Good morning!

It is getting a bit warmer each day. I have recently started using air conditioning by day. The past few evenings, I have been gertting up in the middle of the night to turn it on.

We are moving into summer in the keys!

Baby sat yesterday. Poor Ally! She had a fever all day.

Ally was a trooper. Not a problem. Could she ever be a problem?

The fever tired her. She layed on the couch 2 times on her own and each time took a 2 hour nap.

I made her lunch. The macaroni and cheese she wanted. She showed me where the pasta was, the pan and told me what I had to use out of the refrigerator. I must say, the final product tasted good. To me! She did not eat. Picked at her food. I had trouble getting fluids into her. Some water and a bit of ginger ale.

Her personality was good. A winner! We played cards. Crazy 8s. I beat her twice! She does not like losing. Then I taught her war. She beat me! Badly! She was happy! She rested in my lap. I read to her. She read to me.

The major accomplishment of the day turned out to be my teaching her how to put her shoes on the correct foot. We were having difficulty discerning left from right. She always had the wrong shoe on the wrong foot. She now knows! If she remembers nothing else about me, it will be that Poppa taught her how to know her right foot from her left when it came to shoes!

Ah, the important things in life!

This morning golf. Unless Lisa calls and says I am babysitting agasin.

I had a quiet evening last night. Went to Hogfish for a late dinner. Around 8. The place was empty. Maybe a half dozen people. The bartender told me it had been quiet all night. At one point I was the only one sitting at the bar.

I had a hogfish sandwich, some fries and only 1 gin. Read some local papers. What could be better!

Oh! I stopped at K Mart before heading out to Hogfish. Needed golf balls. They sell 48 of them for $21. A deal! Even better, they are colored. Green and yellow. It helps me to find my ball. Also, there never is an argument as to whose ball I am hitting. It shames me not to use cheap and colored balls!

Have a good day! I am going to try!

Duty calls! The telephone just rang! Ally is sick. Temerature 104. I am baby sitting.

Poor Ally. She was sick all last week with some sort of sore throat. Then she got better and Robert came down with it. Typical. Now Robert is better and she is sick again. Such is life!

Ally also telephoned me. Her favorite meal is macaroni and cheese. Good that the fever is not affecting her appetite. She wanted to know if I knew how to cook it. Frankly, I never have. But it sounds simple. I am sure I can handle it.

I was with the grandkids last night. Had dinner at Lisa’s. Every one was fine at the time.

Afterwards, I stopped at the Chart Room. Had a couple of drinks with Captain Peter. Good man! Good company!

I spent the afternoon finishing reading Elizabeth Edwards’ book Resilience. Read it! One of the best I have read in my lifetime!

John Edwards cheating is actually only a small part of her writing. The book basically deals with the many kicks in the ass we all take during our lifetimes. She had many. Her son’s death at 16, her father’s illness, cancer conquered, cancer’s return, terminal cancer, her husband’s infidelity and on and on.

Life is not the cheery straight path we all envision early in life. There are many crooks and turns. All unexpected.

I admired an analogy Edwards used. Life is like being on a sail boat. A strong wind comes and turns the boat. You cannot change the wind, but you can alter course. And so dealing with life’s blows is to get up and move on, though in a different direction. Change is inevitable.

If one does not alter course, that person will be mired in the unhappiness of the disastrous event for the rest of his/her life.

Such is her message.

Elizabeth Edwards has been on TV much this past week discussing her book. She looks terrible! You can see the ravishes of the cancer in her face. Very obvious. And her hair. Straw.

Sad.

I get irritated at each of the TV news people. They all dwell on her husband’s infidelity and tend to miss the main thrust of the book. But she is a strong determined woman! Her message gets out one way or another: Alter course!

Time to shower and run. Duty calls. No, love. Ally and I today!

Tomorrow I will probably have a fever!

Good morning world!

Slept late.

Sun up. Water calm. Slight breeze. Tide out. I can see rocks rarely seen sitting up in the water.

I stopped by Larry and Christine’s for coffee yesterday morning. They have absolutely the best, and probably most expensive, coffee machine on the island!

In addition to school teaching and singing, Christine paints. Her easel and stuff were sitting out, so I took the time to really look at her work for the first time.

Outstanding! Bright watercolors of the Key West scene.

Such a talented woman!

Then over to the Yacht Club for Mother’s Day brunch with Lisa and the family.

The company was good! What else could Lisa and her family be! The food equally good! I ate too much!

Robert had been sick for a few days. He still looked under the weather. Lisa said he was ok. The worse was behind him. It was ok for him to be out.

She was correct. Mothers know!

Robert had not eaten much for 2 days. Not yesterday at brunch. I got my money’s worth out of him! He devoured everything in sight! He was hungry. Like he had not eaten in a few days! And when he was finally done, his familiar smile returned to his face. He was back!

I returned to Lisa’s home to spend a bit of the day with them. Chatting with Corey is always good. An interesting, perceptive and caring man. There should be more Coreys in this world!

Robert is 4 and Ally 3. Both soon to have birthdays and will be 5 and 4 respectively. Both attend Montessori pre school. Robert learned chess there. He has since taught his sister Ally. Yesterday I watched the two of them set up the chess board and play a game. And they knew what they were doing! Amazing!

I spent the balance of the afternoon watching the Players golf tournamnet at home. I worry about Tiger Woods. He was in too many traps and missed too many putts. Will he ever really come back? Has the layoff because of his knee surgery taken the edge away for all time? It has to be mentally difficult for him.

Six became Gardens time. I went over to hear Skipper and others play. The crowd has thinned a bit with the season being over.

Kate Miano was her usual lovely self. I am happy for her. Her back is mended, her business successful.

I spent some time chatting with John Padget. I was formally introduced to him last week for the first time. An interesting man! A former Superintendent of Education for Monroe County, he is active also with local charities. He is deeply involved with the mentoring program here.

Padget is a transplanted New Yorker, as many of us are. Turns out he comes from Tully, New York. Tully is a Syracuse suburb. Only 50 miles from Utica. Unfortunately, Padget went to Cornell rather than Syracuse. But that can be forgiven!

Then over to the Keys Piano Bar for a quick drink. Mark Watson was bartending and singing. He is good! And a good guy, besides!

Dinner was at the bar at La Trattoria again. I am a creature of habit. As most of us are. When I find a place and people I like, I tend to return frequently. I enjoyed my snapper and the crowd around the bar.

Home to an early bed. Obviously turned out to be a long night’s sleep. When the sun is up, I have overslept. As I did this morning!

Enjoy your day!

Today is Mother’s Day.

A special day for a special person.

But most do not need one day to pay homage to that person who raised us from infancy to adulthood. And is still there to console and counsel us even in our adult years. Every day is or should be Mother’s Day!

That assumes, of course, that a mother is still alive. Mine is not.

It has been 20 plus years since she left.

I think of her every day. She is constantly in my thoughts. I actually think of her more now that she is dead than when she was alive. Strange.

Mom was born in Foggia, Italy. She was the ninth born of nine children. The previous 8 were all boys. Her parents felt lucky. Finally, a girl! So they named her Fortunata, Italian for Fortune.

She came to the United States while still a baby. The family was poor. Typical of immigrant families of those days. Probably typical of immigrant families even today.

Her parents settled the family in New York City.

My Mother only went to the third grade. At the age of 8, she had to go to work. She worked in a shoe factory 14 hours a day. No child labor laws back then!

Later in life she went to night school and received her high school equivalency diploma. About the time I was in college. Education was important. She was very proud of her achievement in obtaining the diploma. She carried a silent shame because she had not previously completed her schooling.

She was a typical mother. Matriarch of the family. Giver of advice. Oracle of wisdom. Good cook. A kind hand. A loving heart.

She was the hero to all of her grandchildren. Most important!

My Mom was the typical appearing Italian grandmother of her day. Short and round. To say fat would be disrespectful. Jolly and happy. The light in the kitchen! Family life was in the kitchen in those days.

Diabetes became her problem. She did not watch her eating. It did her in.

I miss her.

I had a most compelling experience yesterday.

I started reading Elizabeth Edwards’ book Resilience.

If you opt to read it, have a box of tissues nearby.

I only read the first 70 pages. It was too much! Very emotional! My eyes teared up on the very first page and continued that way for all 70! My vision was consistently blurred. Several times I had to stop to dab my eyes. One time the tears were running under my glasses and dropping down on my shirt!

A sensitive man I am! But not that sensitive! The book is absolutely the most compelling piece of literature I have ever read!

And the first 70 pages does not even dwell on her husband’s indiscretion. That is yet to come, I assume. And the 70 pages only briefly hits upon her terminal illness.

It is autobiographical. It is Elizabeth Edwards’ personal history. What a story! Well presented!

Edwards knows how to write. She places words to paper in such fashion to touch one’s heart. Not contrived. It is just her speaking.

Nothing else I did yesterday compares to the experience I had reading those 70 pages.

I lunched at the Yacht Club and chatted with friends.

Last night I stopped at Lisa’s to see the grandkids. Robert is sick with the same thing Ally had last week. Poor kid! He was laying on the couch with his head in Lisa’s lap. Not moving. I suspect next weekend Lisa will be down with the same problem.

Afterwards I had dinner at the bar at La Trattoria. Kathy was working. Always good to talk with her. Beecha was hosting. An absolute pleasure! She came over to kiss me hello. She smelled good! I told her so!

Then to the Keys Piano Bar for a drink with Donna and to hear Terri sing. Stayed only a short time. Then home to bed.

At some point today I will return to Elizabeth Edwards’ book. I am almost reluctant to do so. I found it draining yeaterday and suspect it wll affect me similarly today.

In the meantime, the weather is terrific here in Key West. High 80s to low 90s by day. Cool evenings. No air conditioning required by night. Leave the doors or windows open and the cool ocean breeze runs in. Together with the sound of the ocean. What more could one want?

Enjoy your day!

Blood work early yesterday morning.

To this day I cannot look when blood is drawn. Back when I was getting married, New York law required a blood test to make sure a person was venereal disease free. Forget I passed the test, I passed out as the blood was taken from my arm! And still recall and experience that eerie feeling everytime I need to have blood drawn to this day.

It shames me when 4 year old Robert and 3 year old Ally need to have their blood tested. They are not afraid. They look as it is being done and laugh!

I had an hour to kill before my haircut so I stopped at Camille’s for breakfast. Pancakes! Buckwheat pancakes! I have not had them in years. Good!

My haircut with Lori was a treat. What more can I say! I sometime think I should pay her for the experience!

Last night Bocci!

I did not play, though I did attend. To cheer my team mates on!

You will recall that our team has so many players that it was divided into A and B teams. The As are purportedly the better players. In reality it has not worked out that way. I am an A player and the A ream played the past 2 weeks because the games were money games. And we lost both weeks!

Anyhow…..the B team played last night. Against the #1 team, the Donkeys. Jackasses they are not! They killed us big time all 3 games!

Our cry continues to be wait till next year!

I received very sad news this morning. Ronald Wakeel died.

Ron was a friend from Utica. We were not close. I knew him. We were always cordial to one another. He always had a smile on his face. He had that rare quality that made him everyone’s friend. There were no acquaintances where Ron was concerned.

He was 69. Living in Boca Raton. Leaves his wife Linda, children and grandchildren. And many close friends, as well as friends such as myself.

Ron’s father owned a men’s clothing store. In East Utica, the Italian section of town. It was located on Elizabeth Street on the corner of Second or Third. Later on the store moved downtown near the Stanley Theatre.

Ron went into the family business with his father and took the business to higher success. Ron also was involved in other ventures such as night clubs, bars and restaurants. He and his brother once owned and operated the Ramada Inn in Utica for 15 years. Then they were able to sell the property to Utica College for a dormitory. A big hit!

Early in his business career, Ron was having difficulty with his bank. His attitude was simple. Screw the bank! He went bankrupt.

Ron felt he was being mistreated by the bank and did the extreme. That was Ron! Right was right and wrong wrong from his perspective. Simple black and white.

In any event, I always thought the bankruptcy was the best thing that happened to Ron. The saber was honed. His major business successes all occurred after the bankruptcy.

A good man. He will be missed.

And to all my friends, enjoy! We never know when!

Good golf yesterday!

I was the big winner! $10! However, our custom is that the winner buy drinks. The drinks cost me $17! I didn’t care! My successes on the golf course are few and far between!

I played with Tom, Tino, Yankee and Michael. Good guys. We had a fun time.

My success was really centered around one hole. The 13th. A long par 3. I drove the green and dropped a 12 foot down hill birdie putt. The birdie was worth 4 exotics. Three for a triple greenie and 1 for the bird. Worth $16!

Ho, ho, ho!

Last night was opening night at the Waterfront Playhouse. The show was The Musical of Musicals. A spoof, a parody on some great Broadway shows by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Llyod Webber and Kander & Ebb.

It was a mix and match in many instances. Phantom of the Opera and Cabaret were combined at one time. Hilarious!

I was Donna’s guest at the Waterfront opening. She has season tickets. I was second choice, however. Though I am not complaining. Her partner Terri was singing in a show a few blocks down Duval at the Red Barn theater. Terri’s show there is in its second week.

The Waterdront Playhouse is and has been a tremendous success for many years. A non profit, it works hard to bring the best to Key West!

Bob Frechette is its President. He has a nice way of whipping supporters into increased levels of enthusiasm and giving. A leader!

Another reason for Waterfront’s success is Danny Weathers. Danny is Artistic Director. The man has it all together!

This morning is blood letting time. I have an early morning appoinment to have blood drawn. My doctor is following up on my triglyciride and iron problems. I have been drinking much less and eating spinach till it is coming out of my ears. The blood results should be better. It will take a week to know.

After the doctor stop, a fun visit. A haircut! With the lovely Lori!

Key West is good!

It’s a lovely day today…..

Yesterday’s lunch was a unique experience! I ate at Shrimp Shack. The Shrimp Shack is that place I write about at the end of a road on Stock Island. It sits on dock where the shrimp boats are located.

Philly steak sandwiches have never been my thing. I probably have had 3 in my whole life. At the Shrimp Shack yesterday, I noticed a Philly fish sandwich. What the hell! I was in the mood for something diffrent!

What a treat! What taste! No steak. Fresh lobster and shrimp covered in melted cheese and cooked in a delicious sauce and onions. All heaped on a large soft sub for serving. A wow! Try it!

I had drinks last night with Captain Peter and Sean at the Chart Room. We solved some, not all, of the world’s problems.

Then Peter and I decided to have dinner at the bar at the Wine Galley. What could better! Good company, good food and Larry Smith playing the piano!

TV news this morning reported that Dave Bing was elected Mayor of Detroit. Hip, hip, hooray!

Bing is a class act. I know of him from Syracuse University. He was a star basketball player. Played with Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim back then. Bing went on to be a professional star with the Detroit Pistons. He has already been elected to the Hall of Fame.

Success followed Bing even after his retirement from basketball. He became a successful businessman.

Now he has entered the political arena. Not for glory, I assume. Rather to help his down trodden home town! Good luck, Dave!

There is a buzz on the streets of Key West. It is about a documentary film which is opening Friday May 8th at the Tropic cinema.

The film is called In A Dream.

It is the story of Philadelphia artist Isaiah Zagar. Zagar’s specialty was mosaics. He created from tiles. He is most well known for a 50,000 square foot mosaic in South Philadelphia which consisted of elaborate designs made from tiles and mirror pieces.

50,000 square feet is a big mosaic! It had to be. Zagar told a story in it. The tale of his relationship with his wife Julia. The story details how a family deals with mental illness in a loving and supportive way.

Inspiring!

The film is directed by Zagar’s son, Jeremiah. For him, a personal tale. All the more reason to see In A Dream.

Golf this morning! Ho, ho! Hope I play as well as I played on the back nine last week when I shot a 47! We shall see!

This early morning view from my office window never ceases to amaze me! Each and every day it is a happening! The ocean and a solitary palm tree. Mangrove islands in the background.

Yesterday started out to be an easy one.

Coffee and the papers at the Coffee House. Lunch at Paradise Cafe. Then home.

Suddenly my day became physical! I decided to wash my car. I have not washed a car in years!

It took well over 2 hours! Hot, dirty, grueling work. The sweat was running off my body in streams.

85 degrees! Could not park the car in the shade. Hose only extended so far. The car filthy!

An experience! What motivated me, I know not. However, I assure you I have no intention of doing it again for years!

Last night was Donna and Terri time! I was their guest at dinner. Blue Heaven!

I have not eaten at Blue Heaven in about 5 years. It is off the beaten path. In Bahama Village. It is an outside open air restaurant. Sort of rustic. Very Carribean. Nothing fancy, yet fancy in itself. Baby chicks and an occasional dog walking around.

Atmospheric would best describe Blue Heaven.

The food was outstanding! Donna and I had the snapper. Terri a steak. The flavor is in the sauces. The sauces smother the food and bring out all sorts of exotic tastes.

I am beginning to sound like a food critic! Which I am not!

Terri is excited about her return to Broadway this fall. Good for her! No, great! She is an absolute talent! And deserves the good luck which has come her way.

Donna was her usual charming self. We talked about the new jewelry pieces Donna has done. Donna earns her way by custom making jewelry. Unique pieces! They stand out! Look great on men and women. Yes, she also has a male line! Remember, this is Key West.

And then home to bed and a good night’s sleep. I was lucky to have stayed up as late as I did. My ass was still dragging from the car washing!

Have fun today!

What a glorious Key West morning!

Blue sky! Blue water! Sun reflecting off the palm trees!

God is in His Heaven, all is right with the world!

Yesterday went as anticipated, except I did even less than I normally do.

The morning went well. Read the Sunday papers. Watched Meet the Press. Then the grandkids showed up! My afternoon became their’s!

Swimming and playing! More swimming and playing!

Finally they left! Good! I crawled into bed for a nap. Instead I got tied up in the golf tournamnet.

Good golf!

Tiger is still a bit rusty. Not quite back yet. Will he ever be totally back? An interesting question!

Zach Johnson turned out to be my hero and the hero of every hacking golfer in America!

Johnson was up by 2 on the back side when he arrived at a par 3 hole. No big deal. He would slide to victory.

His 170 yard drive went far to the right. Even hit a walk. So it bounced even further to the right.

But he had a shot. A tall palm tree was just off center to the right between him and the green. All he had to do was stay to the left of the tree. No big deal for him. Should not be a big deal for anyone, including me. However, it always would be for me! Guaranteed I would hit the tree! But not a pro like Johnson.

As it turned out, the gods were not with him. He hit the trunk of the palm tree. Shot the ball back sharply to the left and behind him.

Now Johnson was farther away. And to make things worse, he was immediately behind a couple of huge bushes. I would have hit the ball into the bushes. Golf is a mental game!

Johnson was a better man! He hit the ball up and away and it land about 12 feet from the hole on the green. A good shot!

He lay 3. Par was impossible. But he would salvage the hole with a bogey. And still retain the lead by 1.

It was not meant to be.

He 3 putted! Took a 6 on a par 3! He never recovered and was not in the running for the win after that.

Sad. I felt bad for him.

However, such is life!

He played like Louis! Bad for Johnson! On the other hand, good for all the Louis’s out there who play like I do! Even the mighty screw up!

Dinner with Lisa and the family last night.

Lisa slow cooked ribs all day. Absolutely delicious! Robert loves ribs! He kept eating and eating!

I spent last night home. Couch potato time. Watched old movies on TV.

A quiet healtful Sunday.