A Feast of a Festival, and It's Gaining National Renown!

Memoirs of a Geezer!

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth 

to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:      More than a Film Festival, It's a Feast of Local and National Prominence!

Magnificent images, outstanding selections! A stunning array of spectacular variety.  We traveled to Istanbul, Iceland, India, China and Iran.  Desert sands and roiling seas, diverse personalities from the Middle East and Africa, cats and the remarkable people who care for them.  Movies!  Films!  An international feast!  They play on our emotions, offer glimpses into fascinating cultures and distinctive ways of living.

When it's over, we feel a sense of loss, as if a good friend has come for a welcome visit and then is too quickly gone.  A full year will pass before it returns to delight us once again.  For

"starters," a kind of appetizer, perhaps, the 2016 Milwaukee Film Festival gave us live action and animated short films for the younger set.  It's become an annual tradition.  We take our grandkids and their parents, gather somewhere for lunch, and then urge the kids to talk about what they liked best, what they learned from or thought about the short films we all just enjoyed.  Bounce was a particular favorite, by consensus!

Sweet Bean!  While it may seem like an English translation of a Japanese exclamation, it's a remarkable film featuring a quietly influential protagonist who molds the story and, in a sense, narrates more positive life choices for the other two principal characters.  And she does it with a beautiful, nearly palpable skill...  and dorayakis to tempt and please the palates of our imaginations.

Keepers of the Game takes viewers to Salmon River High School in upstate New York. This is inspirational filmmaking and storytelling at its very best.  The sport of lacrosse is at its center, as the first all-Native-American girls team makes history, crossing cultural and other formidable barriers to win a championship, recognition and even hard-won funding for their sport along the journey.  An outstanding documentary film!

For one who was based in Turkey
during one's military service, a return
visit to Istanbul -- courtesy of KEDI --
was an added gift of the Festival!  

We waited in a "rush" line, a first for us, but worth the time and effort to re-visit Istanbul and the beautifully photographed KEDI.  The people who care for them, the filming perspectives...  Even if you aren't particularly a lover of cats, this is a gorgeous look at an extraordinary city, its ancient treasures, including its finest assets -- the people who live there.     

Post film-watching conversations with like-minded devotees are a delicious by-product of the festival.  Peter (just to cite an example!) noted how the "aspect ratios" or screen configuration changed between time periods of the epic, Mountains May Depart, a great and at times troubling film that symbolically toys with our notions of freedom.

A beguiling gem from Chinese director Bi Gan, in Kaili Blues we follow Doctor Chen on a circuitous journey that involves trains, cars, boats and motorcycles.  The film includes an intriguing, unbroken 40-minute shot, complex poetry and a dizzying conflation of past, present and future.  Wonderful stuff, even for those of us lost -- or at the very least befuddled -- in the translation!

Nahid -- a strange but interesting film from Iran -- is described as Kafkaesque.   True to its definition, the eponymous character makes illogical and bizarre choices, ultimately designed to retain guardianship of her son.  

"Have you seen 'Rams,' " asks our friend, Alan.  Naturally we had to take the bait, and found a pair of feuding brothers, amid a starkly beautiful Icelandic backdrop, struggling to keep their precious animals from being slaughtered due to a variant of "mad cow disease."  The movie has, at times, a profound sense of isolation encouraged by forbidding mountains that ring their sparsely-populated valley.   Upon reading the brief synopsis, and the names of the brothers -- Gummi and Kiddi -- I puzzled, "What?  Is this a puppet show??!!"  But there's no such whimsey in this grim tale. The brothers reconcile in the end, but perhaps too late as the shivering climax leaves the viewer to wonder.  This was another film that demanded analytical conversation, lots of it! Strange and thought-provoking stuff!

This photo has nothing to do with the
film, Sand Storm (Ref: just above,
right!) But, it's a great picture of four
beautiful grandchildren taken after
a presentation of "Kids Shorts, Size
Medium."  Aren't they wonderful??!!

One more!  Sand Storm from Israel.  Bedouin mother and daughter try to rebel against their repressive, male-dominated society.  In the main, and in the end, it's a story of selfless sacrifice and acceptance of forces too entrenched, too powerful to overcome.  A quixotic fable, maybe? (Just trying to put things into a kind of perspective I might be able to fathom!!)  

For those of us who love travel, a pleasure often limited by the restrictions of economics or work or family obligations (Geezerhood, too, maybe?!), the Milwaukee Film Festival is an opportunity to travel in the comfort of padded theatre seats in conveniently located "spacecraft" (airships, maybe, flying machines, low-speed trains...) -- to wit, the Oriental, Downer, Avalon, Times and Fox Bay cinema houses!   


We love the Festival, and we support it enthusiastically. As members in good standing, we pay what we can on an annual basis in order to enjoy, not only the Festival itself and reduced-cost tickets afforded members, but the "Super Secret Screening," a highlight of each annual event.  And, members can take advantage of the free, monthly member screenings, usually, of outstanding motion pictures, some first-run, some rarely presented in the Milwaukee area, or on a limited basis only. 

A somewhat recent change, the monthly screenings are now shown both at 4:00 pm -- perfect for the Geezer Set, you know, people like me! -- and 7:30 pm, great and welcome options for most members. Members need only respond to Email invitations, and then arrive early to secure seating, picking up awaiting tickets in the lobby of the magnificent Oriental Theatre where the "monthlies" are always shown.  And there's popcorn too...  Wonderful stuff (some would argue nearly indispensable in the movie-viewing experience)! 

"Hey, we're waiting!  Isn't it time for us members to be let in to the theatre?  Come on, now. We've been standing here a long time! Hey, in there!  I could begin chanting at any moment! Let us in!!...  We need sustenance -- Movies!  Popcorn...  Dots, maybe too... Junior Mints...  !!" 

(Special Note of Gratitude:  The perpetrator of this blog posting, on behalf of fellow devotees, extends great thanks to Jonathan Jackson, Kristopher Pollard and the entire cast and crew of Milwaukee Film for bringing to our fine community yet another outstanding Festival.  May we all enjoy a great many more years of this superior and delicious Feast of Filmdom!  Thank YOU!)  

Humbly Submitted, 10-20-16 -- Joel K.      

         







     

  



    

         



      

A Love Affair: More and More Returns to County Door!

Memoirs of a Geezer!

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth 

to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:      Hearts Remain and More Amour in County Door!

Six of us trooped single file, squeezing in to savor the much-awaiting delights of a favorite frozen confection, some drooling in anticipation as we struggled through the already-gathered

throng that glutted the parlor.  Tad, with his quick-wit and well-honed sense of funny, immediately spotted the missing "h" identifying a featured flavor boldly printed on the black board behind the counter. From then on -- this having occurred about three years ago -- Wilson's of Ephraim in Door County has been known affectionately as "Cookie Doug's." Sweetheart craves "peppermint stick" throughout the year in eager anticipation.  Others of us scan the choices and select various different flavors, with oreo and those flavors that include caramel -- "cookie dough" too, of course, often topping the flavor choices "scoops parade."       

Often described as the "Thumb," sometimes equated to seaside portions of New England, it's an imperative annual destination for many summer and fall, even winter!, holiday travelers and vacationers. For those of us addicted to its many pleasures and gorgeous sights, it calls to us, draws us into its welcoming embrace year after year.  Door Country, Wisconsin -- or as I prefer,

"County Door" (homage to Ireland and the Irish, here and there!) -- never fails to excite and delight us, our family, Sweetheart and me.

This year was no different.  We met Julius Caesar and Company at Door Shakespeare's breezy and bucolic out-of-doors setting, biked in Peninsula State Park, picnicked and swam at Nicolet Bay Beach, gorged on ice cream at "Cookie Doug's," had Wild Tomato pizza on the shores of and overlooking beautiful Eagle Harbor, attended a family-oriented play at Northern Sky Theatre...  We even kayaked for the first time ever!  (I think we passed Lewis and Clark, or was it Marquette and Nicolet ??!!  Anyway, we waved pleasantly!) 

When we have an unobstructed choice, we prefer to stay in Ephraim.  Its central location is a plus, and Leroy's Coffee house is the best in the County.  Good coffee is a must, a daily obsession.  And, of course, Ephraim is the home of Cookie Doug!  This year, owing to VRBO

and other factors, we settled on a "Cabin in the Woods" just outside of the town of Egg Harbor. An excellent choice in many ways, but there were a dead moose, I think, and a deceased elk on the walls, their antlered heads poking through the plaster! (Musta' been traveling real fast to escape gunslingers!!)

Restaurants?  Did you ask about restaurants?  Naturally, we have some big favorites.  They include but are not limited to Julie's in Fish Creek (try the brown-rice stir fry and the pork dish that served with a cherry sauce!), Blue Horse, also Fish Creek (billed as a coffee house but with great food as well!), J.J.'s La Puerta in Sister Bay...  If you happen to be obsessed with the

View from the main dining room that
overlooks the Bay at The Shoreline
Restaurant, Gills Rock.  

traditional Fish Fry, you gotta dine at the Shoreline in Gills Rock!  Great View!  Excellent!  Yummy! (Various random reviews from the "Door Chronicle," or an organ of that nature!) 

Can you see the
Deer?  Mid-Photo?

And wildlife!  I mean, there's so much wildlife to be seen and heard.  Sweetheart and I had a delightful interaction with a deer on a country road just north of the heart of Ephraim.  (Hmmm...  heart and hart...  not a bad juxtaposition of homophones, eh?!)  We were ambling along on our daily walk or hike, as one may prefer, and spotted a friendly mama deer with three fawns trailing behind her.  When the fawns were safely ahead, the doe turned to look at us.  I think she gave us a cheerful wink!  Maybe?  We spotted lots of wild turkeys, an owl, hawks and several additional species of birds...  other creatures too, those confined to ground vs. air!  The Mink River Trail! Almost forgot...  it's a great hike, and one of our...  

Sweetheart, at t the End of the
Mink River Trail...  (aka)
Schoenbrunn Nature Conservancy!

...favorite places to see and visit?  Glad you asked!  Cave Point, for example.  Coen loved the sight of the huge swells that morphed into exploding waves in a wildly windy twilight.  Lucy, too, enjoyed the Point, but stood well back from the spray.  I enthralled the grandkids, telling them how my brother and I, as boys, leapt from one of the precipices into the breaking surf at Cave Point.  Don't know if they allow people to do that anymore!?  But I showed them the exact spot from which we dove or leapt.  Other great places for visiting, trekking and traveling:  The Dunes at Whitefish Bay, the Ferry to Washington Island, and the smaller one to Rock Island, Ellison Bay Country Park, where if you brave the steep climb to and from the water's edge, you can enjoy a terrific variety of cairns, even build your own.  And Lighthouses!...  Cana Island, Eagle Bluff, Sherwood Point...! 

The guy behind me had the effrontery
to try to steal my newspaper, at
J.J.'s La Puerta...  We love Mexican
Cuisine and this place particularly!

Sadly, my great friend "L.L." was unable to enjoy the County this season.  As he put it so poetically, "The Door was closed to me this year..."  His family members tend to prefer the Alpine Resort just outside of Egg Harbor.  Down the road a piece is Frank Murphy County Park, where, it is said, John Dillinger took refuge from his usual career choice and the law. (Or was it some other notorious gangland figure?  Where's my book of odd history??...) 

One last note of great importance:  See that picture of "Cookie Doug's," upper right corner?  It was taken by Alie!  I asked her as she was poised to shoot, "Do you need us to get out of the frame?"  A woman nearby, about to enter the parlor, said, "Well, if you want me to...  well, see here!  I'm not with any of you...  I...  (mumble, snerble, grubble, snorg...).  (We missed or can't seem to recall the remainder of her vocalized umbrage! The "mumble words" are a humble attempt!)  Once again, the Door experience, 2016 Edition, was a trove of delight and adventure.  We're already planning next year's return!  

Humbly Submitted, 09-27-16 -- Joel K.

Questions for our Beloved Friends and Readers  (Do we have any??!):

Your favorite restaurant(s) in Door County?

What are your favorite places in the County?

Do you go every year?

Where do you prefer to stay?

What is your favorite place for treats, ice cream, etc.?

What's your favorite place to picnic?

Your favorite place to swim?

Describe some of your favorite Door County Adventures!?

Looking forward to your answers and comments...  suggestions, too, if you like!!

                







  

The Noisiest, Longest Holiday!

Memoirs of a Geezer!

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth 

to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:                      The Noisiest Holiday...  Longest, too! *

For the past 41 years straight, including 2016, this geezer and family have enjoyed the obstreperous celebration at Milwaukee's fabled Lake Front, namely the 3rd of July Fireworks

explosions, sponsored by some financial institution or other.  What a day-long event it is, and has been over time.  We play, we picnic, we sing and dance...  we even cavort! It's a dashedly, wizardly fine time!  Ask anyone!!

Among the joys of the 3rd is the extraordinary diversity of humanity (and possible extra-terrestrial beings) in attendance, endlessly parading back and forth along the various promenades...  sidewalks on the periphery of and within the confines of Juneau Park. Just this past July, I'm certain I saw Darth and Dorothy Vader, for example.  I accosted them,

Darth-y and Dorothy ("Dot") Vader enjoying the
3rd of July pyrotechnics "Noise-a-Rama" at
Milwaukee's famous and fabled Lake Front!

just to convey greetings.  Darthy (that's what I call him affectionately!) told me they'd just come from the annual Death Star Sock Hop, but hoped to retain their anonymity as they enjoyed the evening's pyrotechnics.  I promised not to point them out to the multitude!  (Their children were apparently being minded and babysat by Mynocks and Space Slugs!)  

And there are certain traditions in our family's annual participation that cannot be ignored. The grandchildren, particularly Lucy and Phia, enjoy pasting small stickers or decals to my sunglasses until my vision is completed obfuscated.  The boys, Coen and Sean, enjoy jumping upon my person to see if I can emerge from the event without

Lucy (at top), Hanna (left), Phia
(on Papa's lap), and Papa rendered
sightless by stickers!  Such Fun!

too many bruises and broken parts! Oh, I tell you, it's all a portion of the rich pageantry of this marvelous event.

Speaking of obfuscation, one year the fog was so dense we could but hear the explosions.  We imagined they were quite a spectacle, though they were not visible behind the fog!  One astute person announced, "These are best darn fireworks I've ever not actually seen!"  

The day invariably consists of games -- including "How's Yours?" -- a delightful romp in which a person is sent away while the others select a body part, the object of the ensuing guessing contest.  The "sent-away" party is summoned back and made to ask each participant, "How's yours," until the object body part is correctly ascertained.  (Sometimes the clues and the guesses become a bit ribald, but the fun never stops... happily, the vulgar references most often sail over the crania of the small children in attendance!  Uh, don't they...  What's all that whispering over there??!!)  

There are treats aplenty.  Homemade cookies, crisped rice bars in patriotic colors, various kinds of brownie-style treats, cupcakes.  And fresh fruit, too, of course.  It would be criminal not to enjoy the yummy delights of fresh summer fruit -- strawberries, blueberries, red grapes, kiwis and calabashes!  (Don't tell me you don't include a calabash or two among your July 3rd comestibles??!!)    

This could be an actual image of
discarded furniture, of the type
secured annually by
"Acquisitions Andrew" with
the blessings of "Captain Billy"!
(Photo entitled, "Frayed but
Functional"!)

One of the most anticipated joys of the 3rd Fireworks display is the attempt to find an outhouse with actual paper still available in its holder!  Oh yes, and then there's the outdoor, ersatz living room established by two giants of annual attendance, "Captain Billy" and "Acquisitions Andrew." The latter scours the city in search of discarded furniture that can be gathered up and transported to Juneau Park for the comfort and viewing pleasure of family, friends and visiting dignitaries (such as a certain geezer and his entourage)!

Throughout the years we've started the celebration by "staking our claim" to a portion of the Park, and setting up our enclosure with string and "Do Not Cross" tape coiled around stakes hammered into the earth.  People are remarkably respectful of "staked claims."  The day begins quite early (* hence, the "Longest"!) and ends well after darkness descends.  Immediately following the pyrotechnics, the mad and frenzied exodus begins as thousands gather belongings and trample one another as they rush to parked vehicles, bicycles, horses, mules, buses, space ships and other conveyances in crazed, snarling efforts to be first to reach their modes of transportation without being killed or maimed in the process! We usually wait a bit, and then amble along slowly and respectfully before being knocked down and trampled in the stampede. All part of the rich pageant of... well you get the idea, I'm sure...

Sweetheart, Perpetrator, Alie, Bethie,
Phia, Lucy, Coen (top to bottom, l to r)

Usually, we do not attend a second display of pyrotechnic patriotism on the actual 4th, but this

Susie (at top), Dennis and Carol

year was an exception. Dear friends Dennis and Carol were in town from Nevada staying with our beloved niece, Susie, her spouse, Tom, and children, Tucker and Jack. Both Dennis and Carol have a bit of difficulty with long and arduous walks, hence Susie provides wheeled chairs and human capital to move the pair from parking spaces to the viewing spaces.  Always a rich treat to see and spend time with the aforementioned.  We danced, we sang with Ms. Amy, we oohed and aahed, our senses dazzled once again by the booming and brilliant explosions in the skies above us.

Perpetrator and Susie play Cribbage!
Coen looks on in admiration, possibly!

Each year Sweetheart and I insist we're not going to attend the 3rd of July Explosions, but then our daughter, Alie, insists that we cannot break the tradition.  We relent.  But, there's been a possible concession to our elderly complaints about long hours seated upon the earth, packing up all the stuff that's needed, hauling our wagon full of blankets and coolers and signage (Our Staked Claim and Claim Number!), stakes, a hammer, parking challenges, bicycle riding...  sometimes. We may actually be permitted to arrive at the Park a bit later than our usual quite early "clocking-in" hour.  More time to rest, take a nap maybe, slurp our porridge or gum some soft stuff like mashed potatoes or mush! Well, all in all, it's been a great run at 41 years and counting. We look forward to many more, not to mention cupcakes and mixed nuts, calabashes, cookies...!       

Questions:    1.  What are your favorite memories of the July 3rd Fireworks at Milwaukee's                                    Lake Front, Dear and Noble Reader?
                      2.  Do you barbecue?
                      3.  Do you pack a lunch to bring sandwiches in a cooler?
                      4.  What are your favorite or best treats / desserts that you bring to the event?
                      5.  How many years have you been attending this fine event?

Post Comments Below, as Desired:
 

Humbly Submitted 08-18-16 -- Joel K.

                      

  

   

      

  

Intrepid Geezer... The Quest for Pukeymans!

Memoirs of a Geezer!

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth 

to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:          An Intrepid Geezer and the Quest for Pukeymans!

The intrepid Geezer examines his borrowed smartie phone
in an effort to figure out this Pukeymans game thing!

One likes to be a "now" sort of geezer, in touch with the times, hip, up to date on the latest bits of fads and foolishness.  As such, I went out looking for Pukeymans.  You know, that obsession with finding an imaginary or video-ized pretend character... or is he / she / it a pantomime creature?  Doesn't really matter, I suppose.  I'm on the hunt!

I walk over to the Park all the while staring at my borrowed cellular telephone device.  I start out with a Flippy Phone, but I'm told I have to use a smartie pants cellular device that has the capacity to load apes (simians?)...  um, apps (What does mean, "apps"?).  (People keep correcting me!)  Thusly, I had to borrow or steal a smartie phone thing for the adventure. 

So, I'm walking along staring at the device looking for Pukeymans, and first I walk into a tree. An arborial rodent throws an acorn at my head.  I walk on.  Then I inadvertently walk into a road in which motorists beep and honk and shout obscenities.  I adjust my trajectory!  

Image of an elderly man knocked flat;
not a precise image of the man
described herein, but used here to
illustrate the concept of a 
collapsed elderly man knocked flat!

I return to the Park.  Now I'm walking briskly, hurrying along. I crash into an elderly man whom I don't see as I'm staring at the smartie telecone, uh...  phone.  I knock him over.  He crashes to the earth and begins to mumble unintelligibly.  I offer to contact his next of kin if he'll give me a quarter for the call.  I take his smartie telephone, look under contacts and make a call. 

"Hello."
"Yes."
"Who's this?
"Who's this?" 
"Are you related to an elderly man with a wispy moostache who wears thick eyeglasses, a plaid tunic and bermuda shorts in various shades of orange, green and fuchsia?"
"Who the hell is this?!"
"I just bumped into your loved one who is now lying in a crumpled heap mumbling incoherently."
"Who the hell is this??!!"
"I can possibly give you the coordinates.  Do you have a pencil?  Can you reimburse me for my time?  I got needs!"  
"Who in the hell is this, you blabbering buffoon??!!"

"Dudes!!  I think I found
Pukeymans!"

I move on after stuffing the telephone back into a front pocket of the mumbling man on the ground in the bermuda shorts.  I only extract a quarter.  I'm no thief.  Next, still walking aimlessly whist staring at the smartie telephone screen looking for signs of Pukeymans, I step on the paw of a large dog who's apparently also on the quest. The dog sniffs and then throws up on one of my wingtips.  Another dog, a probable companion of the first dog, disgraces itself on another of my wingtips.  I move on, still apparently no closer to finding the elusive Pukeymans. 

As I walk along in the Park, I spy a youth holding what I think is a cellular device.  I

I don't think the elderly lady rolled
as far as the Lake!

excuse myself and say, "Hey, youth, I can't seem to find Pukeymans on my device. Whadayou think?  Can you help me figure how to do this game thing?" 

Snotty ageist youth kid!

The kid looks at my device and says, "Hey, it aint even turned on, you ridiculous old dope!"
I snatch the device from the kid and retort, "Gimme that, you snot-nosed little gutter snipe!"  

I back up away from the snotty kid; I'm still staring at the cellular smartie phone that allegedly has not actually been activated. I bump into an elderly lady.  She screams and falls over the bluff, rolling and shrieking as she tumbles through brambles and sharp sticks and shrubbery, cursing at me as I watch her roll further along down the precipice. 

"It wasn't my fault...   Pukeymans'es fault!" I shout after the woman, who's now gaining speed as she tumbles.  I turn to look at the gathering, gawking throng of Pukeymans chasers. Some have actually looked up from their devices.   

"Anybody got a rope?"  

Humbly Submitted 08-08-16 -- Joel K.

   

       

Splendid Literary Effort... "And Good Night to All the Beautiful Young Women..."

Memoirs of a Geezer!

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth 

to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:      Um...    Just a Little Reminder about a Splendid Literary Effort...   (What??!! Another Reminder!!!... )    

The Book is Intended For Anyone Interested in Elder and Hospice Care, Caregivers and Potential Recipients alike!!...  Features Coping Strategies for the Care of Someone Suffering from Dementia, Possibly Alzheimer's Disease, along with Complications Arising from the Aging Process....  A Methodology for "Playing Along" on Behalf of a Loved One, a Relative or Friend Coping with the Challenges of Dementia, along with Advancing Age and Disease -- Possibly Someone in YOUR Care!  

Please visit:    www.amazon.com        or        www.barnesandnoble.com  
  
The Book is Available through Either Resource!!

You may even wish to write a REVIEW!  Thank you!  I'll hold...    

Holidays in the Sunshine State... at First, Big Reluctance!

Memoirs of a Geezer!

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth 

to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:     Holidays in the Sunshine State...  at First, Big Reluctance...!

"Flaarider!  You want me to spend an entire week in Flaarider?!"  In mock contempt, the word

is flattened, bent, extruded -- like solid material turned into a length of gutter or a downspout.  I conjure visions of the "beautiful people" languishing on beaches in Miami, or playing "pickle ball" from golf carts in The Villages.  Within the silent confines of my stubborn brain, I'm refusing to go, ever.      

"Do we really want to spend a whole week in Flaarider?"  Again, the mocking version of the word, dripping with derision.  The "er" at the end a dig at New Yorkers who wind up there when they're almost dead. "I may be a geezer," I say, "but I'm not ready for Flaarider!  They have nasty creatures there...  alligators, snakes, women in moo moos, rich guys in flowery tunics with manicured toes!  I won't go!"   

"You'll love it," says Sweetheart.  "Cousin Emma lets us rent her condo at a great price. It's in Cocoa Beach, and it's right on the ocean, with a swimming pool just beneath the balcony that overlooks the Atlantic.  I'll look for cheap airfares and a rental van.  The condo has three bedrooms, a full kitchen, air conditioning.  The village of Cocoa Beach is within walking distance.  You'll love it," she repeats with great emphasis.  "They have a great coffee shop."

"Alright," I say without conviction, "but only this once."  It's been five consecutive years!  The coffee shop in Cocoa Beach -- Juice N Java -- is a major draw for me.  I must have coffee houses in my life.  You purchase one large coffee (at ...Java); in theory, you can spend the entire day refilling your cup... without further remittance.  Now that's a great coffee shop! 

I must admit, I've grown to like and enjoy the destination.  It's what some might call, "Old Florida." Cocoa Beach has a number of small, independent businesses.  Restaurants, surf board shops, art studios, a pizza parlor that, we're reliably told by locals, isn't horrible.  (But you might get an argument from the aforementioned moo moo-clad New Yorkers!) And there's no dense forest of high-rises, those ugly great phalluses scratching at the skies, glutting and scarring beaches in so many oceanside cities.  

Pelicans roost on a
portion of bridge in
Sebastian Inlet!

Bethie and Phia in
Sebastian Inlet
Tide Pool...

On our first venture, five years back, we had a long day of travel, hunger beckoned and we stopped at Brano's, a decent Italian restaurant on A1A, prior to venturing on to the condo.  The waiter was a peach (though "orange" might seem a more appropriate word, it doesn't really fit...  apologies to Georgia Tourism!). He was generous with his friendliness and his tour guide persona. Among the "must-see" destinations he recommended was Sebastian Inlet State Park.  A truly gorgeous place! On one visit, we witnessed pelicans in great numbers diving into the tide pool, fishing, just a few feet, perhaps inches!... from swimmers and waders. The third year we were surrounded by at least a dozen manatees circling us, great gentle creatures like enormous friendly dogs.  With her four-year-old child in her arms, our daughter sang to them.  The manatees were drawn to her, quite possibly mesmerized by the sweet melody and her stillness.  Not as many this year as two years ago!  

We've seen ibis, great blue herons, wood storks, egrets, armies of pelicans, gopher turtles, dolphins, tropical fish...  Wonderful place to "commune with nature" (a phrase my father used with great frequency!).  We've taken dolphin-sighting cruises and one air boat ride in the swampy regions of St. John's river, where some of us spotted at least six alligators!  At one

point, on the Banana River boat excursion, we spotted seven breaching dolphins, an actual pod of them cavorting near the boat, obviously trying to get our attention!  We had a pleasant conversation with those delightful, bottle noses each time they broke the surface for air!  (I must engage a translator next time!...)  Oh!!  Lest one forget...  we also were thrilled to see, both perched and in full flight while passing a small island in the Banana River, a Roseate Spoon Bill.  Absolutely beautiful to behold.  I've even posted a picture (up a bit...  left...  that's it)!  

Beautiful Grandkids Phi Phi (left)
and Seany (he's the one eschews
the giant surf shop, with me!) and
(right) Allegra, the granddaughter /
daughter of great friends who visit
us in Cocoa...  They live in FLA!

Alright, alright!  I'm getting sappy!  I have to say something negative about the place!  I know what it is!!  That giant surf shop on the corner of A1A and Highway 520!  When Sweetheart and our daughter wish to go there, I'm off to the coffee shop with a book and a male child who shares my sentiment...  no book this time; we played "Hangman."     

Exploration Tower (photo, rt.), overlooking Port Canaveral, offers a fine view of locks and ships, tug boats and birds, the ocean as well. The tower is a kind of space and shipping museum, with a bit of surfing lore thrown in for comic relief.  We broke a fancy wine stopper in the gift shop, but they didn't charge us for it, in spite of staff petulance exacerbated (homage to Carol T.!) by sour, snotty attitudes.  We all had a good chuckle about that, and then headed off to Rusty's for a fine, mostly seafood dinner.  Rusty's offers a panoramic view of the Port, and they don't even charge extra (or do they?!!).

Oh, hey, listen...  if you get to Cocoa Beach, you must pay a visit to Cocoa Village, west via

Highway 520 about 5 or so miles.  Charming place, good restaurants, including Ossorio's and Murdock's, both located on Brevard Street. We got pictures, too, even (Ossorio's is the top photo, at right)!! We asked "Captain Quinn" of the dolphin-boat tour.  He was adamant. "You gotta eat at Murdock's.  Great food, good atmosphere. Ossorio's is good, don't get me wrong, but if you've never been there, you gotta eat at Murdocks."  It's one of my favorite's. Absolutely..." We ate at Murdock's.  It was good!  So is Ossorio's. They have ice cream, and it's a bit more family-oriented!  

Book stores?  Visit "Paperbacks" in the self-same Village.  They have the largest collection of books, mainly paperback editions, that I've

ever seen in one place!  And, "Books-A-Million (BAM)" is east of the Village along Highway 520, south side of the road. You know...  it just now occurred to me!  They offer my book though BAM (http://www.booksamillion.com) -- And Good Night to All the Beautiful Young Women...! Isn't that an odd coincidence.  Gee!  That's all I have for now about the Peninsula State.  If you're there in June 2017, we'll see you at Juice N Java.  Thank you, and Good Day, or maybe even...  Good Night...! Wait a minute! One more thing!!  Coconuts!!  You gotta get to Coconuts on the Beach!  Adventure!  Romance!...  

Special Note of Gratitude:   The perpetrator extends giant thanks to Sweetheart's Cousin Emma, and to Sweetheart, too, of course.  Thanks to Emma, her parents and siblings, we are able to enjoy time in the Sunshine!  She, Emma, is a treasure.  Sweetheart has the travel acumen to enable us to wander affordably.  Great thanks to Cousin Terri, the other E. siblings too!  Love and hugs to all...       

  Humbly Submitted -- July 8, 2016 -- Joel K.