Mangiare et Bene after services on Sunday- Mea Culpa.

Dear Stu Gotz,
Buono sera my friend.
The Boys are meeting later to play Bocce on Antony’s new court they built in his yard.

The smell of “Sunday Sauce” wavers out the back window and we salivate looking forward to some Valpolicella and meat-a-balls.

We picked up some loaves to dunk in the sauce as a thank you for having us over for “ La cena della Domenica.”

We also got cannolis and black and whites at Mucellis in Jersey city.

Wait till you taste his mother’s (olis) Raviolis – better than Pastosa on Utrecht Avenue. Truth, Omg- the Best- if I tell ya. You’ll see for yourself. We’ll compare.

Late afternoon-I looked up they are running Goodfellas and they got a new Samsung – like a really good size you can see like details on the screen.
I will pick you up.
Yeah I almost forgot his father Sal (the Voice) asked if we wanted to play in their poker game. Brush up on “ flopping a set”you know the “trips” hand.
They have a new finished basement and it’s like top notch from start to finish. Nothin like the original. You could see the back of your hair in like double way mirrors.
Bring dollars they are good-like very advanced.
Ok what a day we got planned – a little outdoors sport – some tv with brewskies -and a couple bottles of R&R Red and Rigatoni.

Save a little room for a Cuban and Amaretto on the back porch after Sunday Sauce.

No problem if I can’t drive by end of day my sister Marie offered to come get us. Salute Bro. Andiamo.

Jeopardy, O’Jeopardy, where art thou Game?
In a world filled with horror, absurdity, disdain.
We rely on the 7:00 hour on the screen.
Devoted, and forthright the answers are gleaned.
Holzhauer, Ammodio, Amy, Mattea strong.
Make room on the set for Mr. Ryan Long.
With Jamie Ding a contender to round out the song.
When The Daily Doubles come up on the board.
Make it a “truly”- the answer will come along.
30 seconds later with an answer in place.
The “Think” music so familiar for the answer a race.
A break from harsh News- that’s so tough on the print.
Let’s play along, in the absence of a hint.
The contestants phrase their response as questions.
The clues in the form of answers, no suggestions.
61 questions a game will be called.
Jeopardy, O’ Jeopardy we are always enthralled.
Make it a “bring it on” Wednesday.

Uvalde, Texas- 19 Children 2 Teachers Dead. Screaming.

“That certain night, the night we met, there was magic abroad in the air. There were angels dining at the Ritz- “And a Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.”

Words by Eric Maschwitz, music by Manning Sherwin. The song was written in 1939 in a French fishing village Le Lavandou right before the outbreak of the Second World War.

The song tells the story of an enchanting and magical evening in Mayfair, London set around Berkeley Square at The Ritz.

Fast forward.

On a steamy week-end eve you get dressed, put on your lipstick, turn off your music, glance in the entrance way mirror and walk out the door.

You look forward to debriefing the week with a friend and meeting some new people. You’re all set to chill in a high energy, safe haven club, on your local Berekeley Square- the nightingales were singing.

Dirty martinis, bar bites, familiar faces and music you listen to at home and know every word to. A perfect design for a five-star time. Energy level strong. You thought.

And then the World According to Garp doesn’t happen. No Lin Manuel, THESE senseless acts of tragedy are what is “promised.”

Our promised land 70 years after World War II.

“Praising Isis, Gunman attacks Gay Nightclub, leaving 50 dead and 53 wounded in the worst shooting on U.S. Soil. Yes, on U.S. soil.”

We scream in horror as these mass shootings continue around our corners on our local Berkeley Square.

We cry in disbelief as one more lunatic walks into one more gun shop and puts down one more stolen credit card.

When will the tragic avenue for slaughter allowing 18 year olds to purchase weapons stop?

We continue to pay dearly because of the laws that govern the strongest nation on earth. We pray for the insane and fund them in jail after they take away our freedom of choice, as to which place to dance the night away–that takes our lives away.

In concentration camp like fashion we are prisoners of the assault style mass shootings. These severely deranged suicide bombers who live to die, are running rampant.

The adage “do guns kill people or do people kill people” was center stage again in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

How long is congress on sabbatical from revising laws on buying over the counter rifles in a store that houses beef jerky too?

Dear G-d please look in our direction. 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders shot to their death. What next?

School Days, School Days, dear old Golden rule days! Reading and writing and rithmetic. Unquote.

In Wonder Women fashion we wonder how summertime flies by so much more quickly than ever before.

Our campers are coming home next week after 6 (yup!) weeks of camp. 

It feels as if cantaloupe filled with cottage cheese and iced coffee season(shout out to Linda Dietz) lasted much longer in the 60’s and 70’s.

We looked forward to school shopping and buying brand new white keds, blue loose leaf folders, colored tabs to divide social studies from algebra and colorful see thru pencil holders-but not so quickly.

A memorable excitement was wearing our first day of school outfits that were laid out in the chair next to our bed. New knee socks, label off. 

How bout the street lights? They went on so much later in the summer then they do now? When did Father Time become a Grandfather?

Please dude slow down we need to catch our breath. With self help books adding chapters on “recalibrating the Senior soul” we anxiously pull out plugs and hit the ground running. This abbreviated summer we took long walks and our games of play led the way to let’s have a cocktail around 5:00. We added a little Guacamole toast and summed things up with red velvet cupcakes. Got Shishito peppers anyone?

As long term memory takes center stage we fondly recall the days of climbing monkey bars, wearing very tight white rubber bathing caps to ward off the chlorine effects when we swam and how they added peanut butter to the ring ding formula and called them funny bones. Two pack Twinkie’s yes, please. 

So as we find ourselves in the first week of August with air pods in place we are “calling out around the world are you ready for a brand new beat?”

Summer’s here and the time is right for dancing in the street.” Always love a Martha and the Vandellas tune as “ it doesn’t matter what we wore, just as long as we were there.”

So just for today as we eat half of a well toasted bialy with cream cheese, sip our iced coffee with half and half, we’ll sing along as Frankie Valli croons about late December back in “63” and Betty Buckley reminds us to “let the memories live again.”

Make it a great day for someone else.

This is just for the moment when we take our eyes off the screen, pick our head up from the daily News and wipe the fear and horror off our faces.

Then one day the sky fell down.
No chicken little warning- the house fell on the witches legs and just like that the emperor had no clothes.

Cinderella lost more than her slipper and the three blind mice could no longer run. Mother Goose stopped singing nursery rhymes and stood by as prisoners exercised around the “mulberry bush.” There were no rainbows and we waited for happier days to be here again-hit it Barbra with an A.

Severus Snape knew that “the dark arts are varied, ever changing and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and more clever than before.”

Even though Tom (Tom and Jerry) was the antagonist, all of us felt for Tom. “After all what good is a cat if he can’t get the better of a rat.” From our own little corner in our own little chair- uh, oh! we spied with our little eye a black cat crossing our path.

And to quote Elmer Fudd in his garden of evil- “Shhh. Be vewy, vewy quiet. I’m hunting wabbits.” Only in that case, the hunter gets hunted always.

Then we ran into Mary Poppins who offered us a spoon full of sugar. It helped the medicine go down. We began to believe again and just like we know pruning flowers helps new ones grow bigger and brighter, alas the Prince of Tides helped our ship sail in.

We turned the beat around, stopped playing victim and got behind the wheel to claim our power back.

If you believe in magic, follow toto down the yellow brick road and know that somewhere between the curtain and the wizard is a place called Home.

A -my name is Alice and my husbands name is Al, we come from Alabama and we sell Apples. As we open the cupboard on memories, bouncing a Spaulding as we sang the A my name is Alice rhyme, lifting our leg over the ball with each bounce was an all time great walk around the corner and under a tree. A veritable, primordial work out and creative singing lesson all in one.

My sister Bettie Ann and I grew up together and hung with the girls on the block. We stopped playing and walked home for either a tuna sandwich or the treat of salami on rye, only made better with the delicious taste of deli mustard. Potato sticks on the side, yes please!

After lunch we would walk around the corner to the all purpose grocery store. I can vividly see the barrel of pickles prominently sitting next to the left of the front door. We would use part of our allowance to buy candy. Our first go to was a striped pixy stick, a straw filled with lik-m-aid. For those in the know it’s a tasty sugary retrospective in time. The original version of Fun Dip. We would then mosey over to the red licorice and marshmallow peeps. At Halloween the chicks turned into orange faced pumpkins.

It’s 6:00 A.M. the coffee is brewing and it is my turn to “make the donuts.”

We woke up salivating for a piece of our past, inside that grocery store. My sister and I would bring our bag of goodies up to the counter. The storekeeper would take the pencil he harbored behind his ear and tally up our treats on a paper bag.

With our visual bounty in hand we would skip our way home and unveil the contents, perhaps trade a piece or two.

Our afternoons were often consumed through adventures with Dick and Jane, The Bobbsey Twins or figuring out if Nancy Drew was ever going to hook up with one of the Hardy Boys.

As we felt the heat of the oven cooking sweet potatoes we knew they would soon be sitting next to the lamb chops and canned peas for our dinner. It is still a go to comfort meal.

A welcomed pre- dinner activity was watching Patty Duke and her identical cousin navigate their way through high school. We often tried to distinguish the subtleties in their looks. Hmmm!

We long for those days of innocence when the doctor appointments took place as we sat upon the kitchen table. When a blood test was a finger prick followed by a colorful bandaid. 

The local store that sold glass bottles of milk and farmer cheese made no room on the shelf for ammunition.

Everybody in Grovers Corners looked into the grocery store and the drugstore once a day in Our Town by Thornton Wilder. It is with older eyes and wiser hearts that we live life. So, for today reach for the red licorice after a very sour pickle and exhume a piece of your past.

Happy “100” on what would have been.

MARCH 29, 2022

Philip Mountbatten RIP.

Her Majesty the Queen aka “Cabbage” to her Prince.

Lost the charm on her arm, now a huge major miss.

99 years strong, 73 the Queen’s consort.

Third cousins as they were, ruled the highest of courts.

The Royal Navy was his calling.

Through the Second World War.

Irascible and tough minded, never the bore.

For seven Decades plus the Duke of Edinburgh was anointed.

The man of “her” hour he was happily appointed.

The horses and corgis took mere second place.

As the grandkids walked in and put the smile on his face.

Can only suppose the regime at Balmoral.

Became much less stuffy with Prince Philip as the corporal.

Her Majesty, the Queen was married when a Princess.

Then cantored through life with the status of Prince-less.

Come over I am making cutlets and sweet potato fries.

Sure bring a bottle of 
Pouilly-Fuissé and I ‘ll ask Marie to bring a bottle of Josh Red Cabernet.
The wine class we took at the Y was so helpful we upgraded from Almaden and Mateus. If you buy the wine at Costco it is a bargain for a more flavorful buzz. Remember we learned about the bouquet and we kept calling it aroma. Ha ha you can take the girl out of Staten Island but…
So yeah come at six. We’ll open a bottle have some brie and ritz crackers and I’ll pass around my stuffed mushrooms. I know even with gluten free bread crumbs they still come out so good. Funny you ask about my sides. I tried a broccolini recipe I found in The Post.
It’s an acquired taste yeah a little burnt flavor but we are liking it. The sea salt flakes at the end really help.
Or maybe could be the eat and sip method. Two sips with each bite. I know I’m turning into a comedian at this ripe older age.
You shouldn’t know from it.
All the wear and tear and repair. Yeah I am a poet and I didn’t know it.

So listen good, now we are thinking we are gonna move. No not out of the hood, but to a ground floor unit. Salvatore can’t climb the steps no more. 
Yeah the doctor at the V. A. put him on a new medication cause he wakes up a lot to pee in the night. His sleep is so interrupted and he cut out his espresso and sambuca after dinner.
Get a load of the name. I remember it cause when I go pick up his refills I bring to mind our old friends from the Bronx The Gindis- Flo and Max. No I am not kidding that’s it Flomax. It helps tremendously but he’s still tired. I know he loves our apartment but he said it was time to give up steps.
So we’re looking. 
He promised I could customize the kitchen with the designer we met in the appliance dept. at Home Depot. Yep, down to the finer details like the instant hot water maker to make the mint tea quick. We started drinking it for digestion. No yeah we still chew Tums and take Pepcid extra strength. Too many years of double espresso burnt like a hole in our gut.
But you know after all is said and done we are doing ok. We go to the bingo nite at The Knights of Pythias center. We renewed our Fred Astaire ball room dancing lessons. Also we got involved in a gardening course. We just learned about a natural weed killer. You mix vinegar, baking soda and a drop of Dawn in a spray bottle. Good tip. We are seein less of them.
Ok, see you Saturday and sure bring some cannolis. I am making my lemon pound cake with frosting too. Love ya!

On this day April 15 in between mit’n drinnen, we’ll stop at the pitch and putt in our local Calaveras County. We’ll be careful to watch for the jumping frogs as it is their high season.

With dejavu on our breath we’ll turn up the radio that is set to Cousin Brucie on our local WABC am.

The top is down on our new yellow mustang convertible, our hair (what is left of it) blows in the late summer breeze ( which makes us feel fine.) We add some pedal to the metal and sing along to the catchy phrases “ in the village the mighty village The Lion Sleeps tonight.” “In this whole world, you can love but one girl. Let me be that one girl. For I’ll be true to you.” We will wait patiently, we understand the Duke of Earl is about to arrive. We hear he’s shrouded in Blue Velvet the kind that’s softer than satin in the light.

We heard they added some new holes at the aptly named Periwinkle Pitch and Putt. One hole is named after Mark Twain and one named after Shania. We are thinking maybe his great niece. We’ll try their new chili dogs and awful awfuls. How about a peppermint stick (a la Howard Johnsons) ice cream cone for dessert and call it a near perfect walk down memory lane.
As we wake up to devastating news on the daily, in the core of our arena, we thought exhuming a moment in time when the term “homegrown criminals” only existed on Breaking Bad, when access to weapons were not readily available to 14 year old children and when the alarm system in our house (who had those growing up?)- didn’t go off because armed villains were coming into your safe haven to steal the black and white T.V.’s. you watched Bonanza on.

So just for today, pick up a T.V. Guide and look to see what time Gene Rayburn is hosting The Match Game on NBC. We are all in Jeopardy.