Chipmunk We live in Manhattan and we will love the hustle and bustle of our city life,  but we also love communing with nature on weekends at our woodsy retreat in the Connecticut foothills.  (See Country Living, Wisdom in the Weeds,  and  Pickled) On one recent country weekend I came home from the market with a load… Read More

“May You Live in Interesting Times” As we start our third year of this fearsome pandemic it’s hard to believe we’ve gotten through it this far.   Initially I was in a state of disbelief,  and it took me awhile to internalize how serious the situation was.  And then I felt sorry,  very sorry for… Read More

Stephanie and Me,  circa 1965 Posing for the Camera  Before we all took selfies on our cell phones,  and before  “BFF”  and “besties”  were entries in the Urban Dictionary,  Stephanie and I were best friends posing for pictures in a neighborhood photo booth.   We were practically inseparable then and I’ve written before about our… Read More

Hotel Kittens As you may remember I spent childhood summers at my grandmother Esther’s hotel in the Catskill town of Liberty,  NY.  (See My Heart Remembers My Grandmother’s Hotel,  My Game Mother,  Playing with Fire,  and  The Troubadour) You may also remember that one of my beloved childhood pets – a cat with a beautiful… Read More

Our Special Guests My loyal readers may remember that I spent happy childhood summers at my grandmother’s small hotel in the Catskills.  (See My Heart Remembers My Grandmother’s Hotel,  My Game Mother,  Playing with Fire,  Hotel Kittens, The Cat and the Forshpeiz,  and The Troubadour) Here’s another hotel memory,  though this one is bittersweet. Every summer for many years… Read More

Say It Ain’t So, Joe! Apparently cheating is nothing new,  even the Biblical King David cheated on a wife or two. And cheating in professional sports has been around for a long time too.  Even before Pete Rose and the pine tar,  and the Boston Patriots and Deflategate,  there was Shoeless Joe Jackson and the… Read More

Basement Kitten Always crazy about animals,  I’ve written before about some of my beloved pets over the years,  even my two attention-deficient goldfish!   (See Missing Pussycats,   The Puppy in the Waiting Room,  Fluffy and the Alligator Shoes,  ASPCA and Naval Funeral) When my husband Danny and I were newly married we lived in Westchester in… Read More

My Beloved Basement I’ve written before about 2026 McGraw Avenue,  the house in the Bronx where I grew up,  and  in my mind’s eye I can still see every room, nook and cranny.   (See Parkchester, Celebrate Me Home,The Puppy in the Waiting Room,  and  Mr Bucco and the Ginger Cat) And now I even… Read More

If It’s Sunday,  This Must Be Yorkshire  Is it just me or is time flying by? With the new pandemic normal,  and all of us still somewhat in lockdown mode,  you’d think time would be creeping along like the proverbial snail. And you’d think we’d have all the time in the world to catch up… Read More

Time and the Taxi Man Many years ago on the last day of our Jamaican honeymoon the hotelkeeper called a taxi to take us from Ocho Rios to Montego Bay for our flight home. When the driver picked us up he worried aloud that we hadn’t left enough time for the 100 kilometer trip,  and… Read More