NIPPER

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I spoke of my grandfather’s victrola yesterday. The big black hand cranked type. I mentioned the picture of a dog on the inside of the top.

Nancy from Canada e mailed me. She told me the dog’s name was Nipper.

Thank you, Nancy. I am impressed you knew. I did not and doubt many did.

Yesterday was research and writing all day. Worked on my book. Spent 3 hours editing next week’s KONK Life column. Titled: Character. A reflection on the lack of character in certain present day political candidates. Like Spitzer and Weiner. The column also reviewed the sexual lives of many past Presidents. I distinguished their extra marital experiences from those of Spitzer and Weiner.

I live and learn. Warren Harding was one of our worst Presidents. Not when it came to sex. He used to enjoy sensual pleasures with a Nan Britton in a broom closet in the White House.

Character will be available for reading in next thursday’s edition of KONK Life.

Enjoyed a pleasant dinner with Dee last night at the A&B Lobster House. On the pricey side. But good!

One of the A&B bartenders was a dead ringer for Robert Clooney. Go have a drink and see. The resemblance is amazing.

This week’s KONK Life article is out on the stands. It concerns itself with the rise of Nazism in present day Greece. A revealing column.

I mention that the government, police and Greek people stand quietly by as the Greek Nazi blackshirts beat people, crucify immigrants, salute Hitler style, have a flag with a swastika on it, have a growing youth movement, play their theme song Auschwitz at rallies, and more.

The silence is overwhelming. The government is quiet because its leaders want to stay in power. The police are non responsive because half of them belong to the Nazi party. The people say nothing because they fear.

Sound familiar? Without a doubt. A replay of Germany in the late 1920s into the early 1930S.

Yesterday, I came across a quote that fits the Greek situation perfectly. It is attributed to Martin Niemoller who was a Protestant Pastor in Nazi Germany.

“First they came for the communists, but I was not a communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the socialists and the trade unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”

Enjoy your sunday!

RETURN TO NORMALCY CONTINUES

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I love being back in Key West!

Things continue to return to normal. Which means I am going out and enjoying myself in Key West fashion. My Key West state of mind has returned.

Did the Key West Lou Legal Hour yesterday morning. Just me and Crystal. Mary Deasy was at the studio. Jenna deserted me. She was in Los Angeles enjoying an extended weekend. We spoke long distance Thursday night.

The Nazi/Greek story impacted most people. I received the most comments regarding the issue post show. Basically, people were shocked that a Nazi oriented group can be gaining power again.

I had to go grocery shopping for the third time this week. The cupboard was bare when I returned from Europe. Anna had thrown everything out.

Bought a lot of fruit. Including figs. I cannot tell you how many figs I ate in Greece. In Santorini and Amorgos, my landlords brought me fresh figs daily. Large and plump. Everyone has a fig tree on the Greek isles.

I enjoyed three figs for breakfast this morning. Hope they are not fattening!

Sloan and I spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon organizing some of the material I will be using in my first book to be published. I will be working further on it today.

Later in the afternoon, I enjoyed an old time favorite of mine.

Mario Lanza was a big time singer back in the 1950s and 1960s. He sang great love songs and opera. He made movies. One was with Ann Blyth. It was the life of Enrico Caruso.

My grandfather turned me on to Caruso. He had a victrola. The one with the dog next to its name on the inside of the top cover. The victrola was big and black. It stood at least four feet tall. It was not run on electricity. It had to be hand cranked. Just like automobiles of old.

My grandfather had a collection of Caruso records. He played them constantly. I would be with him. His playing the records with me sitting along side him developed a love in me for Caruso’s singing. Which made me appreciate later in life the great voice of Mario Lanza.

It was the Chart Room and Hot Tin Roof last night. Enjoyed the company of Emily, Sheila, Jean and Stephanie, amongst others. Stephanie looked especially stunning.

I chatted a bit with Joseph at the Hot Tin Roof. I ordered a book he recommended from Amazon yesterday. I am anxious to start reading the book. It is a heavy political work.

Someone last evening filled me in on my team’s final bocce game thursday night. You will recall I was tired and left to go home to bed after the second game. We won 16-15. Can’t get any closer than that! We won 2 out of 3. Not a bad start.

When I returned from Europe a week ago, the downstairs air conditioning unit was blowing hot air. Sub-Zero came and fixed it. I got up this morning, it was blowing hot air again. I do not know about Sub-Zero’s weekend service.

Enjoy your day!

TV/INTERNET SHOW AT 10

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I am up before everyone this morning. 5:30. The Key West Lou Legal Hour at 10 this morning. I have to review my notes in final preparation for the show.

This will be my first show in nine weeks. My absence due to the European trip.

Join me at 10. I guarantee you will enjoy! On television from Key West through Miami-Dade County. Comcast Channel 87 and U-Verse Channel 19. Via the internet world wide. www.weyew19.com.

Lunched at Hogfish yesterday. Several people asked about the trip.

Jenn came in. She was on the run. Looking for a waitress/bartender job. Her present employer is closing down in a month. Jenn is a terrific person and hard worker. Anyone out there in need of good help, give a holler.

Bocce last night. First match of the new season.

The courts were a bit wet. Especially ours. The sun does not hit it during the day. I would describe the texture of the clay as close to muddy.

We played.

We won the first game 16-5. I played the first game. I was the worst player on our team. The softness of the court slowed my ball. I had difficulty adjusting.

We lost the second game. 16-7. I did not play.

I do not know what happened with the third. I knew I had to be up early this morning. Ergo, I left before the third game was over to get home to bed.

We played Larry’s team. It was a money match. Larry and Don were absent in New Orleans. The games were quiet without Larry. Chris tried to take over the role of shouting, etc. It was not the same. Chris is too nice to be Larry.

Enjoy your day!

BACK TO KEY WEST NORMAL

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Another beautiful Key West morning!

Slightly overcast. Probably will rain a bit. Maybe 10 minutes. This is the rainy season.

It was Tammy time once again yesterday! I needed a manicure desperately. For the first time in two months, my nails look good. No one is as good as Tammy.

Europe was a disaster regarding manicures and pedicures. Last year, I got a bad finger infection from an equally bad manicurist. This year while on Amorgos, I received a manicure and pedicure from the same woman. At the same time. She cut me seven times. I was sure I would end up with a bad infection or two.

As soon as the woman left, I took my bottle of Beefeater and poured gin all over my cuts. Fingers and toes. It worked! No infection.

I was lucky. It was not a waste of good gin.

Tammy was excited to see me. Not because it was me. She had exciting news to share. She and her husband bought a house on Seidenberg. They close Friday. Two parking spots, a mother in law cottage and pool included with the three bedroom home.

I wish them much good luck and happiness. It is a fulfillment of the American dream for Tammy and her husband. They arrived here ten years ago from Vietnam. They have a thriving business and now their own home.

Lunch with the grandkids.

After some discussion, they decided on I HOP. They ate a lot. Me, too. Philly cheese steak sandwiches, a cheeseburger, fries, and onion rings. They told me about their two week trip to visit Corey’s parents in northern Florida. They visited Busch Gardens. The roller coaster ride excited them the most.

Robert mentioned they needed school supplies. School starts Monday. I took them to Office Max.

Ally grabbed a cart. Ally, why a cart? We will need it! We did. Bought a lot.

School supplies are different today from what I needed back when. I recall never having to buy anything but books. Robert and Ally needed everything. The economy, I guess. What I got for nothing in my day, the kids have to pay for today.

I spent the balance of the afternoon and last evening working on friday’s tv/internet show. Never went out.

The Key West Lou Legal Hour is at 10 tomorrow morning my time. Via TV from Key West through Miami-Dade County. Comcast Channel 87 and U-Verse Channel 19. Via the internet world wide. www.weyw19.com

In case you miss the show friday morning, it is You Tubed and available 24 hours a day.

Topics to be discussed are interesting. Some revealing. Like the growing power of the Greek Nazi party, the United States bungling of the Egyptian problem, two of the candidates for New York City Comptroller with checkered backgrounds, former Governor Spitzer and a woman who claims she was a madam and supplied him with girls. Only in America!

Also my thoughts on the recent stop and frisk decision, a topless activist who is on a hunger strike in jail, the Israeli-Palestinian talks, the least honest city in America, French approval of same sex marriage opening the door to unusual new employment, Guantanamo prisoners demanding Fifty Shades of Grey, and more.

Tonight, bocce! The start of a new season. Exciting!

Don will not be there. For shame. He is in New Orleans on a golf trip with Larry. Erika and Hershel are on vacation somewhere. We will be short staffed. Gives us an excuse if we lose. I hope we do not need an excuse.

Enjoy your day!

WRITING

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I am writing. Besides the blog.

I have been writing off and on for several years. I do something on the computer. Then bury it in a document folder. Where the writings remain buried!

I am writing anew and resurrecting some of the old. I am reviewing and revising.

I promise to publish at least one book by year end. For real.

Spent yesterday morning working on last night’s blog talk radio show. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. The program was devoted to a Nazi party’s rise to power in Greece in recent years. Evidenced by blackshirts, a youth movement, a flag with a somewhat familiar swastika, the Nazi salute, police and courts friendly with the blackshirts, beatings in the streets, certain commercial stores with large Xs on windows and Do Not Shop Here signs, anti-Jewish sayings and songs, and more.

History is repeating itself in Greece. I am bothered that the world seems unaware and/or does not care.

Plato and Socrates would think ill of what is occurring. Their heads would hang in shame seeing what is happening in the land where democracy was born.

The rise of Nazism is an important issue. At least from my perspective. I plan on devoting a significant portion of Friday’s television/internet show to the issue. Join me. The Key West Lou Legal Hour. Ten in the morning my time. Via Comcast from Key West to Miami. www.tvchannel19.com. Available world wide on the internet. www.weyw19.com. The show is You Tubed also and available 24 hours a day for viewing.

I spent a portion of yesterday writing. Rough drafted two short stories.

Sloan worked with me for a while mid-afternoon.

Grabbed a quick dinner at the new pizzeria on Stock island. The special was chicken parmagian over spaghetti. Way too much food for me! I left bloated!

Bocce begins tomorrow night. A new season. Hooray!

I had planned to practice before this season began. I need to learn how to blast. As usual, never got to doing it. I will have to depend on my partner Frankie for assistance in that regard.

A lovely day! Magnificent1 I cannot wait to get out.

Enjoy your day!

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME…..

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I appreciate I am being repetitive. However, there is no question about it. There is no place like home!

For whatever reason, I missed Key West the past two months while running around Europe. Missed family, friends and haunts. It is good to be back!

I write this blog each morning from my kitchen counter. I sit by the glass sliding doors to the deck and ocean. Always open.

It poured heavy this morning. Stopped just a few minutes ago. It was a pleasure to hear, smell and taste the rain. Key West rain! Ain’t nothing like it anywhere!

Jet lag is still with me. Not bad. However, consistent. It will probably last another 3-4 days.

Because of the heavy head caused by the jet lag, I hung around the house by day yesterday. Did a bit of writing and a bit of sleeping.

Last night started with the Chart Room. At 5, it was only Emily and me. She makes the best popcorn in town!

A group of guys came in. One was Carl Grooms. A relatively new face in Key West. He has been here 1-2 years. Last night was the first time we met.

Carl has an interesting background. His parents were in the diplomatic service. He did not reside in the United States till he was 15. He graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy. Joined the Navy. Became a jet pilot. Retired early. Went to the Wharton School of Business for his Master’s. Now into business for himself.

Wharton makes bankers. Banking did not interest him. He went into computers and the internet. The business which he operates from Key West is known as Flying Fish Apps. He and his team have created an app that will direct everyone where to drink, eat, events, music, etc. as it happens in Key West. Press the button and you have it all! An exclusive Key West where to go, what to see app. Go#2thekeys.com.

I wish Carl good luck! He is committed. He cannot miss.

Don’s Place was my next stop. David and I sat together chatting. Bocce the big item of discussion. The new season starts thursday.

Don came in. He had just returned from his annual one month summer vacation in Indiana. It was good to see him again. Unquestionably one of the nicest guys in Key West.

Don enjoys a beer or two or more a day. However, he does not drink at all while in Indiana, except when he plays golf. He played golf three times. It was back to beer for him last night!

Mikey was bartending. It was good to see him again. I like his wife better.

I go back to work Tuesday night. My blog talk radio show will be live again. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou. A quick half hour of interesting chatter. I can tell you now that most of the show will be devoted to the increasing power of the Nazi party in Greece. The media does not talk about it. I do not know why. The situation is real and frightening.

During the eight weeks I was gone and off the air, there was no blog talk show. My old shows are archived, however. As indicated in the past, few listen to my show at the appointed time on Tuesday evenings. However around 2,000 listen to the archive during the week. Even in my absence the past two months, from 600 to 1,000 listened to an archived show at some time each week.

Sloan. A wonder! She was my girl in Key West while I was away. Anything I needed or thought should be done was an e mail message to her. Sloan performed admirably. She handled everything efficiently and expeditiously.

Thank you, Sloan.

Enjoy your day!

BACK HOME IN KEY WEST

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I have returned! I am back home in Key West!

I missed Key West and my friends. Badly. The place and people have finally become irrevocably ingrained in me.

I was up 22 straight hours. From the time I got out of bed in Novara, Italy till the time I went to bed in Key West. Surprisingly, it did not bother me. Probably because the long flight over the Atlantic took place on European day time. My time clock for the past two months.

The night before I left, it was Hemingway and Key West again. I had dinner on Lake Maggiore. The Italian portion.

Lake Maggiore figured in Ernest Hemingway’s personal life. He was wounded as an Italian ambulance driver in World War I. Much of the fighting he was involved in took place in northern Italy. He was hospitalized near Lake Maggiore. He spent some time at Lake Maggiore itself recovering. At the same time, he fell in love with one of his nurses.

Speed forward to Hemingway’s time in Key West. He started writing A Farewell to Arms while living in Key West. Basically rough drafted the novel here.

A Farewell to Arms is the story of an American serving as an Italian ambulance driver who is wounded in World War I. He is hospitalized near Lake Maggiore. Falls in love with a nurse. For reasons not important here, the hero had to get the nurse to the other side of Lake Maggiore. The Switzerland side. They row boated across the lake in a storm. She died.

I had dinner on the north end of Lake Maggiore near Switzerland one of my first nights in Italy. Then did it again my final evening, except this time at its southern shore.

Flew Delta into Atlanta. Then Delta to Key West. Had a three hour lay over. Met some very interesting people. All of whom had a Key West connection.

First came Snow. A beauty! I would enjoy getting to know her better. Unfortunately, we had never met before. She has probably been in Key West longer than me. She was on her way back to Key West from a trip to Maine.

She said I looked familiar. She had read some of my KONK Life columns.

On the plane, I was seated next to Paul and Caytlin. Father and daughter. He is military reserves and also a civilian firefighter at the Key West Naval Base. He has been deployed more than once. Most recently, Oman. He was engaged in combat in Iraq.

Intelligent. Understood world events and impacts. He and his wife plan on settling in Key West when he retires. Which is soon.

Daughter Caytlin was 16 years old. Going into her junior year. A personality! Smart. Thus far has a 4.3. She is concerned it is not high enough!

Paul introduced me to his wife Tracy who was at the airport waiting for her family to return. Lovely and pleasant.

I would like to know Paul better.

While the plane was loading, a couple walked by my seat. Hello, Key West Lou! We had met last year at the Chart Room. I am embarrassed. I cannot recall their names. Old age. In the brief moment we had, we agreed we would probably meet at the Chart Room during their stay here.

Recognition night was not over.

I was standing outside waiting for my ride which was late. A lady was standing next to me in the same predicament. We started talking. She said, I know you. You’re Key West Lou! I read your blog every day. We are friends on Facebook, also.
Liked Beth. Hopefully will run in to her again, also.

I also decided I better be a good boy all the time. Too many people have come to know me.

Lisa, Corey and Jake picked me up. Loved seeing them again. Jake appeared a bit subdued. Lisa told me that in addition to not liking the water, he definitely does not like riding in the car. It is a project to get him in. Jake is one very fussy dog.

The house was in pretty good shape. Except. There is always an except. My downstairs air conditioning was blowing warm. Hopefully, it will get repaired today.

Glad to be back! Look forward to running into many of you in the next few days.

The Key West Lou Legal hour television show airs on Friday mornings at 10. While I have been away, reruns have been shown. There will be a rerun tomorrow morning also. I am fearful of doing the show while suffering from jet lag. I probably would end up with a blank look on my face not remembering what I was supposed to say next. The show goes live next Friday!

Enjoy your day!

TOMORROW KEY WEST

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Tomorrow Key West!!!

I am ready. I have been away too long. Home beckons.

No blog tomorrow. I have to leave at 8 in the morning to get to the airport in Milan. I will not arrive in Key West till around 8 tomorrow night Key West time. Two in the morning on the time I have been living for two months. I will be dead.

I am exhausted this morning.

I did not sleep well. I am in Novara. No air conditioning. Yesterday was a run run day. Between the two, I am shot. On the other hand, the trip may be catching up with me. It was exciting, but on the go most of the time.

Wi fi continued to be a problem yesterday. I was in Courmayeur. The closest wi fi was 8 miles away at a Sports Center. I borrowed a car for the drive over.

I do not know if I was permitted to drive in Europe. Additionally, I had not driven a stick shift car since the late 1950s.

About 2 miles into the trip, the car stopped. No juice. Battery appeared to be dead.

A fix. I was in a foreign country. Did not know if I was permitted to drive. No cell phone. Verizon made sure of that.

I must have looked a pathetic sight standing outside the car. A SUV stopped. A family. Parents and child. The husband spoke English. He offered to take me to a garage down the road.

The garage man said he was too busy to deal with a dead battery. Woe is me, I thought.

My new found friend drove me to another garage. The owner did not speak English. However, he understood my problem. He drove me back to my car. Got the battery and car going. Then followed me to his garage. I needed a new battery, he said. Who was I to argue. A three hour wait. Somehow I got across to him where I had to go and why. My blog and KONK Life column had to be done. I suspect he thought I was some sort of reporter or TV star from the United States.

He immediately put in a used battery and told me to return in 3 hours or more. Off I went.

When I got to the sports facility, I was told that wi fi was on and off in the valley all morning. It would be hit and miss.

Great!

It took me 15 minutes to get on. I was on and off for several hours. Whatever, I got this week’s column off to Guy deBoer. The Athens beggar story. Read it. You will enjoy. The paper will be available Thursday.

Drove back to the garage. The new battery had arrived. The owner put it in immediately. A real nice guy.

He charged me 170 euros. $230 American money. I do not know if expensive or not. I did not care. The car was fixed!

Typical of Italian and Greek businessmen, he refused to give me a receipt and I had to pay in cash. Everyone tries to beat taxes. I can’t blame those that do in Italy and Greece. Because of the euro problem, they are being taxed to death. Italian real property taxes went up another 30 per cent. Just like that!

Later, the 3 1/2 hour drive back to Novara.

I still had not done yesterday’s blog. I was up till after midnight doing it.

Not a relaxing day. I am not complaining. I am happy to have had this year’s European experience. As I think of it, yesterday was the first tiring day of the trip. Not bad.

Enjoy your day!

TRATTORIAS NO MORE

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Thirty five years ago, I visited Italy for a month. Trattorias all over the place. A not too pricey Italian restaurant. Good food.

This trip I discovered restaurants called trattorias are a thing of the past. I saw a total of two in my travels through Milan, Novara, and Courmayeur.

The former trattorias have been relabeled/renamed. Ristorante is one. The other Ristorante and Pizzeria.

Pizza definitely has come into its own. Restaurants serve a whole pizza. That is the only way a pizza can be ordered. One to a person. The customers eat them up. Every morsel. Italians leave nothing on the plate. I ate at a Ristorante and Pizzeria tonight. actually called E.T.’s Ristorante and Pizzeria. While I was enjoying a pasta dish at my table, the couple at the one next to me each devoured a whole pizza. All done with white tablecloth and napkins.

Carmelo and his brothers came to Key West many years ago. They opened La Trattoria on Duval Street. They made the restaurant a fantastic success. Then sold it. If Carmelo and his brothers were opening a new Italian restaurant today, no question in my mind they would call it a Ristorante.

Wi fi has been a problem throughout my travels in Italy and France. Very few establishments have wi fi available to customers. Whereas in Greece, wi fi was available all over the place.

I spent a good chunk of yesterday afternoon sitting at an outdoor café in Courmayer. I enjoyed the ambiance and view. I came to the conclusion that the men of Courmayeur have trophy wives or trophy girl friends.

I have fallen behind in posting photos. Tomorrow comes the deluge.

I mentioned the beggars I saw in Athens. Thought they were the worst ever. Several have written and said in effect they had seen beggars in the United States. Even in Key West. What in effect was the big deal?

I took the comments to heart together with what my eyes had seen on the streets of Athens. There is substantial difference between “begging” in the United States and begging in Greece. A world of difference. Ergo, I have to dispute those who disagree with me. No problem in not agreeing with me. A problem exists however if a person disagrees without having first hand knowledge of the facts.

If a person has not seen with their own eyes the beggars on the streets of Athens, such persons are in no position to dispute my observation. Not because you were not there. Rather because you do not know what you are talking about.

I say such with all due respect. It’s the lawyer in me.

Let me help the situation a bit. I decided to write an extensive article on the issue. I titled it The Beggars of Athens. It will appear in this week’s KONK Life as my column of the week. The issue will be published thursday. Dig it up on the internet and read it. I guarantee you will find it revealing.

If you still disagree with me after reading the article, so be it. We have a legitimate difference of opinion regardless of how the opinion was arrived at.

Go to KONKLife.com. Select the edition you wish to read. Leaf through it to find my article.

In 48 hours, I will be sleeping in my bed in Key West. I am ready to return. I miss family and friends big time.

Enjoy your day!

MONT BLANC TUNNEL

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I am presently in Courmayeur, Italy. Yesterday, I decided to go to Chamonix, France. Mont Blanc was in the way.

No big deal. Around 1960, Italy and France built a tunnel under Mont Blanc connecting the two cities and two nations. Travelers were able to save 60-100 miles as a result.

The tunnel took eight years to construct.

It is a little over seven miles long. Only 28 feet wide. A few inches over fourteen feet high. Two lanes, one each way.

Additional lanes are needed. However construction costs are prohibitive and have prevented the construction.

There was a major fire in the tunnel in 1999. Thirty nine people killed. Amongst other things, the ventilation system did not work properly. Instead of sucking the toxic fire fumes out, it drove them back into the tunnel.

Everything purportedly fixed now and it is not supposed to happen again.

I went through the tunnel several times last year. I went through it twice yesterday. Once each way.

Traffic entering the tunnel from both sides is controlled. When the toll is paid, vehicles are not permitted to immediately take off. There is a time factor between each vehicle. About two minutes.

Cars are not permitted to piggy back or get close in any way. Each vehicle must remain at least 500 feet behind the one in front. All through the tunnel, there are blue blinking lights on each side measuring the 500 foot distance for drivers.

Speed is controlled. Fifty to 70 km per hour.

The traffic control is so efficient that when there is going to be a delay, blinking signs miles away announce the delay and how long. I got stuck in a 90 minute delay on the way back to Italy. The traffic was backed up on the French side 3 miles. When I say backed up, it means no movement. The motor is turned off and you sit for 10-20 minutes. Then on again to move forward a few car lengths.

It was not a bad situation. People get out of their cars and talk with each other. I enjoyed the company of my neighbors. Precisely 90 minutes after I entered the 3 mile span, I was in the tunnel.

The delay in itself was an experience. Expected and accepted. Nothing anyone could do about it anyhow.

Other than the tunnel delay, yesterday was basically unexciting. McDonalds was the big event for me. After McDonalds, my plans got screwed up. I intended to go up in a cable car or train over the top of Mont Blanc. A WOW I assumed. However, it started raining. Pouring. The end of trips up and down for the day. I was disappointed. The experience would have been unique.

I was back in my chalet early. Read. Not a bad situation. I was able to sit on the terrace. The one facing Mont Blanc. Each time I looked up, there was the glacier topped peak. A sight to behold.

To my friend Don, a message. If Don is still up north at his camp, someone please bring my message to his attention. The message: Don, I am out of cigarettes!

The honeymoon is over come this wednesday. I will be back in Key West wednesday evening.

Enjoy your day!