Ghostwriting in the Family  When I was in high school I don’t remember anyone making a big fuss over college admissions.  In fact what I remember most about senior year was shopping for my college wardrobe with my mother,  walking around Greenwich Village with my friends,  and slow dancing to 50s rock ‘n’ roll in… Read More

Missing Pussycats JINX I love pussycats and when I was growing up we had a long succession of wonderful ones.   Our house had a lovely garden and those lucky cats had the best of both worlds – indoors and out. In fact one of my favorite cats was a tom named Jinx,  a dirty stay-out… Read More

Tales of the Scrabble Table Brought to You by the Letter Y  I love the game and that’s why the Scrabble gods watch over me. Last summer I was playing Scrabble with friends out on my deck.  After the game I folded the board and while I was sliding the tiles back into their little… Read More

Front Row Seats How do you get to Carnegie Hall?  Practice!   And if you’re really famous you get to Madison Square Garden. I’ve seen The Rolling Stones at the Garden and two years ago we were there for Paul Simon’s farewell concert.   And a few years before that my friend Vivian and I… Read More

Still Life My mother Jessie was a damn good pinocle player. (See My Game Mother) But she was also a wonderful artist.   A fine arts major in college,  she later studied at New York’s renown Art Students League with the Russian-born artist Raphael Soyer celebrated for his paintings of social realism. Jessie went on to teach… Read More

Magnolia,  the Story of a Garden After the war a young couple returned to New York from Charleston with their 2 year-old daughter and bought a house in the Bronx on the GI Bill.   (See Parkchester, Celebrate Me Home)   There was a wonderful grape arbor in the garden and the girl’s grandmother made wine with… Read More

Revelations  Fame well deserved came to a young African American choreographer one night in 1960 when he premiered a new work at the 92nd St Y.  The choreographer was 29 year-old Alvin Ailey,  and the piece was Revelations. Inspired by what Ailey called blood memories of his rural Texas childhood,  and by Negro spirituals,  gospel,… Read More

Dirty Dishes I have to admit I’m a bit of a neat freak,  and I’ve  always prided myself on being well organized.   Marie Kondo is my hero,  and in fact home organizing actually became my second career.  (See Second Career) And what I preached to my organizing clients,  I practiced.    I would never,… Read More

Take Care of Your Sister I was my parents’ first child and had only one sibling,  my sister Laurie. My folks had always wanted a second child but after I was born my mother had trouble conceiving again.   Of course at the time I was too young to be told or to understand such things,… Read More

Pitcher and Bowl I’m a sucker for pitchers and bowls. Pitcher and bowl sets were first found in Victorian boudoirs where they were used as wash basins before the advent of indoor plumbing.  They’re still sought after as decorative pieces,  and I’ve always loved them. A few years ago I was in an antique shop… Read More