HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers! Happy Mother’s Day to my mother!

My mother has been gone some thirty odd years. I still think of her every day.

I have a large painting of my mother that sits over my desk. I see her constantly. I even talk to her on occasion. I vent.

We had a good relationship. She was retired. I would stop by to see her almost every day on my way home after work. Not for long. Fifteen minutes to a half hour. A bottle of Beefeaters and a glass of ice on the kitchen table. My mother did not drink. The Beefeaters was for me.

We talked about this and that. Rarely important. Just mother/son chit chat.

I miss her.

Hurricane season is around the corner. Begins June 1.

The prediction is the season will be slightly below average. Six hurricanes anticipated. Two which will be major ones.

We have been lucky in recent years. Hurricanes, yes. But they always bent at the last minute and missed us. May that continue to be the case!

Key West Songwriters Festival this weekend. Musicians come from all over. They play just about every bar and location in town.

I walked Duval and the side streets yesterday listening.  Occasionally, stopping. I stayed a while to hear the group playing on Duval in front of Sloppy Joe’s. Then to Smokin’ Tuna. Finally, Margaritaville.

The walk, crowds and heat did me in.  I had anticipated it would. Knew dinner would be at home for me.

I took out one of Fran’s containers of frozen pork sauce in the morning. Left it on the counter to thaw. Last night, I enjoyed stove pipes buried in Fran’s thick red pork sauce. Covered generously with Parmesan cheese.

Ate too much. I did not care. Good was good.

Fran and husband Tom are in Paris for ten days. I e-mailed Fran and told her how great her sauce was.

Some things I do not understand. Like why a toll on US 1. The only road in and out of Key West.

An Islamorada councilman named Mike Forster went to Washington last week to discuss a toll. He favors it. He is pushing it. Why, I do not understand.

US 1 is generally a narrow two lane road for 140 miles. Key West at the southern end. When I go to Hogfish, Roostica, Geiger Key, Square Grouper, Mangrove Mama’s or to visit my Sugarloaf friends, US 1 is involved at some point.

I have to pay to travel 1/2 mile to 20 miles?

Forster is speaking to the issue tomorrow evening at 5:30 at the VFW on the Boulevard. I plan on attending.

This will be a big week for me. Thursday night the Key West Art & Historical Society is sponsoring a talk at Tropic Cinema. An Arlo Haskell speaking. His topic: The former Jewish underground involving Key West and Cuba. 1918-1939.

Charles Krauthammer is a noted columnist for the Washington Post. A conservative.

He wrote in a recent column re the Trump/Comey situation: “The king asked whether no one would rid him of this troublesome priest, and got so impatient he did it himself.” Henry VIII had Thomas More beheaded.

Comey’s firing no different.

History may speak of it as the beginning of the end of Trump’s Presidency.

Reap the Wild Wind was published by Thelma Strabel in 1940. A story of Key West and wreckers. The Saturday Evening Post immediately serialized it.

Strabel used the Saturday Evening Post money she received to build a home in Key West. In 1940, she obtained a building permit to construct a house at 400 South Street.

At the time, she claimed it was the most southern point in the United States.

The home was later demolished and a larger one built on the site. Strabel was long gone from Key West by that time.

Enjoy your Mother’s Day! Enjoy your Sunday!

SMATHERS BEACH COST $1

The Key West Citizen ran an interesting article this morning concerning Smathers Beach. The City of Key West bought the beach property in the 1950s for $1. Florida State Representative Bernie Papy made it possible.

A buy!

All of a sudden I did not feel good yesterday morning. Felt the same all day. Woke uncomfortable during the night. This morning, I am not sure how I feel.

All I did yesterday of any interest was watch the Kentucky Derby.

The Key West Songwriters Festival has once again proven a big hit. Today is the last day of the Festival. I have been reporting more than 100 participants. This morning’s Citizen says 200 plus.

Norm Fowler is a bocce team mate and friend. Intelligent. A graduate engineer. If my memory proves correct, he also has a Masters degree.

Norm has been retired in Key West for years. Into his second home. Follows Key West doings as I do. As most people do.

The Peary Court fiasco bothers him. As it does 99 percent of Key West residents. Norm wrote a Letter to the Editor. It appears on the Editorial Page in this morning’s Key West Citizen.

The letter is opposed to the City Commission’s Plan B. Norm does not merely suggest a bad deal. He spells out factually and numerically why it stinks.

Good job, Norm!

Goofus…..Doofus. My friend Nicky, Nancy. It happens.

This week I have been referring to Trump’s calling Elizabeth Warren a name…..Goofus. Then, I thought I made a mistake. Read somewhere and heard on TV news Doofus. I screwed up again!

Not really.

In the last 24 hours, I have heard heavy TV commentators use Goofus and Doofus. Not sure anyone knows the word actually used. No problem. Both refer to a stupid person.

Trump should enunciate better. We want to be sure he is quoted correctly.

Onward Christian soldiers! Effective today, this blog will also run on Tumblr. Linked.

Enjoy your Sunday!

And lest I forget, Happy Mother’s Day! I almost did forget.

BACK TO BODY OWNERS

Today, I return to my beloved anti-gravity treadmill. At Body Owners. It has been more than three months since I last worked out on the machine.

First, it was a broken toe. Then, chest pains. I plan on starting slow. I am going to let the machine do half the work.

Sunday yesterday was the same as always. I wrote my KONK column. Took a little longer yesterday. I had research to complete. The title: Afghanistan and America’s Heroin Addiction. The problem overwhelming.

What stands out is most are not discussing America’s heroin addiction. Do you recall any of the primary candidates mentioning it?

The column publishes wednesday.

Dinner last night at Roostica. Spaghetti and meatballs. The sauce as my grandmother made it.

I intended to go to Publix afterwards. Absolutely nothing to eat in the house! I was too lazy. Have to get there sometime today.

Big Key West week ahead! The Key West Songwriters Festival. Twenty first year. Wednesday through sunday. More than 100 participants. Singers and music emanating from every nook and cranny. A music lovers delight!

My Canadian friend Suzan Hebditch leaves this morning. One of the items we discussed over dinner friday night was the immigration issue. Suzan believes the U.S. is screwing up. Disgracefully so. Besides her Canadian friends, she is in constant touch with many Europeans. All think we should be doing our part and taking in more immigrants.

I disagreed. This is an unusual group seeking asylum. I believe taking more than the 10,000 projected for this year would throw our lives and economy into disarray. Not a selfish position from my perspective. We have to be concerned for our own first. God bless Germany who is willing to take in one million more.

Sounds like I am American First. Not so. No way. However, I find nothing wrong with being concerned for me, mine, and my country re this point.

Suzan can be emotional. Strong in disagreement. Did everything but hit me.

On this day in 1933, the Loch Ness monster was sighted. Its first modern day sighting. Is the monster for real?

Enjoy your day!