BOOKS FOR SALE!!!!

I have printed 50 copies of Frank W. Walsh's book Shoes of Giants, and will mail one to those who send $25 to: Rachael Walsh, 29 Bay Shore Drive, Bay City, Michigan 48706. The cost of the book is $20.99 and the $4.01 is for shipping and handling. If you want more than one book, $4.01 should handle the shipping, just send $20 per book after the first $25.

Tribute to Sam Hacker, May 3, 1948

Jan Traxler, a long-time friend from the Linwood Hotel Restaurant, has donated a copy of a manuscript written and performed by Frank Walsh in 1948. The subject is a beloved ball player from the Linwood area. The document will be kept in the Linwood Icehouse Museum's Research Library's Family Flip Book under "H" for Hacker. Thank you Jan! We love you.

July 12th 2012

I miss Frank today and want to thank him for all he gave me. I hope that I can continue in his spirit, to always be generous to people and offer them a home, to always be open to poetry and beauty and new ideas, to always be ready for a new celebration!

I hear his pen in the sports page, his sonorous bass voice in the wood of the Butsedan, see his eye in each sketch on the wall, and laugh with him as each magpie flies by.

I try to communicate his love for words and lived vision of an ordinary utopia in my language classes.

I am happy to share him still with all of you!

Love,
Josh

From F's Column, 6 JULY 2007

                                                        HALF-WAY HOME 
    It's summer again — summer all over — sunshine and late afternoon rains — splashing water and coconut oil scent — sandy beaches — baseball on the radio on an occasional afternoon —the  twin peaks of the Fourth of July and the All Star game — what used to be Dominion Day in Canada, our northern neighbor, the return from which now requires a passport —  Bastille Day — and we shall top it all off on the 15th after the Yankees' final game with a Side Yard Party. Y'all come.
     I remember one Fourth of July party. The girl next door asked to use the side yard for a yard sale. It was a magnificent event that grew more colorful as the hours went by. I pulled out my CDs of march music, Sousa and all. We found some portable speakers and blasted marches all day. She wore polka-dot gloves and a big, floppy hat and entertained as though it were a garden party. Here was a wonderful time from out of nowhere.
          Yes, the baseball year is half-gone, and waiting in the wings are the Boston Red Sox, the Detroit Tigers, LA and Oakland, tough customers all. But then, who isn't? The little losses, all those games just lost by a hair, have piled up. Manager Maddon has reached deep into his well of calm, somehow salving the buildup of steam and volcanic gas that must have been close to eruption on many a day as he watched late inning leads fade into losses. He would turn his back on the display of winners climbing around on each other like monkeys in a zoo and head for the tunnel back to the clubhouse. Perhaps there would be a report on one of the wounded warriors rehabbing in one of the minor league vacation spots. Upton? Baldelli? Riggins? Josh Paul? How about Elijah? He seemed to be doing so well, calm, playful, happy — before the ink hit the presses. We miss those catches in deep center field. Ah,well.

Cheers!

Preparing for the July 12 Toast:

All finite things reveal infinitude: 
The mountain with its singular bright shade
Like the blue shine on freshly frozen snow, 
The after-light upon ice-burdened pines;
Odor of basswood on a mountain-slope,
A scent beloved of bees;
Silence of water above a sunken tree : 
The pure serene of memory in one man, --
A ripple widening from a single stone
Winding around the waters of the world.


— THEODORE ROETHKE

14th Street Friends

Good Times!!!!

Prost!

Prost! Springtime says happy rebirth day again and again to all Bodhisattva, including dear old Frank... Reading "Sick Puppy" by Carl Hiaasen now (last book he read). And looking forward to summoning the spirits of FWW, BJW, and MEC when Greg and Cheri Lynn are here... Did I hear a cork?

A Sketch by Ruth Pettis

Anniversary Posting

Rosalie sent this card for scanning and today is perfect for posting.

The card reads:
The Leona
Linwood Mich.
In the morning - at sunrise in the Fall the sun shines back from the Icehouse.
F.W. Walsh 1985
Soft-ground etching - water color - metallic pen

Frank's Notebooks Online

Hi: I've started uploading Frank's sketches at FrankWalshArtist.blogspot.com