Suprise Me

I couldn't answer the musical question, "What is hip?" In other words, I got old. Read More

I first saw this photo after my mother died. My oldest sister, who is the repository of all the family photos that my parents had (because she lived the closest), was scanning many pictures and emailing them to my other sister and me for use in the shiva-type services we were each having in our… Read More

  I have been given such gifts words choke in my throat as I reach, I stretch, bend and shake toward expressing the utter astonishment the deep wonder the overpowering gratitude at this moment I am  awake Read More

I used to hate the short, dark days of December. I’d sink into them. Sulk. Play the Blues. Then I spent one New Years in Iceland. It was dark but for two hours of twilight midday. Two white swans floated on the placid pond in Reykjavik. Time passed slowly. We sipped Scotch at 6. Huddled… Read More

Chagall’s Cows When our son was a toddler many friends began fleeing Manhattan.  They couldn’t imagine raising a child amid all the dirt and crime. “But think of the culture!”,    I’d say. Noah at 5,  wide-eyed at the Met’s Arm & Armor exhibit.   And making Purim masks at the Jewish Museum,  and model… Read More

My grandkids live in a very different world, characterized by mass shootings, increasing gun ownership, and everyday violence that claims so many lives in cities like Chicago near where I live. Read More

I’ll never forget that look in her eyes as she lay on the vet’s cold metal examining table. It was hard to look back. I felt like she was asking me, “Can I trust you? Am I going to be okay?” And I knew I was betraying that trust. She was going to die. I… Read More

A relative of mine became famous as a result of a combination of factors that could not possibly have been anticipated. Read More

Fact is, my whole family was sufficiently fractious and dysfunctional that generational differences were swamped by more direct issues. Read More

We welcomed a sexy teen to stay with us. Read More