For years before leaving on a trip I’d make a list of what to pack:  6 prs underwear,  6 prs stockings/sox,  nightgown and bathrobe,  2 prs shoes,   1 skirt,  1 pr pants,  at least 4 tops,  1 sweater,  rainwear,  jacket or coat,  umbrella,  toiletries,  camera and film,  passport,   plane tix,   travelers  checks,… Read More

Like most of us I’m sure,   the one thing I can’t leave home without is my cell phone.   If I forget mine,  I rush back to get it,  don’t you? And thinking back to those pre-cell phone days,  I remember when we first got a car phone.   We were soon so used to… Read More

Although it can be time-consuming and a hassle,  I conscientiously recycle and I try to support organizations and legislation that advocate for environmental action to fight pollution and clean up the planet. I’ve been haunted by images of polar bears on melting ice caps;   and dead whales washing up on beaches with stomachs full… Read More

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As a child I spent summers with my family at my grandmother’s small Catskills hotel.   (See My Game Mother,  My Heart Remembers My Grandmother’s Hotel ,  The Troubadour) One summer a family with a son about my age –  we both must have been 8 or 9 –  came to the hotel for a week… Read More

“The cancer has spread.”  said the vet,  “It’s time to put her down if you don’t want the cat to suffer.”   So broken-hearted,  we said goodbye to our beloved Lucy Gray. Taking a walk a few days later we found ourselves in front of the ASPCA.  We looked at each other and without a… Read More

My dad’s been gone 20 years but lately I think about him more and more.  (See Saying Farewell to a Special Guy,   My Dad and the Word Processor) His birthday was November 26  and we would celebrate on Thanksgiving at my folks’ house,  usually with several aunts,  uncles and cousins  around the table. My… Read More

Playwright Israel Horovitz was caught by several women who said  “Me too”,  and so was Prairie Home Companion creator Garrison Keillor;   filmmaker Woody Allen’s private life has been far from exemplary;   abstractionist Pablo Picasso and novelist Philip Roth were notorious womanizers;   the 17th century painter Caravaggio killed a man in a brawl;… Read More

Greeting du jour –  “Got your shots?” RetroFlash / Six Words Dana Susan Lehrman Read More

My dad was knowledgeable and proficient in so many areas,   we thought of him as a Renaissance man.  (See Saying Farewell to a Special Guy,   Six Pack) In fact during the last few decades of his life he was even writing his memoirs,  not with an eye to publication but for his own satisfaction.  … Read More