Taking the High Road  In the early 1970s we spent an unforgettable year in London where my husband was working.   (See Kinky Boots,  Valentine’s Day in Foggytown,  and Laundry Day in London) During that time we took some wonderful trips around the UK and Europe.  However the one itinerary that we can still recite verbatim is our… Read More

Moonlight Sonata I’ve written before about my father Arthur who was truly a Renaissance man.  (See Saying Farewell to a Special Guy,  Six Pack,  My Dad and the Word Processor,  and  My Father, the Outsider Artist) By profession Arthur was a family physician who when asked his medical specialty once quipped,  “I treat the skin and… Read More

User Manual Although my son says only wimps read directions,  I really need them to assemble mechanical stuff that I buy. Just recently Florida friends sent us a crate of oranges.  We had an old citrus juicer that didn’t work very well,  and so now with all those oranges to squeeze I decided it was… Read More

Press Queen When I was an undergrad at NYU Heights I was a commuter student,  but stayed on campus after classes as much as I could to enjoy the extracurricular college life.  (See Ghostwriting in the Family,  The Fortune Cookie Candidate and Theater Dreams) Steve,  the editor of the school paper,  was a friend and I’d often… Read More

On My Honor I Will Try! I was never a Brownie – I don’t remember why,  I guess it was just another example of my parents’ negligence.  (See Tennis Woes) Instead,  when I was in 4th or 5th grade,   too old for Brownies,  they signed me up for Girl Scouts.   But most of… Read More

With This Ring I’m not superstitious or especially sentimental,  and that’s a good thing because over the years I’ve lost some precious pieces of jewelry –  two or three watches,  innumerable earrings,  and even a few wedding rings. When we married my husband gave me a simple band – not of gold or silver but… Read More

Cookies and Milk Guilty pleasures?   Aside from dark chocolate and hanky-panky in the afternoon: Long baths with good books Long lunches with good friends The anticipatory buzz in the theatre before the curtain goes up Playing tennis on a hot day in a very light drizzle Playing Scrabble any day Yard sales Waiting in an… Read More

Both Sides Now 1968 was a pivotal year for our nation,  and it was for me personally as well. That year Judy Collins recorded the Joni Mitchell song Both Sides Now,  and I listened to it over and over again.  In 1968  I was looking at love from both sides myself,  and in June I… Read More

Pittsburgh Egg Cream Egg creams are like mother’s milk for us New Yorkers and they’re on the beverage menu in every coffee shop and diner in the five boroughs.   Yet apparently in other parts of the country this ambrosial comfort drink is practically unknown! After visiting friends in Pittsburgh years ago,   we were… Read More

The Cat and the Forshpeiz As early as the turn of the 20th century,  East-European Jewish immigrants began traveling north from New York City to vacation and escape the summer heat in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. But it was after WWII in the 1940s and 50s that this influx reached its peak… Read More