Articles by Gina Leishman

Menorca, as always…

2022 – good grief… can we just skip this one and go straight to 2023? I have a feeling that might be better…

To recap the last couple months…. November was the wettest month on record – ever… I think we had more rain in one month than we’ve had in the past 3 years put together… we quite literally saw the sun just twice in the course of the month.  Good Lord….  It made me realize how dependent I am on my outdoor life in order to feel life is worth living… It stopped raining in December, but there were still an awful lot of grey days – miserable…. and it’s been COLD, no warm spells where we could eat lunch out on the patio… However, any day the sun did manage to show its face at lunchtime, I’d pack a sandwich and bike down to the sea, find myself a corner out of the wind, in the sun – I even threw myself in the water a couple of times – bbrrrr! but that saltwater baptism, no matter how cold, and how brief, just makes me feel alive… I got in on Christmas morning (it was sunny, but cold and windy). and again on New Year’s Day with Cristina and David, Margot supplying cava and treats as per tradition –  it was grey and windy and really cold, but I had to do it, and Cristina kept me company, brave soul…

The bad news is that our electricity bills have gone through the roof – more than doubled – the past 3 months have been 220, 190, 220…. after the first shocker I re-arranged everything to run water heaters and pool only in the middle of the night, sis no longer uses her electric radiator (we now get through 2 butanos a week), but it made almost no difference. – I don’t know what we’re going to do…. plus of course we’re burning through wood at the rate of knots…not sleeping very well, needless to say, unless I take a pill…

Sis is much the same as ever.   I take her to physio once a week (only though the end of this month,  I think),  she does her exercises, walks around the pool and washes the breakfast dishes. – that’s about it… I should be grateful for small mercies – it could be a whole lot worse….

Had a lovely Solstice zoom with the NYC gang- that really lifted my spirits,  altho’ seeing them all just makes me miss my other life…

I did have a mammo the other day and they say it was fine, so that’s some good news… my left hip is getting jippier by the week. – going to have it x-rayed. altho’I’m sure it’s arthrosis, nothing to be done.  Oh, I’ve decided to stop with the letrozole as of Jan. 1st – see if I can hurt less…. Joan is not doing well at all –  the crazy last procedure she had did nothing at all, her onc now merely suggests hospice… FUCK… she is back home in Humboldt – at least there she has a wonderfully supportive community of friends and colleagues. Wish I weren’t so far away…. we talk quite often… and doug still calls me every Sunday evening, bless him… he got Covid, had a rough few days but is fine now, thankfully…

6 months since I wrote here… good grief… impossible to catch up, really, but for my own clarity, if no one else’s, I should try…

Chris arrived June 30th, I left the next day – but only just… an hour after chris arrived, sis fell and broke her hip – she was operated on the following morning (the day of my departure) and thankfully they put in a new hip. I tried to delay my departure but it was very complicated (multiple tkts, hotel in Madrid, PCR test etc etc) and chris said “just go – I’ll manage” – so I did, and I’m so glad I did or I would never have got out of there- here… But get out I did, for 2 and 1/2 months, and it did me a power of good – god bless St.Cristopher… a month at home in NYC, hanging out at home, having dinners with friends, going out to hear music – living my life! And then Aug 1st to CA for the BIRD workshop. A certain amount of chaos, with last-minute casting changes due to the delta variant and the wildfires, but Joan and I worked our asses off and we done real good… No audience officially allowed for the 3 concert performances at the end – unofficially we had 20 folk per night, vaxxed, masked and distanced – mostly family or high-paying donors… David Ferney did a 6-camera shoot each night, and we also did a multi-track recording of each performance – the final one was live streamed, so it was well documented… Having spent 3 weeks rehearsing in masks and distanced, we tested every day of the final week and did the shows sans masks – what a relief… I’m proud of what we accomplished in a short space of time, and the response has been very gratifying. Whether it has a future remains to be seen…. Joan had a wonderful couple of months off chemo and got a lot stronger, but she’s back in the thick of things now, poor girl…

After 2 short weeks back home in Westbeth, seeing the docs, doing my annual Westbeth re-certifcation and hoping I didn’t have to pack the place up and move out, I’m now back on the finca being a farmer and care-giver – How will I manage this?

Amy came to stay for 10 days in early October – a thoroughly delightful visit. We worked hard at getting the place ready for winter but also played hard – expeditions to Ciutadella, Torre d’en Gaumes and, best of all, Hauser & Wirth on the Isla del Rey – what a thoroughly pleasant surprise that was! And after she left Chita took me to Alaior for 3 exhibits including one of Marina Abramovic works that was absolutely stunning – who knew?? The island continues to surprise…

Sis is basically in bed 23 hours a day – she gets up to make her own meals (very small, and takes them back to bed) and she walks around the pool a few times in the middle of the day, but that’s about it… the only time she’s been dressed since her fall on June 30th was last week when I took her to the hospital for an evaluation for rehab – it’s pretty depressing… and we’re headed into winter… Altho’ it’s been beautiful and I”ve been swimming daily until a couple of days ago…. Carles came yesterday, on his annual visit from Girona – what a sweetheart – also dealing with cancer, dammit…Julia got the results of her CT scan the other day and everything looks great – hallelujah, some good news at last…