THE BUTLER…..A WINNER!

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I went to the movies last night! First time in months.

The Butler. One of the finest movies I have ever seen! Do not miss it!

It is the story of a White House black butler who served eight Presidents. The movie follows the civil rights movement.

Emotional! I was constantly shedding a tear.

The two stars were exceptional! Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey. Whitaker is the butler and Oprah his wife. Academy Award performances.

John Cusack played Nixon. Admirably!

Per my usual custom, I had dinner at Outback first. A prime rib. I have not had beef in three months. None in Europe. It was good, but too much. My stomach has shrunk.

I spent the day organizing, editing, and rewriting my book. I assure you I will publish it well before Christmas. It is not easy work. Especially when you are seeking perfection. Hopefully, there will be no Robert Clooneys in the book.

Join me tonight for my blog talk radio show. I guarantee you will enjoy. The reason is the topics I will be discussing.

I am going to hit the present Egypt situation inside and out. The media fails to provide us with the full picture all at one time. I will try.

The other topic involves breast implants and security.

It was announced late last week that terrorists have come up with a plan to avoid airport detectors and overall scrutiny in general. Breast implants in women containing high end explosives. The x-ray machines that were introduced in the last two years cannot detect anything in a woman’s breasts or in a person’s body cavity. The explosives are triggered either by a chemical or someone away from the woman with a press button device. No outside wires or anything of that nature.

I want to talk about the implants because they reflect the ineptitude of TSA and Homeland Security. We always react to something. We are never pro active when it comes to airport security.

I question why Muslim women are so willing to carry explosives. There are no 17 virgins waiting for them on the other side.

Tuesday Talk With Key West Lou is at 9 this evening. One half hour. Turn on your computer as you would a radio. I will be there. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Enjoy your day!

SUNDAY AT THE BEACH

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A peaceful Sunday. Another do nothing day.

Watched Meet The Press from bed. Spent a couple of hours at Higgs Beach in a sand chair. Read the Key West Citizen and watched bikini clad ladies romp around. Enjoyed a fish sandwich at the bar at Salute. Then home for some reading and television. Early to sleep.

To err is human. Perfect I am not. Occasionally, I make a mistake. I did in yesterday’s blog.

A lapus lingua. I called George Clooney Robert Clooney. What can I tell you? Several of you pointed out the error. Thank you. I never mind being corrected.

Tomorrow is Tuesday. My blog talk radio show. Tuesday Talk With Key West Lou. Nine in the evening. One half hour. Interesting matters to be discussed. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

I plan on chatting about the present Egyptian situation. All kinds of things happening. You may not be aware of some.

A second issue for discussion is the new way terrorists are planning on blowing up planes, places and people. Breast implants. For real. London’s Heathrow Airport is on alert for them at this moment.

I find many things to be irritable about regarding the breast implant situation. One is the apparent ineptness of TSA and Homeland Security to get airport screening right. Recall two years ago the furor over the new x-ray screening machine. Well folks, the machine is now obsolete. It only is able to discern things outside the body. It does not have the ability to get into a female breast or body cavity.

Enjoy your day!

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!

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!

SHIRREL RHOADES

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I had lunch yesterday at Azur with an extremely interesting man. Shirrel Rhoades.

After an exciting life in that other world, Shirrel retired to Key West. Busy his whole life, he needed to fill in his time a bit doing something productive. Sitting around and contemplating his navel was not an option.

Shirrel delved into his bag of experiences. One was publishing. Shirrel started a publishing business in Key West. Actually two. One is Absolutely Amazing e Books. The other The New Atlantian Library.

Shirrel’s publishing concept is simple. He publishes via e mail. As more and more people leave hard copy and go to the internet to read, he may be at the forefront of the transition’s publishing phase.

His background varied and professional. Shirrel has been a writer, publisher, professor, film maker, and movie critic. He has held high level executive positions with the Reader’s Digest, Marvel Comics, The Ladies Home Journal, and Harper’s Magazine.

He was the man who brought us the Captain Marvel comic book for many years.

I enjoyed Shirrel’s company.

I enjoyed Azur, also. I do not eat there enough. The food is outstanding. I am still on my Italian trip kick. I enjoyed a dish of rigatonis.

Stephanie Manaher was having lunch with some lady friends. Stephanie is a school teacher and wife to the infamous Don of Don’s Place. A lady.

Last night was the Chart Room. I was there for several hours. JJ bartending. Peter and I talked most of the time.

Peter can be found every morning at Fort Zachary Taylor Beach. He has a special spot near the tree line on one side of the Beach.

Female turtles have been coming onto the beach, digging large holes, and depositing their eggs. Then covering the eggs with sand. The mother is then gone, never to see her young ones.

It takes 60 days for the eggs to hatch. Each female drops about 100 eggs. Three or four will survive the hatching, trekking and swim out into the ocean.

There was a hole nearby Peter. It had been there for more than 60 days. The Park Rangers carefully removed the sand from the turtle nest in order to determine what was going on. Turns out nothing. No eggs. Whatever the mother may have done, it was a dry run.

Met an interesting couple. Cory and Brieanna. Vacationing at the Pier House. They hail from somewhere on the Florida mainland. Nice people.

Cory is an insurance broker with Allied Solutions in Boca Raton. His company deals with insurance programs for financial institutions such as banks and credit unions. Brieanna is a doctor. She specializes in end of life problems. She does much work with Hospice.

Tonight, I return to the air! After nine weeks! Blog talk radio. Nine this evening. One half hour. The entire half hour will be devoted to the rising Nazi power in Greece. You will be amazed by what I learned on my trip!

Join me. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Enjoy your day!

TOMORROW NIGHT…..BLOG TALK RADIO

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Jet lag continues to have me screwed up. I was awake from 1 this morning to 6 in the morning. Then slept till 11.

Therein lies the reason today’s blog is late.

I was tired the rest of yesterday. Dead tired. Tried watching the PGA in the afternoon. Kept fading in and out of sleep.

What I did see was Jason Dufner hitting some great approach shots. A foot or two from the pin. Made for easy birdie shots.

Jim Furyk did not play as well as Dufner yesterday. He did not deserve to win.

I was pulling for Furyk. I got to meet him once and spent some time talking with him. It was not his day, however.

Tomorrow, Tuesday Talk With Key West Lou. My blog talk radio show. I return after a nine week absence.

Join me. I will be chatting about the Nazi party’s rise to power the past two years in Greece. Unbelievable! The show will be a hard hitting and revealing half hour. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

As Porky Pig at the end of his cartoons would say…..That’s all folks! My yesterday was undramatic. I stayed home.

Enjoy your day!

JET LAG

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It finally hit me big time. Jet lag! It is 2:30 in the afternoon and I am just getting to today’s blog. My head is not functioning, my body tired.

Interestingly, today is the first day I have knowingly experienced it.

I tried working on this week’s KONK Life column this morning. Good luck! No way, Jose!

I have been pacing myself since my Wednesday night return.

Yesterday, I worked a while with Sloan. A pleasure to have her!

Then visited the grandkids. I had not seen Robert and Alley in two months. They just returned from a two week vacation at their grandparent’s home in north Florida.

Both grew. Especially Ally.

They make me feel good.

Laid in bed and watched some golf. Hope Jim Furyk wins. I met him several years ago at the Indian Casino outside Utica. Turning Stone. He was staying there a few days with his family. Soft spoken. A regular guy. He has won 16 times on the tour. One of the wins a major. He has not won in a few years. A win here would be big. It would guarantee him a place in the Golf Hall of Fame.

The Chart Room was packed last night. Like sardines in a can.

Saw JJ, Peter, Jean, and Sheila. Met Dori, a friend of Sheila’s.

Though I was not able to observe, Dori has some sort of disability. Ergo, she has a specially trained dog to assist her. I met the dog.

Big!!!Bigger than that!!!

A great dane. Great being the operative word. He had to be the biggest dog I have ever seen.

White with black spots. Like a Dalmatian. It would take at least four Dalmatians to make one of him.

Very quiet and reserved. Sat by Dori. Never moved in spite of the people mulling around. Then laid down behind Dori’s bar stool.

When I went to leave after kissing Sheila good bye and meeting Dori, I stepped on the dog’s paw. He never moved. Lucky me!

A bug and fish are in the news.

The lower Keys has a Mosquito Control Board. It does an excellent job. Without the Board, living in Key West would be primitive.

This year the Board started introducing something into the mosquito population that made the males sterile thereby preventing the females from getting pregnant. Pretty smart, I thought. The results of the endeavor are not known yet.

Starting late in August, the Board is going to experiment with drones. Planes without pilots.

Water pooling is a natural habitat within which mosquitos breed. The drones will fly around and identify the locations so personnel can go out and get the pools cleaned up.

The Keys mosquito guys do not screw around!

Now comes a crocodile. The croc has been named Crocodolly. Keynoter recently reported the following.

Crocodolly is eight feet long. A female. She has been showing up in an area off Plantation Key since 2010. She has been captured three times. Tagged the first time so there is no question it is the same crocodile. The tag on her tail is #5 in case you run into her.

Crocodiles are endangered species. Each time Crocodolly was captured, the authorities took her far out into Florida Bay. Crocodolly returned each time. Like the dog that can find its way home from many miles away.

The people of Plantation Key do not fear her. They look forward to seeing her in their canals.

Crocodolly has over 400 friends on Facebook.

What a world!

I am back on the air Tuesday night. Blog talk radio. Nine in the evening. A quick interesting half hour. Greece and the growing power of the Greek Nazi Party will be the topic. Join me. I guarantee you will find the talk revealing. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Enjoy your Sunday!

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!