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Its  8 in the morning.  I go to the deli for coffee and see Marcos .  Me: Somethings different about you. What is it?  M: I shaved. ME: You look ten years younger.  M: I don't like it.  ME: You don't like looking ten years younger?  M: No.  ME: How come?  M: I don't know.  Me: And you hair looks really good, too.  M: Well, sure. The hair's always been beautiful. I walk through the Village. It looks like it's Technicolor. I take a pic of two proud griffins - aren't they all.  I go down to the river to move. I think about my convo with sister Suzie yesterday. She asked me - notice anything different about me on this call. I tell her - you seem, peaceful, calm, a good mile per hour. She says - I haven't interrupted you. I say - oh, right . My sis changes. Gets better. Few people do.  I get a text from Lynda. Jay had a heart attack in Boston.  I talk to Sharkey. He thinks homelessness should be illegal. I do not. My phone...
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David is the best super in new york city and lucky me, he's mine.  This week, he turned a closet in my foyer into a book shelf. Flawless. He underestimates his worth. I told him I'll pay him twice what he asked for. He said   - I'll take it . I told him he's gotta know his worth. People pay for his time and and labor and talent. I paid him yesterday morning and included a good tip. I said - let's do more soon . He said - Yeah. Break something. 
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I was going to write about how stupid it was that all these friends sent a friend of ours prayers for his daughter to come thru brain surgery - like God has to have a   dozen more "likes" to see to it that she comes thru alive. But instead, I'll note how beautiful the sun plops on my table as I finish a painting of the oldest house on Fire Island and listen to Samuel Barbers Adagio for Strings.  
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David Sedaris was asked if he could go back and repeat a moment - what would it be. He described a Fall afternoon when he was in his early 20s and he brought his sisters record player out into the backyard and raked leaves while listening to Phoebe Snows first album.   Mine would be a Thanksgiving at Pattys house - probably '77 or '78. As usual, her parents were away and Don is with us and he's very relaxed and reading a newspaper in the den. I think it felt so special because it was a merging of my past in her home - summers high and listening to music with my friends and talking about what our futures were going to be - and having D there now - my new life. Here. 
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O life ... 50 years on - dead Don Kelly still plays devilishly with us

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hi patty  t ime to get something ancient off my chest. years and years ago - it seems like everything is that now - Don asked me if you could stay at my place while you were in town and I said nay.  At the time, I was in a deep depression - something I appear to have outgrown in old age - thank goodness. But I always felt bad about squashing that request. I could hardly get out of bed and act like a semi-normal creature. was not proper company. I was a beastly ghost or a ghostly beast. both are bad.  Paul I must admit I have no recollection of asking Don for a place to stay! When we moved upstate I came back on occasion for work but always stayed with friends in the neighborhood . Please don’t feel bad!  
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  excerpt from My Abuela and the Bully   He's got a   brand new Spalding Supreme Top Flite 100 in his hands. I've never seen one in person. Just in magazines. It costs twenty bucks. He shoots more words at me than ever before and uses a quiet Confession voice. I never knew he had a suit.   Good morning, Paul. This is for you. I know you don't do layups good. I'm gonna teach you everything I know. You'll be junior varsity with me next year. I have to go to the vets now with my worrywart mom. She thinks Wolgangs (their Doberman) got scarpotic mange. I give him a wha look. You know, scabies . I'll   catch up with   later.   Have a very nice day and I hope you have a lot of fun. 
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Family

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  weekend with family. pool, laughs, new admissions and discoveries. a sister tells of our father when she was seven. They set out for the bakery. She sits in the front seat and grows impatient with him and our mom talking at his window.  She puts her foot on the gas pedal. Dad becomes enraged.  She jumps out of the car and hides behind bushes near the chimney. She is forever changed.
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