A Note from Paul Gross: Ciao, Belli!

We all have the Italian spirit here at Hocus Pocus! After a 3 1/2 week vacation, Mike Giusti surprised us all by making an early appearance this week! Mike brought gifts for everyone from the different cities he visited, including an oil painting of a magician from a local artist in Verona. for me, which I've already hung in my office. Mike's been telling us some great stories and photos, which we'll share with you below. As many of you know, Mike is my right-hand guy, putting up text and images faster than anyone else in the industry. Being the company man that he is, he even took his laptop and updated the web site during his travels. Thanks for coming back early, Mike!

Fly, Boy, Fly! My son, Max, and I have decided to start raising White Homing Pigeons. My dad did this as a hobby, and the fact that Max is a true animal lover, makes this exciting. We had a large cage in the backyard where I keep my doves, and we've now added an additional space for the new pigeons. As there's nowhere in our area that sells them, I actually ordered them via the Internet, and they are due to arrive here sometime at the end of the month. I guess it's more than just magic that can be ordered over the 'net... Max has been spending most of his daytime fine tuning the cage, and he and I will build the roosting boxes this weekend. My house is now a regular Noah's Ark with 2 dogs, 15 tropical fish, 3 doves, 6 turtles, and soon-to-arrive pigeons! If anyone has any experience raising these Homing Pigeons, any advice you can send our way would be extremely helpful. Thank you in advance. We'll keep you posted and post more photos when they arrive.

You may have noticed that we've added a new feature to the front page of our web site. Entitled the "Hocus Pocus Clearance Center," this will be updated every week with products that are either one-of-a-kind, overstock, or discontinued merchandise. All the prices are way below our actual cost, which means you can save a bundle. Believe me, it's worth checking out regularly.

We had surprise visits from our good friend Lou Hirshorn from Los Angeles and a real long distance visit from Chris Kenworthy from Maryland! Both spent last weekend here, and they enjoyed seeing the new location and we had a great time going out to my favorite Italian restaurant last Saturday evening. Remember, if you're ever in the area, we'd love for you to stop by.

The weather has been in the triple digits with a high of 113 degrees! We're doing the best we can to stay cool, and I'm finding myself in the pool more this year than in the past. Hope you all have a great weekend, and I'll turn the blog over to Mike to post pictures from his trip. Enjoy.

Until next time,

Paul