We learned long ago that going out on New Year’s Eve was just something we didn’t want to do. Everything was overpriced and you always ran the risk of drunk drivers on the road. So we stayed in with friends and cooked. When David was a baby, I had a few couples over and cooked a nice meal myself (yes, I had one nice meal that I could cook). Veal marsala was my company meal du jour.

This was 1985. We were still in our beautiful condo on Beacon Street in the Back Bay. When David woke up, I could tend to him, everyone could play with him for a while, I could get him back to sleep. He was 4 months old. We moved out the following May.

When David went to nursery school, we met Warren and Marsha, who have two daughters close in age to our children, seen in the Featured photo. We became and remain the best of friends.

Twenty three years ago this month, we purchased our home on Martha’s Vineyard. It came fully furnished (not to our taste, but still…). It was December 30 and we stayed through the new year. We awoke on December 31 to snowfall in the antique village of Edgartown. It was breathtakingly beautiful. We took our children out to a nice meal that evening.

There were fireworks over Vineyard Haven harbor late at night; we pulled our car into the berm backwards so we could stay warm and still see the display. It was a wonderful way to ring in the new year.

The following year, and for many years to come we were joined on Martha’s Vineyard by our friends the Greens, the friends we made through the nursery school connection. The Featured photo is 1999. Marsha is a wonderful cook and, even better, really enjoys it, just as we enjoy the delicious food she prepares. Here are the children before the meal with New Year’s “crackers”, sort of a British thing to pull apart noise-makers.

Jeffrey LOVED the tenderloin Marsha always prepared and eagerly anticipated it. Unfortunately, by the time the meal was served this year, he was stricken with a fever and nausea and was put to bed. He missed the meal with a 24-hour bug, hence he is missing from the main photo (but not their beautiful dog Lovey, who had been a champion show dog. When she was done in the ring, she was put up for sale and a more loving companion we never saw. She even got along with our cat). One year, I had the flu and we canceled our trip to the Vineyard. Marsha prepared the meal at her home (a few minutes from ours) and I sipped on some broth while the others feasted.

As the kids grew up and went off to college, they didn’t want to be isolated on Martha’s Vineyard while home for the holidays, indeed, they usually had their own plans, but we continue to go over to the Green’s for Marsha’s delicious cooking. Sometimes she will invite another couple, sometimes it is just the four of us. I bring the champagne. We eat at a leisurely pace, finish in time to watch the ball drop, then drive the few minutes back to our house. It isn’t far enough to have to drive on any major roads and we are not apt to run into any crazy drivers. It wouldn’t be New Years without Marsha’s great cooking and enjoying their company.

The Irishman

I must offer this quick take on The Irishman  and a plug for it’s re-recording sound mixer, my cousin Tom Fleischman!

I’m proud to say Tom has won many awards including a 2012 Oscar for his work on the film Hugo, and has worked with Martin Scorsese  on many other films and loves the guy.  Here’s a link to Tom’s Variety interview talking about his recent work on The Irishman.

https://variety.com/2019/artisans/awards/martin-scorsese-the-irishman-re-recording-mixer-1203404316/

Looking forward to this year’s Oscars and more great movies in 2020!

Tom and his Oscar

Me and Oscar 

– Dana Susan Lehrman

Second Career – Home Organizer!

I take little pride in my culinary skills,  am not a fashionista,  and may not be up on pop culture,  or as knowledgeable as I should be on world events,  but one thing I am is organized!  Yet over the years little did I know that after retirement organizing would actually become my second career.

My first career – my real 30 year career – was spent as a high school librarian.  Over the years I ran several school libraries,   started one from scratch,  and lived through the technology era that revolutionized how libraries functioned.  (See My Snowy Year in Buffalo, The Diary of a Young Girl,  Library Lesson,  Magazines for the Principal and Shelf List)

And the truth is when I was in library school the course that my classmates found dry,  but I found to be most exciting,  was cataloging.  In library parlance that means putting books in their proper classifications by subject – organizing in its strictest sense.

And of course all those years in schools I loved working with the kids,  but as much as I loved being in the library world,  when the time came to retire I was ready to hang up my keys.

But I knew I wanted to I keep busy and I joined the board of Literacy for Incarcerated Teens, a youth advocacy organization.  (See Good Causes)

And I played more tennis,  went to Wednesday matinees,  lunched with friends, and even planted a garden.  (See Tennis Woes and Wisdom in the Weeds)

But I still had a lot of time on my hands,  too much it seemed. And then one day I was speaking to my friend Babs who was still working as a busy lawyer while caring for an aging parent and trying to find time for her many interests.   She said she and her husband had too much stuff they no longer needed –   clothes,  linens,  books,  sports equipment,  kitchen gadgets,  and things their kids had left behind.

They wanted to declutter,  but didn’t have the time or know where to begin,  and knowing I’m an organized type Babs asked me to help.  I did,  and found it so rewarding I decided to make home organizing my second career.

I founded Rooms for Improvement,  built a website,  joined a trade association of fellow organizers,  and told friends to spread the word that I was now a home organizer.

And I soon discovered that when people let you into their homes,  they often let you into their lives.   Once I gained my clients’ trust,  they would share their stories,  their memories,  and even some of their guilty pleasures and family secrets.

One client showed me where he kept his pornography,  another where she kept her mother’s ashes.  And my elderly client Judith wanted help going through boxes of old photos and memorabilia.  In one box we found a packet of love letters an old beau had written to her over 60 years ago.  Delighted to have rediscovered them,  she asked me to listen to her read  them aloud.

I knew helping people get organized would be very satisfying –  but hearing Judith’s happy voice as she read those old love letters was an unexpected perk!

– Dana Susan Lehrman

Bless the Bread

A new year for many of us means a time to take stock,  to make resolutions,  or to once again start that illusive diet.  But for my son Noah it means the rock, jam-band Phish will be on tour at Madison Square Garden once again for several consecutive nights.

A few years ago the New Year’s holiday fell on a long weekend,  and my husband and I planned to get away.  Noah and five of his out-of-town,  Phish-loving  friends had tickets for the shows and we invited them to stay in our Manhattan apartment in our absence..

On Friday afternoon one of the group offered to go down to the supermarket to get groceries for dinner.  My son asked him to also pick up a challah,  and then as his friend was heading out the door,  Noah called after him,   “And tell them not to slice it.”

But once at the bakery counter the young man, not familiar with Jewish lexicon,  asked hesitantly,   “May I have a … chabad?”

The bakery guy looked puzzled until it dawned on him what was meant.  “Sliced or unsliced?”  he asked.

This time there was no hesitation.  “Unsliced!”,  was the ready answer.

And so that Shabbat night six friends gathered around our dining table to light candles and bless the wine.  And, with his grandmother’s silver challah knife,  my son sliced …  the ciabatta.

Happy New Year one and all!

– Dana Susan Lehrman