When the weight of your tool belt is weighing you down – don’t buckle.

And I quote -Why are there so many songs about rainbows?

And what’s on the other side.

Rainbows are visions.

They’re only illusions.

Rainbows have nothing to hide.

So we’ve been told,

And some choose to believe it.

I know they’re wrong wait and see.

Someday we’ll find it.

The rainbow connection.

The lovers, the dreamers and me.

Lyrics by Jim Henson- favored artist Kermit the Frog.
Rainbows and Frogs- “look, look, look to the rainbow, follow the fellow who follows his dream.”

The fascination of the colors, shape and promise offer a trilogy of endless wonderment. Dorothy searched for happiness “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” She learned that after her laborious travels, the click of the red shoes bringing her “Home” to Auntie Em’s smile was her Oz.

So you gamble at the track to win, place or show. Aren’t placing and showing, winning? Just get out of the gate, play your own game and recognize opportunities often disguised as hardships. In holy grail fashion become the laureate of second chances even if your horse places or shows.

Don’t judge a situation you’ve never been in. My friends LOVE their dogs. Like in OMG- DOG! The unrequited love in the wag of their tale and lick on their face puts a smile on theirs second to none.

Friends adopted a baby at birth. They threw the word adopted away as it had no “H” for Heart in it. When you have grandchildren that had nothing to do with biology and everything to do with “Everything,”- make them yours in heart, body and soul. Their memories will become your legacy. Believe me they know who loves them, chicken nuggets and all. And by the way guys it’s not dew on the white roses you sent yesterday they’re tear drops. Very sincerely yours.

As next chapters come with rapid speed listen carefully for the song of the male frog- a grunt, a croak. It often serves as the conduit to where you want to settle in. Don’t re-gift your life to people who treat you as after thoughts. Allow all that therapy pay off. Really-

The Wizard made hay from the scarecrows stuffing. Fill each seat at your table with only the deepest of players who have your back while you turn around to watch as the parade passes by.
Make it a fun Thursday.

Haiku Jew( wish)

Kanye West Detest
Our heritage proud so fierce
Gangsta rapper tears😢

And 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 women prisoners exercised around the “mulberry bush.” There were no rainbows and we waited for happy days to be here again-sing out 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. And 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 our flowers helps them to grow bigger and brighter the prince of tides helped our ship sail in. We turned the beat around, stopped playing victim, ran from villains, and got behind the literal wheel to claim our power back. If you believe in magic, follow toto down the yellow brick road, and know that somewhere between a curtain and the wizard is a place called Home. Make it a good Monday.

We got “Swept Away” by Lina Wertmuller, the Italian Filmmaker with an unmistakable style who left her mark on Italian and worldwide cinema. Sylvia Weinstock the “da Vinci of Wedding Cakes,” added tiers (tears) to her wedding cake wonders. She produced floral-drapped architectural works in the shape of rose-studded topiaries, baskets of speckled lilies and bouquets of anemones. She didn’t start baking until she was in her 50’s. Yes, my point. They both lived well into their 90’s. They knew to stay away from people who started fires and then played the burn victims. Long livers all with passions strong. They focused on their interests and fine tuned their talents. Sylvia was lucky in love. She grew up in Brooklyn and went to the beach on the Rockaways with her friends on the weekends in the summer. One summer day she walked over to a group of boys and asked who wanted to go swimming with her? One of the guys walked her to the ocean and as it turned out down the aisle. Relationships amongst long livers tend to be deep and strong with the emphasis on forgiveness.
As we are stepping into our 70’s we are regrouping, pulling out all the stops and putting the accent on hopefully the right syll-a ble. Long livers and some tips on long living is a curious study.
The power of luck cannot be overestimated. However, as studied by Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara the Japenese physician and longevity expert who lived until the age of 105 there are tips and suggestions worth paying attention to. The obvious well played song book we grew up with included staying active, keeping busy, 3 squares a day, take the stairs and exercise your way to the make up department at Bloomys.
Our take away from his study was to have fun and minimize pain. And I quote “Pain is mysterious, and having fun is the best way to forget it.” If a child has a toothache, and you start playing a game together, he or she immediately forgets the pain.
Betty White believed everyone needs a passion. Her passion for animals was palpable. Her charities speak for themselves. She kept humor at the forefront. Her motto “Forgiveness” works in your favor. She wanted to have Fun. Hit it Irene Cara- “I’m gonna live forever, I’m gonna learn how to fly. I’m gonna make it to heaven, light up the sky like a flame. I’m gonna live forever, baby remember my name.” Long life of loving animals and forgiveness. Finding a passion is a talent in itself. Make it a good and find your passion Sunday. And Betty White, no problem, your memory will be a blessing.

It is June 2025 and I am getting ready for my high school graduation. I am graduating with honors and excelled at the top of my class in creative writing. I was bestowed the honor of delivering a speech on my take away of the Covid-19 virus that plagued the world in 2020. It is 5 years later and although it took the better part of 2 plus years until the eye of the storm subsided, we were left with a brave new world. The last five years have defined our world and my youth in ways that could never have been believed with no preparation in site. We were human shock absorbers. In guinea pig fashion we were isolated in our own boats navigating a storm flooded with fear, rage and no real answers. The virus knew no limits and left its mark on millions of innocent bystanders. We never knew if it was our turn to suffer on the front line of battle. We spent time dodging bullets, while baking blueberry pound cake with our siblings in lockdown mode. There were months on end where no expiration date was just that. As 13 year olds while forming friendships was top of mind, we were concurrently learning to fight an enemy that could come from around any corner, on any block. The streets crowded with people wearing masks was a clear visual of the enemy at hand. As lucky kids, the worst we knew was strep or a wrist sling from breaking a fall on the basketball court. Yet, we came to understand we were now dealing with deregulating the rules of the health cards as we knew them. Belly aches, scrapped knees and irritated gums from braces were mere annoyances compared to what we were up against. Fast forward and with no braces in sight, I am dressing in a new suit and sporting a tie decorated with happy faces. We survived and are thriving as a vaccine and maintenance program is in place. While overcoming an act of G-d, and a human disaster that has left us with emotional scars, I will address my graduating class today with honor. I will look in the eyes of my friends and know we developed strong friendships in spite of the scariest of times. My take away dear friends is if anyone one of us falls a little behind, we will wait till you catch up. We all started behind the starting line and emerged stronger and knowing together is “hashtag” better.

As we are designated to the “upper class women” line we are more aware of how tempus fugit (time flies.) Let’s (carpe diem) seize the day and in a (sicut enim medicus) just what the doctor ordered way, get out of our own. As a true broadway babe, let’s do a Priscilla Lopez from Chorus Line and “dig down deep,” flip the sting from these dangerous and difficult times and Go to Humor.

 And so it goes. Nip and Tuck- It’s a Rap.

Bo to the tox and the forehead looks younger.

Go to the thighs cause they tell you no lies.

As gravity tugs at our mugs with full force.

Can’t look any younger by taking a course.

Esteem to the team with eyes opened wide.

Into home base we score wth full pride.

Our mojo and moxie helps dig and look deeper.

We mellow, we chill, we’re considered a keeper.

Match up to our egos we know our self worth.

We are one of of a kind on this entire earth.

Consider the knife to smooth our appearance.

We go to the doc and ask for some clearance.

We fast over night cause we gotta look tighter, back out of the deal cause we pulled an all-nighter.

So Vixen and Rudolph strap into ur sleigh.

Ain’t going under that knife,

No fricken way.

We’ll accept what we look like cause older is wiser.

We ain’t going backwards, we’re no compromiser.

Let’s call up our buddies who know us so deep.

So happy to hear how we’re perfect when asleep.

With gumption and courage we hold our heads higher.

Came into our own the seller, not the buyer.

We like how we look and we feel so damn good.

We heard it for sure from a friend in our hood.

On some “Grey” days we binged as Mc Dreamy took care of Don Draper.and diagnosed it as just too much day drinking. 

We were left confused after Sam Seaborn ( Rob Lowe) exited the West Wing, while salivating over Carmela’s “Sunday Sauce.” Bada Bing to those meat-a -balls.

So, when corned beef and pastrami meet on the corner of Potato Knish and Dr. Browns Soda, they bump into the Salami on rye with deli mustard sandwich. Well done french fries? -sure why not- our picture show.

They get ready to watch as Mr. Ed whispers to Ozzie and Harriet a cute story about (ok who remembers their neighbor?) Thornyp- Played by Don Defore. That was a stretch.

They are meeting over at Donna Reeds house to watch the Beaver and his brother Wally take on Ken Osmond a.k.a. Eddie Haskell in a game of H-O- R- S-E, in their driveway. After a pot luck dinner with bread pudding for dessert they will sit around the piano and sing out loud with My Little Margie and Aunt Bee who is getting a ride over with Barney and being escorted by Opie. Oh “kay” then.

They take out the game of Clue and wait for That Girl ( Marlo Thomas) to be Bewitched by (Elizabeth Montgomery.)

All the while Ann Sothern, who came with Don Porter is taking the minutes of the day until Eddie Albert shows up with the fur clad, diamond bearing Eva Gabor from their Green Acres Pad. A good time was had by all and in their game of Clue they played until Jim Backus announced “I Married Joan.” They all agreed that everyone loved Lucy.

The category is Sitcoms in the Sixites. We’ll take Columbo for $1000.00 please. And I quote – Just one more thing. There’s something that bothers me. One more question to my wife -what did you pay for those shoes? Make it a throwback Thursday. Phew!

MAY 9, 2021 ~ AROSEBYANYOTHERNAME2016

During our early morning Instagram grazing we came upon this post above. With a heartfelt reaction it started our day with Gratitude. “Don’t tell me the sky’s the limit when there are footprints on the moon.

If We Could Turn Back Time- on a repost kind of day-

So the year is 1967, we just got our drivers license, we head out in our white Volkswagen Beetle-roof top opened wide. The radio is set to Wabc am 770 and we sang out (very) loud. “We took a ride on a shoot the chute, when we fell in love down at Palisades Park.” Oh, Cousin Brucie… We threw in our nap sack which was packed with a striped towel, a rubberized white bathing cap with a chin strap (oy) baby oil and iodine mix and zinc oxide for our lips. We carried our new sun reflector under our arm. First we stopped on Main Avenue and one of us ran into the corner drugstore, (our Grovers Corner) to buy a pack of Newport Menthols and Wrigleys spearmint gum. Bradley Beach look out Passaic Girls sighting on the Garden State heading South. We all wore cut off “dungarees,” a washed out short sleeve madras blouse and underneath our version of an “itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini.” We were having a Heat Wave, only at that point in time nothing to do with a hot flash. We got into Susan’s new bells and whistles car. We fell into our 1960’s time machine. It’s now 50 plus years later and we’ve carried our age, albeit-not bad- with us, our voices sound the same. Our imaginations run wilder than we could have ever imagined. In surround sound style. memories quickly rolled by of Third Ward Park, the pond, the handball courts and Tom Sabas truck. Although nothing was yellow nor polka dot, two obvious differences were we buckled “seat belts” and didn’t stop for cigarettes. The pack of gum was opened. I declined as I just had a new crown put in and not on my head. Crowns are the new fillings. I think the dentists read that AARP pamphlet too closely. Ok, so we were heading to Debbie Larks in Monmouth Beach for a day of dejavu, forgiving smiles and delicious homemade blueberry pound cake. Another Sara Lee memory moment, only this time baked by Debbie and so yummy. I kept hoping somewhere sequestered in her beautiful home would be a couple of Bass weejuns, with shiny pennies dated 1969. She would give us a pair as a glorious reminder of how great our feet felt sans high heels. We had lunch with a beach breeze and dessert on the terrace as we caught up on children, grandchildren, thyroid meds and the latest f-factor diet. All the while we had a song in our heart as we quietly rubbed the rabbits foot in our pockets. Lucky and then some, poo poo. “Oh, if you need a friend we’re sailing right behind. Like a bridge over troubled water.. By the way Sue nothing about yesterday was a “Fugazy.” Throw it back Thursday.

You charmed the husk right off of the corn Mame.
As Jessica Fletcher, with your basket perched in front of your bicycle you did the same.
In Sweeney your meat pies, put Nellie Lovett on the map and attracted the attention of Mr. Todd.
Louise sang out as Mama called from the sidelines.
A shout out -a big prod.
You knew everything would be coming up roses.
With a push, a shout the ultimate nod.
We added a madcap moment,
And knew we’d always be Alice Toklas to your Gertrude Stein.
“If life should reject you, you had us to protect you-
Friends sisters and Pals.”
7 decades of acting glory,
The consummate actress, a mother and wife, the all around gal.
Known for voicing Mrs. Potts.
Your tone so recognizable,
“As a tale as old as time.
Song as old as rhyme,
Beauty and the Beast.”
You left us a library of work.
“Ever a surprise,
Ever as before.”
RIP Dame Lansbury.
“That’s all she Wrote.”