* Lew’s books

  all available on amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Lewis-M.-Weinstein/e/B002IZ1BNK/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=undefined&sr=8-1

also see Lew’s AUTHOR BLOG

http://lewweinsteinauthorblog.com/

* Paris to Nice was an adventure … kudos to Air France for dealing with a baggage handlers’ strike

Earlier in the week, we had dinner with our Paris friends Marilyn and Bernard. When we told them we were planning to fly to Nice on Saturday they told us it was the absolute worst travel day of the year, which the French call Black Saturday, the first Saturday of the August vacation season. We were advised to leave plenty of extra time, or even go to Orly on Friday night and stay in a nearby hotel.

We opted to arrange a taxi at 8:00 am for a 12:20 flight. and were pleasantly surprised when the drive to Orly took only 15 minutes, half the usual time in normal traffic. We quickly used the kiosk to get both our boarding passes and our luggage tags. So far so good, but it still turned out to have been a really good idea to have left early.

By 8:30 we were in line to drop the already tagged luggage. The airport was crowded and it was a long line, but one which should have taken no more than 20-30 minutes. It took over 2 hours. A baggage-handlers strike had put the Orly terminal into chaos. There are automated machines for taking the pre-tagged luggage, but most passengers could not figure out how to make them work, and the baggage handlers stood by and did not help. It was taking 5-15 minutes to process each piece of luggage.

Air France management personnel did a terrific job answering questions and supplementing the baggage handlers, who stood there but did nothing. I tried to find out what the strike was about, and was told it had to do with “working conditions.” When I asked for more details, the condition they were complaining about seemed to be that they were being asked to work.

We finally got through the line and had time for coffee and croissants. Then the flight was delayed, probably due to the baggage handlers not moving the luggage quickly onto the plane. We took off over an hour late, but amazingly, our luggage arrived with us in Nice.

* Lew’s novels

 for more about Lew’s published novels and research on the new novel, see …

Lew’s AUTHOR BLOG

for Lew’s page at amazon …

http://www.amazon.com/Lewis-M.-Weinstein/e/B002IZ1BNK/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1398952776&sr=8-2

* CIA (Cuties in Action) in the 2012 Conch Republic Parade

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Only in Key West. A parade to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Conch Republic, formed when Key West seceded from the union (a whole other story). A group of Key West “cuties” dedicated to community service and having a great time. A container of margaritas and a huge smile, marching down Duval Street. Pat’s CIA moniker is “Miss Judge.” Others ladies are “Miss Appropriate,” “Miss Adventure,” … and nobody is “Miss Laid.”

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* 4 grandsons playing baseball

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Many years ago, I got a great deal of pleasure watching my sons Jon, Ben and Josh play baseball … 

Now the beat goes on, with Blake, Cole, Michael and Luke picking up gloves and bats.

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* visitors to Key West … Chris, Becky, Sean, Howard & Judy

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* visitors to Key West … Jon, Stacie, Evan & Natalia

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* visitors to Key West … Terry, Kerry & Susan

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* The Pope’s Conspiracy … Lew’s long-awaited sequel to The Heretic … is now available in PAPERBACK, KINDLE & NOOK formats

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in this exciting sequel to The Heretic …

• It is 1478 at the very peak of the Italian Renaissance in Florence.
• Benjamin and Esther Catalán are young Jews who have escaped the claws of the Spanish Inquisition and are brought to Florence under the patronage and protection of Lorenzo de Medici, the wealthiest and most powerful man in Europe.
• Their promising future is threatened, however, by a plot to murder Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano, a conspiracy organized by Pope Sixtus IV in Rome.
• As the fast-paced plot moves forward, Benjamin and Esther’s often heroic struggle to build their new lives is set against the evolving progress of the Pope’s plan.
• Esther Catalán, a woman unlike any other ever seen in Florence, shows blazing intelligence and engaging style as she sets the Catalán Press on a path to print previously unpublished works of Plato and the Jewish Talmud. Her friendship with Lucrezia de Medici, mother of Lorenzo and Giuliano, offers a unique look into the lives of one of the most famous families in history.
• Benjamin Catalán surprises Lorenzo with his boldness and political acumen. He develops a close friendship with Giuliano, involving football, hawking and hunting with a cheetah.
• Both Benjamin and Esther become integral participants in the cultured and opulent Medici inner circle even as they seek to re-make their Jewish life in an environment that resembles the anti-Jewish furor they experienced in Spain.
• Directed from the Vatican, the net around Lorenzo and Giuliano tightens. Rumors of a possible attack are reported by Medici spies.
• Benjamin joins with the Medici family to try to thwart the conspiracy.
• Lorenzo refuses to believe the Holy Father is brazen enough to attempt murder almost to the day the would-be assassins arrive in Florence.

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in PAPERBACK ($14.95) …

http://www.amazon.com/The-Popes-Conspiracy-Lewis-Weinstein/dp/1475058411/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332690047&sr=1-6

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in KINDLE format ($9.99) … 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Popes-Conspiracy-ebook/dp/B007N7JLAI/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332690047&sr=1-4

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in NOOK format ($9.99) … 

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-popes-conspiracy-lewis-m-weinstein/1109628986?ean=2940014249720&itm=1&usri=the+pope%27s+conspiracy

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* Spring training in Clearwater & Tampa

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a warm day in Clearwater and a cool day in Tampa

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the very special flavor of spring training and 3 generations of fans

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My sons have a long tradition of travelling to various major league parks together.

This year they included me and one of my grandchildren in a delightful March weekend.

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Cayo Hueso Literary Salon – Jan 24 2012

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Our first meeting of the Cayo Hueso Literary Salon.

We talked. We ate. We ate and talked. We may even have had a glass of wine.

Much of the discussion dealt with the book of the night … Hemingway’s Boat by Paul Hendrickson

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* a visit to “Occupy Wall Street” at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan

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October 21, 2011 … We took the R train and walked to Zuccotti Park, where we observed the situation a week or so after the tents had been removed by the NYPD. At roughly 3:00 pm, there were only a few people protesting – less, we estimated, than the combined number of police and reporters.

We engaged in conversation with Megan, 28 years old and unemployed, an intelligent well-spoken young lady. Her issue of the day was the exorbitant power of corporations in America, with a focus on the “Corporate Personhood” issue raised by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

We think this is the absolute correct issue, but wonder how this movement will ever get to effective action on the evils of political campaign financing which we believe is at the heart of our current national impotence. We will comment further on the political implications of what we saw and heard on our political blog at http://lewandpatpolitics.wordpress.com/2011/11/24/occupy-wall-street-loses-focus-a-post-in-progress/.

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* a stroll through New York’s Central Park

We love New York. And one the things we love most is Central Park, where Pat ran almost every day for ten years. So when we visited New York in November, we went straight to one of our favorite places. Come with us on our stroll …

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