BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

Gross wanted to know "Why aren't you telling me to read Paul Auster's newest, "Brooklyn Follies"?

Ah, thanks for reminding me. I went to Miami to see Auster read from Brooklyn Follies a few weeks ago. It sounds like the type of novel that I would like, and, of course, it is an Auster work. I just plain forgot to order it from the library. Wait a few moments, please. I'll be right back...

Brooklyn follies
You are number 19 in the holds list
There are 21 holdable copies


Okay: it's ordered. I am number 19 in the hold list; but as there are 21 copies I should be getting it soon. Hiis wife was there too and I could have a lot to say about her too, but suffice it to say that she is very hot, and reads very well, and is definitely smarter than I am. Auster may be.

In the meantime: I went to Naples and spent Superbowl night with the great HR. I lost $5.00 betting on the Seahawks--I actually wanted to bet the Steelers because I like the guy with the long hair, but Hal wanted the Steelers and so he gave me the points and I rooted for the Seahawks. There were two Ref calls that hurt the Seahawks, I called both opposite to the Refs but my calls weren't allowed by Hal.

As it turned out my guy with the long hair wasn't as great as he was in the playoffs, and had I taken the Steelers I wouldn't have had much to cheer about anyway. Troy Polamalu is going to be around for a long time, I guess, as this is only his third NFL season, so I'll get to see him a lot more in the future. I just hope that there is no Delila around to cut his hair. Maybe Hal will let me take his team next year.

Anyway, watching the game with Hal was a lot of fun, except I kept thinking that I might never see him again as he is moving to the west coast. You guys missed out in not seeing the house as Mary did it.

I dragged Hal to the Naples Museum which is a pretty good small museum. He was a good guy and went along, although I am sure that he would rather have done something else, like bake a pie or go to church.

And I learned something in the museum thanks to HR. There was a special exhibit of Andrew Wyeth which I would have skipped, because, art snob that I am, I thought of Wyeth as an illustrator, like Norman Rockwell, who made pretty pictures filled out with false sentiment. Maybe Christina's World threw me off.

Hal went to see the Wyeths while I spent some time with second tier American artists and some Mexican contemporary artists in whose works I found some real emotion, though sometimes I worry that I can't tell the difference between truth, art, emotion and propaganda--like with Rivera, Orozco, and Siquieros. I like to look at their work; but it makes me think about Justice instead of feel. Is that art? Or is it propaganda?

Anyway Hal came down from the gallery where the Wyeths were being shown. I could see that he had been impressed so I went up to look at them. I figured that he has lived with Mary so long that some of her esthetic must have rubbed off. He might be right about liking Wyeth. -- It turned out that the Helga pictures were included in the show, and when I looked at them I could see how right HR was and how wrong I had been. Helga is painted over and over again with a meticulous intensity that only an artist obsessed and in love could have produced. Wyeth's wife never knew about Helga until about fifty or so paintings were discovered hidden in his studio. Wyeth freed his emotions from his mind and attached them to the canvases. Wyeth does it...at least in the Helga paintings. Now I have to look at Christina's World again. It was chilling. If the show goes to NYC let me know what you think.

I limited myself to two martinis, but of course we ate too much, and so I didn't sleep well, but early in the AM, before Hal awoke, I jumped into his pool which was ice cold and very, very refreshing. If only I could get the people in my building to allow the pool to get cold. They insist that it be warm, probably so that they can get away with peeing in it.

I swam a couple of laps furiously kicking my feet, not using my arms, as my rotator cuff is still a problem, but somehow it seems that the ice cold water helped it a lot. It still feels better. And I was in for only ten or fifteen minutes. Is that possible Doctors?

I didn't like leaving Hal -- I felt like I was losing something again.