Ethel and the Turkey Leg  Since my friend Ethel died recently at the age of 85,  I’ve been thinking about what made her such a special soul. Ethel and I met in the 1980s at Jane Addams,  the South Bronx vocational high school where she taught cosmetology and I ran the school library.   Like… Read More

Shot Glass Ever wonder who buys those shot glasses sold in tacky souvenir shops?  I confess I do,  and have quite a collection. I’m not sure when I began collecting shot glasses,   but probably on a vacation when looking for a souvenir of the trip,  or a gift for the cat-sitter.  In any case… Read More

Rowboat When I was young my grandmother ran a small hotel on a lake in the Catskills,  and I’ve written about the idyllic summers I spent there with my family.  (See My Heart Remembers My Grandmother’s Hotel,  My Game Mother, Hotel Kittens,  The Cat and the Forshpeiz,  Playing with Fire, and The Troubadour) One happy memory of those… Read More

A Cup of Tea in Ireland Twice I travelled to Dublin to study at the James Joyce Summer School.  There we students were housed in a novice nun’s residency while the young women themselves were on summer break,  and yes,  you guessed it,  my husband told everyone he’d sent me to a nunnery!   (See My… Read More

All That Jazz We both grew up in classical music-loving families,  and still keep our radio set to WQXR,  though admittedly we seldom go to classical concerts or opera.  And as children of the 50s we love rock & roll,  and doo wop, and folk and country,  and of course the Beatles and the Stones… Read More

Pickleball Hopeful When I started playing pickleball a few years ago I couldn’t quite explain why I found it so addictive.  (See Pickled!) Until then I’d been playing lackluster tennis with frustrating results.  (See Tennis Woes) Then I realized what it was – pickleball is much like tennis – except much more fun! The fastest… Read More

Skee Ball When I was a kid my grandparents lived a few blocks from the beach in Far Rockaway,  in Queens,  New York.   I loved visiting them  – and especially in the summer when Rockaways Playland was open for the season. Created in 1902 by roller coaster designer LaMarcus Adna Thompson,  Rockaways Playland had… Read More

The Perfect Brass Lamp It often takes so little to make this wannabe interior decorator happy! I’m always on the lookout for one more throw pillow,  or a new piece of artwork,  or a knick-knack to grace the coffee table.  Or a new set of bath towels,  or a set of dishes,  or a new… Read More

Jessie’s Earrings It’s sweet how a chance word can evoke a flood of memories. My mother Jessie is gone more than 20 years and I think of her I often.  But after talking to a friend about the current rage for tattooing and body piercing I thought of a habit of Jessie’s I’d forgotten. She… Read More

Saturday Night at the Big Y When the lights went out in New York during the great northeast blackout of 1965,  I was browsing with a friend at Georg Jensen,  the upscale Madison Avenue silver shop.   Then all us shoppers held hands,  and in single file we groped our way out to the dark… Read More