Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Spent the day with our guests, who arrived about 11 a.m. this morning. Took them to Sabani, which is our leather shop of choice. As usual, Marco took very good care of them. Went back to the supermarket for more fresh orange juice because it was, not surprisingly, a big hit with our guests. Ate both lunch and dinner at home although dinner was mostly cheese and drinks. Our cheese lady had picked out several very tasty low sodium cheeses for me. —————————- I did not spend a lot of attention on world events, preferring to spend the time with Mike and Jalayne catching up on our lives, talking about what we would do during their visit. We are also taking a long cruise with them next year, and that requires a great deal of preparation.

It was not a good day on the scale, but lots of fun. Problem living in Florence and finally feeling well is that it is really just one big party.

Really, all of our guests are a pleasure to have visit or they would not be invited. ————————— Mark Meadows has been removed from the voter rolls of North Carolina. Apparently, the last vote he cast there was fraudulent. Few will pay attention because it is par for the Republican course. —————————- Despite conflicting stories, last word out of Washington is that Biden will appeal mask mandate ruling of 33 year old Tampa judge who has about as many credentials to be a Federal judge as my late boxer Rocky. ——————————- Do not know if there will be television coverage, I hope so, because on Friday MTG has to testify under oath before a state administrative law judge in Atlanta. Problem is, in my view, that being under oath for MTG is meaningless. There are many cultures in the world where perjury is not a crime and an oath means nothing. I have run into that phenomena many times in my law practice: “It is better if the money is yours”. “Okay I so swear”. ”No, it is better if you swear the money is your father’s”. “okay I so swear”.

MTG and many other Republicans swore to uphold the Constitution. Did it matter? Not even close. ————————— Also not even close was the Marlin game against Cardinals lost 5 to 1. Gotta score runs to win. —————————- Have to deal with my Italian cell phone. All of a sudden it did not work. I tried fixing it pursuant to instructions on the internet and made things much worse. Time for Gianni to take over.

Today going out to lunch with Mike and Jalayne. Will go to Gratellla where we have our Thanksgiving dinner. I wrote two articles about Gratella. (See "A Primer on Eating Out in Florence, Italy" (Chapters 1 & 2) at www.jamesfoxmiller.com/blog/categories/articles.)

Then tonight, there is a special premier of Hershey Felder’s new production about Verdi. Hershey is a multi-talented man and a great guy. He is on the board of my Foundation. His Wife, also great, is a former Prime Minister of Canada.

Hershey lives in a magnificent palace just outside Florence. I mean Versailles nice. We spent one of the nicest afternoons we have ever experienced with Hershey and his Wife Kim Cameron. —————————- Go Ukraine