Patrick’s entry of 25 August 1962, in Wiesbaden, as found in pages 4 and 5 of his diary.
Diary – Wiesbaden, 25 Aug 1962
February Pruning
The first oxygen goes to feed the fire
that flames in the heart of us;
that flares our gaze out beyond
the near business of day to day.
Like the bonfire
which begins its own round grave,
the center goes first into coals,
then cinders, then smoking dust,
a crater ringed by useless fuel.
Burn from the outside in,
let the flesh go first and leave
nothing bur spirit to ignite
your glowing soul to supernova
o glorious cosmos!
before the last collapse into that darkness
from which all light is born.
Deya 1994
House with a Crack, and Medicine
Transcription of a recording from 25 Mar 2017. Patrick began by talking about a house in Valldemossa and Ivonne’s generosity with her mother, then the topic shifts gears to when to take his next pill. You can definitely here the pain in his voice.
… that place in the house in Valldemossa where there’s an archway and its cracked at one end, as though there’s no supporting beam. So Ivonne, having studied architecture, thinks that that’s a weak point where the roof is going to collapse. The crack is spreading down the wall.
Continue reading “House with a Crack, and Medicine”Con los Ojos Cerrados
Con los ojos cerrados
te veo.
Con ellos abiertos,
te miro.
Con las manos cerradas,
te hablo.
Con ellas abiertas,
te palpo.
Con la boca cerrada,
te hablo.
Con ella abierta,
te beso.
Te escucho y
suspiro,
respiro y
te inhalo.
Con los cinco sentidos,
TE AMO.
Luz Adriana Rojo Estrada
(Found in Patrick’s files, dated 12 Sep 2013)
Postcard to Gretchen in May 1987
I’m not exactly sure when I wrote this, but based on the Gary Hart reference, it may have been on 8 May 1987. (You can click on the image to see a larger version of it.)
The job reference confirms that it was some time of May 1987. Mary was flying in because Dean and I were celebrating, with our respective girlfriends, five years at our respective aerospace firms. Indeed, I even had a cake made for after dinner that read “FFY” for “five years.”
Diary – 6 May 1962
Here are three pages from Patrick’s 1962 diary.
(Click on the images to enlarge them.)
Diary (page 1)
Continue reading “Diary – 6 May 1962”Postcard to Gretchen
Here’s a postcard I sent to Gretchen (c/o Patrick) on 6 April 1987. Not much news but included for the completeness of the record. (Click on it to see a larger version.)
About the Mary reference: Mary and I had driven to Vegas for my birthday celebration, but I failed to make hotel reservations. It was snowing up there, but we walked around and had dinner and enjoyed the sites, such as they are. I couldn’t find a place for us to stay so we drove to Henderson, still couldn’t find anything. We finally traveled over Hoover Dam through heavy snow and stopped for the night in Kingman, following big trucks, who cleared the tracks for us, in my Karmann Ghia. She was quite angry with and thought we were going to die.
Wines
Here’s something a little different, a list of wines Patrick or Stephanie saved on 15 Nov 1998. I found it in his Dropbox account.
Alphonse Mellot
Menetou Salon 1997
Blanc (From Guy and Stephanie)
Bourgogne Aligoté
1997
mis en bouteille par
Bouchard Pere & Fils
Pinot Noir de Bourgogne
mis en bouteille par Thorin
1995
Cru Bourgeois
Chateau La Mouline
Moulis en Medoc
mis en bouteille au chateau
1995
Alphonse Mellot
Pouilly-Fumé
mis en b outeille par Alphonse Mellot a Sancerra – F. 18300
1997
Les Tourelles de Longueville
Pauillac-Medoc
mis en bouteille au chateau
1994
Merlot
vin de pays d’oc
mis en bouteille pour SVG
par Clement Pascalet aF 11590
1997
What Would You Like for Your Birthday?
Another letter from Patrick, this one dated 17 March 1975. Those were desperate times for me, but how much they shaped my future I can’t say.
Reconnecting with Patrick
Patrick sent me this post card in July 1975, trying to reach me in Phoenix. As a result, we reconnected in person after a decade’s absence. I was 19.
That summer trip and the events that followed deserve several chapters in a book I’ll likely never write.
