The Snow Bird Has Migrated North

All I can say is that everyone told me that the day before I got home it was 80 degrees....all I know.... is the day I got home the high was 43 degrees and it rained...Today finally it will reach the high 80's once more and it will at least feel a little like good old FL....Pictured is my new hang out for writing and enjoying the benefits of strong coffee....The Phoenix Cafe here in the most beautiful spot in the world Canandaigua NY....Of course by Monday it will be a high of only 60 and raining again...and that my friends is why I spend as much time in sunny FL as I can....that and the fact that I miss all my FL friends.... don't get me wrong..I'm glad to see my northern friends and family on this side of the world....It really is like two different parts of the world to me....In FL I'm "Monk" the guy who fishes and writes books...here I'm "Mick" (the nickname I had as a child ) to almost everyone because most of the people here are family and to them I will always be "Mick" or "Mickey"....and I'm the big brother or friend who most think is (at best) a little eccentric ....maybe its the climate...there is so little time even in the summer here to be outside and enjoy what nature has to offer...that goes double if you really hate the cold like I do....your family becomes your world and leaving for the Marines and Vietnam at age 17 didn't help either...so I guess the bottom line is that I've had more opportunity to develop friends and relationships in Florida...The Marines and my life after the Marines took me to so many places... we moved at least 16 times... married twice with six kids and at least six different business adventures of my own... throw in more than a dozen other jobs and it still was a constant (believe it or not) joy for me to experience...you might say I was a type "triple A" personality....WAS is the operative word....now I'm as laid back as Cheech and Chong with a truckload of pot and no place to go....I do have a mission though and that is to finish my books...not because I want to sell a million....but because the stories I tell will be my legacy to my children...and maybe this blog will become a part of that legacy as well....I can only hope that my children's children and more..... will read them and smile at having gotten to know
a little bit about Great,Great,Great Grandpa Mick (Monk).....

I received some more pictures of Travis and the baby...the most poignant are the ones pictured here... there are thousands of families that these pictures represent..from wars of the past to the young men, good, honest and strong, who now leave for a war that nobody quite understands... whether you are for it or against it...young men will give their lives for what they believe is right...Travis will leave for that side of the world in September... a father can only pray that he remains safe and returns to the wife, daughter and family that loves him.....

I have more to tell but if I don't spend some time on book two my publisher will be very upset when I miss my deadline....

Till Next Time....

Semper Fi

Monk