ANTI-SMOKING FANATICS

1984 again!

Key West is located in Monroe County. The County either recently passed or is considering passing a law prohibiting County employees from smoking. Even at home. Nicotine testing will be done to make sure no one is cheating.

Perfectly proper to oppose smoking. This however would be a step too far.

I will be writing a column on the issue soon in KONK Life.

Recall “…that government is best which governs least.” History is not sure who uttered the words first. Thomas Jefferson or Henry David Thoreau.

I sometimes think I am becoming more Republican by day.

Kentucky Derby yesterday. I joined my friends at Don’s Place for the event. Always a fun time. Joanie won the prize for best hat. Congratulations, Joanie!

During the coarse of my lifetime, I have been fortunate to attend many major sporting events. Never a Kentucky Derby. Hopefully, some day.

The Chart Room’s Emily was at the Derby yesterday.

Met a couple from Rochester, NY who were watching the Derby at Don’s Place. Mike and Sarah. They were married in Key West seven years ago. And return yearly to celebrate the event. Mike owns a bar in Rochester. O’Laughlins. My upstate New York friends, stop in. Mike appeared a nice guy with a warm personality.

Thursday evening was spectacular at bocce. When I left, my team had already defeated one of the best teams in the league 2 games to 0. I got the result of third game today at Don’s. We won number 3, also! Wowie! We needed it!

We had been playing poorly. However the last three game nights, we won 8 out 0f 9 games. Maybe we have returned! From close to the bottom, we have edged up to 5th place. There are two nights left.  Six games. We have to win 4 of the 6 to make the playoffs.

I worked on one of my books yesterday till 5 when I left for Don’s. It is about Greece. My first Greece trip 3 years ago. My publisher wanted the book. It is not hard. I am taking my 31 days of blogs re Greece and elaborating on some of the experiences. Like my attempt at climbing the volcano. As funny as it read, a rereading recently indicated I had left out a lot of truly other amusing things that happened to me that day. I am glad I survived the attempt.

Growing Up Italian is taking a brief back seat. Greece should be wrapped up at my end in 2-3 weeks.

My house is still on the market. Another open house tomorrow from 1-4. I am becoming discouraged as to whether it will sell. Such is life!

Enjoy your day!

 

 

A WONDERFUL EVENING

Every Key West evening is good. Some are just better. Last night was one of the better ones.

The early evening was at Joy Gallery. The Jack Baron exhibit. Over 50 paintings. Several mine.

The gallery was packed when I arrived. Owner/curator Jim Wallace and his wife Theresa. It was the first time Theresa and I met. She was aware of me initially from the devastating operation I underwent in Key West about nine years ago. I lost 25 per cent of my colon needlessly. She had recently undergone some sort of stomach surgery with the same doctor. A disaster also from her perspective.

Some of my friends were in the crowd. Tom and Kathy from Connecticut. Larry and Christine with England’s John and Ali. I was honored Christine attended. She is a for real artist. Her works are selling well. Whereas, I did not paint. I merely collected.

People were taking pictures of me with their spouses or alone in front of some of the Baron’s. I met Ed Krane for the first time. He took pictures of me with Jim and Theresa Wallace. Ed was at one time with the same TV station I had been. We had interesting war stories to share.

I ended up explaining certain of my Baron acquisitions and how they came to be. Everyone  had an interest in Jack Baron.

Jim Wallace did an excellent job showing Baron’s paintings and bringing out the crowd he did last night.

My next stop was the Chart Room. No one I knew. A bunch of younger guys whooping it up. I had one drink and left.

Last night would have been Emily’s night to work. She is in Lexington for the Kentucky Derby later today. She has attended many. She is originally from the area. She told me before she left that she was making the hat she will wear herself.

Larry let me know as he left Joy Gallery that they were heading over to the Key West Pub. A new place. Across the street from La Te Da. In my 26 years in Key West, I have seen several businesses come and go in the building. They all start with a bang. Hard to survive, however. The rent! The last tenant was paying $14,000 a month. You have to sell a lot of booze to cover that nut!

Perhaps this place may make it. I hope they do The inside is different. Multi colored walls and bright lights.

The Pub was jam packed. Fortunately, there was an empty seat at Larry’s table. The booze was flowing. Food was free. Huge sliders. Everyone spoke well of the sliders.

I was impressed with the greeting crew. There were two men standing on the sidewalk outside the entrance. One said hello Louis. The other…..Key West Lou. I do not recall having met either before.

Met Sean the manager inside. A hug and big kiss on the cheek. He was kissing everyone. As I was leaving, the owner came up and introduced himself. Stephen Pointer. Garbed in a sharp tuxedo. He is from England. I wished him well. Time will tell. The fact that La Te Da is across the street does not hurt. People tend to enjoy both. They will move from one bar to the other several times a night.

Then it was across the street to La Te Da. There was new owner Christopher standing in the entrance. Christopher is the former owner of Antonia’s. You will recall I stopped going to Antonia’s several years ago. It had nothing to do directly with Christopher. It was, if you will excuse the vernacular,  his asshole manager at the time. Christopher gave me a big hug.

It had been several years since I was at La Te Da, also. No reason. Just stopped going.

I ate at the outside bar. I have been a customer at La Te Da off and on for 25 years. Tonto has always been the outdoor bartender during that time. Love Tonto and her partner. Old friends, we generally meet in Publix while grocery shopping.

Twenty five years ago and ten years ago, I always enjoyed La Te Da’s lacquered duck. I enjoyed it again last night. Wow! Outstanding!

After dinner, I grabbed a snifter of Grand Marnier and walk into the inside bar. Sassy no longer bartending. He was a mainstay. A Key West icon. Casey is the new bartender. A lovely. She said Sassy now lives somewhere in Pennsylvania.

I was hoping to catch Debra and Patrick. Regulars at La Te Da for more than 20 years. They were away for the weekend. Instead the Spectrelles were entertaining. If I recall correctly, they used to appear in the Utica area at the Turning Stone casino. Absolutely outstanding. I stayed at the bar listening to them longer than I had intended. The three ladies wore wigs. The bouffant style of the late 1950s and 1960s.

Randy Roberts was at the other end of the bar. We nodded hello to each other. He is a female impersonator at La Te Da. He has been performing there more than 20 years. It must have been his night off. He was dressed casually. He looked amazing! Younger than when I first met him years ago.

Today, the Kentucky Derby. I have not paid attention this year. Have no idea who is running. I will watch the race at Don’s Place. The ladies will all be wearing bonnets of sorts.

Sorry this blog is a bit long. It was a long evening, however. Filled with all kind of good happenings.

Enjoy your day!

 

A FIRST COMMUNION LUNCHEON

 

A terrific lunch yesterday!

Anna has been my housekeeper for 8 years. A Polish immigrant, now a proud citizen. Her daughter Julia was making her First Communion. Anna invited me to the celebration following Church.

The luncheon was at Sole’s. Anna’s husband is a chef there.

What a meal!

Perogies, lobster tails, lamb chops, egg plant in oil, and on and on. Fantastic! I made a pig of myself on the lamb chops.

Little Julia was lovely. Anna was lovely. First time I have seen Anna dress dressed.

Anna’s mother and sister flew in from Poland for the event. The mother I knew from the times she has visited in the past. The sister was new to me. Very attractive. Unfortunately, English not spoken by either.

Then to Lisa’s. As soon as I walked in the front door, I knew something was wrong. Robert and Ally were seated on small chairs at the coffee table. Busily doing home work. Never raised their heads to acknowledge me.

They had been bad. They were being punished.

Lisa said they were behind in their homework and had not helped to clean up the house mess they had made. Whatever Lisa said must have been forceful. I have never seen Robert and Ally so cowed.

There was a benefit to me. Jake had no one to play with. He was stuck with me. Yesterday, we were friends. I hope he remembers the next time I visit.

I watched the Kentucky Derby at Don’s Place. A great race. Orb looked terrific in coming from behind in the mud to win.

Joanie was sitting next to me at the bar. We had all bought into a pool. There was a $10 one and a $5 one. Joanie bought one of each. You pulled your horse blind out of a glass. Joanie got Orb each time. She was moaning and groaning……How can I win?

She won $300! God bless!

I was down for some reason last night. Intended to go directly home from Don’s Place. At the last minute, I changed my mind and headed over to the Chart Room.The race crowd was still there.

Spent some time chatting with Sheila.

Then Mike and Tina came in. Two of the grandest people! Worldly. They are frequent travelers. All over the globe!

I had not seen them in well over a year.

Good people! I am especially enamoured with Tina.

Mike and Tina own a home in Key West. On the street across from the cemetery. Should be dead at night. Not recently, Mike told me. Too many tourists partying till late in the morning.

Tina and I talked quite a while. About everything.

By the time I left the Chart Room, I felt good. Actually, terrific! My spirits were up. I give Tina the credit.

Mike and Tina were with some neighbors from the cemetery street. Don and Sue. Wisconsin people. Snowbirds. Don was or still is in the food business. Sue in marketing research. I spoke with Don a while. Sue got lost in the crowd.

JJ was bartending. JJ was a celebrity yesterday. His picture and a brief bio were in the Key West Citizen. JJ was Person of the Day.

The Audubon House was pictured in the Key West Citizen also yesterday. Obviously named after John James Audubon. I have always wondered why the Audubon house is named after Audubon.

Audubon lived the home roughly one month back in 1832. That’s all! He painted birds and plants from the house’s backyard. He also painted them from other areas in Key West and the Tortugas. Some ended up in his famous compilation The Birds of America.

Someone must have decided to name the house after Audubon to make it a tourist attraction. It is. However, a local’s also. The grounds are lovely. Many the party I have attended on those grounds. The interior is a bit spartan. Many antiques. Not enough. Worthy of a visit.

May 5 is Cinco de Mayo. I never heard the term till this past week. There are reminders all over Key West that Cinco de Mayo is to be celebrated today.

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for fifth of May) is a holiday held on May 5 that commemorates the Mexican army’s victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 12, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin.

So what!

I am confused. Not only have I never heard of the holiday in the 25 years I have been frequenting Key West, there is not a sizable Mexican community living here. There are many of Spanish origin and descent. Few of Mexican.

If the city fathers came up with Cinco de Mayo as another Key West holiday to be celebrated, they are crazy! We have so many holidays now that they are overlap each other.

The last item I want to talk about this morning is peanut butter.

I love peanut butter! Not on bread, not with jelly. Directly out of the jar on a tablespoon 2-3 times a day. I am a creature of habit. I have enjoyed Peter Pan creamy peanut butter for years. Yesterday, I discovered a new and better peanut butter! Sorry, Peter Pan.

Jif creamy! Smoother in texture and better taste. The only reason I bought it was Publix was having a sale.

The best parts of my day yesterday were chatting with Tina and discovering Jif peanut butter!

Enjoy your Sunday!