Six Days Till Monday

Sitting,, in D.C.,Maryanne and Larry home , spent a couple days at Lise ,Kayleigh and Davids home in Daytona. Taking life very slow making sure i have an idea to where and what it is i want to do with the next twenty years of my life if i,m so lucky to have that pleasure, missing Laura playing hockey,, missing Steve just being Steve and making a life for himself,, missing the Boys Growing into men,, Tyler actually working James becoming a teenager ,,and Noah,,just missing the connection,, and The Biggs,,just to see her,, more often, but,the work,, what to do about the work,, David Steinberg doing the web site, loving that and needing time to do it,, new york drawings needing to be finished,, the books,, four new key west books to have published by the end of 2011,, as well one more new york book,, and thens there ,,,My Life,, maybe i should think a little more about having some more about that,, but,, what is that other than my kids,, or my work,,,thats why its time to think about what the next twenty years or twenty days or hours,, and what it is that needs to really be done ,, or should anything be done other than,,, being.

What is it About Tuesdays

A week sails by,, may as well be a lifetime, sitting at my nephew Jims home in Clearwater,, left Key West on Saturday after picking up a couple great sandwiches from the Cuban Coffee Queen which is a great little spot that my True Friend ,Paul Menta owns with another trully great friend and person Eric,, how come i,m so Fortune ate,, must be someone looking out for me,,trip up was rainy day hard rain,, refreshing,van cleaning, thoughts, were many as i drove the eight hours,stopped and had dinner with Brother Butch and Karen as well John and Wendy Taylor from Cambridge prepared by the woman,,, mmm good, Last night ,, monday,, we went out the 7 of us for a great italian dinner,,, What Else,, and i sit here on this beautiful morning making contact with the people i,ll be spending the next 2 months with in new york . What is Life,,a breath,, a good morning to you,, a thought of your children,, another two thought of each of your children in seperate times,,what is life a good morning to you from that some one you love or even more so from that person you hardly know,,what is life,look at life,,, your life or just life
the breath you take ,so for sure that the next one is coming, the food you eat ,, so like its so expected that there is another meal coming and on and on we just take for granted that there will be another day,,, take a moments or seven every day to stop for 5 seconds or 5 minutes to thank for that life ,, that could end at any of those days or minutes or seconds,,thank for the mother the father the family the friends the health,, thank for the life.

Touching Base

April,2010, Daughter Tina has just left after spending a week with me in Key West,, Made Me realize even more how much i need my family in my life at this point. I,ll be leaving Key West on the 19th has been two months and it has been very different here,, much cooler than the usual winter and of course the financial situation that we are involved in has not been good for business,, all in all its been a great season for socializing, but not for business. Key West has also depleated my energy to draw or paint with the unacceptance that it has for not only artist but people in general,, parking and code violations are out of control,, going to be difficult to want to draw here in the future,then theres the friends that i have here which makes it almost impossable to ever leave, and you all know who i am talking about. So, i,m off to Clearwater to have a couple days with my nephew and my Brother, and then over to Daytona and spend a few days with my Great Niece and her family going to hang a dozen or so paintings in there new home, from there i,m heading to D.C. and hang out there for a few days,, maybe a day in Philly then up to Dave and Debbies home in New Jersey to get some of the web site business sorted out ,, and then I,ll be in New York for six to eight weeks

Realization

What does it take in a lifetime to really realize the importance of life and what is important in your life? I don,t think you can ever thank your Family, parents, siblings, children,, and grandchildren for what it is they give you just by being, your friends, teachers, influences of music ,art takes 60 years no matter how you have loved and apprieciated, all of these experiences of your life to really take a look and see a whole other demension of what it is and realize that its even more than that. Going to New York this year after all ive done there and how much ive become a part of the feeling, the people,, i was blown away by how much greater the feeling of my love of what it is and how great it is the structures the ancientness of it the food how unbelievable it all is. Then off to Key West and on the way,, the visiting of the Friends along the way,what they have meant in my life,, and again like my children and grand children no words or not any amount of words or even the amount of realization of what that value in your life is can ever be expressed. Key West,,, Garden of Eden. people ,Family ,, yes Extended Family like again, you can not imagine,,, names ,Will Linda,, Mark Jude, Eric Paul,, my brother, Mark and on and on thousands of names and people who have been so wonderful and helpful in me being able to do what i do....to be continued

Getting to Know Key West,"Again"

Day four of 2010,You would wonder after 4 days if there would be anything to talk about, but you have to remember, when you return to a location after a few months away you walk around town taking in what it is that keeps you coming back for as many years as you do. Key West, is Magical theres a feeling you have just about being there, then theres the trees and plant life, and as you walk around you encounter all these totally wonderful people that you have known for years , and when you know Key West,, your amazed that they stay,, because in all this you if you have been here for any length of time understand what it takes to survive on the rock.so when i got here this trip as i," sneak sally through the alley ",cause thats what its like to trip around kw,and you space into the places like the grand cafe, ricks ,the tree bar , angelinas, capt tonys,, the local colour shop, the white tarpon, blue heaven,the crepiere, bos fish wagon,, and the the new spot , "The Cuban Coffee Queen",help yourself the schooner wharf, where that hippie band was playing,, hooking up with the cast of charecters is more mind blowing then the locations and enviroment combined,, Paul, Spin,Penny,Richard,Sueanne,Phil,Kelly,Kit,Jonney,Barb,Linda,Jude,Mark,Bob,Charlie,and you get the picture,, so four days later ive touched base with a few of the locations and ate a little bit of what is offered. The other part of the 4 days is about setting up at the galleon,, getting things straightened out at Pauls house, the Plantation Coffee shop, and connecting with Michael Shields to do His radio show on Friday, on Konk-1680 am, the Art Waves show, from 11 till 12 am. and now to get ready for the next week of Key West,, sure to be an adventure.

Tripping 2010 Style,www.joefortesworld.com

Just a little recap of the past week. Left Canada on Tues., and got over the border,, stopped in Buffalo and had lunch with Jim,, at Teds Hot dogs,, then drove to Port Jervis to pick up a few things at Lynda and Will,s , got into Randolph NY, to Debbie and Davids home about 9:30 pm,, of course Debbie had some great food waiting for me.Wed. morning seen me getting up to a fresh snowfall and got my day started with a drive into NY,got there by noon, and went to see Leni at Smudge ,, got things settled with him to print me another 200 books, then spent the rest of the day walking around the village visiting a few friends,, Val and Matt at ardent,, Mama Rafatto, the boys at the shooting club,, carol at native leather,, rita and dennis at Brunos Bakery,BoB and Vishal at the wine store and the folks at Cuba restaurant,, also Boyd at the thai restaurant ,, called Boyds, then went up to the plaza and seen Michael,, totally uneventful and useless exercise thank god i stopped at Wicked Willies and hooked up with Alan and Andy and listened to some great music and had a beer before heading home to bed.Left NY first thing Thur. morning and headed to Judy and Georges in Philly, got there in time for lunch in the Italian Market at a great sandwich shop at 9th and Christian, name escapes me,, i think paesanos,,then went for a great cup of coffee and then shopping in a really great shop,,mmmm so many wonderful foods,, home to hang out and then dinner with j and g and there one son,, what a fabulous meal as per usual when i,m there,always sooo great.Friday had me heading for DC to Maryann,s and Larrys and Family, kind of like My own Home ,, Cis, and Jenna ,Andi,Michael and soon anothe3r little girl,, not to mention Nadia,Luna and Mame,, what a house,, GRand Central Station, lots of kids,, and company always,, fridge is stocked ,, beer is cold and the tv is on,laugh laugh laugh,, all weekend,, ate to much again and mmmm good,super bowl party at the neighbours and digging out from one of the biggest snow storms ever, great week end.Monday morning i,m out of there before the next storm hits,, drive all day to Daytona, and LIse and Daves home, got there about 10 pm, tired, Tuesday up late and spent the day with lise, picked Kayleigh up from school, and trhen home to cook dinner ,, they love when i cook for them, baked potatoes and brocolli,, then pork chops, in a sause made with onions ,garlic, tomatoes oil and butter, little red winesauted and left to slowly simmer,,, oh ya., Wed., drove on over to New Symrna beach to Suzi and Rons home,, lunch with Ron at another unbelievable sandwich shop,and then home to hang out at there home on the water, what a great space,, dinner as usual was again so great,, Tuna done perfect on the bbq by Ron aspergras, carrots anda great salad,, couple of beers and great conversation. its Thursday Morning and i,m having another grat coffee and looking out at the perfect scene across the waters,, ya gotta love it

Update on My Life

Its Feb.6thI,m sitting in DC, at Mary Ann,s and Larrys house,, did the hospital thing and got looked after,, spending the extra time in Canada allowed me to see more of my family and more of the kids hockey, also gave me more time to take a look at whats happening with the direction of art work. Speaking of that, my friend David got a web site set up, which is www.joefortesworld.com and has also done a facebook page that is, joe fortes world, he has also set joe fortes world, up as a company. So I stoppe3d there on my way to nyny and spent the evening at his and Debbies home, from there i went into the city and hooked up with my printer, Leni and straightened out a few things and have more New York books printed. Fron ny i went to Philly to pick up[ two oil paintings that i had left at Judy and Georges and spent a great evening, which takes me to tonight as i sit watching the hockey game drinking an ice cold stella with Larry after a great dinner in D.C., great winter storm raging out side tonight and tomorrow so i,ll snuggle in here for a few days and hopefully get into driving to Florida on Monday,, weather permitting