Anti-Authoritarianism My German-born father was rather strict and accustomed to getting his own way.   When I turned 14 and was about to graduate from junior high he wanted to send me to boarding school in Switzerland.  I refused, not wanting to leave my friends and family. “It’s like the army,”  he retorted,  “and I’m… Read More

The Extension The big telephone issue these days of course is whether or not to give up our landlines.   But the big deal when I was young was whether a girl could convince her folks to have an extension to the family telephone installed in her bedroom! If they would,  l remember promising my… Read More

Where Have the Years Gone? I surely don’t remember getting older, but here I am!   (See Bus Stop) And yet although I often forget where I parked my car,  or where I left my eyeglasses,   I can still remember in loving detail the big rubber boots my father wore as he pulled me… Read More

The Smell of the Greasepaint As a girl coming of age in the early 60’s I was enamored of the theater and dreamt of a life on the stage.   I’ve written about my glamorous and talented great aunt Miriam who performed in grand theaters and music halls in Europe and America,  and inspired me.… Read More

Captain Born in a small town in New York’s Catskill Mountains,  my father remembered dancing around a bonfire as a six-year-old to celebrate the 1918 armistice. Two decades later when the US entered WWII he enlisted in the Army as a newly minted physician.   Assigned to the Charleston,  SC  Port of Embarkation,  he was… Read More

Lost Child For many summers when our son was young we rented a beach house in the Hamptons.   (See Skinny Dipping and The Great Hampton Babysitter Heist) One summer day when he was three or four we were on the beach when the kid went missing,   We may have thought the other one had eyes… Read More

Snow Day Kids love snow days when the schools are closed,  and so do we teachers. One winter a few years ago we had lots of snow and every night we eagerly watched the weather report for the listing of school closures When we did have a snow day my colleague Doug decided to spend… Read More

British Summer Time I confess I’m rather chauvinistic about New York.   The city’s been my home pretty much all my life and I love the hustle and bustle,  the theater,  the 24/7 vibe,  the people-watching,  and I don’t even mind the noise and the traffic. Don’t get me wrong,  I love to travel and… Read More

The Cafe Recently at a neighborhood cafe I saw an attractive older couple deep in conversation,  their hands touching on the table.  (See West Side Story)    Both wore wedding rings,  but their body language told me they weren’t married to each other.  I’ll never know their backstory so I imaged this one for them.… Read More

Good Night (Hurricane) Irene! We’ve been affected by hurricanes twice  – by Irene in 2011 and by Sandy a year later.    Sandy caused us the most disruption – our Manhattan apartment building is near the East River and the storm caused it to overrun the adjacent FDR Drive and our street,  East End Ave,… Read More