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Thank you for the posts with these photos.
Thanks for checking ’em out Doug. I’ve got a lot of pictures, so I’ll probably put together at least two more posts on other parts of the country.
I’m really enjoying these photographs. Why was your family in Cuba? I’m just curious.
One of my all-time favorite movies is the last one Hitchcock made: Topaz. I’ve watched it at least ten times. I’m fascinated by the story. I’ve always believed it was some sort of historical fiction–in other words, that it is based on a likely series of events surrounding the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962. The story is so plausible. Have you seen it? Some of the pictures you’ve posted here and in the first post remind me of some of the locations in the movie.
Thanks Marci!
I haven’t seen the Hitchcock flick, but I’ll see if I can find it. Sounds great!
As for why the Block’s went to Cuba: My father moved around a lot, mostly in the south, while he was young. When his mother remarried in the middle 60’s, they located permanently in South Florida. He’s been a political animal since a young age – but the joke about him being pleased that I’d post the picture of he and his sons smoking Cuban cigars is that I’m posting it on a conservative website. My father is a committed New Deal Progressive.
Sometime around 2010, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. By 2015/2016 it was very aggressive and doctors were talking about arduous, risky treatments or hopefully healthful living that could allow him to make it another five years. He always wanted to go to Cuba – it being a forbidden destination, a mere 150 miles away.
(Miraculously, despite choices like taking up a cigar-smoking habit, and beginning to drink again after a half decade of sobriety, his cancer has stopped spreading so aggressively.)
So, anyway, that’s why the family went to Cuba.
What a wonderful story!
Prostate cancer is like that. I’m so happy for your dad.
About how old is your father, Sam’l?
Mi padre es about 64 años.
He looks younger, although one might say the pictures aren’t exactly close-up portraits.
He does look pretty young. Before his diagnosis, and subsequent medical complications, he was incredibly healthy.
You might be interested in this post of mine from 2 years ago about a relative who went to Cuba to keep bees in the early 20th century.
http://ricochet.com/428329/archives/cuba-1903/#comments
Definitely interested! Thanks for letting me know about this. The country has such a complicated history, which is why I don’t want these posts to have too much commentary. The situation there is tragic, but it is not without tremendous beauty.