March 2008
Dear Folks,
Mar. 14, 2008
It’s Bear Sterns day. Sucker dropped a bundle. Somebody lost some paper money. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
Jan is painting so well but not lots. Every morning of Mon., Wed., and Fri., I ask if she is going to the Health Club with me. She says, “No”. I get ready and she is also ready and we go. The first answer is no but she does come through and join me. She walks with me, slowly, and then finds someone to talk to so I walk the fast lane. Sooner or later she is back walking again. Life is either slow track or fast track.
Just got notice of being in the Art and Air Festival in Webster Grove, Mo. It’s just south of St. Louis. I like the sound of it. Very artist friendly wish is a joy in this age of greed. I’ll tell you more about it later. Dates are the first weekend in June. The show is on the grounds of the Seminary with housing for artists at a reasonable rate. Imagine Gil at the Seminary for the weekend. Maybe we’ll have some interesting discussions. Sweet Jan will fit in anywhere but that damn Gil.
I feel so sorry for the artist, craftsmen friends. They are dropping out and going bankrupt at a rate unknown in the last forty years. It’s so painful hearing the stories. Maybe I’ll start a new program of adopt an artist and save a life. It’s not only the marginally talented the are affected, it’s everybody. Just heard of one full timer doing six shows and selling nothing at any of them. We’ve been through it before and always I say to Jan, “paint”, it will open in time.
It’s Saturday, March 15. Jan is painting and I just received an e mail saying how much Jan’s paintings mean to her and her husband. She said we are an inspirational and caring couple. She caught us on a good day but the e mail has made our day. This reminds me of a letter I sent to my parents years ago. I told them how much they meant to me and the good things they had taught me. I told mom how she personalized animals by calling a cow a bossy cow and how dad taught me cribbage so patiently and took me fishing with him when going with Howard alone. They never degraded people to us kids. We were free to grow up untouched by negativity. After both had passed, the woman who had cared for them told me she could not count the times one or the other of them would ask her to read “the letter”. This was their way to rise about the depths of blindness and boredom. Yes, I did write it and it was one of the best things I have done. Maybe one of you will do the same for your parents or someone you love. If you do it will make our day and the world even better.
