Good morning everyone, today is May 21, 2021. It’s a Friday the end of the week. The beginning of the weekend, the weather seems to be holding pretty good. So we should all be making some plans for the weekend. Yesterday Justin and I spent the afternoon together and as usual we found our way to lunch, Dario was along as a sidekick, it was his first experience with Malaysian food. He was not a big fan. Rocco on the other hand before Covid would try anything. So it looks like I have a lot of work to do with little Dario, and his culinary experiences.

I have posted a photo this morning of my father. Today he would be 98 years old. I chose this picture out of hundreds because the little guy with him is me. There to me is a real resemblance between Rocco and myself. There is nothing more precious than a photo, they are a remembrance of the past, which is key to keeping a legacy alive. As much as I like progress however I’m still not sure I trust a phone or a computer wholly, I still want a picture I can hold in my hand if some kind of glitch happens there goes the photo.

My father was a true example of a 50’s man, his main goal in life was to provide for his family. To insure we had all we needed to live a comfortable life. To make it possible for us to have more than previous generations through education , and lifestyle. He did this 100 percent. Did we thank him, I don’t think many children thank their parents enough for all they give and I don’t mean just material things, love, support, encouragement, security, are more valuable than any material things. So the answer is no, and most of us live with that regret, we all wish we had the ability to spend 10 minutes again with our parents to say those things.

One of my favorite stories of my father is this one, he was deathly afraid of water and did not know how to swim and on a trip to Florida once I quite young ventured into 10 feet of water at the pool, now I myself at the time was not yet that strong of a swimmer and I started to flounder, without hesitation my father jumped in and brought me back to safe ground, there was no fear when he had to save me. Upon our return my mother decided we had a pool in the backyard but my father never used it he was more content at the barbecue and keeping the pool safe and clean for us. So she hired a man, an instructor with Buster Crabbe, one of the original Tarzan’s to teach him to swim. No one was allowed in the yard during the class so I watched from my window. The lessons went well for the first few times, just acclimating to the water, then came the time to submerge, the instructor put a bamboo pole across the pool and my father held on and ent under, this worked, then he started to let go of the pole but would grab on to it when he came up, again good. Then once comfortable the man removed the pole while my father was submerged but he never mentioned he was going to do that so when he came up there was no pole to grab and he started to slash around looking for the pole , the instructor had to help him. Now one atttribute of my father was it took him quite a long time to get angry, he had a very long fuse, something I have inherited. But once the fuse burned that was it . When he composed himself, he was so angry with the instructor he fired him and told to get out and never come back, in my room I was laughing at the sight of the man trying to explain, but there was no explanation, he told my mother don’t worry about me swimming take care of yourself , I’m fine I don’t need to swim. So that ended the swimming career and he never went in the pool again. When I think of it now it still brings a smile to me, but I als think how frightened he must have been.

We study history to make a better world and not repeat mistakes made. I feel we must keep our own personal histories alive so we can remember where we came from so we know where we are going. Each generation must know of the triumphs and failures of our past to know that.

Thank You for sharing the birthday with me. Even though he is not here we still need to celebrate him, because without him where would we be. Well it looks like that time again, the sun once again is coming through the blinds and our day must begin . Lest I bore you to death. Have a great day, look for the small things and we will talk again, Til Tomorrow!

Bonjour, my friends, I wanted a little change this morning maybe I will get a cafe au lait and a croissant for breakfast just to revisit good times. Today is Thursday May 20, 2021. Seems like another beautiful day in store. Yesterday Mother Nature gave us a taste of summer, she does that to keep us wanting more and what to look forward to. I hope everyone was able to take some advantage of it.

Today, May 20 is an important day in my personal history. On this day 60 years ago I made my First Holy Communion. How do I know that because I was given a small commemorative book to remember the event and it has always been close at hand for me. What a day it was I remember it vividly , this is why I know children know and remember more than we give them credit for, we had breakfast at the Pomptonian on rt.
23 in Cedar Grove, a restaurant long since closed. Breakfast has always been a time to celebrate for me, I actually got engaged at breakfast a different way of doing things.

Of course I wore the obligatory white suit a symbol of a pure heart and white bucks, that’s what the shoes were called. I have loved that style shoe all my life. Then to church , the procession, the actual event and then home to party all day.

Being Catholic has always been very important to me, I believe it is a way of defining who you are. I believe that about all religions not just Catholic, it gives a person an essence, something to believe in and strive for. Without religion I feel you are a wanderer looking for something to hold on to. It also strengthens your backgrounds.

Catholics bevieve in 7 sacraments, all given to us by Jesus. Baptism welcomes you into the church , a community to be part of. Confirmation makes you a soldier of god to carry his message, reconciliation let’s our sins be forgiven a true gift from god, we carry no shame or guilt. Matrimony allows you to propagate the faith. Last Rights which blesses you at a time you might be leaving this world, Holy Orders if you choose to lead the church as a priest or clergy. Holy Eucharist or communion, a child receives this because he is ready to accept Jesus into his life, it is the basis of our religion to accept the body and blood of Christ and live a life knowing there is a life after death with Jesus.

I know I spoke a lot of technical things about religion this morning, my religion because that is what I am. I spent all of my educational years in Catholic institutions so of course it is a great part of me and it truly gives me a peace of mind. Not everyone shares this opinion and that is fine also . People need to live the way that is best for them , maybe then we would be able to accept all others. Because isn’t that the basis of any religion to live peacefully with each other.

So this month May is usually the month Communions are made. On Facebook I have seen countless pictures of children making their First Holy Communion and each one of them is beautiful and I love them all. So innocent. The parents beaming with pride. Keep those pictures because it only comes once in a lifetime so you need to always remember it.

Well it looks like our time today is coming to an end. I can see the sun shinning and I spoke a lot today, I hope no one took offense to the religious talk but that day will always be one of the happiest of my life so I had to recognize it. Have a wonderful day, enjoy life and we will talk soon Til Tomorrow!

Good morning everyone, today is May 19,2021. It’s Wednesday already hump day. The weeks just slip by when you reach a certain age. As children this time of year seemed to drag as we waited for the end of the school year and summer to begin. I’m sure for kids today it is the same feeling.

Today the 19 th begins a new era in the war against Covid. I guess the vaccines have started to show results because today many restrictions and limits come to an end. No more mask outside, and with the beautiful weather we have been enjoying that is a great thing, we can actually inhale some fresh air. It must be beautiful to breath in that air on the beach down the shore. I always felt that was medicinal, it always made you feel better. All gyms can finally open, restaurant capacities are almost back to normal. Schools will all reopen this week back to normal. However we must still wear a mask inside a building, which I don’t necessarily think is a bad thing. It still protects us from many things not just Covid. I said things were becoming normal again, but what now is really normal, I tend to think there will be subtle and big changes in the way we live. Many are welcomed and many will be sadly missed. For most of us are we going to be comfortable with other people ever again, probably but with some hesitation. Will cleanliness stay with us, I sure hope so and sometimes to a degree of neurosis. My biggest concern is for children as I have been from the beginning , granted they are resilient and bounce back from almost anything. What worries me is what is buried in their minds, what we don’t see. We will just have to play the waiting game to find out. So basically it is a new day beginning today, so we certainly should be happy about that.

I read something yesterday that interested me. After a 75 year study at Harvard they concluded that children who do chores are more successful in life, they Develop a good sense of work and the work ethic, they learn independence and independent thinking skills. Lean to collaborate with others. Responsibility, Follow a job til completion and many other life skills important to living a successful life , and to begin this process early. I guess I should be one of the most successful men on the planet. Kidding , but I do see the rational behind it and I do for the most part consider myself successful in life ,yes there is always room for improvement. And when you look back, the generations following us have very different ideas and ways of thinking than we did, growing up there were just things we did because it was required of us and there was no discussion about it. But we have taken much away from the lives of children under the blanket of progress. We will see in the future.

Well it is that time again, I see the light coming through the blinds, so it is time for all good boys and girls to begin the day. I read this yesterday and it brings what I say each morning to light, so I will borrow it. If Something makes you Happy, it really doesn’t matter what anyone else’s opinion is. I thought it goes along with my beliefs. So enjoy this beautiful day and we will talk, Til Tomorrow!

Good morning people, today is Tuesday May 18, 2021. It seems another beautiful day is on tap for us here in the northeast. I am enjoying this nice weather, yesterday the Governor announced masks were no longer required outside, so we can breathe that gorgeous air on most occasions , however inside I feel I will still protect myself and others by wearing the mask . I don’t think it is that big of a deal and if protects one person then it is all worth it. Sad to feel this way but how do I know where everyone has been. I still see people out there, not being as sanitary as they should be.

Yesterday I told you I started to watch the Netflix series Halston, I am enjoying it because it centers around a time period I truly enjoyed the 70’s and it brings up many memories. Marylou and I married right in the mid 70’s 75 to be exact, we had both just turned 21, very young by today’s standards. I was not ready however to live a sedate married life at that time. I believe a couple should enjoy themselves before they settle down to family life, travel , party, enjoy each other, get to know one another so this is what we did. The age of disco was in full swing so we took advantage of that and NYC was the backdrop. At the time there were many clubs around , El Moroc, Regine’s and Studio 54 were the main ones. Studio 54 was way to wild for me, I never liked the feeling I got there, drugs always frightened me and it seemed they were always prevalent so that immediately turned me off. Drugs were also a big part of this era, marijuana and especially cocaine, it was not uncommon to see people in a bathroom taking a hit anywhere. Regine’s was our place of choice more subdued and a more reserved clientele, plus it had a restaurant involved so it was different. Now all my life I have been drawn to older people,they seemed to always have experience that I wanted to learn about, very few people my age interested me. One night I met a man Frank, he was a high end lawyer and seemed to have clients from every walk of life, at that time he drove a Bentley and always had a beautiful young companion. Somehow we befriended each other, to this day I can honestly say I don’t know how I met most of the people I knew, I certainly did not have the kind of money and clout they did. But we became friends and on the weekends we would meet in the city for brunch and most Saturday nights we were invited to sit at his table and drink Dom Perigon with people from all walks of life. That in itself was a learning experience. Last night in the show they brought up how Jeans became popular during the 70’s and how Halston refused to design them , said they we’re dungarees not dress wear, however Calvin Klein made a fortune on them as well as others.

One night Frank introduced me to a man and he sat with us for awhile and had a drink, Frank urged him to tell me about his day, he proceeded to tell me that, that afternoon he sold his name, I didn’t understand but caught on he sold his name that he had created on jeans for 1 million dollars. The name was Sasoon so we all congratulated him with a toast, soon he also became a regular and would sit with us, he was forming another company with the money he made on Sasoon an even bigger company Guess. When he heard I had a store he told me to come to the wear house and get whatever I wanted, no need for a salesman or go to the showroom. So I did this on many occasion, never realizing how big of a company Guess would become. Frank one night told me that one regret in his life was when this gentleman his client came to him and asked him to invest in his company for a new product he refused. It was for fashionable jeans , Frank said who would wear them and anyway Levi’s and Wrangler had the corner market on jeans and you won’t beat them. He said that was a big mistake he had made.

I often think of life as a book, a great novel. Each chapter represents a time in our life. Settings and characters change, new conflicts arise and are solved by the main character , you. The plot thickens and then a resolution. There is always rising and falling action, sometimes historical events intervene and when we look back it is a good read.

Well it is that time again I see the sun coming up and our day is about to begin. Thank You for listening today. The 70’s were certainly a fun time to live or maybe it was just youth that was fun but to me those might have been my best years. Well I will let you go to Perdue some enjoyment today, always be on the look out for it. We will meet again Til Tomorrow!

Good morning everyone, today is Monday May 17, 2021, weather looks good, so we are ready to start anew. New week, new day, isn’t wonderful that we get a chance get a fresh start to life every 7 days and every 24 hours. I think it is a blessing, we can correct anything we don’t like, or want to change. I hope everyone had a glorious weekend, I did mostly everything I planned and set out to do. Yesterday Marylou and I went to Brunch, which has always been a favorite meal for me. We sat outside because the weather was glorious and we wanted to , not because we had to. Years ago brunch was really something done in NYC and over the years has been adopted over the river, now you could have it anywhere. Back then I would plan a different place for brunch all the time in New York, once I found a place named the Lion’s Rock, on the upper East Side in the middle of the restaurant was a huge Boulder, this was the site back in the 1800’s and turn of the century where wealthy New Yorkers would have picnics, it was a great place to see. The best brunch food is Eggs Benedict, and I held everyone to the standard of the Waldorf where it was invented and really made it the best in the city, sadly both of these places are gone as well as those liesurly stroll days in the city for now.

Sometimes we judge ourselves on foolish things. This week it occurred to me because May 13 I was the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, who has always held great love and interest in me. I prayed to her long before I came to know how important she is to the Portuguese People, their love and devotion to her only reaffirmed my own, when I actually met people who visited her shrine on a regular basis. But what made me feel foolish is I just realized almost every church has their own shrine to faFatima and the three children. See how sometimes things are there and we just don’t see them, I guess I just took them for granted. I know this is not world shatteringng or even that important, it’s fjust sometimes when you finally realize something it opens your eyes to other things.

There is a new series on television that we have started to watch Halston, this was a icon in the world of American Fashion. He rose to fame by creating the pill box hat that Jacqueline Kennedy wore to JFK’s Innauguration, he was a milliner, a designer of hats ,actually the best but in the late sixties hats started to disappear from the fashion scene, a new freedom I guess. But he did not did disappear he went on to create a fashion dynasty that dominated fashion through the 70’s and 80’s and even today much of the fashion industry runs on his foresight of license , There was little to be found that did not have the name Halton on it. I can still recall the smell of the perfum and it’s iconic bottle. Sadly he was victim to a disease at that time took many greats from our world AIDS. They were also victims of prejudice , of a way of life that today Thank God is almost irraticated. In our world today the term Gay is almost common place and no one has to hide their sexual preference and I hail our society for that, so we are making strides and we have come a long way in a relatively short time so there is hope. Again Thank God we don’t have to lose genius minds any longer. I hope no one takes offense to what I have said but these are facts and we can’t change them.

Well it has come to that time again, the sun is shinning through the window, so I will wish you an excellent enjoyable day and hope you find that little bit of daily enjoyment. Talk soon Til Tomorrow!