MONDAY IN KEY WEST

Posted on by

 

Pleasant weather. Makes you feel good to be in Key West

Walked again yesterday. Parked the car again at the airport. Instead of walking along Smathers Beach towards 1800 Atlantic, I walked in the opposite direction. Towards Flagler

What a difference turning around made! An equally exciting view as the Smathers Beach walk. This time the time shares, restaurant and fort on the other side of the road. Another flavor of Key West.

Lunch was at home. Had to be. I am on a diet and have to prepare certain foods.

I spent the early afternoon working on friday’s TV/internet show. The Key West Lou Legal Hour. Initial topics prepared include teen emergency contraception, Toys ‘R Us and a stupid gender discrimination case, Euro banks in trouble, Germans want to link tax Google, woman arrested for riding a manatee, sex toy industry big in China, and Alaskan waste.

Remember to watch the show, if you can. Friday morning at 10 my time. Airs on TV two ways. Comcast Channel 87 and U-Verse Channel 19. The show is available from Key West through Miami-Dade County. The show can also be seen via the internet world wide. www.tvchannel19.com.

I played grandfather later in the afternoon. Took Robert and Ally to swimming practice. They are on a swim team. Practice is at the college.

I felt sorry for them. The air was cool, the water cold. The pool is not yet heated. Robert and Ally came hurrying over after practice was concluded. I had huge towels and jackets with hoods for them. Wrapped them immediately. Robert said it was cold. I felt bad for the both of them.

Drove them home. Visited with Lisa and Cory for a while. Did not stay for dinner. I can only eat special diet food.

I arrived home famished. Prepared and gouged  my meal  down. A very small pizza and one cup of grapes. Not enough food. That is the price I must pay for having overdone for quite a while.

Diet or not, I still have to get out. To see people. To socialize.

I headed over to Hogfish. Two diet Pepsi’s at the bar and the good company of some local fishermen.

The Key West Citizen reported Kelley McGillis flag football would be returning to Key West. I knew Kelley McGillis socially back when I first bought a home in Key West. Then she divorced and left. She returns on occasion for flag football and Womanfest.

For those who might not recognize the name, Kelley starred in many movies. Two of her most famous were Top Gun with Tom Cruise and Witness with Harrison Ford. Yes, that lovely woman!

Old movies are my forte. Love them. Woke this morning and watched a part of Treasure Island. A 1932 movie based on the Robert Louis Stevenson book.

The star was a boy. Jackie Cooper. The same Jackie Cooper I would spend time with years later at La Costa. Cooper’s movie career  had concluded. I think his last movie was as the editor in a Superman film. When I knew him, racing was his thing. He owned and raced horses.

Enjoy your day!

SUNDAY A MIXED BAG

Posted on by

Good morning!

A lovely Key West morning! Sun is bright. Sky pure blue. No clouds. Water blue. A bit of wind.

The weather lately has been amazing. We seem to have left the rainy season. It is cooler, however. No 80s. Mid 70s by day. Mid 60s by night. No need for air conditioning. Sleep with the windows open and a light blanket for cover.

My morning yesterday was quiet. As I have suggested before, the way a Sunday should begin. I laid in bed watching the morning TV talk shows. Meet the Press, The Chris Matthews Show, etc. Shows that feed the political junkie me.

Later, grabbed a beach chair and towel and drove over to Higgs Beach. Stopped on the way to buy the Sunday New York Times. $5.50! Outrageous!

Read the paper and watched the ladies a while. Got hungry. Stopped in Salute’s. Enjoyed a fish sandwich at the bar.

My intent later in the afternoon was to be at the Big Ten Sports Bar to watch Syracuse’s first basketball game of the season. Never made it.

When I returned from Salute’s, I took a quick shower before heading over to the Sports Bar. Laid on the bed for a few minutes. Turned on TV. One of my all time favorite movies was playing. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing. Starred William Holden and Jennifer Jones. 1955 vintage. I decided to watch the movie. Never made it to the Sports Bar. Missed the Syracuse game. I must be getting old!

I knew William Holden. Back in the 1970s, I used to go to La Costa a couple of times a year. A spa outside San Diego. Holden was generally there. We became La costa friends.

I used to go to lose weight. He went to dry out.

The thing that sticks in my mind about him was that he was always the gentleman.

We used to spend our evenings smoking cigars and chatting. I rarely smoked a cigar back then. Do not now. However, there was nothing else to do in the evening at the spa.

Oops. Almost forgot. Syracuse won. Beat San Diego State 62-49.

Billy Kristol was on one of the talk shows yesterday morning. He is a very much respected conservative. He spoke of the Republican Party debacle.

He expressed the need for the Republican Party to accept new ideas.

Regarding taxing the wealthy more, he said go for it! Let me quote him. Taxing the wealthy “…won’t kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires…half of whom voted Democratic and half of whom live in Hollywood and are hostile.”

Think about Obama’s proposed tax hike. Only four percentage points more. From 35 per cent to 39 per cent.

When Clinton was President, the federal tax rate was 39 per cent. Where Obama wants to take us now. The country prospered. Everyone made money big time. Even me. If you add the New York State income tax onto the 39 per cent, I was paying close to 50 per cent of my income in taxes. I did not mind. Nor did anyone else. The economy was booming! Money was flowing in!

The 4 per cent is nothing more than pocket change to today’s rich.

We have been paying 35 per cent for years. Is the economy booming? Has it boomed in recent years? The argument against raising the tax on the rich is a bogus one.

Grandkids day! They are off from school. Today is Veterans Day.

Enjoy your day!