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!

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!

 

 

A WONDERFUL EVENING

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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!

 

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!

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

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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!!!!!

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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

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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!