No one can say that Miami Beach politics are dull. We have a 23-year-old running for commissioner who has never worked or gotten a college degree, but was able to lend himself one hundred thousand dollars. He runs nasty ads against the educated and seasoned Michael Gongora without thought about what people think about his real estate sugar daddy putting that money into the campaign. But, nothing beats the mayoral race of Raphael Herman. The head of the Cuckoo Party, Herman has run for the last six elections with stories that he had a knife fight with Osama Bin Laden. He showed up at City Hall last weekend bloodied claiming that the fire department beat him up to keep him out of the race; when police arrived, he refused help but demanded that the Secret Service (Obama was in town) fax him. As The Herald reported, "Herman, who is 63 and claims to be an Israeli commando, is eccentric even by Miami Beach standards." Even by Miami Beach standards, indeed.

He still gives me that look when I leave. I've been checking up on KiKi as much as possible lately; nearly one month short of his nineteenth birthday, he is becoming more and more lost. He still likes to play the games and down a good meal, but often he drifts off, staring into a corner or a water bowl. Sometimes I don't know what is more cruel: His getting lost in the world he once ruled or my not wanting to let him go.

She's back.... My inclination this year was to lay low this Halloween, but Mr. Astor has the weekend off and a big hankering to go out (i.e. Dress Up), so we are bringing back the sexy doctor and Sheila, The Head Nurse (of Boca), for a spin around Lincoln Rd. and Twist. I really don't feel like going out, but we decided to spruce up the routine; I also don't have a death wish of a broken ankle. What you do for love.