Love is Brilliant

So for a change, I am going to leave the letter that inspired this one in this one because they inspiration comes from a guy who has been published and public for as long as I've been alive, at least, and if his estate wants a portion of the royalties from this blog, well, as soon as I make a dime I'll give him at least a quarter. We can negotiate better terms (for me), after that.

It was a long time ago that I first fell in love with this man. And the bonding continues.

Ah, Ashleigh, you are a pretty amazing fellow. I would have liked to know you better than through your pot shot cards, but through them, I've relatively known you for more than fifty years. I don't get to email much these days, in fact, this is the first email I've written this year. Long before the internet, long before home computers, I wrote (babbled, actually) every day, in journals (blogs), letters, and all sort of odds and ends, but these days I live (much work, some play) life much more than I write. It's a very strange experience, to live without daily writing.

I decided I would let you know I have enjoyed your words since my hippie days in New York. Living on 4th street, positively, I would hand pot shot cards to passing stranger now and then. Naturally some of my babbling was on the back, but matching the card to the right person was a fun game for me. Often I received a smile and sometimes a conversation, occasionally would find a friend who stuck around a while. I still have a box filled with hundreds of pot shot cards from those days, though it's been in a storage locker along with hundreds of other boxes of words and stuff in upstate New York for more than twenty years. One day I hope to amaze myself with a journey through those boxes. I shall, if I live long enough to retire with enough money to bring the stuff to wherever I am. Poverty has chase away my riches more than once in this lifetime. I've never had much interest in money, but what it can bring does seem to be missed when it is gone.

Memories are free, however mementos can be quite expensive.

I meandered along this path just to say hello and wish I could support your writing more than I do, but perhaps knowing that your words have been appreciated for all these years and they still are, is worth a smile or two for you. Smiles are so valuable, it amazes me that they are still free.

Take care of yourself and keep sharing your wonder, your life, and your life. You've made the world a better place :)

hl,
ric


On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 5:43 PM wrote: Bonding

Dear Friends,

On May 24, it will be a year since Dorothy, my wife and partner for 51 years, passed away, after a long sad decline due to Parkinson’s.

Much of the time since then I have spent going through all the things Dorothy left behind. She was a passionate traveler and a terrible hoarder, and she practically never threw anything away. She had an incredible variety of enthusiasms, and there were many that I simply could not share. I won’t even attempt to list them here – but one of them was James Bond. She would never miss a Bond movie, no matter how many times it was shown on TV

I had already thrown away her large collection James Bond videotapes, (now, of course, technologically obsolete) and was about to put in the box of giveaways a book I came across this morning, a large glossy volume published in 1981, called “The James Bond Films.” But then I looked inside the cover, and realized that this was something too special to part with. It was a birthday present I had given her in 1982, which I had completely forgotten about.

Here is what I had written:

Ever since my first arrival

In your life, from out beyond,

It’s been clear I have a rival –

Someone by the name of Bond.



How I’ve cursed him

As you’ve nursed him,

Ogled him from crown to belly –

How I’ve damned him,

Could have rammed him –

But I might have hurt the telly.



To my darling Dorothy

from Ash

December 8, 1982,

In token of

the Bond between us.

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Attached are 2 more of my articles from the Montecito Journal.

All the best,

Ashleigh Brilliant

PS In case you’ve been wondering, my tenth book of Brilliant Thoughts, “I Need More Time – And I Probably Always Will” is still in the works.
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ASHLEIGH BRILLIANT, 117 W. Valerio St. Santa Barbara CA 93101 USA. Phone (805) 682-0531 Creator of POT-SHOTS, syndicated author of I MAY NOT BE TOTALLY PERFECT, BUT PARTS OF ME ARE EXCELLENT. 10,000 copyrighted BRILLIANT THOUGHTS available as cards, books etc. World's highest-paid writer (per word).

Most-quoted author (per Reader's Digest.) Free daily Pot-Shot

cartoon: www.ashleighbrilliant.com CATALOGS:[handling and mail included]. Starter $5.. Electronic Text-Only (emailed $25, on CD $30). Electronic Illustrated Catalog/Database (CD only) $105 (includes shipping anywhere). Details: www.ashleighbrilliant.com/IllustratedCatalog.html

Go buy something from the man, you'll be amazed at how words can change your life :)