Just Keeps on Getting Better

April 17th, 2019, waiting on getting 2 hips replaced,, but lets back up an talk about the past year and a bit,, seems the last time i was on here,, i was talking about heading to Paris for my 75th Birthday,, well that did become a reality, and what a Time in my life it was,, but before i left , had a new great grand baby born so that make 3 of them now,, with a 4th great grand child on the way,, which kind of overshadows the rest of whats been going on as well as what happened,,, Just Kidding,, lots been going on and lots going on,, Paris,, 7 weeks,, and i have to say,, one of the best times ,, Ever,, in My life,, BVJ,, youth hostels,, Thank You,, the Friends that came to Paris and celebrated my 75th the new friends i met while there,, Thank God for again giving me the gifts of 30 new drawings,, Menta and wife , Billy and Anna,, Douglas and Sarah,, and Again all the folks at the BVJ,, how Great can anyone be treated,, what a Great Party,, and that was just the start of 2018,, West Galt,, had started the drawing for the West Galt book in 2017 and just about got all the drawings finished in 2018, not quite,,but did sit and get another 28 of them finished,, and sat in that space and kept thinking all summer that i was sitting in The Garden of Eden,, What a Life,,

Isn't Life Strange

Years of not seeing so many friends of 30 years,, at 74,, it takes a lot out of you,, sitting in the only coffee shop,, that feels like anything,, that your life is about,, minus the New York /Key West/Paris,, Vibe,, lack of communication,, maybe it's just all about the fact of being,, Old,, did about 35 drawings this year,, maybe its 40,, which is a good thing,,, but not having a buying crowd,, makes it not a really exciting thing,, also have had a few books published,, now have 3, I wrote and nine books of my drawings,, and i need to continue this later' have a bit of company all of a sudden,, and now its Jan.4th, 2018,, had a wonderful trip to Mexico,, to an amazing wedding,, for a friend who is one of the main reasons i was able to survive in Key West for the many years i did,, So i'm turning 75 this year and going to celebrate in Paris France, God Willing, April 15th till middle or end of May,, one of the or i should say 2 of the most wonderful experiences of my life have been the birth of my two Great Grandchildren,, and now expecting the 3rd in March of this year,, not that i don't realize that everything else iv'e had means any less,, just that i'm blessed to have another blessing , just want to express , the love of My Family , brothers and sister,, My children and grandchildren and great grandchildren,, the many cousins 1st 2nd and 3rd,, and the extended Families ,, the oh so many iv'e had,, the Friends who have so shared so much love and loved so deeply, i just have to write this down just so they all know,, i could not have done any of it without You,,,

Where did that Year Go

2017, March 21st, where to start,, turned 73 and now waiting for 74,, six weeks away,, but feels like i,ve just gone through a five year period,, 3 months in Italia,, and Two months in Paris France,  and before and after that trip,, 30 oil paintings in Villa Mesa,, at the home of my Father,, and then 35 drawings in Paris,, started the trip with my Grandson Tyler Grech,, who was with me for a month,, which included a couple days in Paris as well as Rome,, i would like to do a moment by moment account of this year but it would fill a few books,, at least one for Paris One for Italia and 2 for the tie spent with My Family,, not to mention the coming of age and the acceptance of life as a person considered to be of old age ,, or elderly,, because out of this time and trip,, the development of  myself ,,, as a Great Grandfather,, and simply to just still being alive is more than i can express of what has come out of the past Year,, and I give Thanks and Praise to The Father , The Son and The Holy Spirit,, Thank You Thank You Thank Yoe

Its About Time

It really is , all  about time, about time i updated , as well as time flying by us as we .stop and think about the time,, its April 10th 2016, and i've not been to either New York or Key West, for over two years, and now again its the 11th, how fast a day goes by without writing a word, and are there any words that can explain what happened in the last day let alone the past three months?, I think not, two books have been published one of my New York Greenwich Village watercolors, and one of my Europe Ink Drawings, and one of the Europe watercolors that should be published within the next ten  days,, but that's not even a start of three months, with the babysitting, the hockey, the helping a friend survive in his restaurant business,, that didn't, never mind the places the mind goes into and through, while this is all being done,, and then the thoughts of why anyone would even bother to write any of this,, must be. that one doesn.t really have anything to do with their time.
So many deaths, so many wakes that i've been to in the past three months, memories of years gone by, people and experiences, not just with the departed, but the ones like myself paying ou r respects, really does make you more aware of time, and what you have done with it , how valuable it is, and what to do with the time you have left, and again,, does any of it matter,, you do what you do everyday, how long it takes and what you do with it , is what you must and when it happens is when it must, just like i strted to do this yesterday and what happened to have me doing it today had to happen so that i would be now doing it today,, and it could have happened that i would not do it at all,, but ,,, Everything Is in Its Time,, Right on Time

Reflections, Projections and Thoughts

Being,, Alive,, who would have thought,, and then having what it is we have , Doing,, what we have done in these 72 years we have had the pleasure of enjoying so much,, the air we breathe, the food we receive, the friends in our lives,, the loves, the parents , brothers .sisters , children and Grand and Great, the work we have been blessed with being able to do, and then There is More at 72, ,, The Gifts, of health, art, understanding and if your Fortunate enough ,, Compassion,,
And the there's the Art,, The Drawings and The Paintings, The Words,, The Books,, The People that make that all possible, Its difficult to understand even within your self, what it is that moves me as an artist,, to not only do the drawings and the paintings or to sit and write a thought,, so you just accept it,, and do it,, and then there's the desire to want to reproduce them and work with that,, and then there's the realization of the fact that its all One and All a Gift,, so you look for what it is that Gives you these gifts and how to Thank Them,,
Two Hands Ten Fingers, Eyes, New York, Key West, Paris , Amsterdam, Praha, Italy,, Cambridge,so many Friends, So Many Gifts,
Seven Books, Four of my drawings, three of my thoughts, hundreds of drawings, hundreds of watercolours and hundreds of oil paintings, sounds like a couple thousand, couple hundred in books and and a thousand or more to go,, two New York books finished Two more to go,, Key west,, one finished seven more to go,, Europe two to do and one almost finished,, God Willing, by my Birthday,, New York Colour Maybe by Valentines day, would be nice,, six or seven Key West books by the end of 2017, Book of drawings of musicians,, would be nice need to fit it in ,, Somewhere,,
But,, would really be nice to be able to ,, even in my thoughts,, fit in a few Books of My Oil Paintings,,,, and in between all this,, is a book ive been trying to get 30 or 40 of my boyhood friends to write with me,, a Book called, "The Preston Boys",, a book about the friendship of these hoodlums that ive had the pleasure to hang around with for 65 years of my life,
Which takes me to the part of all this rambling, Thoughts about what life is really all about,, and thats the people that we encounter, in the 72 years, those New York People, The Key West People , Them European ones, in Paris, Amsterdam,, in Villa Mesa, Home of my Father,,and of course The Canadian ones, New York ,, They Just Love everything i do, and the Key West ones,, have made me part of the Family,, The Love,,, The Love,, The Love,, those wild Italians,, and those Children,, Again,, and the loves,, and the Family,,The Love,,,,

That Time of Life

Its funny how we think of life, as we go through the stages of what age we are at, and then relate to it so personally. We hardly ever think that maybe whats happening In our life is just that,, that what happens when your that age, and if we stop and look around at others in our lives, the same age we may just discover that it really is the norm. But ,No,, we always tend to think is just us,, that is having this experience, and then try to work through whatever it is that is of a concern, rather then having the feeling of,, Well,, Lets see where this is going to take us on our lifes journey and embrace whatever it is at whatever time of our lives. So what are the ages and stages of life that creates these turning points that we seem to have to work through,, I think from birth till age 7 we are at our most protected, and then from 8 to 12 there is a growing up of the baby within us, and I must add at this point my prospective of this process is no doubt outdated in this day and age of man, compared to when I was growing up, anyway,, 13  to nineteen,, the expectations of teen hood is a great time of wonderment, and expectation, and at 20,, we really start with the when, why and the hows of the future,and that lasts till about 31,, and as Pink Floyd expressed it,, Ten Years have got behind no one told me when to run I missed the starting gun,, and then sure enough before we know it were 40. The Big 40,,and we really stop to reflect  on where we have been and what we have don,, and try to replay our life in our mind,, and why were doing that,, wouldn,t you know it were 60,, and you know 60 is the new 40 they say,, Ya Right,, Sixty to 66,,is a real eye opener,, and then the years start,, not 5 or ten but one at a time and you really start to realize its just ,, That Time of Life

Reflections and Decisions

April 2015, love April, its when I start celebrating my Birthday, never could understand only doing that one day a year,, so years ago I started doing that on the 1st of April and keep it going till mid May. Well another winter has passed us by,, 1st time in 30 years that ive spent 2 complete winters back to back in Canada, last year being one of the snowiest of my life and this one being one of the coldest in my life and I must say I enjoyed both of them, other than I dearly missed my friends in Key West as well as really not having anything to do as far as my Art is concerned, on the other hand, im more than I could ever imagine overjoyed that ive been able to spend this much time with my Children and Grandchildren as well as sharing in the thrill of the Birth of my Great grand child,, Delaney Rose. As I get older and it seems every year,, my appreciation for what I have in Family and Lifetime Friendships becomes a priority in my life. I'm also happy to be able to write that a book I,ve had finished since 1992, has been put into print, "Friends of Eagles"a book about my observations of myself as a friend as well as those around me, its not that I ever get caught up in regret of any of my life for so long ago I realized that what is done is done and yes many times you wish you hadn't done or should have done, but what was can never be undone, But,, with this writing thing that I seem to not stop,, 25 years later, I still question so many reasons  about why and why not. Then again, as my good friend Bob Dylan , says,, its life and life only,, its alright Ma ,, I'm only bleeding. As I sit and spend yet another day at Monigram Coffee Roasters,, and try to decide on what it is I want to do or should do with the next 6 months of my life,, Europe,, Paris and Italia,, Niagara on the Lake,, or just hang out in Cambridge and I know  if I were 20 years younger it would be Europe,,and at this time of my life like I said it is nice seeing my Children every week,, Living situation is another aspect of my life that for most people my age,, is really not in their lives,, but when you havn't had a place to live the past 30 years and still don't it is something that makes you think a bit more about what it is you do and are doing,, anyway enough of all this,, seems I,ve had enough of wanting to jot down a few words and lines