Cooking with Gas “Now you’re cooking with gas.”,   my grandmother used to say.  I thought of her after Hurricane Sandy hit New York on October 29, 2012. Although we live uptown,  our proximity to the East River puts our apartment building in the city’s infamous flood zone A.  When Sandy made landfall that day,… Read More

(Note: this story was originally published in August, 2016 for a “Disaster” prompt.) The call came very early that August morning in 2007. We were both still in bed on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. I heard the voice of my Brazilian cleaning lady from my house in Newton. She was very upset, talking quickly,… Read More

  File under: ‘It could be worse.’ On a warm January day in 1919, a disaster struck Boston’s North End. A giant tank of molasses burst open, releasing a wave of sticky syrup that swept through the streets, crushing buildings and killing 21 people. The Great Molasses Flood, as it became known, was a bizarre and… Read More

A Thousand Little Touches My father – six years older than my mother – died in his early 80s.   (See My Dad and the Word Processor,   Saying Farewell to a Special Guy,  Six Pack, My Father, the Outsider Artist,  GP and Turkey and Trimmings with Flu Shot) My mother,  who it seemed had never been sick… Read More

The “Haven for Newlyweds” Art Park contained more than one hundred sculptures by Korean artists scattered throughout the lush park with its paths in rolling hills and forests. Read More

David Brooks wrote an op-ed in the New York Times on August 17, 2023 stating that a long, successful marriage is more important to a happy life than a successful career. Let’s think about that for a moment; so many people strive for money, thinking it will buy happiness. But the position stated here is… Read More

In 1967, I left my hometown in Michigan to move to Chicago with Fred, who would be starting medical school. Before I moved, I received several dire warnings from the women in my family. My great-aunt Sarah shared that she had read several cases in The Jewish Daily Forward’s “A Bintel Brief” about women who… Read More

I have not been married since 1994 so as long as I am going back in time I’ll go way back in time. In ancient Rome, it was believed that the bride was easy prey for vengeful spirits who would harm her. In order to confuse those spirits and chase them away, the Romans “invented”… Read More

I first wrote this story for the prompt “Finding Your Tribe” on March 14, 2020, just before the start of the pandemic, and added an addendum as Massachusetts shut down the next week, then came back last year. Our conductor, Rick Travers, starts every season (I joined this chorus 20 years ago) by saying the… Read More

Seating Plan Years ago when our son was busy studying his bar mitzvah Torah portion,  we were busy planning the celebratory luncheon that would follow the service.  (See Ghostwriting in the Family) We picked the restaurant,  selected the menu,  made up the guest list,  and sent out the invitations. We invited family of course,  our friends… Read More