Mary Ritter Bast

I just typed a long update and it disappeared! Still hanging in, looking forward to 85th birthday on March 17. I'm also posting two favorites of my painting efforts over the past 20 years, one of Sandhill Cranes and the other a view of Lake Rosa from my brother Chuck's house in Melrose, Florida.

Posted on: Mar 12, 2022 at 11:39 AM

Hi Bill, and thanks for the update on 3/11. I didn't realize you'd moved to Sarasota. I've been in Gainesville, FL since 2001, "temporarily" to help my mother after her hip replacement surgery, but loved it here, stayed to take care of her and then she lived to be 104, so Gainesville grew on me. I have a lovely place on a lake, two beautiful Burmese cats, and I see my brother and sister-in-law every month or so in nearby Melrose. My son currently lives in Palm Harbor but is looking for property closer to Gainesville that has the potential for separate living space for me, when the time comes that I need closer help (I'll be 84 on St. Patrick's Day this year and mostly doing great, but arthritis is beginning to limit my strength)..

Posted on: Mar 26, 2021 at 12:59 PM

John, I just now saw your comment on my profile from years ago. Now it's my turn to run into lockers gazing at all your accomplishments. Thank you for such outstanding service. Be well.

Posted on: Mar 17, 2021 at 10:13 PM

Thanks for the birthday wishes, Bill. Please accept early birthday wishes for your April 5th celebration. I'm grateful to have had the COVID vaccine several weeks ago and to have in-person hugs on Saturday from my brother/his wife, and yesterday from my son/his partner. Still wearing a mask and avoiding crowded places but feeling optimistic for the first time in a year, and fairly amazed that the "me" I identify with is now in an 83-year-old body!

Until I saw your email about Sherry Hobbs' memoir, "Bird of Passage," it didn't occur to me that PAHS classmates might be interested in my poetry collection that tracks my life ("Time Warp") or my "Autobiography Passed Through the Sieve of Maya." Just google Mary Bast on Amazon and they'll show up. I hope everyone is holding up OK in the face of the current pandemic. I retired from coaching last year, but have interests to keep my brain engaged (editor of Bacopa Literary Review, board member of Gainesville Fine Arts Association), all of which can be done alone or in Zoom meetings. Still, it's lonely in isolation, and I'm so grateful I adopted two Burmese kittens last fall to keep me company here in Gainesville, FL

Dear Lois, I remember your amazing ability to memorize, possibly "photographic memory"? You and I have had some similar life experiences, though I took my PhD in a more applied direction. Both of us cared for long-living mothers -- I moved to Florida in 2000 to help with mine, who moved in with me in 2001 and lived to be 104. I'm curious about your Shakespeare biography, which now sits in my Amazon.com cart, along with "Othello," which interests me even more for its discussion of race and gender issues. Mary (Ritter) Bast