January 6 is the 21th anniversary of my father’s death- his yartzeit. I still miss him. I’m still mad at him. I still love him. He was a grower of orchids, an inveterate walker, a lover of sparkling prose and… Read More ›
wisdom
Celebrating the New Year… six months into retirement
Since New Year’s Day is a time of reflection on the past, I decided to list what I’ve learned since retiring six months ago. These “lessons” have surprised me. 1. You can be just about as busy as you want… Read More ›
Psych
When my daughter was in Junior High she discovered a new way of saying something negative and diffusing the sting with the word “psych.” She could eat a bite of a new casserole I had attempted and say “This is… Read More ›
Team of Rivals
Siblings fight. About everything. The color of their toothbrushes, the number of chips in their cookie. Who touched the tree first. Who got to pick the last TV show. Who is imitating whom. And, of course, who mom and dad… Read More ›
Travel Talk
Foreign travel talk is the “dish” of the 60+ set: The trips you have taken, will take, hope to take, can’t afford to take, or wouldn’t dream of taking. Listen and watch as the high school mentality surfaces. Out pops one… Read More ›
Just answer the question!*!
Is it just politicians or are we all guilty of not answering a question directly? I find it unbearable to listen to our leaders and leader wannabees as they duck, deflect, and bat away substantive questions that would tell us where… Read More ›
In Person
Why do we thrill at the sight of celebrities? Why do we feel a bit discomfited afterwards? Or is it just me? Last weekend I saw two star-studded Broadway performances: “The Best Man” at the Schoenfeld Theater and “Nice Work… Read More ›
They say that all good things must end…..someday
Ernest Hemingway famously admitted that he had rewritten the ending to his book, A Farewell to Arms “39 times before I was satisfied.” His grandson, Sean Hemingway just edited a new edition of the book so that it now contains all… Read More ›
Ozymandian Melancholy
I didn’t think To Rome with Love was one of Woody’s best, but I kept ruminating about the syndrome–Ozymandian melancholy– “suffered” by the Alec Baldwin and Ellen Page characters. “Ozymandias” is a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley that my father read to… Read More ›
Eponymous Bosch
I’ve been thinking about eponyms….the word was coined from two Greek words, epi, “on” and onama, “a name.” It has come to mean the person for whom something was named: For example, here’s a zeppelin, named for Count Ferdinand von… Read More ›
Now we are Sixty 