Pour le Sport ( The Last Resorts) 1956

“We’re having such fun.
We’re going golfing.
We’re having such fun.
And feeling fit.
Isn’t it mad? We’ve never had so much fun—-
Let’s quit.”

— Sondheim—1956

As an apprentice under Oscar Hammerstein.
Consummate wordsmith brought words to the point of a rhyme.
His work spanned theatrical lifetimes.

His sense of rhythm, was simply sublime.

His content dictated the form as a sentence,
Turned a paragraph into a story through chimes.

Sinatra sent in the clowns and Bernadette Peters took a walk through the park with george.

Ambition only superceded by talent.
Like when “good things get bettter/bad things get worse/Wait—I think I meant that in reverse.”
He took us “Into the woods”

In good “Company” were we.
Every theater lyric a short story, every line the weight of a paragraph you see.
“A funny thing happened on the way to the forum,” with a “Little Night Music”
And a “Gypsy” or three.

With “Passion” he composed the story,
From the “West Side” of the street was the call.
Dear Mr. Sondheim, in our memory, you will always stand Tall.
You threw a lot of spaghetti and All of it stuck to the wall.

Is Everyone in the Building Making Stuffed Cabbage? It’s a Go to Humor kind of day.

“Oh G-d” (1977), The “2000 year old man,” enters the Pearly Gates Laughing.
Estelle Reiner, his wife said it best at Katz’s Deli, “I’ll have what she’s having.” She was married for 64 yrs. to the controller at Rancho Conejo. 98 years funny, he certainly had “The Thrill of it All.” When Morey Amsterdam and Rose Marie reworded phrases to get the rhythm right on The Alan Brady show Carl Reiner called it a Wrap. We knew when Rob Petrie tripped into our living rooms each week on the eponymous “Dick Van Dyke Show” it was really his “Show of Shows.”
Norman Lear’s line in Carl Reiner’s 2017 documentary on aging, “If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast, was how he lived.
So today Carl, we’ll have our coffee with cream and a little oatmeal in your honor. His credo was “ find your hammock and live in the now.” The transition of time in between “ok, it’s over, to what’s next,” is when his productivity kicked in. HBO featured the documentary- on demand it if you can. The cast of characters, the best of the best. Mel Brooks is hysterical, Dick Van Dyke dances, Norman Lear is brilliant and Carl Reiner’s direction and hosting ever so warm and welcoming. When it was filmed in 2017 they were all Nonagenarians. One thing distinctly portrayed in this work of long livers is that they were passionate and fell in love with lots of things. So Carl we imagine as you enter the pearly gates, we will hear you say to G-d, “so Divine One, if you were commanding a performance your timing was propitious as “The Russians are coming, The Russians are coming”- in this “Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. I will pass the baton on to my son Rob and remind him of the line written in 1963 for “it’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. “And in a democracy, it don’t matter how stupid you are, you still get an equal share.” RIP Mr. Reiner -well done.

When the next times are now.

Let’s live in the moment.

As Life passes us by.

Take our eyes off our phones.

We’ll give it a try.

The hours we are missing turn into days and then weeks.

While sitting and dining with our closest of peeps.

The abundance of notices through a ring or a chime.

Distinguishing sounds as our anticipation climbs.

An email, a text, a memory comes through.

Socializing through electronics is just what we do.

We glance at the table our phones perched on top.

We have tried not to look but we just couldn’t stop.

Put down your iPads and follow along.

We missed what you said, our addictions that strong.

So just for today we will silence our phones.

Cause what’s that important till we get home?

We might miss a picture from 2018, or a Brooks Brothers coupon to purchase something green.

Make it a good Friday.

On this date in 1921 Judith Leiber was born.

Notorious for her handcrafted, crystal clutches, bag designer Judith Leiber died over the weekend at the age of 97. The accessories designer whose work was favored by multiple First Ladies, was known for her tongue-in-cheek approach to bag design.

Her husband of 72 years Gerson Leiber died a few hours later. She was a holocaust survivor, married Gerson, an American soldier during World War II and moved to New York. She lived a “jeweled” life and entertained our eye through the fanciest of the fanciest hand bags. The cafe society ladies could be seen sporting them on the tables of Grenouille and Cote Basque during the Jackie O year’s. In random episodes of Sex in the City they were highlighted as arm candy to exemplify deliberate signs of wealth and wonder. Our take away was “wondering” how they came up with the thousands of spare change dollars to purchase one, or more. What a life, from the outside in. What a blessing head on. A Survivor who was blessed with an amazing eye for detail displayed through her artistry and  a 72 year marriage that lasted till the last day they both passed away. Cut to…

There are some locations that never make it. The corner of 1st and 79th Street has housed one restaurant after another. Every time we think the new sign that went up, looked promising we pass again and the lights are dimmed, sign down.

And then the Jim McMullen (no credit cards taken) on to Atlantic Grill spot on 3rd Avenue flourished until now as the building is being torn down to build condos.

So the take away question of the day—is the success of the Judith Lieber cocktail a mixture of overcoming the fallout of devastating-beginnings, hard work and extreme talent with Lady Luck poured on top or is it that she made the very best of her “location” whether it was in the ghetto basement with 60 other holocaust survivors or the front room at La Grenouille, where her hand bags are perched on tables in statue-like fashion? If you find yourself in a paper bag today, make your way out, put up a new sign and put a cherry on top!

When the music stops playing.

On deft ear it falls.

Open new path to listen.

Haiku

Stop, Smell, Flowers.
The hours are short even on the days that are long.
When windmills are tilted.
Judgements are challenged.
We showcase convictions.
Strum to the beat of our song.
The threats on the daily from the reality show news.
Are we facing the music, or singing the blues?
Court rooms and law suits and messages so strong.
We are facing catastrophes from hither to yon.
With standards much lower.
Distortions prolonged.
How will it pan out as in the rights or the wrongs?

Nip and Tuck!

It’s a Rap-

As we are designated to the “upper classmen ” 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. Inspiration came in waves this year. 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.

We are creatures made real through contact…

“The great measure of human maturation is the increasing understanding that we move through life in the blink of an eye; that we are not long with the privilege of having eyes to see, ears to hear, a voice with which to speak and arms to put round a loved one; that we are simply passing through.” — David Whyte

Hello, I just dropped in from the 60’s.

And then one day we just stayed in bed, under the covers, eating Hebrew National pigs in the blanket and drinking Whispering Angel. A perfect panacea for our stuck in packing mode moments. 

With so many things on our “to do” list, we are taking a take care of ourselfism, time out day.

In our throw precautions to the wind mindset, we shop for chopped meat and hope our cholesterol levels don’t recognize that our creatively stuffed peppers disguised the meat. We click channels between Turner Classic Movies and the sitcom from the 60’s and 70’s channel MeTv. We look for reruns of Dobie Gillis, I Married Joan,Topper and Leave it to Beaver. We turn back to TCM when The Beverly Hillbillies comes on. Jed Clampett was not a favorite.

Ok, one episode at a time, pre-binging.

In a look in the rear view mirror way we derive comfort in exhuming memories of eating Buitoni ravioli after school before leaving to go to our algebra tutor. Did anyone really need to know what a parallelogram or a quadrilateral was, ever? You do the math. 

Ah, the simple joy of listening to AM radio and Cousin Brucie, the prototype for the DJ in our Gen-X era.

The glory days when one of our pleasures was listening to the Temptations, cause we were “not to proud to beg” while we waited to be built up by buttercups, knowing at this point it was the “worst that could happen.” Run on sentence counters, I know. 

Guilty pleasures were driving under the tressel at Third Ward Park and the endorphin rush in spotting our friends cars.

The long ago and far away days, we so long for now. If only the worst of frustrations came in the form of busy signals and not because we had to upgrade our cell phones due to out dated-technology. We lovingly remember setting our Curl Free straightened hair with big, pink plastic rollers, spritzing Aqua Net hairspray and adjusting the awkward tubes from our portable hairdryers. We looked forward to our snacks of peanut butter-and jelly on Ritz Crackers, Ring Dings, Funny Bones and Yankee Doodles- always grabbing a can of Tab, the acronym for the first (Totally Artificial Beverage). All this came without hangovers. With lots of quarters, nickels and dimes we’d stop for snacks at the local candy store on Main Avenue. What a run. So back to today – under the covers and milking our day of pleasure until we go back to packing up our sock drawers. Throwing out so many single socks.

We long for the times when Cosmo Topper, married Joan and the only thing unstable were the rabbit ears on our black and white Tv’s and -that was an easy fix. Have a great Saturday.

Mangiare e Bene

We sit down at the table, pass around the basket of bread.
Our menu in our hands, ordering we do dread.
Pasta, pasta everywhere, but not a drop to eat.
We love to see our peeps, we eat and then repeat -AGAIN?
With some laps around the clubhouse pool.
And a walk around the lake.
Another fettuccine bolognese we really cannot take.
Our pants are getting tighter, as the buttons they do pop.
And then we order dessert and pull out all the stops.
Four forks around the key lime.
Or a spoon for creme brûlée.
A holy moley to the cannoli.
Decaf cappuccino on the side.
We glance into the mirror, as it really tells no lies.
Our girlish, curvy figure, so very far away.
When we get up in the morning we start a brand new day.
A scoop of some plain yogurt- add a banana to the bowl.
We have yet to stand on the scale.
The Veal Milanese has taken its toll.
As we dress for one more table and another group of friends.
The caring and conversation we trust will never end.
If we eliminate the bread, skip the pasta page indeed.
Perhaps some broiled salmon, is exactly what we need.
Have a great Thursday.