SU DAY

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Syracuse, my Syracuse!

Scott Shafer, the football coach, got fired. I hate to see anyone canned. However, he has been making bad decisions. Especially in the Clemson and LSU games at times when the chance to win existed.

His major achievement was in recruiting. If Syracuse becomes successful in the next three years, it will be because of Shafer’s recruiting.

He has one year left on his contract. He has agreed to coach the last game of the season saturday against Boston College.

This is overlap time. Basketball season has started.

Syracuse plays Charlotte today in the Bahamas. Part of the Battle for Atlantis Tournament. Syracuse favored by 14 points. The game is at 2:30 on ESPN2.

I will be watching the game, of course. However, I will have to take a break at 3. The KONK News interview I do fridays will be recorded at 3 this afternoon for airing friday. I am not available friday.

I will be interviewed re this week’s KONK Life column Muslim Refugees…..No.

My blog talk radio show Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou aired last night. A topic that garnered considerable comment had to do with what I described as the unknown Thanksgiving story. Thanksgiving not the way we know it, have been taught to believe. Surprising. Too long to spell out here. For another day and format.

The blog talk radio show is linked to my Key West Lou website where you can listen to the story in detail any time. keywestlou.com.

The Keys History section in this morning’s Key West Citizen commented on the Keys/Key West visit in 1952 by Princess Martha of Norway and her two daughters. Princess Martha came up in my research for Sexual Tales of Old. Sex being  common place, I overloaded with instances to report. Due to space and wanting to report instances several hundred years back in history, I left the Princess Martha story out.

I briefly share it with you today.

Martha was first the Princess of Sweden where she was born. She married Crown Prince Olav of Norway, thereby becoming Princess Martha of Norway.

The Princess and her family escaped Nazi occupation during World War II. The Princess and children went to live in the U.S. The Crown Prince, England.

The Princess and President Franklin D. Roosevelt were good friends. Before World War II, the families were close. During the war, the Princess and FDR had a full blown affair. She had access to the White House and Hyde Park. She would visit when Eleanor Roosevelt was away. She referred to  Roosevelt as Dear Godfather.

Roosevelt was disabled. Confined to a wheel chair most of his adult life. Apparently not sexually disabled. The President had five affairs/relationships from the time he was Governor of New York till the time he died.

The Chicago video recently released is shocking. The police officer was correctly indicted for murder.

The black victim was 10 feet away and moving away from the police officer. He was carrying a 3 inch knife.

From the time the police officer arrived till the shooting ended, the police officer was at the scene 30 seconds. He shot 16 bullets at the victim in 13 seconds. The victim was on the ground after the second shot.

Chicago paid the victim’s family several months ago $5 million. Paid without a lawsuit being instituted.

My criticism of the process is that it took more than a year for the police officer to be indicted. If the situation were reversed and the police officer shot, the black man would be indicted in 48-72 hours.

Not equal justice.

Tripped onto an article yesterday re germs on airplanes and in airports. Not the bathrooms in planes. They are relatively clean because they are frequently sanitized.

The table trays the worst. Rarely cleaned. Running a close second, the drinking fountain button in airports.

Many other germy areas. None close to the degree of germs found on the trays and water fountain buttons, however.

Enjoy your day!

 

KEY WEST ALOE

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On this day in 1971, Frank Romano and Joe Liszka opened the Key West Aloe store on Front street. They called it Key West Fragrance & Cosmetics. However, the shortened Key West Aloe took hold and the store became so known.

I initially disliked the store. A woman’s place! Perfumey! Too pretty! Over a period of time, the very essence of the room captured me. I would enjoy entering just to walk around breathing in the sweet aromas and enjoying the subtle colors of everything..

I never got to know Frank Romano. I do have a large Jack Baron painting of him. Bought it at a charity auction many years ago.

I was fortunate to get to know Joe Liszka the last couple of years. A nice guy. Great sense of humor.

Now both gone. As is their Front Street store. Frank and Joe sold out many years ago. The new owners over the passage of time closed the sales store on Front Street and the factory on Green Street.

Stopped at Publix yesterday. Just to pick up a few things. The wrong time. Packed! Thanksgiving shoppers! A lot of stop and go in the aisles. Each crowded.

Publix had to have had a good day. The carts overloaded with holiday goodies.

Spent yesterday afternoon preparing for my blog talk radio show tonight. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Nine my time. A quick hard hitting half hour. Join me. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

One of the topics tonight will be excerpts from this week’s KONK Life Column. Muslim Refugees…..No. I go beyond the terrorist issue. I go where France, Britain, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands are today. They have accepted Muslim immigrants in large numbers the past several years. Their experience is lesson enough to close the door to these refugees.

Before you accuse me of being anti-Muslim, uncharitable and un-American, read the column which publishes tomorrow in KONK Life.

Other topics tonight include a couple of Trump items. His approval of waterboarding and the media capitulating to his rants. Some little known facts thrown in about Thanksgiving. Not nice. And more.

Winter is moving into Key West. The nights are chilly. Around 70-72. There was a chill in the air this morning when I went outside to get the mail. The days are warm. Around 78 degrees. No humidity.

Perfect weather from my perspective.

My annual physical this afternoon. Dr. Jackie Lefferts will be prodding me.

Syracuse’s football season ongoing. Syracuse plays Boston College saturday. Boston College a three point favorite.

I am not sure where the game is being played. Obviously every other year in Boston. For years, I made the trek with several other couples for the game. A fun weekend. Though always cold. We dressed appropriately for the games. Hats and gloves included. An outdoor stadium.

We usually stayed at the Harborside or Harborfront Hotel. Lovely. Ate well, partied well.

A must for at least one meal was the Sail Loft Restaurant. On the water. Not fancy. Fresh Maine lobsters to die for. Great fried clams.

Has the Reply problem been corrected? I know it has for some. I want it to be for everyone. If any of you are still having a problem, write and let me know at louispetrone@gmail.com.

Editing blog to add: Great White shark seen off Marathon.

Enjoy your day!

INTERESTING SUNDAY

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I live in Key West time. Words made famous by Howard Livingston. I go with the flow. Never quite sure what I will be doing each day. Never disappointed by how the day works out.

Yesterday was a Key West day. Knew I had to get the daily blog out. Then write this week’s KONK Life column. The column took me six hours. Controversial. I titled the column Muslim Refugees…..No. Not so much because of the terrorist thing. More because they want to take over once they arrive. Everything must be their way.

Guaranteed interesting!

It was close to 5. What now, I thought. Showered, shaved and headed out to Kate Miano’s Gardens. The best Key West venue early sunday evenings.

I only stayed a half hour. Enjoyed the music. Said some hellos. Suddenly, I was bored. I like to meet new people. Generally do at the Gardens. Last night, not.

Stopped at the Chart Room for a drink. Turned out to be a good idea.

Victor bartending. They say bartenders know everything. Victor does. He is an intellectual. For real. He gave me a political philosophy book to read several months ago. I could only get 50 pages into it. Too heavy for me. Not for Victor though.

Victor sent a comment/observation into the Key West Citizen’s Citizens’ Voice. It ran sunday. The first one listed.

Rents and rental property availability crucial issues in Key West today. Victor brought up military housing. Most military opt to live off base. When they do, they qualify for a housing allowance. Around $2,000 a month.

Victor believes the housing allowance amount is a contributing factor to high rents. The government setting the amount. He also believes that the military use of housing takes rentable properties off the market, thereby contributing to higher rents. Not enough rental properties available.

While chatting away with Victor and some tourists, a relatively young couple came in. Thirtyish. All over each other. The male said they were merely friends and were waiting for their spouses who were still upstairs. They then went to the bar along the window. I glanced over. The male was sitting on a stool with his legs open. The female with her posterior backed into his you know what. Laughing. Obviously enjoying themselves.

The spouses came in a little later. Beaming. Explained to all they were not married to each other. Their spouses the ones at the window bar.

What a country America! What a place Key West! I am 80 years old. This is the first time I have seen public swinging inference/activity.

Time to eat. Hot Tin Roof across the street. A couple of weeks since I had been there. Ate lightly. Mac lobster and cheese and asparagus. A healthy combination!

A new bartender. Matt. He reads my KONK Life column. I was thrilled! He especially enjoyed last week’s Sexual Tales of Old. The Julius Caesar part the best. He said he also enjoyed Hemingway’s First Love written several weeks ago.

Keep reading me, Matt! Love people who take the time to read what I write.

Weather looks good today. A bit cool this morning. Around 72 degrees. Wind strong. Twenty plus miles an hour. Palm trees bending a bit. Ocean water very bumpy and moving fast. I would not want to be out on a boat today.

The Studios of Key West is opening a bookstore. First floor on the corner of Eaton and Simonton. To be called Book & Book. Apparently a chain. My understanding is that Studios will own it, however.

I love book stores. Especially those with comfortable chairs. I hope Studios puts a few in. I loved going to Borders and reading a couple of hours some afternoons. Borders probably went out of business because people like me were free loading. I read much, bought little.

Enjoy your day!

 

RAINED OUT

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The bocce playoffs were rained out. They have been rescheduled for next weekend.

A disappointment.

Don called around noon to say out 3 pm start time had been moved up to 6. They were trying to dry out the courts. Mother Nature did not cooperate. It rained heavy in the afternoon also.

All was not lost. Now I had time to research this week’s KONK Life column. It will be a step beyond the terrorist fear.

Muslims in European nations have failed to assimilate. They do what they want. Even to having their own court system. The governments of these nations turn away. They do not want trouble.

The media fails to tell us of these things

I fear the assimilation problem ultimately is greater than the terrorist one. It is based on a desire to take over governments.

You will find the subject matter interesting. I will be writing the column this afternoon.

Bocce was not the only thing that left me disappointed yesterday. I stayed home to watch the Syracuse/Elon game at 7. Could not get it on TV. And I generally get everything. The game apparently not that important.

Syracuse won 66-55. No big deal. Syracuse was playing a non-entity school. Syracuse was losing 39-37 in the second half when it went on a 21-6 run.

Next game wednesday. Play Charlotte in the Bahamas in the Battle for Atlantis.

The rain left many streets flooded. It is not merely that the sewers cannot take the extra rain flow, higher ocean levels now come into play. Streets not before flooded are now flooded. Like Truman and Flagler. The water being ocean contains salt. Not good for cars. I am not referring to the bodies. The engines themselves are in danger if salt water gets in.

Dave Talpasz till recently was the Manager of Tavern ‘n Town. He also recently was designated Marriott’s 2014 Restaurateur of the Americas. A big deal.

Spottswood Management owns and operates Key West Marriott and two other facilities in the Keys. Spottswood Management has promoted Talpasz to Corporate Director of Food and Beverage Operations for all facilities.

A major step up. Dave is well deserving. Highly competent. A good personality. I also compliment Robert Spottswood for making the choice. Robert is a quality person who can recognize the quality attribute in another.

Keys History this morning mentions that on this day in 1964, direct dial long distance phoning became available. Seems like yesterday. I remember. A big deal. I was four years in the practice at the time.

I also recall when few homes had phones. We did not have one for years. The corner grocery store did. My parents would call from that phone.

I recall also that our first phone was a four party line. Which meant three other households were tied into your line. If you heard voices speaking when you picked up the phone, one of the other parties was using it. You had to wait.

Then we had a two party line. Finally, our own line. My parents were thrilled!

Getting back to long distance calling before the direct dial hook up, if you wanted to make a long distance call you had to speak to the operator. You gave her the city and number and she did the dialing.

Who would ever have thought back then that some day we would be carrying our phones in our pockets and basically could call and receive calls anywhere.

Enjoy your Sunday!

ALL BUT THE HORSE

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I was at the bar at Tavern ‘n Town last night engrossed in the newspaper and sipping a drink. I suddenly sensed something/someone next to me.

She was lovely! Decked out in cowboy hat and boots. A leopard sundress in between.

She looked familiar. She kept smiling. Finally, I said I know we’ve met but I can’t remember where or when or your name.

She laughed and nodded her head to someone further down the bar. Then it came to me. Joyce and Bill. We had met at Tavern ‘n Town a month ago. Joyce lives on Cudjoe and Bill Sugarloaf.

They invited me to join them for dinner. We had a very good time! An excellent evening!

Bill is a Penn State grad. We discussed why Penn State stopped playing Syracuse in football years back. His version, the Penn State version, I had never heard.

The evening was filled with laughter and good talk.

Began yesterday with the anti-gravity treadmill. Body Owners a great place. They make bodies work again. Jenny takes good care of me.

I had to hurry home afterwards. My friday interview on 104.9 radio. I am questioned re the KONK Life column I write each week. Sex Tales of Old easily handled. Interesting stories about how sex impacted the lives of certain historical figures.

Had a doctor visit later in the afternoon. Then stopped at Sq. 1 for a drink. Jason bartending. It was happy hour. Food looked great. Drinks cheap. Beefeaters $4. Anywhere else, $10-12. I recommend the place.

Bocce playoffs begin this afternoon at 3. If we win, we play again at 5. If we win again, we play tomorrow.

May the gods be with us!

The whole scenario exciting! A festive occasion. Colorful sun tents for the players. Hamburgers and hot dogs for the players. People come to watch. Bring the kids and babies along. Blankets strewn about. Coolers with food and drink. Everyone having a good time.

Because of Paris, security in the lime light again.

Read an interesting item re airport security this morning. The Department of Homeland Security announced that 73 TSA airport employees are on the terrorist watch list. All approved for access to secure areas.

What the hell is going on? Doesn’t anyone pay attention to these things?

Syracuse basketball tonight. Syracuse plays Elon. Never heard of them. We are expected to win big. 16.5 point favorite. Game at 7. Bocce should be over by then. I  will be watching.

Enjoy your day!

 

SECOND PLACE!!!

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What a night!

It was the last night of the regular bocce season. We thought we would end up third for the season. If we played badly, fourth. If we played well and the number two team screwed up, we had a chance at second place.

We did good. Won all three games. The number two team lost two. All of a sudden, we were in second place!

Exciting!

Never been there before. We have had a couple of fourth and fifth place finishes. This season, the best ever.

The playoffs start tomorrow. Top five teams from all four leagues. Twenty teams competing. Because of our high finish, we draw a bye for the first round.

We play at 3 tomorrow. If we win, we then play at 5. Have to win both matches tomorrow to go on to the sunday games.

We won decisively last night. 16-7, 16-7, and 16-8.

I played terrible. Worse than that. Only one good shot. The last one I threw. Interestingly, it was the one that won the game. My partner Keith carried me the whole way.

New pictures for AlterG yesterday when I went to do the anti-gravity treadmill. Much better. My gut does not show.

5 Guys for lunch. Stayed a couple of hours reading the newspapers.

I will be on the radio today. Interview time 12:15-12-30. I will be answering questions about this week’s KONK Life column Sex Tales of Old. 104.9. I am becoming the Dr. Kinsey of Key West. Not really. My stories are from older times and not of a personal nature.

My Sex Tales of Old column appears in this morning’s KONK News. It also was linked to my Key West Lou website this morning. keywestlou.com.

College Road power poles down all day yesterday. More work today.

There was much discussion at bocce last night about the poles being down. One of the players works for Keys Electic. We all thought the poles were cement. Looked cement in the newspaper yesterday. We were all wrong. They were wood.

WordPress continues to be a problem. I believe you are all receiving this blog. However commenting might not be doable. One of the sections fouled up. Someone please write me a Hello Louis comment so I will know whether the blog is receiving.

Sloan still working on the problem. I suspect it will be late saturday or sunday before it is corrected. Sorry.

Enjoy your day!

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

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Four score and seven years ago…..

Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address on this day in 1863. The speech less that 300 words took less than 4 minutes to give.

We all learned in school that Lincoln wrote the speech on a paper bag with a pencil while riding the train to Gettysburg. Some say the paper bag was really the back of an envelope.

Both incorrect.

Historians are generally agreed that Lincoln started writing his speech two weeks before he gave it. He worked on it daily.

The paper bag tale is similar to Betsy Ross having sewed the firs American flag.

Recollections of Gettysburg at the time Lincoln gave the address generally leave out the condition of the battlefield. Strewn with rotting horse carcasses.

I did my thing on the anti-gravity treadmill yesterday. Love it! Invigorates me. Each time I finish, I feel I have accomplished something.

AlterG wants pics of Jenny and me. Jenny wanted pics of me on the treadmill with her standing next to me. We did two. They went ou without me seeing them. Saw them last night. No way can they be used! I know I am big. However no where as big as the photos make me appear. Jenny does not know it yet, but we are redoing the picture taking this morning.

The pics will be part of AlterG’s national advertising. They will lose business if they print a pic of me with a huge gut!

Walgreens for prescriptions followed by lunch at Harpoon Harry’s. Ham and eggs. Harpoon Harry’s has the best eggs anywhere. Light. No where else have I enjoyed eggs as I do at Harpoon Harry’s.

Don’s Place last night. Chatted with Don, David, Keith , Toni and Larry Smith. Bocci the topic. Nothing else.

Tonight the last league night. We are presently in third place. Can end up in second. Though I doubt it. Could be fourth. No worse.

Whatever, we will be in the playoffs. The playoffs are saturday and sunday. A long weekend of bocce ahead.

Don, Larry and I then headed to La Te Da. We wanted to see the new inside bar. Wow! Beautiful. Different. The bar I knew for 25 years gone. A new and different one in its place. I can handle the change.

We ate at the outside bar. Tonto bartending once again. I have known Tonto for 20 years.

Two telephone polls down on College Road yesterday. Traffic screwed up all day. A truck hooked into the overhead wires and unknowingly continued driving.

One thing I do not understand is why the poles toppled. The one pictured in this morning’s Key West Citizen shows the top third of one poll hanging. The top third. The polls are concrete. Hurricane polls. I am surprised the one in the paper snapped.

I had a hair appointment with Lori later this morning. Cancelled it. The nickel sized growth the doctor cut off my head is still healing.

Read yesterday that the average cost of a gallon of gasoline is $2.15. We are at $2.49 in Key West. Just once in my life I would like to buy gasoline somewhere at the average price. It does exist. People who drive to Key West from the north country always talk about it. How cheap gas was during the trip.

An interesting article in the Wall St. Journal yesterday. The Koch brothers have a sort of Pac called Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce. Freedom Partners contributed $129 million last year in order to assure Republican control of the U.S. Senate.

The same group is presently raising $899 million for the run up to the 2016 Presidential and Congressional elections.

Is this the way to influence elections? I think not. Nor is it healthy for the country.

WordPress still screwed up. Sloan working on it. You are having trouble commenting. Please be patient.

Enjoy your day!

CITIZENS’ VOICE

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The Key West Citizen at page 2 prints the Citizens’ Voice each day. A place where readers can complain about anything and everything.

A comment this morning: “On Big Pine, the Key deer are endangered, but in Key West the locals are far more endangered. Enough!”

My good friend Sheila Cullen is responsible for the column. It is her responsibility to sift through the many comments received and select those she deems worthy of publication. She takes her job seriously.

As Sheila constantly tells me, she tries to select both sides of an issue for print. I smile each time. She sounds fair and balanced like FOX. Fair and balanced she is. FOX she is not.

I did some background digging re the place where the Paris shootings took place. Bataclan. General consensus is ISIS attacked because of France’s participation in Syria. The Times of Israel suggests another reason in addition. Israel/Judaism.

Bataclan was owned for 40 years by a Jewish family. In 2011, a high member of ISIS is reported to have said, “We plan an attack against the Bataclan because its owners are Jews.”

The group playing at the time of the attack were the Eagles of Death Metal. The group played in Tel Aviv’s Barby Club in July.

The family sold Bataclan in September. They now live in Israel.

Merely sharing.

Fine tuned my blog talk radio show Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou for broadcast last night. I threw in the Bataclan story just shared. I also shared some portions of this week’s KONK Life column Sex Tales of Old. Post show comments indicate the Betsy Ross and Ben Franklin stories the most popular.

KONK Life hits the news stands today. Read my column Sex Tales of Old. A change of pace article. I had to get away from the heavy stuff.

The Comment section of WordPress was buried yesterday with multiple Chinese I don’t know what. Could not translate, so do not know what was said. Turned out to be spam. Sloan cleaned the section up and hopefully we will not be bothered by the problem again.

My evening was busy. Syracuse/St.Bonaventure basketball 7-9. Tuesday Talk at 9. I caught all but the last minute of the game.

Syracuse won 79-66.

I was not impressed with Syracuse the first three quarters. I had bad vibes. A poor basketball season? Syracuse then turned it around with 15 minutes to go. Went on a 34-14 run.

Recognition must be given St. Bonaventure. An excellent team. Especially good for a small school. I was impressed.

Love that Syracuse is now in the ACC. I no longer have to run around town finding a place with a TV carrying the Syracuse game. Every Syracuse football and basketball game thus far have been televised and were available to me in Key West. I watch the games from home and couch.

The Havana Thunder Challenge is having a hard time getting off this week. Winds too strong and waves too high. Three boats left yesterday and made it to Havana. Three more plan on leaving thursday. Nine have withdrawn from the event.

That I am not a fan of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has been obvious. I was unaware till this morning the group was active back in 1966. At that time, the Bishops eliminated the rule against eating meat on friday.

You have no idea the fear imposed on me by the no friday meat rule. I was 7, 8, 9 years old while the rule was in force. Occasionally, I would cheat and have a slice of bologna or something on friday. On saturday, I would stand in line waiting to go to confession scared as hell. In Church! I was afraid of what the priest was going to say to me because of my sin.

My wrongdoing generally ended up in three Our Fathers and three Hail Marys.

Point. The meat thing was a man made rule and could be changed. Much of what the Pope wants to correct/change today involve man made rules. The U.S. Conference of Bishops hold hard in opposition to the Pope’s position.

Wednesday is screw off day for me. My heavy research and writing days are saturday through tuesday. Wednesday, my first day free from responsibility.

Love wednesdays!

Enjoy your day!

 

SYRACUSE BASKETBALL RETURNS

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Syracuse basketball is back! Love it!

Already won one game. Play St. Bonaventure tonight. These early games mean little. The big guys play the little guys in warm up games.

Soon Syracuse will be off to a tournament in the Bahamas. There they play against other competent teams. The tournament provides an early look at the quality of the team.

The Boeheim penalty phase begins with the ACC games. Boeheim is prohibited from coaching the first nine games. He has an appeal pending that may minimize the penalty.

It was back to the treadmill yesterday. The Anti-Gravity Treadmill. I was away a week. It felt good to be on the machine again. There were no problems. My shoulder/ribs held up.

Won something to do with the treadmill. The AlterG “PT of the Month” award.

Jenny is my physiotherapist. She mentioned that AlterG, the manufacturer of the anti-gravity treadmill, had a contest. Needed a letter from the patient as to why using the machine, what was expected to be accomplished, etc.

The competition a national one.

Jenny asked me to participate with her. I agreed. Told her to worry not. We would win.

I wrote about my inability to climb to the top of the Santorini volcano. Actually, a funny story.

The story did it. We won. Won what? A couple of tee shirts and something else. Plus, AlterG will be carrying my submission in its next blog. Together with pics of Jenny and me.

After the treadmill, I was off to Publix. In desperate need of groceries. Surprisingly, Publix was packed. Unusual for a monday.

Yesterday afternoon was spent preparing for tonight’s blog talk radio show. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Nine my time. Join me. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Topics touched upon will include Hillary’s Wall St. comments, the Paris/Bataclan attack, federal government’s fining several major pharmaceuticals for wrongdoing, Germany’s immigration problems causing a member of Parliament to call for compulsory labor, some parts of this week’s KONK Life column including sexual pursuits of Caesar, Columbus, and Ben Franklin. Betsy Ross too, if I have time. Hers one of the most surprising.

Dinner last night at Goldman’s Deli. Desired a pastrami on rye sandwich.

I made a mistake yesterday. I stated voting age was 21. It is not. It is 18 and has been so for many years thanks to the 26th Amendment. What can I say? Sorry. Sometimes I get things wrong. I spend 30-35 hours a week researching and writing. I try to be accurate. Mistakes occur, however.

I thank the reader who brought the error to my attention.

Certain things are not within my job description. Running the country one. I must comment. I am extremely unhappy with Obama’s attitude and decision re taking on ISIS further. Brings to mind the late 1930s when many closed their eyes to German aggression hoping it would go away.

ISIS is not going away. They have to be destroyed. I am with those who think we will be fighting them on U.S. soil if we do not do more. Significantly more.

One of Key West’s loveliest ladies is Holly. Peter Diamond’s Holly. At the Gardens sunday night, she took me aside. She had an article she wanted me to read. Thought it was worthy of comment. Had to do with an unusual amount of seagrass running up onto Atlantic beaches the length of the U.S. She said she would get the article to me.

Her comments made me recall a recent news story that the upper end of Smathers Beach had seagrass out a distance into the ocean.

Researched the situation. The seagrass is called Sargassum. Also known as beach wrack. It is decaying seaweed. Smells like rotten eggs.

Interestingly, seabirds, crabs and certain type insects feed off the seaweed.

Its origination unknown. Some suspect the 2010 Horizon oil spill. The chemicals put into the water at the time.

The creatures that suffer the most are baby turtles. The hatchlings. They cannot reach the water. Confusion big time! Most die.

I am repetitive in the following regard: Key West loves Harry Truman and Harry Truman loved Key West. On this day in 1946, Truman arrived in Key West for his first vacation here. Glad he enjoyed Key West. He returned ten times more. His total time in Key West 175 days

Enjoy your day!

LA TE DA HAS NEW BAR

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Key West is blessed with several excellent publications. One is Conch Color.

I was browsing Conch Color when I came across a La Te Da advertisement. A picture of La Te Da’s new inside bar. Beautiful!

I have not done a late night at La Te Da in months. Some night this week, I will. I am anxious to see what Christopher has accomplished.

My visit may be sad. I enjoyed the old bar for many years. Many memories.

Spent a long time yesterday writing this week’s KONK Life column. Thought it was time for a change of pace. My writings have been on the serious side in recent weeks.

Decided on a sex topic. Wrote Sex Tales of Old. Stories involving Julius Caesar, Christopher Columbus, the early New England settlers, Ben Franklin, Pope Alexander VI, and Betsy Ross.

The column publishes wednesday.

Last night it was Kate Miano’s Gardens.

Kate present. She has not been recently. She was in France. Returned a few days ago. Still fighting jet lag.

Ran into Pati on the way in. We sat together and enjoyed Peter Diamond’s singing.

It was after six when I arrived. Dark. I could not see anyone. If I want to know who is there, I must arrive before the sun sets.

Stopped at Roostica on the way home. Sunday night dinner. Spaghetti with meatballs, sausage and pieces of pork. Covered in a thick red sauce.

Bobby calls it gravy. Some italians do. My people did not. In fact, I never heard sauce described as gravy till Bobby opened his Italian restaurant. I understand New Jersey Italians refer to sauce as gravy.

Bobby just returned from ten days in Rome.

Kate in France, Bobby in Rome. Key Westers know how to live!

Larry Smith entertains tonight at The Little Room Jazz Club. Larry Kripitz on the drums.

Read El Nino is going to cause south Florida aggravation this winter. The experts warn be ready for a wet and wild season. Happening because Pacific Ocean waters will be warmer than normal around the equator.

College student activity at Missouri U. and Kansas U. has resulted in much discussion. Concern, also.

Many have described the protestors as Fascists. For the manner in which they relate to those they oppose/do not agree with.

There was an interesting column in the Wall St. Journal this weekend. The writer discussed raising the voting age to 25. It is presently 21. His opinion was that students were not responsible to vote.

I disagree. I have disagreed also with the 21 voting age. My reason simple. If the under twenty ones can fight for their country such is sufficient reason to give 18 year olds the vote.

Kansas students have initiated a different approach. Instead of asking the school’s president to resign, they demanded that the top three officers in the Student Council resign. By friday. Their own people. Fellow students. If they fail to resign, they have been threatened with impeachment.

The crazies are getting younger and younger. I wonder how their grades are doing. The primary purpose of a university is education. Not displays of public wrath. Especially over bullshit issues.

This morning, I return to the anti-gravity treadmill. I missed all but one day last week. The machine was aggravating my ribs and left side. I still hurt. However, much less. I hope I experience no problems today. The treadmill has become a part of my every day life.

Enjoy your day!