I haven’t written for awhile so let me ask, what’s new with you?

Me?

Let me see. Last week Julie and her main squeeze Dan and I went out to Montauk to pretty up the house so I can rent it for the summer.

I went down to the basement and was greeted with about 6 inches of water all over the floor.

At first I wanted to cry but then Sunshine Sally that I am I figured that with an indoor pool I can really up the price.

Throw a couple of noodles and duck head tubes down there and we’re set to go.

I would have stuck with that but when I went into my bedroom that too was full of water. Water slide? Probably not.

I spent the next three hours, until almost 1 a.m. cutting up the carpet with the furnace guy (a heating pipe broke) and throwing it out the front door.

So much for spending the weekend working on my tan.

I was telling my sister that I was dreading surprising dave with all the expenses of late, replacing the 30 year stove and now the $2500 deductible for the flood.

My sister Marcia, who has always had a beautiful way of expressing herself said “Fuck him, he’s given you a few surprises too.”

The weekend closed with my hearing about the sudden death of my dear friend Lew Soloff.

The funeral was both a tribute to how much he was loved and a reminder of how much he will be missed.

There must have been 200 people there standing in the muddy snow for a few hours.

There was a soldier playing taps with not a dry eye in the house.

I couldn’t help but think “Lew in the armed forces?” It really didn’t compute. He wasn’t a ‘toe the line’ kind of guy. But when I heard he had to take basic training twice, well I accepted it.

You never know what to say to the family at a time like this. But you do the best you can.

I went to his ex wife, Emily, who Lew was still very close to. She had moved to Texas and I hadn’t seen her in years and I missed her.

I put my arms around her and whispered in her ear “Oh Emily, if only we were here for my ex husband”.