Getting to Know Key West,"Again"

Day four of 2010,You would wonder after 4 days if there would be anything to talk about, but you have to remember, when you return to a location after a few months away you walk around town taking in what it is that keeps you coming back for as many years as you do. Key West, is Magical theres a feeling you have just about being there, then theres the trees and plant life, and as you walk around you encounter all these totally wonderful people that you have known for years , and when you know Key West,, your amazed that they stay,, because in all this you if you have been here for any length of time understand what it takes to survive on the rock.so when i got here this trip as i," sneak sally through the alley ",cause thats what its like to trip around kw,and you space into the places like the grand cafe, ricks ,the tree bar , angelinas, capt tonys,, the local colour shop, the white tarpon, blue heaven,the crepiere, bos fish wagon,, and the the new spot , "The Cuban Coffee Queen",help yourself the schooner wharf, where that hippie band was playing,, hooking up with the cast of charecters is more mind blowing then the locations and enviroment combined,, Paul, Spin,Penny,Richard,Sueanne,Phil,Kelly,Kit,Jonney,Barb,Linda,Jude,Mark,Bob,Charlie,and you get the picture,, so four days later ive touched base with a few of the locations and ate a little bit of what is offered. The other part of the 4 days is about setting up at the galleon,, getting things straightened out at Pauls house, the Plantation Coffee shop, and connecting with Michael Shields to do His radio show on Friday, on Konk-1680 am, the Art Waves show, from 11 till 12 am. and now to get ready for the next week of Key West,, sure to be an adventure.

Tripping 2010 Style,www.joefortesworld.com

Just a little recap of the past week. Left Canada on Tues., and got over the border,, stopped in Buffalo and had lunch with Jim,, at Teds Hot dogs,, then drove to Port Jervis to pick up a few things at Lynda and Will,s , got into Randolph NY, to Debbie and Davids home about 9:30 pm,, of course Debbie had some great food waiting for me.Wed. morning seen me getting up to a fresh snowfall and got my day started with a drive into NY,got there by noon, and went to see Leni at Smudge ,, got things settled with him to print me another 200 books, then spent the rest of the day walking around the village visiting a few friends,, Val and Matt at ardent,, Mama Rafatto, the boys at the shooting club,, carol at native leather,, rita and dennis at Brunos Bakery,BoB and Vishal at the wine store and the folks at Cuba restaurant,, also Boyd at the thai restaurant ,, called Boyds, then went up to the plaza and seen Michael,, totally uneventful and useless exercise thank god i stopped at Wicked Willies and hooked up with Alan and Andy and listened to some great music and had a beer before heading home to bed.Left NY first thing Thur. morning and headed to Judy and Georges in Philly, got there in time for lunch in the Italian Market at a great sandwich shop at 9th and Christian, name escapes me,, i think paesanos,,then went for a great cup of coffee and then shopping in a really great shop,,mmmm so many wonderful foods,, home to hang out and then dinner with j and g and there one son,, what a fabulous meal as per usual when i,m there,always sooo great.Friday had me heading for DC to Maryann,s and Larrys and Family, kind of like My own Home ,, Cis, and Jenna ,Andi,Michael and soon anothe3r little girl,, not to mention Nadia,Luna and Mame,, what a house,, GRand Central Station, lots of kids,, and company always,, fridge is stocked ,, beer is cold and the tv is on,laugh laugh laugh,, all weekend,, ate to much again and mmmm good,super bowl party at the neighbours and digging out from one of the biggest snow storms ever, great week end.Monday morning i,m out of there before the next storm hits,, drive all day to Daytona, and LIse and Daves home, got there about 10 pm, tired, Tuesday up late and spent the day with lise, picked Kayleigh up from school, and trhen home to cook dinner ,, they love when i cook for them, baked potatoes and brocolli,, then pork chops, in a sause made with onions ,garlic, tomatoes oil and butter, little red winesauted and left to slowly simmer,,, oh ya., Wed., drove on over to New Symrna beach to Suzi and Rons home,, lunch with Ron at another unbelievable sandwich shop,and then home to hang out at there home on the water, what a great space,, dinner as usual was again so great,, Tuna done perfect on the bbq by Ron aspergras, carrots anda great salad,, couple of beers and great conversation. its Thursday Morning and i,m having another grat coffee and looking out at the perfect scene across the waters,, ya gotta love it

Update on My Life

Its Feb.6thI,m sitting in DC, at Mary Ann,s and Larrys house,, did the hospital thing and got looked after,, spending the extra time in Canada allowed me to see more of my family and more of the kids hockey, also gave me more time to take a look at whats happening with the direction of art work. Speaking of that, my friend David got a web site set up, which is www.joefortesworld.com and has also done a facebook page that is, joe fortes world, he has also set joe fortes world, up as a company. So I stoppe3d there on my way to nyny and spent the evening at his and Debbies home, from there i went into the city and hooked up with my printer, Leni and straightened out a few things and have more New York books printed. Fron ny i went to Philly to pick up[ two oil paintings that i had left at Judy and Georges and spent a great evening, which takes me to tonight as i sit watching the hockey game drinking an ice cold stella with Larry after a great dinner in D.C., great winter storm raging out side tonight and tomorrow so i,ll snuggle in here for a few days and hopefully get into driving to Florida on Monday,, weather permitting

Update

Well its Dec. 28th and I should have been heading for Key West today but Life has gotten in the way of My plans, there has been a delay on the printing of my New York books that I should have been bringing with me, but also have had a few medical appointments i need to keep before i venture on this years journey , so, i,m stuck in the cold confines of the Canadian winter, the bright side of this little detour in my plans is that i get to spend more time with the family and see a bit more of my grand kids hockey,, i,ll keep ya all posted , have a hospital day of jan., 15th and from there i,ll know when and where i,m going to be,, thanks for the understanding of all of you who were expecting me to be where i thought i was going to be

http://www.joefortesworld.com/ thats where you can go to see some of my drawings and hopefully ,paintings, soon., my good friend David is building me this website and i might add doing a great job at it,, i,m a little slack on getting him some things to put up there,, but i,m soon going to have a section on the site that you will be able to see some europe work from paris , amsterdam, praha, and southern italia., i have done drawings in those locals as well as watercolours and oil paintings. Also will soon have a selection of watercolours from both ny and Key West as well as some work from Canada,, i,m thinking about how we will put the oil painting selection up, and i,m waiting on Alan Kennish to send some copy from, key west fine arts. anyway folks,, bere with me and i,m sure we will have it all complete before the end of next year,, good things are worth waiting for,, buy the way,,,yes buy,, you can now order from the web site,, oh yes i forgot to mention the two other books you can order, that ive written,, "thoughts for the moment only, or Just words", which sells for 40 dollars and ive only got 50 of them left,, and also "the best we can do is forgive" which is 20 dollars,, have a great holiday everyone

In a Life

What is it that we Really have in our lives,all well and good to say that having life is worth being alive, but what is it we really have in life, write a book about your life,, man thats impossable,, for if you stop and look at what you have had,, you wouldn,t be able to put the 1st 6 years into a book,, no really think about it how about from 6 to 15, the friends the good times and the ones of growing , the feelings , thought of life you had through all of that and to think at 15 your about to actually grow up.how many friends till that age,, how many meals, ,,, stop,, think,,15 to 30,,, write a book,,, what for every year through those 15,, full time job, wife ,kids ,lovers, ups and downs,, again,, the again being a Gain a life worth just being around ,,to have all those experiences.Now we have 30 years in,,,now what,,, 30 more to go,,well you get my drift,, but maybe you don,t cause ya havn't stopped yet to think about what you really have in life,,,in case you havn't lets  take the ones from 30 to 60 ,, ten at a time,, why because i really can,t remember any of it,, cause it went faster than the 1st 30,, and there was about 30 times more happening everyday than what happened the 1st 30 years,,, more of everything,, food friends lovers , travel, and on and on and on,, so here you are at 60,,, take a breath cause it isn't over yet,,, and it really could be ,,,, simply because we all could have been dead from over consumption of everything,,, we have had in life and i mean everything,, even what we spent our time worring about,,,what we have in life???? hey i,m 66 and still trying to catch up on all the wonderful experiences i've had, family, bros., sister kids grand kids , fab. friends,food and on and on and on,,, you get my drift,,,

Well, the Web Site is coming along,, still not sure if its the direction i want to take, but i,m sure that once its up i,ll be happy,, you know ,you can,t teach an old dog new tricks, kind of thing, not sure about the watermarks and kind of like when i go into sites that the pics are clear and sharp, but here i am talking about something i know nothing about,need to make contact with nephew jim to get some professional advice and guidance, seems to be a lot of trouble,, and work, but am happy that i,m not the one that has to work this out,if you know what i mean,, any way my really good friend dave id working on it and i have complete faith in whatever it is he wishes to play with,,, if you know what i mean, now as fo my personal life, i am working on getting the isbn numbers together for the new york books so that i can get Leni to print another batch of them to take to key west with me and also be able to have some in new york so that if anyone there wants one they can pick it up on Carmine Street,, and now for the really important stuff in my life, noah is beautiful and not so friendly with me still , yet, steve and laura are playing great hockey, 5 games this weekend and i,m bummed cause i have to miss one because they both play the same night, but i will get to watch 2 games of each of them, not seeing enough of tyler and james cause i never know where they are,, and they have busy lives especially james,, and i really don,t get to see enough of my three daughters, again cause they have there own lives,, but like the web site its really not in my hands oh well i,m just an old man anyway that has nothing better to do with his time but moan and complain,,, love ya