Casa del Mar

Being in the beautiful 'handmade' home called Casa del Mar each Tuesday expanded my vision and stretched my world view.

The stucco home with clay tile roof, wrought iron balconies and brick terraces surrounding sat on a high point of land overlooking the Lake Erie horizon line.

'Mr.' would often take me on 'world tours' leading me from one exotic room to another offering me the opportunity to hold many of the museum quality objects of bronze, clay, glass, wood, cloisonne and fabric collected during his many journeys.

This India ink wash on Arches is 18x24 inches and was painted in 1980. This view from the lake side of the house shows the expansive North terrace room where we usually had our tea and conversations on the artist's life.

The Art of Aging

Since 2003 I have visited (one afternoon each week) with my dear friend, 'Sir John'. At near 92 he is the spunkiest, wittiest, most articulate and determined to 'solve the problems of the world' individual I will ever hope to meet. He generally puts his extreme intellect to solving the political problems of any given the day.

Sir John is funny, feisty and in all ways an amazing human being. He is a a music aficionado with a vast knowledge of opera and symphonic music. His well kept yard is a secret garden, a haven, filled with countless Camillas, all of which have been named, so that when he walks among them he speaks to each of them directly.

Back in 'his day' he was a computer whiz and developed soft ware programs for the Navy. His little home is populated with computers, recording and sound equipment and until recently (before his body went into decline) he would be online most mornings chatting with friends and family via email.

A couple of months ago he asked me to start a blog and a FaceBook account...

In 2007, after I introduced him to video upload technology he said "Let's do that." He received a Flip camera gift from his daughter... and the rest is literally 'his-story'. For the past 18 months, I have the pleasure (and the learning curve) of being his 'hair and make-up', sound and production person as he continuously scripts and sits for me as we tape for YouTube. Here's our most recent entry...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShEbrHlMuPw