SOMEONE READS MY BLOG

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I was critical of the Key West Citizen yesterday for failing to continue its April Fool edition of crazy/impossible stories. A bit of a furor erupted.

I read the Citizen electronically. I subscribe and pay for it in that fashion. The electronic edition did not carry any April Fool pages. It did print yesterday’s news normally. Why the Citizen put out two different copies of the edition, I do not know.

In any event, I received an e mail from a Citizen officer yesterday afternoon telling me of the difference. That the electronic edition did not carry the April Fool pages. I also received a comment from Anonymous this morning suggesting I had not read yesterdays Citizen. Anonymous apparently read the street/delivered edition.

This morning, the internet is carrying two editions of the Citizen. Yesterday’s April Fool edition boldly labeled as such and today’s normal edition. Today, I had the opportunity to read what I should have yesterday.

As usual, I enjoyed the April Fool edition. Two items particularly. The one about the bones being discovered on the Boulevard which would extend construction another year. The other that Schooner Wharf was no longer going to sell alcoholic beverages. It was to become a juice bar specializing in wheat grass, carrot juice and tofu.

The Key West Commission did its duty last night. They voted 6-1 to support two bills pending before the State legislature to permit recreational marijuana. They did so without argument. Unusual. They fight over everything else.

This morning’s Key West Citizen had an interesting Google/Harry Nicholls article regarding zebras. The eternal question was asked. Why do zebra’s have stripes? The answer: To deter parasitic flies. Flies do not like stripes. They avoid them. The conclusion of a new study.

Australian pines are back in the news. The sixth annual Save Our Pines picnic is April 6 from 1-5 under the pines at Fort Zach Beach. The picnic is sponsored by the volunteer group who fought 11 hard years to save the pines when the State decided to cut them down. The group was finally successful in 2008.

Some idiot in Tallahassee back when decided Australian pines were dangerous to other vegetation and dangerous to crocodiles and turtle egg planting. The pines had to go.

The irony of this whole fiasco is that the pines were transported to Florida and planted in various parts of the Florida by the State itself back in the 1890s. They were intended to be windbreakers. They must be sturdy beings. With all the hurricanes Key West has suffered, they still stand tall and proud at Fort Zach beach.

I enjoyed doing my blog talk radio show last night. I am beginning to think a half hour is not enough time to discuss all the craziness of the previous week. I am considering expanding the show to one hour.

The topic receiving the most post show comment involved a new company called Bite Labs. They make meat out of human tissue. A few scrapes of skin, a special whirling machine, the meat grows, is then spiced and oiled, and voila….salami. Salami is the first meat they will be producing.

They advertise that consumers can partake of celebrity meat. Can you imagine? Gulping down your favorite movie star!

I do not see Bite Labs as a winner. However, it might be 150 years from now when the earth is overridden population wise and there is not enough food to feed everyone. Cannibalism anew!

My back continued to be a pain yesterday morning. Then suddenly in the afternoon, no pain. Ok through the evening, also. This morning, no problem. I hope it is behind me.

Enjoy your day!

MY TUESDAY NIGHTS

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My Tuesday nights have become stay at home ones. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou is aired tuesday evenings at 9. My blog talk radio show. I do the show from home. Actually, the kitchen table. Headset and all.

I do not mind missing a night out on the town. I derive great pleasure from doing the show.

I spent some time last night discussing poverty. The 99 per cent are on  a fast road downhill. Not a good situation. The stats are shocking. Like 1.2 million public school students are homeless. Can you imagine going to school from a “home” under the bridge, in the woods, or an abandoned car. Consider also that the U.S. is purported to be the wealthiest nation in the world. If so, why is one out of every four children enrolled in the food stamp program?

Snuck off for a little Louis time during the day. Went to Fort Zachery Taylor. The most beautiful beach in Key West.

I tried to find Peter. He spends his days there. Could not. He might have taken yesterday off.

The water always clear. The views spectacular. Especially of the boats coming in and out of the channel. All sizes, including the big cruise ships

Did a bit of research on gender inequality. An interesting topic. If I decide at some point to do a column on the issue, it will take considerably more research.

I did learn a few things from my brief perusal. Women have always been considered second class citizens. Religion one of the reasons. Another is insecure men who try to keep women in their place, so to speak. Whereas, a real man would not.

The thrust of the research again was that women are basically inferior to men.

These thoughts are the same ones that have existed since the beginning of time. Inroads have been made. However Congress is a perfect example of why women have such a hard time being equated with men. The thinking of the males in Congress is the same that has permeated society for thousands of years. Even before the birth of Christ.

The Key West Citizen carried an interesting article this morning. A small airline is planning to open direct flights between Key West and Havana on November 15. Some approvals are still required. Can you imagine, a weekend in Havana!

Key West loves Harry Truman. No question. Key West was his vacation home during and after his Presidency.

I learned something about the President I never knew. It bothers me that I did not know. I read the Pulitzer Prize winning 1,000 page plus book written about ten years ago. A Harry Truman biography.

What I do not recall having known: Truman was the least formally educated President in history. His education consisted of nine years of schooling.

Sometimes it is not all in the books. Truman made some of the heaviest decisions ever confronting a President. Like should the atomic bomb be dropped on Japan. His life is proof that it is not all in the books.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

SHIRREL RHOADES

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I had lunch yesterday at Azur with an extremely interesting man. Shirrel Rhoades.

After an exciting life in that other world, Shirrel retired to Key West. Busy his whole life, he needed to fill in his time a bit doing something productive. Sitting around and contemplating his navel was not an option.

Shirrel delved into his bag of experiences. One was publishing. Shirrel started a publishing business in Key West. Actually two. One is Absolutely Amazing e Books. The other The New Atlantian Library.

Shirrel’s publishing concept is simple. He publishes via e mail. As more and more people leave hard copy and go to the internet to read, he may be at the forefront of the transition’s publishing phase.

His background varied and professional. Shirrel has been a writer, publisher, professor, film maker, and movie critic. He has held high level executive positions with the Reader’s Digest, Marvel Comics, The Ladies Home Journal, and Harper’s Magazine.

He was the man who brought us the Captain Marvel comic book for many years.

I enjoyed Shirrel’s company.

I enjoyed Azur, also. I do not eat there enough. The food is outstanding. I am still on my Italian trip kick. I enjoyed a dish of rigatonis.

Stephanie Manaher was having lunch with some lady friends. Stephanie is a school teacher and wife to the infamous Don of Don’s Place. A lady.

Last night was the Chart Room. I was there for several hours. JJ bartending. Peter and I talked most of the time.

Peter can be found every morning at Fort Zachary Taylor Beach. He has a special spot near the tree line on one side of the Beach.

Female turtles have been coming onto the beach, digging large holes, and depositing their eggs. Then covering the eggs with sand. The mother is then gone, never to see her young ones.

It takes 60 days for the eggs to hatch. Each female drops about 100 eggs. Three or four will survive the hatching, trekking and swim out into the ocean.

There was a hole nearby Peter. It had been there for more than 60 days. The Park Rangers carefully removed the sand from the turtle nest in order to determine what was going on. Turns out nothing. No eggs. Whatever the mother may have done, it was a dry run.

Met an interesting couple. Cory and Brieanna. Vacationing at the Pier House. They hail from somewhere on the Florida mainland. Nice people.

Cory is an insurance broker with Allied Solutions in Boca Raton. His company deals with insurance programs for financial institutions such as banks and credit unions. Brieanna is a doctor. She specializes in end of life problems. She does much work with Hospice.

Tonight, I return to the air! After nine weeks! Blog talk radio. Nine this evening. One half hour. The entire half hour will be devoted to the rising Nazi power in Greece. You will be amazed by what I learned on my trip!

Join me. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Enjoy your day!

NEW SAINTS AND UTICA

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My home town is Utica, N.Y. Yesterday in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI canonized several new saints. Two of them had Utica ties.

Recall my Cousin Rose who died two years ago. A nun. A black Franciscan nun. My Cousin constantly prayed to Marianne Cope, a black Franciscan nun who died some 100 years ago. Rose believed that some day Marianne Cope would be as a saint.

Yesterday, Marianne Cope became a Saint. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI.

Marianne Cope was born in Germany. Her family came to America and settled in Utica. Marianne was raised in Utica. Later in life, she became a nun and served as Mother Superior of her Order in Syracuse, N.Y. The Third Order of St. Francis. It is popularly referred to as the black Franciscans. The black denoting the color of the habit Marianne Cope and her sister nuns wore.

Marianne Cope’s major undertaking which gave her a seat at the right hand of God was neither her Utica upbringing nor her stewardship of the black Franciscans. It was her work with lepers.

Leprosy was and is a dreaded disease. Years ago, lepers were herded off like animals to one of the Hawaiin islands. Moloki. Marianne Cope opted to help the lepers. She lived and worked among them for many years. She assisted the already sainted Father Damien.

Kateri Tekokwiths was aslo canonized yesterday. A Native American. The first Native American to become a Saint.

Kateri was born in Auriesville, N.Y. Aurieville is 40 miles east of Utica.

Upstate New York was Indian country. The Mohawks were an Iroquois tribe residing in the area encompassing Utica and Auriesville. Today, the valley Utica sits in is known as the Mohawk Valley.

Kateri was born of an Algonquin mother and a Mohawk father. She has become known religiously over the years as Lily of the Mohawks. Her life was brief and rugged. She was persecuted for her Catholicism. Kateri died at age 24 in Canada.

So it was, so it is.

The story of these two blessed ladies overwhelms my Key West experiences of yesterday.

A blessed day to you!

SUNDAY

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I sometimes think I have too much on my plate.

Yesterday, I worked on the Epilogue to my trip. The photos. Still organizing and selecting. A real task when there are 600 pictures.

Work done, I decided to go to the beach. Read the Sunday papers and look at the lovely ladies.

I went to Higgs Beach. My intent was to sit in my sand chair a couple of hours. Then walk over to Salute’s for a fish sandwich.

It was not to be.

Higgs Beach stunk! In fact, most of the Atlantic side beaches smelled. Including Smathers.

Like dead fish.

It was Isaac getting the last laugh. Isaac had thrown seaweed and fish life onto the beach area and beyond. You could see where the water had come over the sea walls. The sidewalk and grass still had sun bleached brown sea weed splattered about. The water at Higgs Beach was also a disaster. Brown. Isaac had churned the bottom. The water not yet settled.

No Higgs Beach for me!

I drove to Fort Zachery Taylor Beach. Also on the Atlantic. But around the corner of the island. Fort Zach’s Beach was clean. I could see my toes in the water. There was no smell.

The beach was packed. Everyone out enjoying a lovely Sunday. Many probably transfixed from Higgs to Fort Zach.

Dinner last night with Lisa and the family. Robert and Ally a joy. As always.

Part of the meal consisted of corn on the cob. Robert had no trouble devouring his the normal way. He has teeth in front. Ally does not. Lisa had to scrape the corn off the husk for Ally. Ally put away two cobs of corn in that fashion.

Stopped at the Chart Room for a few drinks. Knew no one. All tourists.

Duval was also packed with tourists. In Key West enjoying a fun filled weekend. Merchants had to be happy. The visitors were.

Enjoy this last day of the Labor Day Weekend!