Suprise Me

Little by little, I’m thinning out my collection of books. Only books I have loved and respected can stay. It doesn’t matter if they’re ones I plan to read again. I might not. But I want to be able, when I walk past and see their titles, to feel at least the ghost of a… Read More

I was too short to play basketball. I wasn’t that great at baseball, although I love the game. Our little high school couldn’t afford a football team. Then along came soccer. Soccer was affordable and — so they thought — less dangerous than football. Soccer was perfect for me. I swam in summer and skied… Read More

Why? 'Cause I got to cross our street, and any other street, by myself. Read More

I forget what #10 was. Getting harder to remember stuff. Read More

This is a short tribute to my uncle, Brother George Ernest Bernard, who played a dominant role in my upbringing, and left me with so many sweet memories. Read More

From 1981 until 1987 I lived in a tiny house on Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.  The Alexander Craig Kitchen was a reconstruction of a detached kitchen from the 18th Century.  I was allowed to have a pet.  Mine was a beautiful gray cat who came to me as a kitten… Read More

We were jet-lagged but happy to be in Paris in spring again. But the first full day we were there, instead of wandering the streets, taking in tulips and new leaves and La Vie en Rose, my husband and I were pounding the cement catacomb labyrinth under the Gare de Lyon. We wanted a week-long… Read More

I would be remiss in my discussion of the Newark Public Library if I did not mention Philip Roth's novella Goodbye Columbus. Read More

I loved live theater (and still do!).  I saw my first Broadway show at the age of 5 and was smitten.  I imagined that someday I would sing, dance and act my way to stardom.   Read More

My Game Mother When I was a child my grandmother owned a small hotel in the Catskills where my family spent idyllic summers.  Sadly when I was 11 she was no longer able to run it and the hotel was sold.  But when I think about the hotel, it seems only yesterday we were all… Read More