Hi,
I am fine, I had a very amazing trip here, I could right a book about it. I have been trying to call you are you OK ?
The caretaker here of the apartment is an Italian women who speaks good english, her name is Pucci Ligresti, she gave me a brand new laptop with an American key board to use, my laptop is locked.
She is about 60 years old, she lived on Maui from the late 60,s to early 70,s. She said she was a hippie at the time and used to hangout at the health food store in Wailuku ! Vicki must have met her.
She took me to a friend of hers who is a computor geek to work on my laptop.She knows evrybody in town and how to get things done.Their is wifi in the apartment that works great, they apartment is very nice, like the pictures.
She said she would get me a chip for my European cell phone so I could make calls to USA for just pennies a minute.
The train stations in Paris were jammed with people, evrybody leaving, you know August in France.
I traveled in a 6 person compartment 2nd class, it had a very nice couple about 40 years old with 3 children, oldest 10, the baby 18 months who mostly cried, and smelled like urine. I did not speak to them in english when I got on, they thought I was Italian. They must of had 8 pieces of luggae.
Then a young French girl arrived in the compartment with her 3 peices luggage, I had my suit case, the big soft bag I bought in Trapani and my FBI bag. I had wore my pants that have zippered pockets all over them, I put my passport of any thing of value on me.
When the take your tickets , they take your passports too, the give you passports back just before you get off.
Their was luggage all over, 2 of the upper bunks were open with the 2 older kids on them. It was "almost first class" we were next to the dinning car ! I went to the dinning car, but
if you did not make reservations you could not sit there.
I packed my FBI bag with toilet paper, food and basil, and other wild spices I collected in Jugon. It was quite a site in the compartment and on the train in general, the train had no changes for the trip, but it was not the TGV high speed train.
About 10 PM , Nicolas the french father ,opened all the bunks, 3 levels each side, the young french girl would get out to smoke everytime the train stopped. I was at the bottom level on one side, with about 8 inches above my head, but I was able to sleep, but could not turn over it was very narrow,
At about 3 AM they woke up their was someone in the compartment talking and pointing upward, he was speaking french and italian and told me to get up.It was an Italian policeman, he was pointing to all the luggae and saying something. I said in english I dont understand what you are saying,
he did not speak english. Nicolas translated that he was asking which was my bags. Then the policeman took out the bags that belonged to the young french speaking girl. I stepped outside the compartment and looked down the end and a couple of other policeman wre looking at some plastic bags of white powder. Then I realized the young french girl was not there, she apparently had drugs and they caught her.
After they took her bags out, I stepped back in the compartment, I looked around and my FBI bag was missing ! I told Nicolas and he went down to the end of the car and told the policeman. He brought it back, he said the young girl had taken it. The policeman took her away, we never saw her again. Icould not sleep any longer.
Nicolas and the baby walked to the dinning car, which was closed , we sat there and talked for a long time.
He told me he was raised on a chicken farm of his father in southerm France, after he met his wife , from school days, they moved to Paris. They never married, he works for a company in the computor industry and live there. They were on there way to Florence where he sister lives, they are going there for 10 days, she has a big house and pool.
Nicolas said that when ever I come back to Paris I should stay with them
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
1931
November 23, 1931: New York Daily News headline:
"NOTHING UNUSUAL STARVATION"
There was no longer anything unusual about riots outside the Sixth Ave. employment agencies. There was no longer anything irregular about the sight of elderly women bashing one another with their handbags over a place in line at the city relief offices. Police called out to quell these daily disorders tried not to swing their sticks too hard. This is a depression here.
Hawthorne, New Jersey: Shortly before midnight, Fred Viglione takes his pregnant wife, Caroline, to Saint Joseph's Hospital in nearby Paterson New Jersey .This will be their fifth child. They have four boys and Caroline desperately hopes this child will be the girl she wants. Her room, crib and all the furnishings are for a girl, pink.Shortly after midnight Caroline delivers another boy! They don't even have a named picked. The nurses ask what will his name be? They said "give us a few minutes". Fred said; let’s call him Gene after the boxer Gene Tunney. Kitty (Caroline) said his middle name will be, Lawrence, after the adventurer, Lawrence of Arabia.The nurse did not change the calendar from November 23, the birth was shortly after midnight, so when she wrote down the date of birth, she wrote the 23 rd, even thou it was the 24th. About 7 AM ,Fred ,returns home, Pop, as the boys call him, is proud to have another son, even though he is the runt of the litter, barely 6 pounds, he is healthy.The boys,Gaetano(Tom) 13,Stanislaus(Stan)12,Frederico(Fred) also called more often "Junior" 10,Carlo(Carl)5, are all at the elegant family home, a stately 10 room 3 story house at 342 Lincoln Av in Hawthorne. New Jersey .Grandma Giovanni, Kitty’s mother, has spent the night at the house, along with their maid. The boy's are eating breakfast, Pop, bursts in and loudly says, it's a boy! A cheer goes up, Stan shouts, now we got a basketball team. Pop pulls 5 year old Carl aside , who is big for his age,and says "You got to always take care of your little brother".
1927
Fred has his electroplating business on the compound. It is a plating plant of about 10,000 square feet, called American Electroplating Co. It is well known for innovation and quality. He was chosen in 1927, to do the interior hard chrome plating on Charles Lindbergs airplane, by Wright Aeronautical, the manufacturer of airplane engines. The process Fred used enabled the engine to fly for 27 hours without stopping and cross the Atlantic.
1931
Pop, walks over to the shop, opens it as the workers arrive.Pop, s younger brother Donato, is also working with him.Donato is deaf and cannot speak, as a result of an ear infection when he was 4 years old. Donato communicates by reading lips. He is called by his family "the dummy", but he is far from that. In fact he and Fred have invented the shower door. Up till this time, just bath curtains were used, but they came up with the idea of making glass framed metal doors for showers. Uncle Don (Donato) was also a great artist and sculptor; his designs were used on many shower doors. Uncle Don and Fred also came up with the idea of miniature golf. Golf was very popular with the affluent but others could not afford it. They had built a few miniature golf courses for people. However Pop's main success was in electroplating
1906
.He had learn the business as a result of when he got his first job. He was only 12 years old when he quit school and went to work; his family was living in New Haven, Conneticut. He got a job in a company that made locks and screws, they would electroplate them. There he learned about electroplating
1897
Fred was born in 1897 in Caserta, Italy. His father Gaetano Viglione was a craftsman shoemaker, who would custom hand craft shoes for wealthy noblemen. Gaetano developed a process in the handcrafting of custom shoes, to make them always sound like new ones, with a squeak. He became very popular, so much, even with the women of the parish. One day the priest called him in and gave him a one way ticket to America.
1901
In 1901 Gaetano was doing well enough to send for his wife and children to come to America.
1931
It is now Wednesday; Thanksgiving will be tomorrow, grandma Giovanni (Jenny) is preparing plans for the dinner. She has lots of help with the fulltime maid .On Thanksgiving
Day she prepares an entire dinner to take to Kitty who is still in the hospital with newborn "little Eugene”. She enjoys it very much, and little gains 2 oz. thru nursing!
Weather, unusually warm for November, temperature in the 70,s.
1931
Hitler's Nazi party in power in Germany
In October 1931, the former Austrian Corporal was presented to the former Field Marshal. Hitler was a bit unnerved by the old gentleman and rambled on at length trying to impress him. Hindenburg was not impressed and later said Hitler might be suited for Postmaster, but never for a high position such as the Chancellorship of Germany. October of 1931 marked the beginning of the political intrigue that would destroy the young republic and ultimately make Hitler Fuehrer of Germany.
1933
Family moves to Florida, Pop sells business and retires, spends time with family going to beach and fishing.
Pop opens a gas station on the circle in Hollywood Florida, all the boys go with him every day. One day Ernest Hemmingway pulls in for gas, on his way to Key West. Ernest sees the cute little 2 year old Eugene, and wants to buy him, Pop says an empathic No ! He offers Pop $ 5,000. Cash for him. Pop tells him to get out of here.
1935
A bad hurricane rips through Florida, they decide to move back North.
They move to New Haven, Conneticut where Pop was raised and his Mother and Father live.
November 23, 1931: New York Daily News headline:
"NOTHING UNUSUAL STARVATION"
There was no longer anything unusual about riots outside the Sixth Ave. employment agencies. There was no longer anything irregular about the sight of elderly women bashing one another with their handbags over a place in line at the city relief offices. Police called out to quell these daily disorders tried not to swing their sticks too hard. This is a depression here.
Hawthorne, New Jersey: Shortly before midnight, Fred Viglione takes his pregnant wife, Caroline, to Saint Joseph's Hospital in nearby Paterson New Jersey .This will be their fifth child. They have four boys and Caroline desperately hopes this child will be the girl she wants. Her room, crib and all the furnishings are for a girl, pink.Shortly after midnight Caroline delivers another boy! They don't even have a named picked. The nurses ask what will his name be? They said "give us a few minutes". Fred said; let’s call him Gene after the boxer Gene Tunney. Kitty (Caroline) said his middle name will be, Lawrence, after the adventurer, Lawrence of Arabia.The nurse did not change the calendar from November 23, the birth was shortly after midnight, so when she wrote down the date of birth, she wrote the 23 rd, even thou it was the 24th. About 7 AM ,Fred ,returns home, Pop, as the boys call him, is proud to have another son, even though he is the runt of the litter, barely 6 pounds, he is healthy.The boys,Gaetano(Tom) 13,Stanislaus(Stan)12,Frederico(Fred) also called more often "Junior" 10,Carlo(Carl)5, are all at the elegant family home, a stately 10 room 3 story house at 342 Lincoln Av in Hawthorne. New Jersey .Grandma Giovanni, Kitty’s mother, has spent the night at the house, along with their maid. The boy's are eating breakfast, Pop, bursts in and loudly says, it's a boy! A cheer goes up, Stan shouts, now we got a basketball team. Pop pulls 5 year old Carl aside , who is big for his age,and says "You got to always take care of your little brother".
1927
Fred has his electroplating business on the compound. It is a plating plant of about 10,000 square feet, called American Electroplating Co. It is well known for innovation and quality. He was chosen in 1927, to do the interior hard chrome plating on Charles Lindbergs airplane, by Wright Aeronautical, the manufacturer of airplane engines. The process Fred used enabled the engine to fly for 27 hours without stopping and cross the Atlantic.
1931
Pop, walks over to the shop, opens it as the workers arrive.Pop, s younger brother Donato, is also working with him.Donato is deaf and cannot speak, as a result of an ear infection when he was 4 years old. Donato communicates by reading lips. He is called by his family "the dummy", but he is far from that. In fact he and Fred have invented the shower door. Up till this time, just bath curtains were used, but they came up with the idea of making glass framed metal doors for showers. Uncle Don (Donato) was also a great artist and sculptor; his designs were used on many shower doors. Uncle Don and Fred also came up with the idea of miniature golf. Golf was very popular with the affluent but others could not afford it. They had built a few miniature golf courses for people. However Pop's main success was in electroplating
1906
.He had learn the business as a result of when he got his first job. He was only 12 years old when he quit school and went to work; his family was living in New Haven, Conneticut. He got a job in a company that made locks and screws, they would electroplate them. There he learned about electroplating
1897
Fred was born in 1897 in Caserta, Italy. His father Gaetano Viglione was a craftsman shoemaker, who would custom hand craft shoes for wealthy noblemen. Gaetano developed a process in the handcrafting of custom shoes, to make them always sound like new ones, with a squeak. He became very popular, so much, even with the women of the parish. One day the priest called him in and gave him a one way ticket to America.
1901
In 1901 Gaetano was doing well enough to send for his wife and children to come to America.
1931
It is now Wednesday; Thanksgiving will be tomorrow, grandma Giovanni (Jenny) is preparing plans for the dinner. She has lots of help with the fulltime maid .On Thanksgiving
Day she prepares an entire dinner to take to Kitty who is still in the hospital with newborn "little Eugene”. She enjoys it very much, and little gains 2 oz. thru nursing!
Weather, unusually warm for November, temperature in the 70,s.
1931
Hitler's Nazi party in power in Germany
In October 1931, the former Austrian Corporal was presented to the former Field Marshal. Hitler was a bit unnerved by the old gentleman and rambled on at length trying to impress him. Hindenburg was not impressed and later said Hitler might be suited for Postmaster, but never for a high position such as the Chancellorship of Germany. October of 1931 marked the beginning of the political intrigue that would destroy the young republic and ultimately make Hitler Fuehrer of Germany.
1933
Family moves to Florida, Pop sells business and retires, spends time with family going to beach and fishing.
Pop opens a gas station on the circle in Hollywood Florida, all the boys go with him every day. One day Ernest Hemmingway pulls in for gas, on his way to Key West. Ernest sees the cute little 2 year old Eugene, and wants to buy him, Pop says an empathic No ! He offers Pop $ 5,000. Cash for him. Pop tells him to get out of here.
1935
A bad hurricane rips through Florida, they decide to move back North.
They move to New Haven, Conneticut where Pop was raised and his Mother and Father live.
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