SRPING BREAK!

OK. I am on spring break now which means I am in that state to the south in the great Port City. In fact I am reading an evocative novel about the old Port City - The White Shadow. It's about Jimmy Wall and the local mafia. Much of the action takes place in the newspaper room downtown and in Ybor City. We lived around the corner from Jimmy Wall - I think he was the nephew of the one in the book. A few blocks north was the house of Sam Tafficante, also a character in the book. By the time we got there Ybor had lost most of its Latin population and was becoming shopworn. As was Hyde Park. New Suburb Beautiful, where we lived, was affordable and was right on the edge of Palma Ceaia - home of "The Country Club School," as my high school was known.

Good novel. Folks on Amazon thought it was a bit too detailed but the layering of detail simply builds up a sense of time and place. And the old port in the 50s and 60s was sui generis, believe me.

Perhaps with a bit more time I will be able to write some longer posts. Facebook just doesn't do it in that respect.