CHILDREN AGAIN

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Bocce last night! We were vanquished. Won 1, lost 2. To a better team. However, we gave them a fight in 2 of the games. In addition to which, we had a good time! Both teams.

The team record is now 9-3. The team that beat us 11-1. Not bad.

Bocce brings me to something I have known, for some reason forgot, and hit me again last night. While playing bocce and looking at the 50 other people playing. Key West is where adults become children again. Especially those in retirement. We regress back to the days of our youth.

Key West is bocce, golf, tennis, beach volleyball, hanging out in friendly bars and restaurants, making believe, costume dressing for the slightest reason, painting, writing, and daydreaming. Especially the daydreaming. Nothing like sitting under a palm tree on the beach with the vast expanse of the ocean in front and letting your mind go.

Everything that is done is done with the same zest and enjoyment as when one was young. Remember?

Dressing is also a regression. Shorts and a tee shirt. Even for the ladies, though I must admit that some days the ladies enjoy dressing a bit more. I love it when they wear long. Sultry and beautiful.

Diana Nyad two years ago swam from Havana to Key West. A first! She has since become an integral part of our community. She loves us and we love her.

Now comes Ben Hooper. His game plan is to swim from Africa to Brazil. A bit of a long trip. He is spending a month in Key West training. We have it all. Calm seas, rough seas, and sharks. He is training six days a week at the Community College lagoon.

He says the trip will take three months. He will be in and out of the water. Twelve hours a day in, the remainder in a boat. It is described as an assisted swim as opposed to the one Nyad accomplished. Of course, she only had to swim 90 miles rather than almost 2,000.

I admire Hooper. I also think he is crazy. What he is attempting is not my cup of tea.

I love Oreos. Who does not! I mention Oreos for two reasons. The first is that the cookie was introduced on this day in 1912. The second has to do with my diet.

I am now at 36 pounds lost. Stalemated again! Just as at 27 and 30 pounds.

My Louis conceived diet includes Oreos. For real! Not to pig out on. One to four a day. Some days not at all.

When I started  this diet, 20 pounds was my goal. I then extended it to 30. Now 40. I suspect I will continue to lose even after I reach 40 and end the formal diet. The reason simple. For the first time in my life, I believe I have truly changed my eating habits. We shall see.

My doctors are thrilled with my weight loss. The diet also when it has been explained to them.

If all works out, I may write a book titled The Key West Diet. Has to be a best seller!

I received a comment to this blog on WordPress today. From a Sharon in Oklahoma. I am not sure yet who she is. I suspect a love from long ago. It would be nice.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

RESEARCH

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A considerable amount of my time is spent researching. For everything I do. KONK Life column, blog talk radio show, the daily blog, and for the books in process I am writing. I enjoy/love doing it!

Permit me to briefly share what goes into the weekly KONK Life column as an example.

First, I need a topic. A subject to explore. I search for the generally unknown. Also for one that appeals to me personally. When a topic crystallizes, I search the internet for further information.

The unfortunate thing is that after I give the topic the internet run, it turns out not to be as I thought. So it is back to searching for a topic again.

I am supposed to have the column into KONK Life by wednesday each week for publication the following wednesday. It is thursday this week and I do not have a column yet. It could take me through sunday. The two items I thought had appeal fell apart upon research. I am still looking. I fear not. Something always comes up. Like a bolt out of the blue!

A good chunk of my yesterday was spent researching.

The only break was a walk once again at Home Depot.

Last night was Don’s Place. I stopped in around six. Don, David and John at the bar. I sat with them. The chatting continued for more than two hours. First with all three. Then we lost David. John followed soon thereafter. It was Don and me till Larry showed up. The three of us finished the evening..

A good time out. Pleasant company. Many things discussed. One of course was bocce. We play tonight. Our team has started with a bang. We are 8-1. The team we play tonight is 9-0. The opposition is a good team. Better than us. We have had experience with them. They beat us the last two times we played.

It will be an interesting evening.

Syracuse plays its final game of the season saturday. Against North Carolina State. Both teams are 18-12. Should be a good game.

Have to hustle. A haircut appointment with Lori this morning.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

POPE INNOCENT VIII, CATS, AND BUBONIC PLAGUE

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Back better, but not there yet. Going to take a few more days. Lip the same. Black eye blacker.

Actually, I feel good except for the back.

I put together this week’s KONK Life column yesterday. Off and on. Could not sit in one position too long. I opted for lighter material. The world is heavy and my columns have been heavy lately. Enough. This week a bit of humor. The Minie Ball Pregnancy.

My bocce team did well thursday night. Won 2, lost 1. We are now 8-1 for the season. Best start ever!

Not only was I absent, so were Don, Norm and David. Don was in California for his sister’s wake. Norm had some minor surgery earlier in the week. David only was available for two  games. He had to be at work for the third. His company is doing some runway work at the airport which can only be done night time.

There is a Catholic archbishop in California raising hell with the Church’s position on such things as abortion, gay marriage, etc. The usual. He has imposed some severe rules on lay persons teaching in Catholic schools. Even those not Catholic. I view his actions a step too far.

Ergo, I was searching the internet for situations where the Catholic Church did something wrong which resulted in pain and suffering to many. I am not referring to the Inquisition which speaks for itself.

Witchcraft was in vogue from the 1200s through the 1600s. The Catholic cry was to get rid of the witches. They were the Devil’s representatives on earth. Good people were burned at the stake.

Cats got involved. Witches and cats go together. In 1232, Pope Innocent VIII declared cats diabolical, associated with the Devil.

That was it for cats. They were executed in large numbers. Very few, if any, cats were around for 400 years.

Cats are the #1 rat predators. Without cats, the rat population flourished. Rats were the ones that spread the bubonic plague aka black death.

It took 100 years for the effect of the slaughter of the cats to be felt. Europe experienced its first bubonic plague outbreak in the early 1330s. Three more thereafter. It is estimated 50 million died. The number represented 50-60 percent of the world’s population at the time.

All because a Pope assumed cats were evil.

Proof again that even the Catholic Church can err.

Enjoy your Sunday!

THE WEATHER

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Number one news item the past few days unquestionably has been the weather. The whole eastern side of the U.S. is experiencing abnormal weather. Even we lucky people who live in Key West.

It dropped to 49 degrees during the night. Cold! I repeat something I have said before…..I need a woman to sleep next to me. It has been suggested, if not a woman then a dog. Who knows?

It is 53 as I write this morning. The high will probably be in the mid 60s. Today and tonight only minimally better. Saturday, a return to normal. The projection is for 76 degrees.

A cruise ship was required to avoid Key West yesterday because of high seas.

Bocce last night was played in a freezer. Not a refrigerator. It was 55 degrees. Blasts of cold weather were constant off the Atlantic. The coldest I have been in Key West.

I dressed for it. Long pants, a shirt and socks. Plus my leather jacket. The jacket is worn and old. Purchased it more than 20 years ago. Took care of the upper body. Not my legs and head. I was wearing a hat.

I discovered my body warmed up when I was playing.

We won all three games. We are now 6-0 for the season. A terrific start!

Good friends on the other team. Angus and Brenda from Schooner Wharf and Nate from Don’s Place.

My mind went back as I was sitting at bocce. Probably because of the cold. I remembered when I was young. Like 7 or 8 years old. Every time I got out of bed in the morning, the wood floor was freezing cold. My father would dramatically reduce the heat at night.

I was required to wear long johns in the winter. Clothes dryers were not invented yet. Or perhaps we could not afford one. So my mother used to hang the wash outside on the clothes line to dry. When taken in, the log johns were stiff as a board. Visualize it. From the waist to the ankle, flat like a pancake and hard. Cold, of course. I had to push and repush with my feet to get the long johns on.

Diana Nyad still in Key West. A welcome guest! She is performing in a one woman show which covers her life with emphasis on her successful swim from Havana to Key West in 2013. The show opened last night and continues through sunday.

Jenna tonight. We are having dinner together.

Enjoy your day!

KEY WEST CEMETERY

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I find cemeteries a turn on. History has always intrigued me. I took to walking through cemeteries at an early age and reading tombstones. There was a lot of history to be learned.

The Key West Cemetery is interesting. From sailors who died when the USS Maine was blown up in Havana Harbor to the smart Key Wester who had inscribed on his tombstone: I told you I was sick.

This saturday, the Key West cemetery is offering escorted tours. The guides will explain the significance of certain graves. If you have not already, I suggest you take the tour. I have been through the cemetery twice with a guide and several times alone. Each time I discovered something new.

Call it global warming. Call it climate change. Whatever, it gets worse not year by year, but season by season. The abnormal amount of snow in the northeast. Now, this minus zero cold streak.

The freezing storm up north began to be felt in Key West last night. Temperature during the night about 60. Wind  blowing big time. The palm trees blowing one way. From north to south.

Today the high is 60. Tonight 50. Tonight, bocce. It will be in the mid 50s with a cold biting wind coming in off the Atlantic. I am tempted to stay home. However when I was a Key West golfer, I learned that “men” always show up to play regardless of the weather. I will be a man tonight.

Larry Smith, Christine Cordone and Kathleen Peace headed what I assume was a great show at the former Wine Galley last night. I had intended to go. Jenna was my date. I called her monday and cancelled. My excuse, I could see from the weather reports that it was going to be very cold. Social events do not have the same status as sporting ones. Manliness not an issue.

Missing Larry provided the opportunity to watch the Syracuse/Louisville game. Syracuse won 69-59. A good game all around. Syracuse pulled away in the last 5 minutes to win. The victory was the first time this season Syracuse has beat a top 25 team. Louisville was ranked #12.

My KONK Life column this week is titled What Recovery? It hit the stands yesterday. This morning, it was posted on my Key West Lou site. If KONK life is not available to you, you can find it there.

ISIS is sick! Beheadings, burying people alive and burning people to death. Now a new form of sickness. ISIS is a money making machine. The leaders are aware that big dollars are required to run their organization. ISIS is now selling body organs. Removed from captured men, women and children. Many times without anesthesia. Doctors are recruited to do the operations. If a doctor refuses, he is killed.

Body parts like hearts, livers and kidneys bring big dollars on the international black market. $100,000 to $150,000 is not uncommon.

I received two comments this morning relating what is happening to 1939. One was regarding economics. The other ISIS burnings. A relevant quote…..”It’s 1939 again. Hitler is back and he’s a  Muslim. From killing people in ovens to burning them in cages and trucks.”

Enjoy your day!

BOCCE RETURNS

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Tonight is the night! The start of a new bocce season. I am excited!

It will be cold. Last night the temperature fell into the high 50s. While playing tonight, it will be in the mid to high 60s. The bocce courts are across the street from the Atlantic Ocean. A cold biting wind will be coming off the Atlantic. Long pants and sweatshirt time. Some players will even wear gloves.

I was chatting with someone who plays last night. He described bocce night as a cocktail party for 120 people. He is correct.

This week’s KONK Life is on the stands. Pick up a copy. My column this week is titled NFL Tax Exempt. You will find interesting how the NFL received the tax exemption by law back in 1966.

I watched Syracuse beat Boston college last night. 70-56. Watched the game at Don’s Place with Dan. Last night was not a test. Boston College is in last place in the ACC. Saturday’s game will be a test. Duke.

Kankakee, Illinois. Who ever heard of Kankakee? A little town south of Chicago. I heard of it for the first time when I met Cheryl and Roger here in Key West. Their home town is Kankakee.

E-Blast has an interesting article this morning mentioning Kankakee. There is a song about the New Orleans train which started its trip south from Kankakee. The song was made famous by Arlo Guthrie.

Mick Kilgos is an off and on Key Wester and famous musician in his own right. He is familiar with the song, Guthrie and Key West musical lore. He is in Key West at the present time.

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the Tyson/Douglas heavyweight championship fight in Tokyo. Tyson was undefeated. Douglas a nothing. The odds were 42-1. Douglas knocked Tyson out to become the heavyweight champion. The first time Tyson was defeated, the first time he was knocked out.

Douglas was Rocky. Except that he lost the title in his very next fight.

Haircut this morning. Have to hustle. It is amazing. My hair cuts seem to have become more frequent as my hair becomes less and less.

Enjoy your day!

 

HARRY TRUMAN…..HE KEPT THEM HONEST

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In the annals of Key West history, Harry Truman was one of the greats. He left his mark on Key West.

Truman made 11 trips to Key West for a total of 175 days. Truman’s vacation home, his rest and relaxation spot. While in Key West, Truman stayed at the Commander’s quarters on the Naval Base. Today that building is the Little White House.

This day in history, February 10, had special significance in Truman’s life. It was 1941. World War II had not yet begun. Concern had, however. Concern for the European War and the thought of many that we might soon be involved. Roosevelt and Congress created a law appropriating $10.5 billion to bolster our defenses.

On February 10, 1941, a little known Senator from Missouri rose and made a speech concerning profiteering, favoritism, corruption and waste with regard to defense contracts. His words were tough. He exclaimed that cheating on price and quality was no different than being a draft dodger.

The man was Harry Truman.

The speech skyrocketed Truman to prominence. A Committee was formed to oversee defense spending. Truman was made Chairman. He served on  the Committee till elected Vice-President in 1944. He was a hawk. He oversaw defense spending as you would have expected. Those who cheated were severely treated.

Strange, no one seems to confront defense spending abuse today as Truman did. In reality, we have no one watching how our money is spent.

I spent the better part of yesterday working on my blog talk radio show. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. The shows airs tonight at 9 my time. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou. Join me.

The world we live in is in frequent turmoil. Each week surprising and sometimes shocking developments arise. I bring a few to your attention.

Valentine’s Day is saturday. Time for flowers and candy for the one we love. Not just flowers and candy any more. Roach naming is in vogue and has been since 2011. I am referring to cockroaches. The details tonight.

Other topics include the NFL being tax exempt, Germany and Greece in a fight to the death, Greece’s new government very casual in their dress even for high level government matters, Venezuela running out of condoms, taking cell phone pics up a female’s skirt Constitutionally protected, the man who needed to break a $100 bill and won a $20 million lottery, and more.

My bedroom is done! Finished yesterday. I am very pleased with the final result. Will share some pics with you soon.

The room was redecorated on the cheap. Pier 1, Office Max, Ross, Rooms to Go, and Home Depot. Threw a few paintings on the walls. Voila! My new bedroom!

Boston the new snow capital of the world. I have not seen snow in 8 years. I do not miss it.

Bocce starts thursday. I am excited!

Enjoy your day!