Each day around 5:00 p.m., Tomie sits in his living room and plays with his dog while looking out into the yard. But, as 2008 neared the end, and his pneumonia became worse, he quit walking to the living room because it was becoming too exhausting to walk that far.
So, he began to sit in the old living room, now called the anteroom. He would sit in a red leather chair by the fireplace. But, the anteroom is a bit drafty during the winter because it's adjacent to the house greenhouse.
Tomie asked me to come with him to the house to play with his dog, and make a fire for him in the fireplace to cut the chill. The other day I referred to these daily moments as our "fireside chats." (The historical reference would be Franklin Roosevelt's Fireside Chats.)
