Suprise Me

Dan needed his Brigham’s vanilla ice cream! I had finished all the grocery shopping for Thanksgiving days earlier. The last place I wanted to be at 4pm on the day before Thanksgiving last year was a big supermarket, but Dan wanted his Brigham’s! So I dutifully trekked the mile to the Star Market, grabbed up… Read More

I had always been fascinated by the ideas of working at night, working outside and working alone. Read More

I have never personally experienced road rage. I tend to steer clear of drivers who seem to be in too much of a hurry, or are weaving in and out of traffic. I give them wide berth and get away as quickly as I can. Therefore, I will tell two stories from friends during my… Read More

I learned to swim in Long Island Sound by New London, CT, probably when I was four or so. I like swimming in pools and the ocean. Don’t especially like lakes and their usually slimy bottoms. Concrete and sand are OK on the feet, for some reason. I started snorkeling as an adult and love… Read More

The maternity clothes in the local stores were too cutesy, as if they wanted to make the mother-to-be look like a little girl. Read More

The Parking Lot Seniority List For many years until I retired I worked as the librarian at Jane Addams,   a small,  inner-city vocational high school in the infamous south Bronx.   True,  the neighborhood was sketchy,   and the local bank where many of us cashed our monthly paychecks was robbed a couple of… Read More

We spotted three girls across the street. When they saw us they giggled, whispered among themselves, and waved shyly. Read More

Could it really be that simple? Read More

Fifty years ago, on February 19, 1968, one of my personal heroes, Fred Rogers, launched his children’s show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The PBS program, featuring a kindly man in a cardigan and blue sneakers, introduced millions of young children to the concepts of patience, kindness, acceptance, and caring for their neighbors. 1968 was the beginning of a frightening time that felt much like life does today in 2018. Perhaps this is why people weep at showings of Won’t You Be My Neighbor. Read More

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