BOCCE…..WE FALTERED

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There is a line in Peter Pan…..Dreams do come true. I don’t know.

All week my bocce team has been hyped about playing last night. We had come back from nothing by winning 8 of the last 9 games. We could be heading for the playoffs. We needed to win 4 of the last 6 games of the season.

We played three of those games last night. Against a team that had lost 9 straight.

They done us in! We lost 2 of the 3 games. Which means we have to win all 3 next week.

I was surprised at last night’s result. We were geared up and ready to play. Confident. It was kill time. We got killed!

I spent all of the day yesterday writing next week’s column for KONK Life. It is titled Misuse of Little Ones. The abduction of the 300 girls in Nigeria, coupled with the crucifixions and beheadings, including children, in Nigeria and Syria, motivated the article.

Yesterday was the 69th anniversary of VE-Day. Victory in Europe. The was against Germany was over.

I was ten years old at the time. The event sticks in my mind as if it were yesterday.

The news first came over the radio. No TV in those days. People rejoiced. They stood on their porches banging spoons against pots and pans. They cried. They yelled words of joy to each other. The streets flooded with people. Everyone crying. Everyone kissing.

There have been several wars since. I can recall no such rejoicing when each ended.

Speaking of anniversaries, today is the second anniversary of my Father’s death. He left us on May 9, 2012. He would have been 100 years old today. He had a good life. The second half was better than the first. I loved him and miss him.

Enjoy your day!

I MISSED SEAN AND KATHERINE’S PARTY

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Sean and Katherine are leaving Key West.

A farewell party was planned at the back bar at Aqua. I went. I thought it was last  night. The only one at the bar was Mark Watson. It was 5:30. Isn’t a party scheduled, I asked. It was last night, he said.

I’m losing it!

Sean and Katherine, in the event I fail to see you before you depart, good luck! You have left your mark on Key West. You will not be forgotten. Keep in touch.

Next was the Chart Room. It was still there. I made no mistake.

Emily was back. She attended the Kentucky Derby. She looked rested. Her pics of her and the Derby were fantastic. I was glad she was back. Emily has become as much a part of the Chart Room as those whose ashes rest in the bar rail.

Sheila and Jean at the bar. They and Emily laughed when I said I had just come from Sean and Katherine’s party. They had been there the night before. They also reminded me I did the same thing regarding another party recently. I could not remember.

Dana and Tim were at the Chart Room. I met them last year, They hail from Wilmington, North Carolina. Dana was Miss Carolina in 2003. She represented North Carolina in the Miss America Pageant. Dana is still a beauty. She could participate in the Miss America this year.

Key West’s Annual Songwriter’s Conference began last night. More than 150 of Nashville’s songwriters are in town to play their music and have fun.

The Songwriter’s Festival is a big deal! Performances last night were held all over the island. Sunset Key Pier, Margaritaville, the Pier House, Rick’s / Durty Harry’s, the Conch Republic, and Smokin’ Tuna.

I heard music and singing as I left the Chart Room. It was coming from the Beachside Bar. I walked back. A special stage had been erected. The performers were warming up. The bar was already packed as well as many of the beach lounge chairs which had been organized on the sand around the stage. I stayed a while and enjoyed what I was hearing.  Could not help but think how fortunate we are in Key West. Goodies like this festival periodically come along. We are privileged to enjoy. Festivals and special weekends are part of our daily lives.

Stopped at Don’s Place on the way home. Chatted with Hershel. Politics and bocce. Hershel is a bocce team mate. Our team is on a roll. We have won 8 out of the 9 last games. Two nights left. Tonight the first. We hope to sweep or come close to sweeping both nights. If we do, we go to the finals!

Enjoy your day!

NICE PEOPLE

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I believe most people are nice. I had an experience yesterday that exemplifies the statement.

I went out my front door. There on the porch/stoop was a lovely vase with spectacular type sunflowers. Not flowers common to the Keys.

There had been a wedding next door Sunday. My neighbor rents out his property by the week. It is not legal. The wedding impacted on me. Only part of it bothered me. The rest I took in stride.

When I returned home at dinner time Saturday, there were at least a dozen big garbage cans and about 20 boxes full of garbage, empty booze bottles and the like. In front of my wall on my property! The house looked like a garbage dump.

They had a wedding scheduled the next day and did not want the garbage to show. I had an open house the next day and did not want garbage showing either. Even without the open house, I would have not wanted the garbage.

There were already many people next door. Coming in and out. I asked several about the garbage. No one knew anything. I felt I was getting jerked around. I was getting irritated. Finally I said, screw it and called the sheriff’s department. Within  minutes, two deputies arrived. I explained the situation. They went next door. The deputies returned. They said the people apologized and were already taking care of the garbage. It got buried somewhere out of sight on their property.

Yesterday was the wedding. Cars all over the place. A two way road was one way. A big catering van was parked in the street in front of my home. Then the music and screaming and yelling till the wee hours of the morning.

Such did not bother me. It was a joyous occasion for them and would be over in a matter of hours. I could catch up on my sleep on Sunday.

The next door house was empty yesterday. All were gone.

A handwritten note was tucked into the flowers. “Thank you for allowing us to enjoy our wedding day. Good luck in selling your home! The Normans.”

Nice people.

I felt guilty I called the cops!

Ran some errands and visited Tammy for a manicure in the morning. Spent the afternoon working on the Greece book and fine tuning last night’s blog talk radio show.

The show was pretty much limited to some Catholic/Christian issues and the County’s new anti-smoking law imposed on county employees. Both topics hit a nerve based on post show comments.

Previous to yesterday, Attorney General Holder had been responsible for two statements regarding banks that I absolutely did not agree with…..Banks are too big to fail…..Banks are too big to prosecute.

Yesterday Holder came out with a third statement…..No individual or entity is too big to go to jail.

We shall see. The people of the United States have waited too long for justice for the 2008 mortgage fiasco. The banks came out whole and in better shape. The people have yet to recover.

Enjoy your day!

CRUCIFIXIONS RETURN

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Good morning!

The start of another magnificent Key West day! Not a cloud in the sky. A good breeze. Too early for the humidity. A God is in His Heave, all is right with the world moment.

My blog talk radio show tonight. Nine o’clock my time. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. A fast moving half hour commentary on things happening world wide. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Some heavy topics. Revealing, also. Like the return of crucifixions. Hanging Christians on crosses to die because of their faith. Happening now in Syria and Nigeria as part of the conflicts in those countries.

I am also going to touch on the goblin shark that visited Key West waters this week, Monroe County cracking down on employee smoking, top US companies having the most accumulated offshore profits, big banks laundering drug money, the world’s first married lesbian threesome, and more.

Last night was Montessori!

Grandson Robert and classmates had constructed a 9 hole miniature gold course. Took them a month. Even made the putters. The task was in preparation for a Montessori fundraiser. $5 a head to play.

I brought Don with me.

Impressive is the only way to describe what we saw and experienced. The holes were mechanically set out. Tough! No kidding! I picked up after 5 strokes on some holes. Don played his usual solid game. He even pared one hole.

Each hole represented some historical fact. One hole was Rome, another Egypt, and so forth.

The kids did a great job!

It was dinner afterwards at Hot Tin Roof. Don’s wife Stephanie joined us. It was fun time. We laughed throughout dinner.

Enjoy your day!

UGLY…..

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Ugly. A descriptive title.

I was sitting at the bar at Roostica having dinner last night. The buzz centered around one thing. The shark caught off Stock Island earlier in the day. A goblin shark.

The shark was 18 feet long. Appeared to have a double head. Not really, however. It has a long snout. Underneath and hidden, a jaw that comes out like a second head. The jaw comes out when prey is about to be caught. Big teeth and all.

I say ugly because I saw a picture of the goblin shark caught. Nothing you would want to cuddle up to.

The story of its capture is most interesting. A shrimp boat caught it. Shrimp boats fish daily off Stock Island.

The shrimp boat had its nets down 2,000 feet scooping up shrimp. The net was heavy coming up. There it was! This 18 footer! No one knew what it was at the time. It was still alive. All the shrimp fishers knew was they wanted the thing off their boat!

One of the fisherman took his cell phone out and recorded the event. That is how a definite identification was made.

The fish is actually pink in color. Down 2,000 feet, it takes on a black hue.

Before the shrimp fisherman today, it is estimated there are only 10 people alive who have ever seen a goblin shark.

The goblin shark has been described as a living fossil. It is prehistoric looking. Especially its wicked teeth.

The fisherman who took the pictures is to be complimented.

The other fisherman threw the goblin  shark overboard. They hoisted it up and dumped it back into the ocean. They were not going to screw around with the ugly 18 footer!

I babysat yesterday afternoon. Robert, Ally and I did Burger Fi again. They loved the cheeseburgers the last time and wanted to return.

Some things are too difficult for me at 78. Don’t laugh. These machines where you fill your glass with ice and then your soda selection confuse me. I could not figure out the ice nor could I get diet Coke. I kept coming up with an orange drink. I told Ally, you do it for me!

After lunch, we stopped at Joy Gallery. Jim and Theresa Wallace there. Nice people. I am glad to have made their acquaintance.

Robert and Ally could not understand what I was talking about as we headed to the Gallery. They could not put together that my Barons were now hanging in a different place. When they saw them, they understood. They kept pointing out which had hung where in my home.

Crystal Marie is an avid fan of this blog. She was in Key West yesterday to be married. Two in the afternoon at Smathers Beach. She invited me via e mail yesterday morning to stop by if I could. I could not because of the babysitting. Crystal Marie, many congratulations! Next year when you return to celebrate your first anniversary, we will get together.

Tonight, Montessori! Robert and Ally’s school. There is an open house at 5.

Robert and four other classmates designed and built a 9 hole miniature golf course. Even goes upstairs, Robert says! You have to putt the ball uphill from the first to second floor.

Don is coming with me. He is interested, as I am, in the type of job the kids did. Don’s Second Annual Miniature Golf Tournament will take place next year. Don says if the kids did a good job, he might hire them. For real!

Enjoy your day!

 

 

ANTI-SMOKING FANATICS

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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!

 

 

TONIGHT…..JACK BARON EXHIBIT AT JOY GALLERY

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My dining room walls are empty. So too my center hall. Two spots in the living room. Three wall spaces upstairs.

My Jack Baron paintings are gone!

Tonight from 6-9, Joy Gallery at the corner of Simonton and Eaton is exhibiting Jack Baron’s works. More than fifty. Fourteen of which are mine.

The exhibit is a tribute to Jack Baron. Jack was my friend. A close friend. I miss him to this day. He passed on some six years ago.

An e mail announcement went out yesterday by Jim Wallace. Jim is the curator at Joy Gallery. It announced the exhibit this evening. Two Baron paintings were shown on the face of the announcement. Both mine!

My home is naked. My dining room was all Jack Baron. Except for two mirrors, nothing remains. A lonely feeling.

I suggest you visit the exhibition this evening. From 6-9. See the great work Jack did with acrylics and black people.

The season has changed in Key West. It is now humid all day. Need air conditioning all day. Besides being uncomfortable without it, the humidity invites mold inside a home.

I spent my daytime yesterday working on next week’s KONK Life column. A story about Thomas Jefferson and how he died poor. The title: He Died Broke.

Bocce last night. We have not done well this season. To say we sucked would be accurate. Not last night. We played the #2 team. They will end up #1 before the season is over. They have been champions three times.

I stayed for the first two games. Played in the first. We won both! The first one that I played in 16-8. The second 16-15. My ass was dragging so I left at the start of the third game. The two wins a major victory!

John and Ali are good friends from England. They live outside London. They spend every December in Key West.

Last night Tom introduced me to Phil and Joelle. They live in Guildford, just outside London also. Phil is into landscape gardening and Joelle works for an engineering exhibition company. They have visited Key West six times. This year for two months. Joelle said, next year for three!

Phil and Joelle are good friends with Tom. I figured they should be good friends of John and Ali, also. I called Larry Smith over. Made the introductions. He is going to contact Tom to set up a meeting between Phil and Joelle and John and Ali.

My age was evident last night. Someone asked me Erika’s name. She was score keeping. I know Erika. I love Erika. I could not remember her name. I asked team mate Norman her name. He is 15 years younger than me. He looked at her with a blank expression. Finallly, her husband Hershel said…..Erika.

This Russia/Ukraine mess appears to have no end.

The book I recently published The World Upside Down contained a chapter entitled Floras’s Story. I also wrote a blog about Flora last year while I was in Greece. Flora lives in Albania. She was in Greece working at a summer job.

Flora is 41. A school teacher. She has lived in Albania her whole life.  Albania was part of Soviet Russia as Ukraine was. Flora lived her first 21 years under Russian rule. She told me being independent was better. Things were very tough under the Russians. I mentioned her comments in this regard in Flora’s Story. You might want to read the tale in its entirety.

I have a busy day today. A business meeting at 2. The Baron exhibit at 6. Two things in one day is busy for me!

Enjoy your day!

JACK BARON EXHIBIT

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Jack’s back! Jack Baron! One of Key West’s premier artists. Now dead some six years. Jim Wallace at Joy Gallery has scheduled an exhibit of Jack’s works.

Wallace has accumulated over fifty of Jack’s paintings from private collectors. I am one of them. I have 14 pieces. Several will be in the exhibit.

The Jack Baron exhibit opens Friday evening, May 2, at 6 in the evening. Refreshments will be available. The exhibit will remain open through May 17.

It is not necessary you buy. Though it would be nice. The exhibit is an opportunity to view a large number of Jack’s paintings. Such an event may never occur again.

Lunched at Burger Fi yesterday. I have returned! Their product was not the best a couple of months ago when they first opened. The burgers have since gotten dramatically better. Robert and Ally enjoyed their cheeseburgers last Saturday. I enjoyed a double today.

While at Burger Fi, I met the manager. Rob Litman. He is retired military. Originally from Philadelphia. Has a daughter living in Key West. Came down to join her. Now burger Fi has been added to his family.

Rob told me Wednesday night is Ladies Night. Everything like half price. Raven Cooper is singing again tonight. A spectacular voice!

One of the things I like best about Burger Fi is that locals get a 20 per cent discount. A burger costs nothing to begin with. Throw in the discount and it is like eating for nothing.

Needed the New York City touch. Had dinner at the bar at Marriott’s Tavern ‘n Town. Mike Emerson performing again. I sat reading the newspaper, sipping some gin and picking on fried calamari. At the same time, singing quietly along with Mike Emerson.

England’s John and Ali were at Tavern ‘n Town having dinner with Ray and several others.

College tuition in the news again. Loans, payments, etc. A sad situation. What happened to working your way through. I did, as many of my friend’s did. We made it and generally with good grades. Liberalism took over and decided that the government would help finance college. Has not worked fairly. Graduates are burdened with tons of payments that in many instances are impossible to meet.

What galls me and is little known is that our benevolent government is benefiting big time. Last year, the government made over $40 billion off the loan programs.

Chiropractors and Medicare. It was announced yesterday that a Brooklyn chiropractor charged and was paid in excess of $1 million by Medicare in 2012. I do not know the details. However, sounds like a lot of money to me.

When I started practicing law in 1960, a chiropractor could neither testify nor have his bills paid as part of a negligence law suit. New York did not recognize chiropractor as a profession and so any testimony regarding them was not admissible. Now, they are a major factor and force.

I am not expressing an opinion as to right or wrong. Merely stating the facts as they have developed from the 1960s to present date.

Bocce tonight. Yesterday was the first day I felt better since Sunday. Never again will I play bocce in the day time in the boiling sun!

Enjoy your day!


ITALIAN WEDDINGS

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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

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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!