Hello Aunt Selma!

(216)YE-2-8164, a phone no. engraved in my memory. So why, then, did you dial the wrong number? Easy. I wasn't wearing my reading glasses.

She's 91 years old and her hair is bright auburn. She's blind in one eye but is seeing the noted Dr Fingerman next week to see if there's anything that can be done. She still lives on Silsby Road in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where her black-haired daughter Linda and husband Jack stop by to look in and bring her food. She never liked to cook. Everyone's moved out of her house. Gramma Green was the first to go. My instinct was to say she died of fright, she was a very nervous woman, my dad's mother. Gramma Green, fasted on Jewish holidays no one had ever heard of, all for the glory of God, even tho she didn't believe in an Afterlife.

Selma's husband Marv, a salesman for the defunct Cleveland Press newspaper, took early retirement and lived till 86. He ate those fake eggs that come in a blue carton. He and my dad both would pour a stiff one when they got home from work.

During the summer I would ride my bike from our house on Glenmore Road in Shaker Heights to Uncle Marvin's and Aunt Selma's. I'd sit on the porch steps and read. I'd take out Marv's lawn mower and mow their lawn. I always loved physical exercise. They always had the TV on. They were always watching disasters on TV.

I was pedaling furiously on my stationary bike as I spoke to Selma. My fabulous soup was cooking upstairs - different colored fresh veggies - to which I'd add fresh scallops at the end. Invited my son over for dinner but they had plans. I made a big pot. Scott ate dinner at his house but had a bowl of soup for dessert.

Selma said Mark is coming home to be on a panel discussion for the art work of Chuck Close which is sposed to be sensational. I'd met Chuck a couple years ago and did a blog about him. The man's got everything wrong w/him - paralyzed from the arms down from an aneurysm but he still paints. Now he's got colon cancer but nothing stops him.

Don't count on it, I said to Selma, but I'll see if my sister Donna will drive to Cleveland w/me. I'd love to see you, Mark and the show.

Mark's gonna retire at the end of the year. He's doing Internet dating. Gets many responses per day but doesn't bother answering them, none are to his liking. Been married twice. I did a fab Compass interview w/him a couple yrs ago. He's 67 and wants a girl between the ages of 38 and 58. That leaves me out. Perhaps I could lie about my age. Trick him into thinking I'm not his first cousin. The incest taboo is too strong however. Plus he'd probly smell like oil paint.