Ruth, I told you I wasn’t the one the AFB was named after. Or that dam on the Brazos River, either!

I love music and musicians. Some of my best friends are musicians and songwriters. In fact, I’ve been recently greatly saddened by the passing of a very dear friend who was best man at my wedding, and was maybe, with his long time songwriting partner, America’s greatest songwriter.

And, now, I’m not new here. Just been hibernating for a while.

Google my name. And, no, I’m not the one the air force base is named after :)

P.S. Most of the images on my website are around 10 years old. I’m now sort of retired and too lazy to update it.

Just checked in. Fascinating piece.

As someone who spent most of their working life as a craftsman (except for a brief period as a commercial real estate broker, syndicator and financial analyst (HAH)) making thing things and working with my hands I really appreciate your outlook.

It always amused me to perceive the condescension that was accorded my activities (I mostly introduced myself as simply a woodoworker) by those who felt they were my “betters.” That is until they realized that what I made was in museums and bought by the rich and famous and that I knew, and was friends with, a lot of people who were far richer, more intelligent, creative and successful than they could ever possibly hope to be. Needless to add, my respect for these people was not very high.

Still, nothing is better for the soul, and often more enjoyable, than making, gardening, fixing, cooking, etc.

But, then again, I’m a liitle weird.

What’s really scary is reading some of the comments in the links.

To these folks, Perry isn’t crazy ENOUGH!

Well, I’ve got to go. The Doctor is telling me it’s time for bed.

It’s been great and I’ll check in again soon. Thanks to all for all the kind words.

At first I got them about once a month. It’s tapered off to every few months now. Pretty scary at first but, like anything, you get used to it.

no relation to my work. Just what can happen when you get older. May have something to do with blood pressure.

Yeah.

It’ll be 40 years since we met in a couple of months!

Funny, but as far as we’re concerned, we don’t think we’ve changed.

Thanks for you kind complement. Yeah, it was fun making all that stuff. I can still get to see some of it at friend’s houses, and the odd museum here and there.

As for the WMD, I’ve been getting what they call “intraocular injection of a ridiculously expensive drug called Lucentis. Otherwise known as a needle to the eyeball. Thank God for medicare! It has actually stopped the progress of the degeneration, but can’t fix what has already happened since my retina is scarred.

Thanks. Too bad none of my recent work (last five or so years) is on the website. Too lazy, I guess.

I vaguely remember hearing about Michael Doerr, he does nice work, but don’t think he’s a relation to John Doerr, who made about a billion and a half dollars as one of the original investors in Google. He bought about nine hundred acres from Neil a few years ago and so lives “next door”, which is how I got to know him.

There are worse places.

I guess I’ve been lucky to have the support of family and friends over the years to pursue a glorified hobby and never have to have much of a real job. Still it’s a bitch not being able to see very well anymore. After all, I was so caught up in the visual.

Where I’m at now is quite lovely and the house is large, new and has a great view. I just never thought I’d end up in a freaking gated community!

Yup.

Desert’s OK but takes a bit of getting used to. Summer is fine if you don’t mind 112 degree heat every day. However, it is beautiful and the lifestyle and pace is much more relaxing than the city. Less traffic too!

Still miss the water and my sailboat. Also kind of right wing down here.

How sweet of you!

Lots and lots of changes, And I mean lots.

Briefly (very briefly) I had to give up my studio due to failing eyesight (macular degeneration) which made it a hazard to use certain tools. Got so bad I had real trouble reading a ruler. Last project was, fittingly enough, a complete restoration of the first studio I built for Neil back in ’71 and which may be destined for the R n R Hall of Fame and which was paid for by John Doerr (of Google fame).

Wrapped it all up, moved from the Marina and am now sitting in a house looking over a golf course down here in Palm Desert which is nice enough. Weather is just fine. Low 70′s today, oranges almost ripe on the trees and snow on the mountain tops. Who’d a thunk? No, I don’t play golf, but I like tooling around in the little electric golf cart all the same.

Since I was forced to retire I am now helping the wife (who’s a doctor of Asian medicine, Ph.D. and L. Ac.) open an acupuncture and complementary medicine clinic in La Quinta, which is keeping us really busy.

Hello all.

Well, Suzanne, here I am after all this time and you would put up a video of Neil and Eddie. Are you trying to make me feel nostalgic or remiss in not writing certain people I owe letters to? :)

Yeah. So that’s the reason.

Sometimes the same words have different meanings to different people.

For instance, “work together.”

For Democrats this means “Give the other side what they want.”

For Republicans this means, “Do exactly what we say or we will throw an tantrum and blame the resulting mess on you.”

In the end, both parties want to “work together.” Obama told me so.