WHAT ? WHO ? ME ? YOUR CRAZY.........THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE !!!!!

The past week,  of June 11-June 19 two milestones were set in concrete.  I reached out and grabbed onto the 80 year marker and then later in the week reached the point of 50 years as a dad. What a remarkable feat and what a glorious feeling.

Last year, some Swede mentioned that on the 80th birthday, it was customary to take your whole family out ........your treat.  What a lame idea, but apparently I was held to it. Even gave each a vote as to where they would be taken. No one voted for the local McDonald's. Out of mouths of babe came, Belize, Costa Rica, Tuscany, round the world cruise, so we settle on Puerto Vallata, Mexico. Here we are, seated at a great Italian restaurant " Amalfi" The owner was simply magnificent in his arrangements for the evening. Special table with balloons, five course typical Italian meal. Most of all spending this time with my family, Thanks for this memory.

Well worth the 80 year wait.  Even took the chance of another 10 years by inviting a Luigi to my 90th, where ever that will be.
So many great things happened over that week, simply to many to mention.  Best part is I found my family beside me in this celebration.

                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                           

For some time now, I have been importing this very thin, delicious gingersnap cookie from Sweden.  The taste is simply so good that I will bet you are unable to eat one.......without being followed almost immediatly with another, and another, and another.

I concentrated on selling these exclusively wholesale but with this blog I will introduce the product to you.  To the right side of this page will be the order form.  Give it a try.

There are listed basically two sizes. One tin is 900gr. about 2 pounds of cookies. This tin is bulk loaded and you could find some broken cookies in it (caused by the shipper).
The second tin I offer is 675gr. about 1 and 1/2 pound of cookies. This tin has an insert so that the cookies must be hand packed and stand up so the chances of breakage is very small.  It actually sells for a little more since there is the extra cost of hand packing and the tiny cost of the insert. This one is the better if you plan to give it as a guest.  They can also be purchased on my web site.

Hope you give it a try.  If you purchase this item on ebay from me we will ship to Europe through a program associated with ebay. If you purchase here or on my web site it is only for the continental USA. We do not ship to Canada or Mexico from these sites. If your having trouble send me an email or go to my website at https://.www.scorpa.com    

Talk to you soon

Vito

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To end this posting, I have selected a short video of my fantastic family. I'm such a lucky guy to have you all with me on that day.  There were several others I wanted to include but for different reasons they were unable to attend.

LOOKING BACK FIFTY-ONE YEARS ....TODAY THE WEDDING

To celebrate OUR wedding anniversary today (51 years) I have brought back one of my first blog postings.  Hope you enjoy it.
THE WEDDING


Well, M and I were in love, it was now decided that we would get married. When??? I don't know..... The question around the SAS building was WHAT??????? one female even accused M of stealing American guys.......well actually .........I think it went down as, " all you foreign girls come over to the states and steal our men" At least, that's the way I understood it. Planning this shin-dig was something else. M's parents and sisters were over in Sweden and it was my responsibility to visit them (per my mom and dad) and get their permission. M contacted them and told them she had met this ITALIAN GUY some time before and I guess it was also expressed on their part that they wanted to meet this ITALIAN GRINGO. Guess they were expecting to see some little short guy with a pencil mustache, and greasy hair wearing a pin strip suit and carrying a big club. Boy did I disappoint them. Anyway, the reception was very nice and the trip turned out well, even to the point that when I asked her mom and dad for her hand,(the old fashion way) I had nothing to put on her finger.......what a schlemiel.......They offered to take us to a store called NK's where we looked at rings but NK only accepted the store credit card or cash, or American Express. Long story short, I was offered the fathers credit card to buy the ring.....good part.......it was 18 carat gold iso the 14 carat sold in the states. I figured this was worth it but the father insisted I pay him back.
Flying back home, I thought it would be fun to propose again and have the navigator chart the exact spot over the Atlantic where I got down on my knees. We also got a bottle of champagne from the crew, that we reluctantly shared with some of the people around our seat area. Wonder where that map went??????

It was decided that my uncle and his band would play at the wedding, we had a friend we'll call Al from SAS who had done catering on board some Danish fishing boat before coming to SAS and we would hold the reception at a private home we could rent from the American Legion, who had it as a meeting place. We tried to keep costs very much into a budget. M agreed to get married in the Catholic Church that all my family were members of but of course M being non-catholic, had to meet the priest that was to perform the wedding. That did not go so well, especially since one of his questions, addressed to both of us but meant, in his eyes, to be directed to M. "have either of you been intimate with each other or anyone else" WWHHOOAA KIMBOSABY!!! what has that got to do with world peace??????????.....that didn't go so well with M and when she refused to answer, and I don't blame her, the priest simply stated that he was to try and stop this marriage unless M and I took other steps. ok! ok! ok! ok! so the other steps were taken. We were married outside the alter at the railing to the alter, and M had to say the words " I promise in front of these witnesses and God to love, honor and OBEY.... till death do us part"...or perhaps some time before,whichever comes first...... Well, we still have discussions some 44years later about the obey part. She needs practice on that subject.....or perhaps........just doesn't know what the word means.

Everything was going well, plans coming together like a Lego toy, until a week before the wedding. Al, decided that the cooking should be done at my parents house and the food frozen down. Al, after a day of work at the airport, would arrive at my parents house each night and he and my father would have a couple of shots of "three feathers" whiskey and polish off a quart of beer before Al even got next to the stove. Much to my mom's total surprise, there was no Italian food being prepared, only different types of fish including the salted herring in all kinds of sauces. Al conceded a little to my mom wanting some Italian food so she brought out her recipe book. Our house turned into an Italian bakery during the day, and a Scandinavian smorgasbord at night OMG!!! what was this wedding turning out to be. Finally, the big day arrived. M's mother and father arrived from Stockholm a few days before and the night before the wedding her father took ill and had to be rushed to the hospital. Guess, he finally came to the reality that his daughter was getting involved with an ITALIAN FAMILY. Anyway, he had a slight heart problem so my father was thrusted into the job of giving M away, He LOVED THAT big time. Meanwhile, Al and a waitress he met at some local bar were over at the house where the reception was being held laying out food and drink. The church part went along smooth and all the Swedish brides maids along with the American and Italian ushers were getting along famously. After the church ceremony it was decided that before the reception, the whole wedding party along with M's mom would go to the hospital to let M's dad enjoy this day to see how great his daughter looked. This event was really funny as all the wedding party had to walk through the maternity ward to get to M's dads room. Of course, the biggest comment along that route as "JUST IN TIME, WE DID IT JUST IN TIME"
It was well worth that little detour just to see the happiness on Bengts face.

When we finally reached the reception, the crowd was there, about 100 Italian or American guests along with M's side of about 50 Swedish girls, looking like a Swedish version of the Radio City Rochette's. All my Italian uncles were in 7th heaven, and their wives sat there with pads and pencils taking notes, if necessary to provide later at divorce court. The usual first dance, second dance, bride dance with the grooms father, grooms dance with the brides mother, group dance,Tarantella dance, Swedish May Day pole dance and what ever all those dances were called led to the throwing of the brides garter, which I completed without a hitch. Then came the toast. My best man was to toast us with a small speech, I was then to look into the eyes of my new bride, click glasses and kiss. Well, everything was going along as planned. The photographer was poised for that memorable photo. However, Just as the toast speech was finished, I looked at M and suddenly Al, the caterer who was standing in back of me, reached out, grabbed my glass and ended up clicking the glass with M and getting the kiss.........WHA JUST HAPPEN!!! WHERE THE HELL DID HE COME FROM????. the picture was so good and real, we kept it in our album.
As the evening progress, the usual ......."March for the favor".......began. This is where the bride and groom, seated at the head table bring out "the Pillow case" all the people line up ........with their envelopes of offering......march past the lovely couple, drop into the pillow case their offering for a futile and happy life, collect their little "favor" ours was a tiny vase, with 3 white almonds wrapped in Italian lace and return to their assigned tables. At Italian weddings, the tables are usually assigned since some people get along better than others. This was the part of the evening where my uncles and aunts all walked as couples. My uncles still discussing "why all the fish stuff" my aunts dressed to the gills, all with corsages and mink or whatever stoles. In fact one of my aunts mink wrap was so new I swore I heard it MMEEOOOWWW, when she walked past. Just DROP THE MONEY IN THE BUCKET. Al was superbly dressed in his chefs uniform helping everyone pick and choose from the GIANT GIANT Smorgasbord table and his young waitress serving wine, whiskey and good wishes. I'm not exactly sure but I heard from my mom that sometime during the evening, the doorbell rang and my mom went to answer the door. One of our guests who just arrived that day from Denmark had been driving around looking for the reception, finally found it simply by the amount of the cars filling the street. As my mom greeted him and took his overcoat to put in the closet she was startled my Al,and the waitress hidden amongst the coats toasting each other. I had to tell her that it was a Danish tradition. The evening progressed where my uncles, all at least a head shorter than the Swedish girls were giving dance instructions to them. Finally!!!!, they were learning the Tarantella, Copacabana cha cha, Cuban rumsamba and the Mexican crossing the Rio Grande hat dance. To the day they died my uncles always asked about those gals each time we visited them.

WE ARE WALKING IN DEEP.............DOO DOO !!

I don't know how many of you are following the debates of our Presidential candidates, but for me I am becoming  increasingly disgusted with all of them.  I guess many of you watched the first few debates, some of you watched the next few debates, several of you watched the next and probably no one will watch the upcoming ones. I ask myself, why do they call them debates?  They are debating nothing unless you consider  who lies more, who has employed more people, who will be the BEST, who tans himself more or who is to blame for EVERYTHING that happened in the world. I hear nothing about anything I can bite into that will change my life or the lives of the rest of the people in the U.S.that will even attempt to make it better.

In a previous posting I commented on how I thought it sounded like a playground incident between 4th graders. Now, today I read an article and someone picked up on that. I will only quote what his quote was. It was stated by the one and only Donald idiot Trump.  " If you look at what's going on we have the highest taxes anywhere in the world. We pay more business tax,  we pay more personal tax. We have the highest taxes in the world. It's shutting off our economy. It's shutting off our country... Yes, we will do my tax plan, and it will be great"   First of all, the most complicated word in this whole statement is "ECONOMY" Out of 56 words, he repeated himself twice. The most noticeable was  that the whole statement is false and this not only pasted through the other 4 gumbos on the stage but also the 3 moderators who are asking the questions.  UNBELIEVABLE !!!! .  Apparently none of these other people ever heard of Europe, especially Denmark and Sweden. Anybody with a half a brain would be able to pick this out, you would think that people of some intelligence would. In fact the Republican party have always warned what a catastrophe it would be for capitalism if we raised our taxes to the level of Sweden and Denmark.  These people will lead our country ????  The other 4 candidates plus the 3 moderators must have heard this ..........but said nothing..............how smart are they would be my question?

Now, another amazing fact that I found out is that some years ago a political science researcher examined the linguistic complexity of nearly 20 years of political speeches in the U.S. Capital. and found that as a group congress speaks at roughly a 10th grade language level. A full grade level lower than in the mid 2000's plus an entire university degree less than the language the founding fathers used back in the day the constitution was written (a 17.8 grade level or post graduate level) no wonder our Supreme court has a hard time trying to figure out what the forefathers meant. The point is that the 535 members of congress speak to the public with a linguistic sophistication lower than an eight-grade level. Mr. Trump on the other hand, using the same Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level answers his debate questions  speaking to us as a forth grader.  Most of his answers ranging from third grade level to fifth, while the others range between sixth and 10th grade. In an hour long speech recently Trump linguistic ability was measured at a 4.1 grade level, I just can't believe his self portrait of his  academic level (he says he was very smart) is accurate (along with so many other things). So........Trump has either tapped into speaking down to the public or has become a linguistic communications genius, which of course he would agree with.

One thing I do encourage ALL voters to do after any debate is to fact check. Much to my amazement I have found that 80% of what any of them say is false.  Trump swears he has beat Clinton in all debates....fact is  he has won 4 debates over Clinton has tied 2 debates with her but has lost 41 debates against her. His comments on the China, Mexico, and Japan inbalance  is true but the amounts stated are way off.  With China, the inbalance of trade as he states it is 550 billion  fact is it is 386.4 Billion, Mexico  is very close to what he says but Japan is 68 Billion compared to his stated 150 Billion.  Cruz would close the IRS, and we would file our taxes on a postcard. His problem is in fact really wild, we must have a government watchdog to monitor that all taxpayers indeed file correct tax returns that watchdog will remain the IRS and needs the same amount of people as present because of the amount of taxpayers, also his tax structure proves he would not have the revenue to do what he says he would and would raise taxes still giving the benefit to the richest for paying less taxes.     These are just a few examples of their lies to the general public.  There are so many more.

Anyway, it just keeps me occupied and my brain active, even though I know and I'm sure if YOU do your research you can find out the same information.  Just be careful.  Personally , I like John Kasich the best out of the Republican bunch.

WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING WITH ME????

Something is happening to me.  It started, about the same time I hit 70. Sometimes I really feel good about it.....other times it really backs me up against the ropes.

My life is changing, the funny thing is ........it may be changing for the better...............just when I thought everything was the best they could be..Does this happen as you get older?  " I really don't know" said self.

Margot and I try to have lunch out at least twice a week.  Mainly for two reasons.  Makes us feel like we can do things, and secondly it takes the pressure off of Margot to try and figure out what SHE will cook for dinner. We try and consider that lunch out "our date".   now being a little to old for nooners we try to make it about 2PM.  We call it LINNER (short for lunch and dinner)  still early enough so we can use a coupon, but late enough so not to be bothered with dinner.  That way we can still snack a little while sitting, talking and watching TV in the evening.
This happened last week but this is the strange thing. We got home and I did the usual things that I am responsible for each day, get the mail, check the phone messengers , check the email, check face book, make sure the printer has paper in it, check the temperature of my wine presently under fermentation, make sure the toilet flushes and the rolls of toilet paper are stocked.............you know all the guy things. Most of all after that I am allowed a 20 minute nap. Boy I sure do need that after all that stuff.

Well, I was taking my nap and I started to dream. I was dreaming about a day when I was in perhaps the 6th grade. We were at recess and I was talking to Vinnie, a mean guy in my class at Franklin elementary. Now Vinnie and I both liked the same gal, Carol and the competition between Vinnie and myself really became inflamed every time we saw each other.  I walked past Vinnie on my over to talk to Carol, I called Vinnie Ugly, when I was talking with Carol, Vinnie called me a doody-head so that all the kids could hear it.............this went back and forth for about 3 minutes and then Vinnie really started to get nasty....................he yelled out again " my mother can make better cookies than your mother"  that really infuriated me since now it was another step up ,bringing my family into it. Of course I had to respond since he started in with the family stuff so I yelled back how his father "could not even light the outdoor barbecue because he was not allowed to play with matches"  I don't know where that came from but it just came out.  It was at that very moment that Margot shook me to wake up and there it was, back in the school yard..................THE GOP DEBATE.  The whole Vinnie, Vito thing was going onstage in front of me and the world with the PRESIDENTIAL wannabees.  WOW, who would have seen this coming.
The schoolyard in real life, by so called intelligent men who are vying for not Carol but the office of President of the United States of America, The most powerful position in the world, calling each other liars, unworthy, incapable, illegal, crazy men.  Now, they are asking for the voters, who are the most intelligent people around...................(except for about 40%of the electoral) to pick which one we like the best.........................OMG!!!............how does one make that choice?   Let me count the ways............................one, two, three, FOUR IDIOTS. Then again, who can we blame for this, the people.......no.  the candidates.....well no.......they think this is OK.........THE RNC........they should know better and perhaps interview who they think will represent their party and platform the best. 'But whom am I to tell them how to run their show. They are supposed to be smarter than me.................but are they????.    I just want to thank them for bringing me back to 6th grade for that 2 hours. Made me think about what Carol is doing now a days, and what Vinnie is doing...............if he's still alive.  Perhaps he's a speech writer or a political analyst  Whatever it is, sixth grade was a hoot and holla to see it on TV ...............it's like bringing back Archie Bunker .

THIS IS NOT MEANT TO INFLUENCE YOUR VOTE BUT ONLY TO PUT YOUR BRAIN INTO THE PROPER GEAR WHEN YOU ENTER THE BALLOT BOX.

See you again my friends.  If you get a chance visit wwscorpa.com

WITH AGE COMES WISDOM??

Have you ever found yourself ........just sitting and thinking .......and after 20 minutes you just can't figure out what you were thinking about?.......It's probably because during that 20 minutes......you we're actually taking a nap.

I found myself in that position just last week.  In most cases, thinking to me means looking ahead at things that will happen in the future.  Growing up my parents always taught me to look ahead. Never look back they said.......never look back at something you can no longer change.......always look forward at things that you still have some control over.  One reason why whenever I walked down the street with someone and they just happen to see something that just passed and try to get me to turn around and take a look, I never would, I never will.  Always had the excuse by saying that's ok, I didn't miss anything, I will either see it again in the future.........or it just didn't matter.  What has gone by has gone and left nothing that I could do differently........looking forward always gave me the possibility to say .........."what can I do" instead of "what could I have done". It sorta strikes out the "couda, wouda, shouda "  and replaces it with "could, would, should"

Now, this all works well, but only up to a certain time of your life mainly meaning "age". Growing up, I always looked to the future. In elementary school, I looked to Junior high school. In Junior high school, I  looked forward to High school then looked forward to graduation and going onto college or a job. When working always looked forward................next promotion, next raise in pay, retirement. Now that retirement is reality always trying to find a new career to start, a new beginning, a new challenge to take on.  Even at the age of 79, I say I am 80 since its only a few month from now. The only time I have looked back was about 10 years ago, when a conversation between my grandkids and myself was tabled. "Grandpa, what did you do in in high school. did you play sports? Were you in the military? What did you do for the Airlines? How deep was the snow when you grew up? Did you have a girlfriend? How did you meet Grandma?"  All very valid questions and all that had answers. That's the original reason for the blog. A way to pass onto my grandkids how it was growing up with things that just did not exist that they presently have.  This blog will eventually turn into a book................perhaps not in my lifetime, but it will hopefully find its way to one of them to take on that challenge.

Looking back for the past 10 years has been a blast of sort. It's surprising to know just how much one can remember. It's surprising to see  the problems, the troubles, the pains and the cheers all pressed together and brought forward to explain the somewhat MESS or BLESSINGS that we now experience.

I look forward to the 2016 Presidential elections, just to see the ONE the majority of the nation thinks will make our country great............again. Having said that......I must look back (just a little) to be able to digest all the stupidity I have seen in coming from the potential candidates. It has been hysterical to hear some of what each one has to say and then I try to figure out in my mind ...........just how they will think they will accomplish ..................such nonsense. I question their ability to be able to actually  believe themselves. I laugh to think about how  many Americans are putting their trust into a single person to be able to change the nation. Now, that's funny and that I will look back just to be able to say (to myself of course)  how stupid we are as a people. If you honestly think the system is broken................you will never fix it with just turning one screw..................system to me means many screws .   System is a set of interacting or independent component parts forming a complex/intricate whole.............now my fellow voters think of this on election day, vote your conscience,  most of all.......................comeon back to THE BLOG.

    

 

SOMETHING STRANGE IS GOING ON..........................

SOMETHING STRANGE IS GOING ON...............to say the least, but to be honest with you, it has been going on for sometime now.  The reality simply is that I have been trying to slow it down.  It wasn't until last week when an OLD friend of mine sent me an email entitled  " the back nine"  It was then that I realized that ...........the problem I have been fighting with for the past 22 years simply is OLD AGE and I have now begun to realize that it cannot be stopped.

I seems like only yesterday, that I was able to spring out of bed like a young gazelle an immediately begin my day. It seems like just yesterday when I would address all old people over the age of 30  Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms.  It seems like only yesterday, when I would help OLDER people with their chores just for being nice to them.  Here it is, just yesterday when the doorbell rang and I scrambled to get out of my chair, make it to the door before the third time the bell sounded to find a very nice looking young man.  He introduced himself as Reginald, working in the area putting a new roof on my neighbors house and wanting to tell me that there will be some noise and possibly dust that could sneak over my fence, but that will be taken care of by his crew.  Such a nice gesture .  He also told me that while he was up on their roof he noticed that there could possibly be some problems with my roof and that he would be able to look at it free of charge.  What me turn down "FREE". Sure Reginald you can take a look. While he was getting his ladder, I was fumbling through my warranty file since it seems that I recalled having a 20 year guarantee roof against everything. I happened to locate that paper while Reggie was walking around inspecting my roof.  After the FREE 15 minute inspection over a double roof area of 2600 sq ' Reggie climb down from his ladder and broke the bad news to me that he felt I needed a new roof BUT because I was a senior citizen and he was already working in the area he could give me a special price..........................of.........................$8000.  Gee, what a nice guy....until that moment I showed him my 20 year guarantee issued 5 years ago on the completion of my new roof. Not many words were spoken after that.

Now I mention this for two reasons:
1- I hear so much from the political talk now-a-days about leaving our children in a better world.  Is this the better world they are telling us about?  Take advantage of your fellow man?

2-  Am I really getting to the back nine.

It was at that very moment, I came to the point of reality, that growing up, anyone over the age of 30 was old. When I reached that plateau anyone over the age of 50 was old.  When I joined the "over the hill gang " at 50 anyone over the age of 60 was old, at 60 I was determined not to become old at 70 and when reaching 70  I thought I heard a voice calling me, faintly echoing 75  but here I am reaching that level of 80, planning a party and taking my whole family on it to  a fun place. Ready to zip-line, power sail, sea-doing and doing it with people 1/4, 1/2 my age.  Will I last?  who knows, will I enjoy it....who knows? There's always the TV to fall back on, and also the young wife four years my junior to hold me back ..............or up, whichever needs to be done.

When I look back...........it all seems to come back.  Sure, there are a lot of things I did, a lot of things I wish I had done and a lot of things I did that I wish I had done differently  but the difference is very little and time gets shorter with the passing of each day. I'm sure my kids will survive as I did and their kids will survive as they are.  Besides the younger generation seem to want something else very different from what I wanted or want to leave them. They don't want or need my old car or my big house or any of the mass amount of (what I consider valuable) things I have collected in my life. They have even gone to the extent of telling me to enjoy the rest of my money. They call it the piggy bank. They will survive regardless if it is as a Republican or a Democrat. So what's left to leave them.......................only words, passed on down from my parents.  Treat people as you wish to be treated. do the things you have fun doing, never go to bed angry and do things the best that you can. You will not be able to satisfy everyone..........just try to satisfy the ones that mean the most to you. Live with the memories of the past that bring you happiness, laugh loud belly laughs.
Live..................like there will be a tomorrow............................and another blog posting from Vito