So long May, June is upon us
2026 Memorial Day weekend was a great one and today we can bid farewell to the final days of May. It feels like summer is starting, traffic’s been lighter, kids are almost out of school and a lot of my work for South Florida on the Cheap has been focusing on summer fun!
And before I start writing about this past week I want to take a moment and congratulate my niece Elena who just yesterday received her Master of Arts in Museum Studies from CUNY. She walked across the stage at the commencement ceremony at New York’s Barclays Center and we were all watching live on YouTube and cheering her on. Congrats Elena!
I love this spot at the end of the Jetty. It’s where I stood, right on the edge, and let the crashing waves wash over me. It was so refreshing.
Closer to the edge and those waves are approaching.
Now let’s get to it, starting off with Saturday when Vance and I went for a very humid walk along the path from Surfside Beach to Haulover. We walked all the way out to the tip of the jetty where I let the waves cool me off because the water was filled with seaweed/sargassum so not ideal for a swim.
That night, Vance I celebrated our Anniversary, which was on May 19th (36 years!) with dinner at one of our favorite spots Luna Pasta E Dolci. I had the mushroom ravioli and the burrata with asparagus, peas and artichokes appetizer was fantastic. I need to recreate that at home and also return to Luna and have that again!
One last look at the gorgeous pool at Casa Wutzler where we made so many memories and had so many laughs and good times.
Sunday, we spent the entire day at Casa Wutzler for a bittersweet farewell Memorial Day weekend pool party. Our friends Kevin and Michelle are moving and so it was our last hurrah at their lovely South Miami home. They served a fantastic catered lunch with amazing parillada, Argentinian grilled steak churrasco and chicken with chimichurri and crispy, crunchy churros for dessert. I topped my churros with Ghirardelli dark chocolate. The specialty cocktails their bartenders served were great too. The pool time, conversation and laughter with friends (that are like family), was wonderful. More memories made and some tears were shed.
Monday morning, Vance accompanied me to Food Rescue and after dropping off the donation at Village Freedge, we went to breakfast at Jimmy’s Diner in North Miami on NE 125 St., right near our house. There’s nothing to that place, it’s just a greasy spoon diner but it was so good. Later that afternoon, Vance and I went for a walk through Biscayne Park where we ran into Oscar “The Biscayne Poet” Fuentes, stopping to chat with him for a bit. Oscar hosts a great monthly poetry/open mic night every third Thursday at Books & Books in Coconut Grove that is reminiscent of the 1950s Beatnik days in NYC’s Village. You should check it out sometime.
Tuesday I did the annual St. Michael’s the Archangel K-8 School Career Day for my sister Susy who is the guidance counselor there. I spent a couple of hours chatting with students mainly stressing the importance of using their own brains to write their work and ditching AI. Some of the older grades were uninterested in what I had to say and seemed downright bored which didn’t surprise me. I did enjoy sitting at a table between my high school friend, illustrator Ralph Cabrera and attorney Vicky Gonzalez, the daughter of a longtime family friend who I found out is also a local actress and stand up comedian. A lawyer who has a creative side, that’s so cool! And thankfully this year, the weather was actually pleasant and not sweat-inducing humid.
Packed house at the Coral Gables Art Cinema, there to absorb the knowledge given by Miami’s film industry leaders.
Wednesday morning after dropping off Nicholas at his program, I went to the Coral Gables Art Cinema and attended Miami Film Lab’s Lights, Camera, Community: Miami Film Industry Roundtable. The panel mainly addressed the importance of supporting local filmmakers, funding resources, keeping the industry alive in Miami and collaborating on projects. I enjoyed being surrounded by so many creative individuals, many of whom I’ve written about for Artburst Miami and Biscayne Times. There was filmmaker Gina Margillo, playwright Vanessa Garcia and producer Victoria Collado founders of Abre Camino Collective, Vivian Marthell, co-founder of O Cinema and one of the panelists and Jennifer Orta Castellanos, founder of Miami Film Lab the event host. I took notes as I listened, hoping to use some of what was discussed in a future article or two.
Yesterday was a quiet day and today has been relatively quiet as well. I may walk over to Jazz at MOCA tonight, depending on the weather.
Tomorrow I’ll be at the Little Haiti Cultural Center for our final Food Rescue South FL Farmer’s Market before we take a summer break. Later that day, I may return to Little Haiti to attend the Lakay Fest put on by filmmaker/writer/producer Robert Colom (who was in attendance at the roundtable I mentioned earlier) and who produced the fantastic, locally-shot award-winning film “Mountains” which they will be screening to close out the fest. The festival celebrates local Haitian culture, creativity and community and the film is the perfect ending given its subject matter on the gentrification of Little Haiti.
I think I’ve given you plenty of ideas and things to consider attending around Miami this weekend and beyond. I hope you’ll visit one of our local arthouse cinemas that I mentioned above, use South Florida on the Cheap as a resource as well as Artburst Miami.
And speaking of Artburst, here’s a link to my latest article for them.
As always, I leave you with some parting shots and a video for your viewing pleasure. The video is of my niece Elena walking across the stage at her graduation.
That’s all for this week. Until next Friday, wishing you all the best!
Here are my great nephews Ramzi and Mazen (my niece Nicole’s kids) who are already on summer break, making slime by the pool.
This morning, I gathered these delicate pink flowers from my front yard, fallen from my favorite tree. They’re surrounding a cute angel incense holder I keep by the front door.
