Dear Worldly Friends, er… Friends from all over the World -

It’s past due to have the January blurp in the website. I spell checked “blurb” and they say no such word exists. Well let me tell them. I have known blurb for a half century. I’m sure all you know it. It’s a real word.

I’d like to say a few words about Jan, the person. She was, as they say in the animal world, out of Floyd and Mildred Bovay. Her parents were brought up in Evart, Michigan and moved to Saginaw, Michigan where Janice was born. They lived on Benjamin Street when she was young. She went to Stone School and had many friends. I remember a movie of her, as a child, in her Uncle Sam costume, tap dancing. She had long hair like Shirley Temple and had the same shyness as always. She had lots of friends, not excluding boys. We are still friends with some of her Junior High boyfriends. I was told not to include pages of her diary that she still has.

She attended Arthur Hill High School to those who know and knew Saginaw. It was a big deal at one time. Come to think of it she even graduated from Arthur Hill in 1952. The family moved to Center Road when she was in High School. It was about two blocks from one of the first one hundred McDonald’s in this country. I would go pick up a lunch to take to the family. I’d eat two cheeseburgers and then order a hamburger for each of them and one french fries for all of them to share. They would also share a milk shake. The shakes were big in those days and cost 15 cents. The hamburgers were ten cents, the cheeseburgers were twelve cents and fries were five or ten cents. That I can’t remember. I do remember the Bovay’s ate like birds. I was of five kids and we ate whatever we could and whatever was on the table, for later it might not be so festive.

Jan’s dad was gas supervisor for Consumer Power Company. Her mother taught kindergarten in the first ward of Saginaw. That meant mixed racial classes. She loved teaching there. Jan was not like most only children for she was not given much. Life was frugal. Her first full bottle of pop was not until the eleventh grade. They always shared. The family was very close and warm and did accept me. That has always intrigued me for I used “damn” and “hell” and smoked and drank beer. They always seemed to respect me, but for what I do not know. I do know they got a kick out of me coming to visit for a weekend with my grocery bag with fresh clothes, shaving equipment, tooth brush and all. Who needs a suitcase? Guess that’s called not being pretentious.

I’ll continue the Jan’s life here in “Gil says” in the months to come. This is a beginning.

We are home. The holidays are over, and now is our time to build an inventory of wonderful paintings. Jan is starting out well. She has been successful so far in 2007. To be an artist is not all easy. We have Jan’s back to contend with and whether her creative juices are the right juice for the given project. Enough of that. We are well, and doing what makes us happy, and are a success at it so far this year. The direction has been big florals. Now, Jan never stays on a plan laid out for her by me. She just has to redirect. That continually happens and is happening now. The good thing is her direction and redirections are both working. One never knows when the creative slump will come or how long it will last. We just know the drummer is in control.

Our wish for you is a year of buying art and not bullets…

Love Gil, with Jan looking over my shoulder.