Suprise Me

January 1, 1955. My father is watching the Rose Bowl on television. It’s freezing in Chicago that day, but bright and glorious in Pasadena where Ohio State trounces USC. Everyone looks happy, healthy. “Wouldn’t it be nice to raise these boys in California, where the sun shines all year long?” my dad asks my mother.… Read More

In the late sixties I was drawn to a song by British composer Leslie Bricusse, “When I Look in Your Eyes.” The music was haunting, the lyrics discomforting. They spoke of a depth of feeling and life experience I did not have. Sometimes now I’ll hear teens debate the “best” eye color—hazel? blue? green? brown?—or… Read More

In the 1950s high school swimming was neither competitive nor popular.  For the macho man, the game was gymnastics on the bars, football on the field, and baseball on the diamonds.  For women, it was cheerleading and theater. We did not have fancy or colorful uniforms. Swimmers had a minimal audience. Our uniforms scantily revealed… 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

Exploring the unexpected. Read More

I have certainly done things that would have made for juicy gossip, I just don't know whether they got talked about or not. Read More

The epitome of grace, class, and intelligence, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was, from the time I was very young, my idol. She married John F. Kennedy when I was a baby and she set about having babies too. She was married to JFK a mere 10 years and was pregnant five times, resulting in only… Read More

I first read the book when I was a teenager. It’s the only book I missed two meals to finish. I staggered out of my bedroom late in the afternoon after turning the last page. I’d been lost for what seemed like days in the lives of Scarlett, Ashley, Melanie and Rhett. My parents must… Read More

Moonlight Sonata I’ve written before about my father Arthur who was truly a Renaissance man.  (See Saying Farewell to a Special Guy,  Six Pack,  My Dad and the Word Processor,  and  My Father, the Outsider Artist) By profession Arthur was a family physician who when asked his medical specialty once quipped,  “I treat the skin and… Read More

Under the Andalusian Sky We booked a biking vacation to Spain based partly on the romantic sounding name, Under the Andalusian Sky. The itinerary included Seville, Cordoba and Granada and the catalogue hinted at their exotic and diverse history.  We did some research and learned Hispania – today’s Spain – was ruled by Romans then… Read More