Why I Love Ernest

This collaboration in words and pictures brings forth a love letter that is culturally and artistically unique. "INTRODUCTORY "In 2008, when Ernest's seventieth birthday was approaching, I wanted to do something special to mark the occasion. I surreptitiously took photos, wrote vignettes, and brought the compilation to Office Max for a "specialist" to figure out how to put the whole thing together. The "specialist" created a spiral-bound book. When I presented it to Ernest on his birthday, he cried. He said it was the nicest present he had ever received. How could I not love a guy who cries with appreciation for my handiwork? "At the start of 2018, I suggested to Ernest that he make a book with photographs of some of his paintings as gifts for our friends, children, and grandchildren. He demurred. "A month later he came to me with a book mock-up based on the spiral-bound gift. He had changed out some of the paintings ("Those older ones are so primitive."), corrected my grammatical hiccups, and had prepared it to be published with a true spine! "He was too modest to publish a book of his art but was willing to share with me the creation of this book, revised and expanded, in honor of his Eightieth. "Have I said that I love this guy?" Laurel Richardson