Hit the canal

This is the view of the back of the Gowanus Canal. Many a deadbeat Puerto Ricans last view before he hit the water for not paying off the shy. It is sort of cleaned up although some SuperFund corruption is going on now. But it is as clean as it is gonna get.

You come in on Ninth Street and go behind some of the businesses that started up there. A movie prop house. A word working shop. And of course the Dirty Hippies who sold us the furniture for the back store.

Hey they serve moonshine at this restauruant?

That's pretty cool. You don't often get moonshine at a restaurant.

Wait a minute? What? What the Fuck? You got to be kidding me?

SIXTY GRIT MADE THIS!!!!
SHIT I AM IN TROUBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey don't put your pussy in the window.

So we were walking down the street and we past one of the other boutiques on Court St. They had a pussy in the window. Now that is kind of funny because I have been having a little mouse problem the last week. When the guy came to put in the gate he drilled a hole and I think they found their way in. I have caught three so far on glue traps.

Most of the stores on Court St have a cat. In fact the cat next door at the bodega is always trying to sneak in. I have to throw shit at her when the doors are open in nice weather.

There is a reason we can't have a cat in the store.

You have to wait until you get home to get cat hair on your underwear Aimee. Just sayn'

Stop Staring at my Pussy

I can't help it. They are dangerous. You never know when they will turn on you.

They are a lot like Protestants in that way. Just sayn'

Orange is the New Black is pretty funny

We have been watching the second season of "Orange is the New Black" on Netflicks and it is pretty good. This season they are filling in the back stories of most of the girls in the prison. There take is pretty funny. One in particular is hilarious. There is this big Shirley Hemphil type girl who was portrayed as working for the TSA. The scenes with her are really, really funny. You see her abusing airline passengers and stealing out of the luggage. We have all met this girl. To she her portrayed accurately on TV is both stunning and hilarious. Worth the price of the show alone.

Although this is a women in prison movie there isn't as much exploitation as you might think. It is a well crafted comedy. The women seem a little too harmless. But it is only thirteen episodes and they go by quick.

The monthly Netflicks charge is one of the best things I have ever signed up for as an ongoing entertainment choice.

Ricpic is busy

He hasn't been around because I think he hooked up with a babe. He took my advice.

A little Manischewitz. A little Kenny G.  Hummus. You are good to go.

But we still hope he will drop by more often.

Maybe I can get the Japanese Department store to buy some lingerie

I mean McDonalds is up 200% last quarter in the Japanese stock market.

I think it is the anxiety about the Chinese.

We are really working on the lingerie store

The work on the lingerie store is continuing a pace. A couple of the pieces of furniture were sent out to be worked on. The gate is set up at the front. The contractor is coming next week to start work.

It has been a busy time.

We have a new UPS guy.

Our regular guy who we had for seven years quit. He is going to drive big rigs for UPS and not deal with the package delivery. I think he is making a big mistake.

The new guy introduced himself today. I gave him a generous tip. He stopped by before he left for the day to pick up my stuff. Gave me his cell in case I have to call him.

We are going to get along just fine.

Camel Toe Corner: Unfortunate divsion

Some of the cheerleaders at the World Cup are a little on the gamey side. It gets hot in Brazil. But hey what do I know.

There are guys who like a dirty girl.

The Knockout game was back this Memorial Day.

For all of our friends who ridicule the coverage of the "Knockout" game there was a brand new outbreak this Memorial Day weekend in Cincinnati.

As reported at Instapundit there was a wave of Knockout game racial attacks during "The Taste of Cincinnati." What was unusual was that a media outlet reported the facts instead of using euphuisms. That is very unusual.

Yesterday I walked past De Blasio's house on 11th Street in Park Slope. There is a police cubicle outside his door to protect him and his family.

So the Knockout game is no big deal to him.

Lem has his hands full

Lem has a lot to deal with from the continuing assault by Leisure Suit Larry. His current attacks on the recent thread about the Pope are particularly nasty and uncalled for. But what can you expect.

I emailed Lem about them and he closed down the thread. Unfortunate but perhaps necessary. You see I think Lem didn't have time to moderate and pick and choose what to delete. Nor should he have to do so. I think most of us managed to ignore Larry despite some pretty personal nonsense. I want to support Lem in closing down this thread. There will be plenty of other instances where the talk can continue. This thread was going no where fast. No where good. But sometimes enough is enough.

Lem's goal is to keep it civil. I want to strive to help him do that. My natural reaction is like Nick's or Ari's or Shouting to bitch slap that fucker but I want to rise above it if I can. I hope we all can.

It is a work in progress.

Padre Pio

Tony Gwynn has passed from cancer at an all too young age.

He was a great player and an even better player. As a hardcore Yankee fan there are very few people I think of with total respect and admiration but he was one of the few. Like Kirby Puckett and Robin Yount and Cal Ripken he was a true representative of his team. He was an honorable man. A great player. A winner. Someone who was a true role model.

One of my favorite jokes of all time was when we were all making fun of Joe Biden and the fact that he was not a "Real Catholic." We said stuff like "Joe Biden eats meat on Fridays." But my favorite joke was "Joe Biden thinks Padre Pio is when Tony Gwynn takes a leak in the outfield."

He will be missed. May he rest in peace.

Happy Fathers Day

Fathers Day is always a strange day for me. My Daddio has been gone for twenty six years. I think about him every day.

He was very involved with the neighborhood and its people. He was always helping people out when they had a problem. He was an accountant and he built up a big practice of people from the neighborhood. He knew everyone and everyone knew him. We couldn’t walk down the street without someone stopping us to say hello or to ask a question. Now that happens to me. I know all the old timers and have met a lot of the new people in the neighborhood. But I don’t have the patience that my Dad did for some of these people. I mean I am always polite but I don’t want to hear everyone’s problems. Because that is what they want to tell you.

Because my Dad was always helping people they came to expect it from him. When he got sick many of them dropped him because he couldn’t do anything for them anymore. Not everyone but plenty of them. I tell you it was an eye opener for me. But he taught me well. He used to tell me “When you do something do it because you want to. Don’t expect any credit or gratitude because that is few and far between. Do it because it is the right thing to do. The charitable thing. Always help out if you can. But do it because it is in your heart. Then you won’t go wrong.” The funny thing was that the more powerless someone was the more they appreciated the help. It was the big shots that were the ungrateful bastards.

I took his advice. That is why I am very friendly with all the working people in the neighborhood. The deli clerks. Waiters and waitresses. The dude who washes the vegetables in the Gourmet food store. I had to run to the stores this morning to get the food that the wife was going to bring over her father’s house. I have to stay in the store and I wanted her to go spend some time with her Dad. Everyone wanted the good ravioli’s and bread and cookies from Brooklyn so I went to the stores before they left. The funny thing is that I knew every worker in each store and they knew by name. They asked how I was feeling and if there was anything they could do for me. One of them offered to cook me up a big batch of prosciutto balls if I could eat them since nobody was making them anymore. It made me feel great. Because it reminded me of my Dad and how people used to act toward him when he was out and about.

I take it all with a grain of salt but I still am glad that I can have that relationship with the little guys. The owners of the stores and the yuppie hipster assholes that are in line I could give a shit about. It is the workers that I care about and am proud to call my friend.

Just like my Daddio. I miss you and I love you and I think about you every day.

 

That's right!

Marilyn's Diary

We always took advantage of living in Southern California. I enjoyed visiting the various tourist spots with the family. The tar pits. Sunset Boulevard. Hollywood and Vine. The movie studios.

But I really loved going to Sea World. We went there several times with the family. In fact we were there so many times that they offered me a job for the summer. I didn't take it because I didn't want to leave my Uncle Herman. He would sneak into my room when Aunt Lily had passed out and he would do strange and wonderful things to my body. His huge prehensile tongue would lap up my .....er I loved my Uncle Herman.

But then Uncle Herman left us and we were all alone. So I decide to move down to San Diego and study marine biology. The biology stuff was very interesting to me. My favorites were the seals. One in particular. Salty the seal was very well trained. He loved fish and was so kind and gentle. He would come up and take the fish right out of my hand. Especially tuna. Salty loved tuna.

I particularly loved when everyone would leave and would have the park to myself. In the early morning or on holidays. One day I decided to lay out and sun bathe. In the nude. To get an all over tan. I feel asleep in the sun. As I slept I felt a familiar sensation. A long sensuous lick by a thick tongue. I mummered "Oh Uncle Herman...is that you?" But alas it wasn't.

I had to leave my job. You see I had to give up Salt. It was addicting.

Rememberance of things Pabst

One of my favorite lunch spots in the neighborhood was Joe's Superette. Now this was a dirty disqusting joint that I wouldn't allow Lisa to go into because she would never eat the stuff if she saw how Leo kept the joint. As an example he had an old tin of Pastene Peppers that he just refilled but had been in the case for about twenty years since Old Man Joe owned the joint. They made the best sandwiches in the neighborhood by far. It was the site of the famous knife fight a couple of years ago between two connected knuckleheads that I had talked about a few times here. It is also one of the eight places that I have been going to for forty years that closed in the last eleven months.

Now the sandwiches were great but everyone really went there for the prosciutto balls:

You know. Rich creamy ricotta deep fried with chopped up prosciutto. Man they were heaven. You would go in and order them by the dozen. None of the pizzeria's or pork stores could really compete with them because that was where everyone went to get them. I would buy at least 2 dozen prosciutto and a dozen rice balls every time I went in there.

Now they had a good reason for closing. Leo the owner died of bone cancer. He had taken it over from Joe who also died of cancer. Leo used to work for him and bought the store when the old man died. The kid working there wanted to do the same thing but he couldn't get the money together so they decided to rent out the space.

The landlord rented out the space to a Greek restaurant called Avlee. It is very, very good. Tasty Greek food and quite inexpensive. They serve the wine in Mason Jars and the hipsters dig that shit. But we ate there last night and the bill was under eighty dollars for four appetizers, four glasses of wine and two entrees. Let me tell you in Brooklyn that is outstanding.

I enjoyed Mousaka and Greek Fries which are French fries with olive oil and feta cheese. (Lisa let me off the leash for a night). We split a Greek Salad.

The wife really likes the appetizers like the spinach pie that you see in this photo. Her aunt married a Greek guy so she is used to good Greek food because her Italian Aunt learned to cook lots of great Greek dishes.  One of the best appetizers was the dipping plates:

This consists of three different dipping sauces with a bunch of pita. The yougut and dill in the dish with the pita is particularly good. As is the chick pea dip which is the first yellowish one on the other plate. That is what we always order.

We tried to keep a low profile but this was the third time we were there. The owner's wife was waitressing and introduced herself so we told her that we had a store. So she is coming for a bra fitting. Another joint where were are going to be in with the in crowd again. My dream of being anonymous is just going to have to wait. I mean she came over to scold me because I took half of my Mousaka home because I just couldn't eat it all. That is why I know she is a new friend. She felt comfortable enough to tell me what to do.

This is what life is all about. A great place goes away after being in the same spot for over sixty years. A new joint comes in. This time it is great because it is a Mom and Pop restaurant that has the same values that we have. We will be going there to support them as much as we can. Maybe they can stay in the same spot feeding people for fifty years like Joe's Supperette did. I hope so.

I have to change my priorities.

I have been so busy at the store and at home that I haven't had time to do much creative stuff here at the blog. I enjoy writing. That is fun for me. I want to continue working on my little stories that I hope to make into a book. But I just haven't had the time to post much. I have only had time to do some quick hits by commenting.

I like commenting at Lem's place because those guys put up some interesting posts. But the recent influx of Leisure Suit Larry has made it a lot less fun. It is back to the same drivel that we had almost a year ago. You would think that when people left and stayed away from their site they would get the message and leave them alone. It is obvious that both of them post under the same handle at different times. The tone and the level of discourse is definitely very different. Why can't they stay in their own sandbox and ruin those peoples fun?

For a couple of weeks I have been enjoying posting at PreviouslyTV which is a site devoted to TV shows. They seemed to have a free and easy way about them unlike Television Without Pity which had draconian rules and where I got banned four different times. But it seems like they have tightened up now that they got popular and I am getting warnings and cautions about stupid jokes because they are politically correct tight asses like just about everyone these days. So I am dropping them as well.

It is time to hunker down and just post more stuff here. Concentrate on this and leave the rest behind. It might mean that I would post less. Or post a little and then go back and add to it later. I might start a chapter of "Joey Gallo" or "Doc Holliday" and come back to it to edit or enhance it. I have done that before but I need to concentrate on it more.

I should just go on vacation and say "Fuck it."

Another Sale at the Hawaiian Shirt Store

Just thought I would let you know that they are giving an additional $20 off any purchases of more than $100 today.

I jump on these sales so it is good to get on their email list to get some bargains.

Whose that girl?

Whose that nasty nurse? She suddenly reappeared when everyone thought she was gone. She is making nasty remarks and causing trouble. She thinks she is royalty but is really just a bag of douches.

But she is not who you think she is.

Whose that nasty nurse?

I don't have much use for Queens.

Not any of them. The borough. The English one. The ones that want to get married. The drama ones.

They tire you out with their bullshit.

Don't get me wrong. I don't mind the tirade or manifesto or screaming blow up. But I don't have much time these days to indulge people.

Mauling it over.

There has been a lot going on the past few days both here and at Lem's. I can't go into all of the details because other people are involved and I don't relay what is said in private like Leisure Suit Larry does. Suffice it to say that the recurring problem of the Lawnboy and his destructive impluses have come back to plague Lem's Levity in a big way.

I enjoy commenting at Lem's joint because so many of the old time commenters are hosts or commenters there. Not all of them are here. In fact when I tried to let in a few new people some took it the wrong way. I had thought about going public again but I will not do that here. There is too much that hateful and hurtful people would gleam to use against us in a Donald Sterling type way. Jokes and allusions and sides would be quoted out of context and used to batter people who are innocent. So this blog will never be public again.

However I do enjoy Lem's stuff and the fact that it is a public full access joint. I am happy to contribute to him in a small way. I would do more if he needs me to and if he wants me to. I appreciate his open door. I hope he can keep it that way.

I want to say something

I have been busting Lem's balls pretty good lately but I want to make one thing clear. He is a good man and does great work with his blog. It is a place where creativity blossoms and people can talk freely. He did a great thing with his blog and is a very, very generous man.

If you have a chance stop by his joint to let him know that you appreciate him and what he does.

He is a good egg.

For a Red Sox Fan.

Oh Shirt!

The new Hawaiian Shirts are in! Fresh from Oahu and the Honolulu Shirt company is a new batch of shirts for the new season.

I am very happy!

Here we have a new favorite Florida style shirt with alligators and killer whales. As well as a simple flowery one for more sedate occasions. You know. Like church.

Here we have two of our favorite recurring motifs. Drunken parrots and tropical drinks. They just go together.

These are my two favorites. You have already seen the Florida one. But the gambling one is way cool. it has cards and a drink and dice and chips. But best of all it has a stubby cigar sitting on an ashtray that looks like a penis. Right on your nipple. Makes a statement you know what I mean?

Of course the wife is a fashionista and asked me what was I thinking? I told her "Hey they were originally $100 but they were on sale for $19.99 Why would they do that?" She said "I think I know."

I don't care. I like them. They are officially in the rotation.

Complusion

It seems that this Sunday Night will end badly as we had predicted. Leisure Suit Larry has a compulsion to come to Lem's place to stir the shit. While beclowning himself.

His latest gem:

"Clearly, ever since the extremely costly coverups of the priest abuse cases became public, the institution has been scurrying to figure out how to deal with the "homosexuality" within its ranks.

About time."

And then this gem:
"Oh I do know. Do know that many "conservatives" in the Catholic Church have fought tooth and nail to scapegoat "homosexuals" as the root cause of the clergy abuse of children? It has been a big debate within the institution. Much hand-wringing. As I'm sure you can imagine."

So let me get this straight. The men that abused male children were not homosexuals. They were something else. Larry thinks the Church has to deal with the many homosexuals in their midst. You know what? I agree. If there had been no homosexuals in the priesthood there would have not been a molestation crises. It is as simple as that.

Is that what he means?

He is compelled to be a fool.

Replaying the Show

It seems that everything in life is a repeat. This week we ended up repeating an episode of "Big Brooklyn Style." We had to go to the mannequin store to get some new stuff for the new lingerie store.

The same gay kid who was on the show still worked there. He had come to our premiere party with his partner and we had kept in touch with him. He is helping us out with picking out new mannequins which is important because these are specialty items and not just plus sized ones like we bought before.

You don't want to get stuck with the pensive Justin Beiber model.

We have to buy several of them because we are going to be displaying a lot of lingerie and bathing suits. Everyone is telling us it is too late to have bathing suits in but I think that is bullshit. If a girl sees a cute bathing suit she is going to buy it. We just have to line them up right.

There are so many shapes and sizes to choose from that it takes a long time to get it right. We will be going back and forth on that the next few weeks so I know I will be looking at this crap for a while.

Jeez.

Back to the factory

You might have noticed that I have not been posting as much as usual. That is because we have been really, really busy. We have been going back and forth to the factory to try to complete the Japan order. We had a problem with one particular dress because we could not get the fabric that the sample was made of and what the Japanese ordered. That was a "one-off" that was made solely for Lisa to wear to a party. But they dug it off the rack and ordered it and we had to do our best to get it.

You can see the original in the middle. The ones on each end are two different fabrics that most closely approximate it. You can not tell the texture and feel of the fabric but they are silk cotton blends and very rich.

The problem is sewing this dress. We are back forth all the time to the factory to make decisions about making this dress.

 

Lisa and the pattern maker are working to get all the kinks out and finish it in time for delivery. It is just very time consuming so Joey Gallo and Doc Holliday have to take a back seat.

Cat Man Don't

The problem with visiting Aimee and Chuck is that they have too many fucking cats. Too many is technically designated as more then one.

I am very allergic to cats. If I get cat hair on my fingers and touch my eye they well up like I was Chuck Wepner or the Evil Blogger Lady after a Sunday night of blogging and punching with the Lawnboy. So I have to be careful.

But cats are like women. If you don't want anything to do with one they are all over you. This one had to jump next to me on the counter and was looking to stand on my head.

Sometimes pussy will just not leave you alone.

Scary!

Good Luck Chuck

We went over to Fort Greene to see our friends Chuck and Aimee last night. Chuck just had a heart thingy. Not similar to mine but still serious. So we went over to try and cheer him up.

We had dinner and then started playing this stupid game that uses your phone. It is an app or something. You see you take the phone and hold it in front of your forehead and everyone sees the word there and acts it out or give clues to make you guess what it is. The fun is the crazy stuff people do to get you to guess.

My two best clues of the night:

1. What you were in Law School.

2.  What do women smell like.

They got them in about two seconds.

Leisure Suit Larry Strikes Again

I don't know if you have been following the post about the bakers who lost the case about the gay wedding cake on Lem's site. It was an interesting discussion until Leisure Suit Larry slithered onto the scene.

He proceeded to do his usual act. Insulting people. Demanding apologies. Lying. Threatening. Treating Father Fox with an unbelievable lack of respect. The respect due a human let alone a man of the cloth.

Lem was kind enough to shut it down after it took a particularly disgusting turn and deleted a few really bad comments by Lawnboy. I thank him for that.

I think Michael Haz had it right. It is time to disassociate ourselves totally from TOP and the evil duo. They are obviously flailing about trying to drum up blog hits. Lawnboy even stooped to a direct link which is right out of his pet Bubbles bag of tricks. I will not addresss him directly regardless of the nasty stuff he spews about me. I suggest we all do the same. I also hope that those of you who are administrators will simply delete Larry out of hand. As he does at his wife's blog. Most of us left there never to return. It is simply not right to let him follow us to Lem's to start the same crap.

It has been almost a year. Can't we be shut of these shits already?

Hell needs a new PA announcer!

(Lucifer strides into Hell in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt smoking a cigar and scratching his balls. He does that a lot. That's why they call him old scratch) Lucifer: How the fuck are you Forcas? Aah who the fuck am I kidding I don't give a shit. I'm back from vacation so let's get to work.
Forcas: Vacation? I thought you were sick my Dread Lord. Lucifer: Yeah. My black heart started to fail. It filled up with water and goo and shit. I had to get a pacemaker. You believe that shit. But I got to spend a weekend at the Hamptons. That’s where all the demons and devils and monsters hang out. You know. White people. So do we have any new candidates?
Forcas: Well we have several new candidates you can choose from. There is the famous pretentious black female poet!
Lucifer: Really. That that doesn’t narrow it down. They are all pretentious bitches. Is it Gwendolyn Brooks? She is pretty talented
Forcas: No my dread Lord. It is Maya Angelou. Lucifer. Oh no. not that no talent cunt. I can’t listen to that shit. I already live in hell. Send out to be Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Maid. She can cook him pancakes and get butt fucked. He won’t enjoy it anyway. He gets there fastest with the moistest that quick draw ejaculating motherfucker. Who else do we have?
Forcas: We have famous baseball legend Don Zimmer.
Lucifer: Holy Ted Williams disembodied noggin! The Gerbil. Get him in here right now Don Zimmer(slides down the stairwell to hell and tumbles at the feet of Satan and his right hand fallen angel Forcas. He blearily rolls over and drops the racing form and the bottle of ExLax that he was holding) What the fuck...where am I? Is that you Buckner? Lucifer: You are in Hell Zimmer! Welcome. I bet you thought you were in Hell all the times the times you had to stick your head up Tom Yawkey’s ass. He loved the feel of your big bald head up in his bowels. That’s why he called you the gerbil. Now you are home. Think of this as the Fenway Park! Cause it is fuckin Hell.
Don Zimmer: How the fuck did I end up in Hell? I was a Yankee all those fuckin’ years! I know that Yankees never go to Hell! What the fuck?
Lucifer: Seriously you moron. You are not a true Yankee like Mantle or DiMaggio or Celerino Sanchez. You are a Cub. And a Red Sox. You know. A fuckin’ loser.
Don Zimmer: You mean I put up with George for nothing. Shit.
Lucifer: Look you big dummy. You were one of the worst managers in baseball history and you were a big part of the Red Sox. History. So straight to Hell!Forcas!
Forcas: Yes Sire. (two burly demons drag Don away and dump in a pit ) What do you want done with him.
Lucifer: Oh I don’t know. Tell you what. Have go down on Eleanor Roosevelt and stick his bald head up her twat. Her smelly twat. That should be hell for both of them. Forcas: Yes sire.
Lucifer: Have Marilyn and Ava Gardner come up to my room. I am horny. Tits.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey is starting up

And is not going to be pretty.

Theresa and Joe Giudice pled guilty to tax evasion and fraud and face about twenty years in the jug. Even worse Juicy Joe is not a citizen so he can be deported. They had a half hour preview of the new season is full of the Giudice dealing with the aftermath and the effect on their kids. It goes to a very dark place.

They have a bunch of new bimbos and some of them are real Italian stereotypes and all around knuckleheads. Dina Manzo returned after the rest of her family left the show. She did however bring her new cat. Aviva.

It is going to be a fucked up year.

I want to go on vacation

I really want to go on vacation this summer. That little getaway this past Memorial Day was really great for us. We really need it. We have been going on all cylinders ever since my operation in January with trying to get the new store going and starting to sell wholesale.

It looks like I might have finally found a good employee to handle the store. It will take at least a month or two to get her up to speed but we might be able to get away at the end of August.

I sure hope so. It has been tough. We get pretty tired.

Hey blogging is hard

Running a blog is a difficult thing. Many of youse guys can attest to that. You have to come up with good ideas that will engage people and get them to comment. But you can't be too mean and confrontational because that could lead to a lot of comments but people get pissed and leave.

Commenters come and go. Some people comment every day for months and then disappear. Some people come around for few weeks and then leave and then come back. Some come by every day and share their wisdom or foolishness or ball busting. All of you are appreciated. I think people that run blogs don't say that often enough.

I think commenters add an enormous amount to your blog. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me and following along with my nonsense. It makes it so much fun.