.

The ten month old baby was lovely. Cute and bubbly.

I do not know how the child has fared since. I have the feeling well. We all make do with what we have. We accept that which life has foisted upon us.

I feel bad to this day that I could not help.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

CONCH REPUBLIC DEFEATS U.S. FORCES

It never fails! Once again, the Conch Republic defeated the forces of the United States in a great sea and air battle!

The Conch Republic never loses!

I watched the battle from the porch of the Hot Tin Roof. I was worried the first time I saw the Coast Guard vessel. A big one! Powerful water guns. The best yet. I feared the U.S. might overcome the Conch Republic with the new guns. The Conch Republic Navy hung in there. Conch pirate ships showed no mercy. It was the same with the Conch Air Force. The toilet paper bombs did a number on the Coast guard vessels.

An exciting event! As usual!

I was at the Hot Tin Roof bar prior to the battle. A couple dining at the other end of the bar. The gentleman asked if I was Louis. Louis Petrone?

His name H.B. Barrett. Call me H.B., he said. His lovely wife, Grace. H.B. said he reads this blog. Though that is not why he recognized me. He and Grace are long time friends of Lisa. From when she was at the Custom House. A small world.

H.B. and Grace own a home off Duncan near Lisa. Rent it out. Their real home is in Islamorada. They were in Key West for the battle.

The battle. The battle was terrific! One of the hardest fought yet. There did not seem to be as many people watching , however.

The Ocean Key Dock is a popular place to watch from. Only about half full. With a canopy. Unusual. I discovered later there was a private party on the dock.

I walked over to the Pier House Deck. I could not gain entrance. Another private party.

I was looking for Jean and Stephanie. Could not locate them.

I ended up in the Chart Room for a drink. A new bartender covering for Emily who is on her way to the Kentucky Derby. Dave. John Lukas and a couple of his staff came in. John is one of the nicest people in Key West. The Big Ten Sports Pub is his operation. We chatted briefly about college basketball. His Wisconsin and my Syracuse. He has great expectations for Wisconsin next year. Four of the starting five are returning.

David showed up. I have not seen David in a couple of months. He was at Aqua prior to the Chart Room. I like David. A great guy! A good friend!

I walked Duval on my way to Kelley’s. Duval was packed. The reason twofold. The battle brings people in. Additionally, the season is over. Accommodation and restaurant prices are down.

Kelley’s overwhelmed me! I have never seen the place so busy. Chris was getting slammed. He said the night before there was nobody.

On the way back to my car, I ran into Sean and Katherine on their bikes. Not literally.

I worry about the Russia/Ukraine situation. Putin is on a roll. Russia just made its first oil shipment ever from the Arctic. No country owns any significant part of the Arctic. Putin is making claim for Russia. He just moved ten warships and four nuclear powered ice breakers into the area.

Obama has to do something. Otherwise history will view this era as another Munich.

Enjoy your day!

 

GREAT NAVAL AIR BATTLE

Tonight! The Great Naval Air Battle. The reenactment of the Conch Republic’s fight for independence. A must to see. The Battle begins at 7 this evening in the waters off the Ocean Key dock, Pier House and Schooner Wharf.

The Conch Republic Navy and Air Force take on the U.S. Coast Guard. Conch pirate ships will have water canons firing on Coast Guard vessels. The Conch Republic Air force will  engage U.S. Navy jets from Boca Chica. The Conch Air Force consists of World War I type bi-planes and seaplanes. The Conch planes swill drop bombs on the Coast Guard vessels. Furling unrolling rolls of toilet paper.

The Conch Republic position with regard to the United States: Don’t screw with us!

My friend Mike (of Mike and Tina fame) was a Conch Republic bombardier for several years. He dropped the toilet paper bombs. His friend Nick was an officer in the Conch Republic Air Force and flew one of the planes. Sounds like a fun time.

All of Key West will be watching the battle.

Today is also another war holiday. In Italy. April 25 is celebrated as Liberation Day. The day American troops freed Italy from Nazi domination. A big holiday. Parades, street bands, etc. The holiday pays homage also to the resistance fighters who opposed Germany during Italy’s occupation. Several hundred thousand were killed. Many were women.

I recall in both of my visits to Novara viewing the wall the Nazis used to shoot partisans. A long brick wall. They lined the Italians up and executed them. It was a strange feeling standing before the wall and recalling what had occurred.

My friend Anna tells me of her first experience meeting U.S. Army troops. She was 5 years old. They gave her chewing gum. She had never seen chewing gum. Thought it was candy. She chewed and swallowed. The soldiers laughed. Then explained to her that gum was to be chewed and not swallowed.

Mussolini was captured on April 27. Two days after the liberation  of Italy. He was no longer liked. He and his girl friend were executed and then hung upside down at a gas station near Lake Como.

Yesterday started with a haircut. Lori continues to help keep my beard trimmed and in shape.

I desired Cuban cheese toast with tomato. I enjoyed the sandwich and a large cup of Cuban coffee at Blossoms.

Bocce last night. We won 2 out of 3 games. An improvement. We won all three last week. We are on a roll. I played in the last game which we lost. Some of my shots were good, some bad. It was a so so night for me.

The season is over. It is very noticeable. Traffic is down, bicyclists few. I was the only one at Lori’s. There were only three of us for lunch at Blossoms. We needed a break. Key West will pick up again shortly with events scheduled almost every weekend.

Enjoy the day!

MIKE AND DON

What could be better! An evening with Mike and Don. Drinks with Mike at the Chart Room. Dinner with Don at Hot Tin Roof.

I stopped into the Chart Room first last night. Mike of Mike and Tina fame was seated at the bar. A friend. He and Tina are starting to feel like family. We had an enjoyable time talking about everything. Everything includes parts of our Italian ancestry. Tina included in the stories. She is of Italian extraction, also.

I like Tina more than Mike. Who would not! The lovely lady is in Washington working on a special project. She returns to Key West tonight or tomorrow for the weekend. Then back to Washington.

Mike’s friend Nick Pontecorvo arrived. Mike is a pilot and co-owner of Key West Seaplanes. A cool job! Flies seaplanes all over Florida and occasionally into Georgia. His company has 4 seaplanes going soon to 5.

Nick occasionally pilots a party on a seaplane to Little Palm Island for lunch or dinner. What a way to travel to one of the world’s most exotic places!

After the Chart Room, I stopped in Don’s Place. Don was at the bar with John. Don and I chatted a while. Don said he was hungry and wanted to eat. Unusual for Don. He never eats!

I took him over to Hot Tin Roof. Don was the usual cheap date. A couple of drinks, a shrimp appetizer, and he was full.

Don is one of the best people in Key West. Friend to all. I am pleased to know him.

I spent the afternoon writing next week’s KONK Life COMMENTARY column. Titled it: Obama and Putin. An interesting piece.

Bocce tonight. Always a fun time. Hope we win.

This morning’s Key West Citizen has a front page picture of Stan Ellsworth. Stan is the host/star of the television show American Ride. He’s the guy who rides the Harley. Stan was in Key West yesterday filming his show at the Hemingway House.

Enjoy your day!

A TYPICAL KEY WEST DAY

Yesterday was a typical Key West day. What is typical? Not a do nothing day. Such would be referred to as a nothing day. A typical day is one where you do a few things. No sweat or strain things. All pleasurable. All which move the day along in a tortoise fashion.

The morning was quiet at home.

Lunch was outstanding! Food and company wise. I had a luncheon scheduled with my publisher, Shirrel Rhoades. We met at Azur. A one hour lunch turned into almost a two hour one. We were enjoying each other.

Shirrel has a distinguished background in the publishing field. Two notables include his time as Publisher of Marvel Comics and as a Vice President with the Reader’s Digest.

Shirrel wants me to write more books. I had planned on it so we were in accord. I see at least three more by the end of the year. Growing Up Italian, of course. Also a follow up to the The World Upside Down. Shirrel believes a series is in order.

Greece. Recall my first trip to Greece. The plan is to put together the day to day blog reporting for the month I spent in Greece. There will be added material to some to better portray the perils that confronted me. Pictures, too. The book will be fun doing.

I rarely dine at Azur. One does not eat there. One dines. The food commands dining. Why I rarely eat at Azur, I do not know.

For lunch, I had a steak sandwich. Sounds simple. Was not. It was a rib eye pan fried in oil and parsley on a fantastic roll. I repeated myself several times to the waiter and Shirrel how good the sandwich tasted!

Then drove over to Lee Nails. I was overdue for a manicure. It is always a pleasure to share time with Tammy. A beautiful smart hard working young Vietnamese woman.

The place was busy. I mentioned it to her. She said it had become busy just before I walked in. Prior thereto, quiet. The pedicure chairs were mostly occupied. Several ladies were getting manicures.

It has never bothered me to sit among the ladies and get a manicure and/or pedicure. It must be my feminine side.

Stayed in the rest of the afternoon. It was decision time. The subject for my COMMENTARY column in next week’s KONK Life. I am not certain yet. However, I seem to be leaning to something on the genius Putin is showing at the present time and our reactions. The reactions seem to be ineffective.

My blog talk radio show Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou was last night. Fun time.  I love doing the show!

Two areas seem to have garnered the most interest. One was my dissertations on Putin and Ukraine. The other, the increasing cost of food.

The Courmayeur landslide I reported yesterday is still a problem. The fall is unstable. It consists of dirt and rocks. The fall started below the snow line. It continues to slide and creep down the hillside. A portion of Courmayeur has been evacuated. The tunnel connecting Italy and France was closed several times.

No one is certain yet what to do.

There have been two other significant mountain slides in recent days. The avalanche on Mount Everest and the mud slide in Washington State.

Nature rearing its ugly head!

Enjoy your day!

 

Mont Blanc Landslide

One of my favorite places in Italy is Courmayeur. I have had the pleasure several times in recent years of enjoying Courmayeur. The highest mountain in the Alps…..Mont Blanc and a tiny municipality sitting half way up the mountain. Glorious!

Courmayeur is in the northern tip of Italy. A half hour from France and one hour from Switzerland. The weather recently has been warm. Yesterday, there was a maxi landslide. It stopped before doing any damage. However, the landslide is unstable and is sitting above Courmayeur and the entrance to the Mont Blanc Tunnel which connects Italy and France.

No one is certain what, if anything, will occur next. If the slide starts up again, a portion of Courmayeur could be buried. Also, the entrance to the tunnel connecting with France. The tunnel was closed for 20 minutes yesterday.

I hope nothing happens. Mont Blanc is unquestionably magnificent to behold. However, it can also be dangerous as yesterday’s activities indicate. I have always viewed Mont Blanc from where ever I have been situated as a disaster waiting to occur. I used to get the feeling especially when I would sit in the Courmayeur Square sipping a gin and looking up at majestic Mont Blanc hanging over me.

We are working on having this blog publish also in KONK Life’s E-Blast each day. The blog will then be available this way and the Blast way. Still working on how to get the blog from here to there. Not easy for me.

I write a weekly column in KONK Life. Under the title of Key West Lou COMMENTARY. Last week’s article involved Sweden and the Muslim impact upon the country. Bad things are happening. Someone wrote a Letter to the Editor which was posted in yesterday’s E-Blast. The writer disagreed with my reporting and clearly indicated I did not know what I was talking about. Challenged me to list my references.

The gauntlet had been thrown. I responded with an Email to the Editor which will run in today’s E-Blast. Not only did I list that which was demanded, I also concluded the woman criticizing the column did not know what she was talking about. Read today’s E-Blast for the retort.

I am not perfect. I do err occasionally. However catch  me when I am wrong, not when I am correct.

Tonight is my blog talk radio show. Nine o’clock my time. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Interesting topics. Like Latin America striking back at Monsanto, Vermont passing a GMO food labeling law, the price of food to double in the next decade, oranges joining limes in becoming more expensive, a story of Jesus suitable for description today, Putin’s purported genius, and more.

Stopped first at the Chart Room last night. Che at the bar, Victor bartending. A tourist came in looking for Mel Fisher and Jimmy Buffet photos. Che was the right person to point them out. He is one of the two remaining persons whose ashes will find their way into the Chart Room bar rail.

Then to Don’s Place. Grant and Toni at the bar. Hello to both. Sat with Jimmy and Joanie. Both play bocce. Joanie described bocce night as a 160 person cocktail party. She was correct!

Outside bartender Tina stopped by to chat. It was her night off. However her Dad was in town and they were partying with friends. As I left, I saw Tina and her Dad and two others playing bean bags. Only in Key West!

I stopped at the Winn-Dixie Shopping Center on the way home and treated myself to a Philly cheese steak sandwich for dinner. Good!

Enjoy your day!

CASSATA

Italian ricotta cake. I mentioned it yesterday as an Italian Easter favorite. I was not sure of its spelling, so I spelled it phonetically. I even added in brackets afterwards that “gzzad” might not be the correct spelling.

I have been buried in comments. Some from those who could not find it on the internet under gzzad. Most telling me it is called cassata.

What can I tell you? I have eaten cassata every Easter until recently. It was pronounced in my family  with a “d” at the end.

I thank those who corrected me.

I learned something new, also. Cassata is a southern Italian dish. Primarily, Sicily. Its source was outside Italy. Two are suggested. One is an Arab influence deriving from the Muslim Middle Ages. The other Greece. My Greece!

Recall my writings several times in the past that I thought southern Italian cooking had a great Greek influence. It may have with the cassata.

Cassata existed even before the Roman empire. It was a favorite of Magna Grecia, the Greeks living in Sicily. The Greeks who immigrated to southern Italy to establish Greek bases of commerce. They intermarried and remained. Greek customs became established and blended with Italian ones.

Cassata is probably a blend of Muslim and Greek influence. Perhaps Greek alone. Besides the Italian cassata, there is to this day a Greek cassata. It is known as Greek cassata cake.

Celebrated Easter Sunday with Lisa and the family. Brunch at Lisa’s. A big ham and everything that goes with.

It was a last minute thing on my part buying the grandkids Easter baskets. Publix was closed. Walgreen had one. Note, one. A big one. $20. Very little candy. A lot of games. I had no choice. Bought it.

I thought Robert and Ally would be disappointed. To the contrary, they were overly excited. The games! They did not care there was little candy and they were glad to share the basket.

I did good! By accident.

I spent the afternoon working on tuesday’s blog talk radio show. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Great topics. Some revealing. Like Catholic Church activity not founded in the Bible, world banks wanting water to be privatized, China becoming the most Christian nation in the world, America’s 5 per cent population world wide using 50 per cent of all pharmaceutical drugs, and more.

Took a ride to Smathers Beach later in the afternoon. Private enterprise has taken hold. Lounge chairs and umbrellas are available to rent. White lounges with bright blue mattresses in a straight line as far as the eye could see. Reminded me of most European beaches where lounges and umbrellas are laid out in a similar fashion.

Conch Republic festivities began. Saturday the Queen Drag Race down Duval. In heels! Yesterday, Conch Cruiser Time. Cars and motorcycles painted wildly.

I mentioned yesterday some Italian friends who were celebrating the holiday at their Swiss type chalet near the top of Mount Santa Maria Maggiore in Italy. Twenty inches of freshly fallen snow!

What I did not know and learned after the blog had been published is that one does not drive up the mountain to the chalet. Cars are parked in a valley below. A cable car is taken to the top of the mountain. Cool!

Enjoy your day!