Dear Breakfast Clubbers,                                                                                        Dec. 2009

I often play some solitaire when I come to the computer to see how things will be going for the day.  Today I had no luck.  In fact it was awful.  Nothing came together like it was meant to be.  I should never be writing now for I’m sure I will use bad words or offend the wrong people or get may tail in a wringer more than usual.  Here I am writing.  Never was known for brains but have been known for guts.  In football on a kickoff to the other team  the running back, about 40 lbs. heavier than I saw me coming at him and gunned it.  He saw I was no chicken and tried to slow down.  Too late.  We hit squarely at a decent speed.  Our bodies ended up flat against each other and slid, or Yogi talk slud, to the ground.  Everything hurt even my teeth.  Being me I had to get up first and after a minute or so I was up and he lay moaning.  I stood there and couldn’t walk but stood there.  We were offsides on the kickoff so another kickoff happened.  Same back started up the field.  He saw me coming and headed for the sideline.  I got him but it was so much nicer for both of us.  Moral, never under estimate the opposition.

It has been a real difficult time lately.  Jan fell and hit her head in the bathroom.  The trip, three city blocks to the hospital in the EMS wagon, was so difficult on Jan.  They had her so taped in that she couldn’t swallow.  It got better and the next day she was home.  A while later she had nine days in the U. of M. hospital to try to find the right meds to help her.  That was very difficult for her again.  Along about the time all this was happening I was cooking and doing nine different things and I burned the meat and opened the front door to air out the kitchen.  It wasn’t until the middle of the night that I realized Evie, Jan’s kitty, was missing.  It is her main love before or maybe after me.  We looked everywhere and some friends spent hours trying to help us.  A friend from Georgia said her Vet said to collect urine and sprinkle it on the bushes etc. around the area and she might follow the scent and find her home. I collected for a day and sprinkled everywhere.  After all that sprinkling, guess what?   Eight missing days and the day after I sprinkled Evie was under the neighbor’s porch looking at our condo.  You are never too old to learn new tricks.  Evie is home.  Jan is home.  We three love each other and do our best to survive under trying circumstances.  Thank God for spell check.  How did they ever think I meant circumcision?

The opening of Jan’s show, Celebrate, at the Chelsea Gallery was so much fun and exciting.  It is being very successful considering the times.  We don’t have those super wealthy collectors so most are frightened and not buying much least of all art.  Lots loved what they saw.  We also had fun at the Common Grill with many of her collectors from the past.

In the 60s the rage for some was, The Prophet by Kahill Gibran.   It is a book on living, life, and that sort of thing.  Never have forgotten the statement on friends.  “Friends are needs fulfilled.”  It is so true.  The beauty is the new friends sometimes are so wonderful and those of the past still fond memories.  Got a call last week from a artist friend from Minnesota.  He has been through so much pain.  Accident going to an art show where his sternum was broken among other things.  Had to sit at the kitchen counter leaning on his elbows to sleep for six weeks.  He lost his wife to breast cancer six years ago after years of fighting it.  Marilyn was one of those precious jewels we sometimes are allowed to know.  I tried to call him again and he was finally ready to return the call.  It was so nice to hear from him.  Last night I got a call from Bill Cogenhour, Walter’s son, he had reread the 2007 letter I had written about his father.  He wanted to thank us for our friendship with Walter.  No need for it was a love relationship all the way round.

Guess I’ve said enough for one reading.  Still amazed so many are reading this gil says thing and they seem to look forward to it.

Love to all,

Gil with Jan looking on.