Happy Birthday Mr. Mel Kaminsky a.k.a. Mel Brooks.
The consummate Steadfast lodestar of comic behaviors -98 and going great.
You embodied the role of a Producer (1968) when you hid jewels in one of The Twelve Chairs (1970.) 
Your pairing of Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder got some Saddles Blazing (1974) -which left you in a
state of High Anxiety (1977.) It was then that you knew it was time for a Silent Movie (1976) and it gave you time to prepare for Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993.) You had us when he appointed a new sheriff, his friend Ahchoo. So today we say Bless you Mr. Brooks and may you continue to make sure we Enter Laughing (1967.)

Farewell “Murder No Mystery.” Prodigious proportions of murders down the block and coming to your neighborhood and Not on the big screen. On the street you’ve walked home to with no thought of not making it to your front door.

We are reminded (two plus years ago of Lt. Alison Russo who was laid to rest.)

She served as a 911 first responder. Her father said it best through his gut pain “my daughter was fatally stabbed and left on the ground like a rag doll.”

She would have been the first to run and save her assailant, had he not stabbed her to her death first.”RIP posthumously Captain Alison Russo.

Where were you when Kennedy was shot? Our young, formative, developmental years were spent during the 1960’s-70’s.

The innocence of knee socks and loafers, bell bottoms and clogs, pappagallo shoes, alpaca sweaters adorned with lady bug and circle pins, madras blouses, peter pan collars, baby bead bracelets, curl free hair relaxer (ode to that wide tooth, pink comb that came in the kit,) blue loose leaf binders (ouch to every time we got pinched trying to close the three rings together, Wrangler and Lee “dungarees,” and cracking our Wrigley’s spearmint or Juicy Fruit gum while listening to The Shirelles, Four Tops and Diana crooning to Dancing in the Street. Oh how somedays we miss Johnny Angel under a Blue Moon as the The Lion Slept. Yes, to Those Magic Moments on The Streets where we lived. Did I get it close to right Herb Frankel?

We find comfort in exhuming our past when going forward needs a push. We learned to take the right action and let go of results. Respect your elders, do unto others and lend a helping hand. Basic adages that started on our front lawn. I know cliche counters but when the going gets…

Destroyed norms of human behavior were unimaginable as we stood stalwart with presidential reverence and pledged allegiance. Really Mrs. Alito? No Debate.

Just for today, look over someone else’s shoulder and be careful not to trip over the homeless person sleeping on your corner as you are reading your messages on your phones about one more shooting around the corner and down the block. Prayers strong!

A morning of cliches couldn’t hurt.

Life on life’s terms. One step forward two steps back.

Limbo -and we quote Oxford- an uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition.

“the fate of the Contras is now in limbo”

Somedays the uncertainty of the somewhere in-between takes our breath away. Some days that uncertainty propels us into stepping up our game and re-grouping.

Our activities on the daily were often done in knee jerk fashion. Now our knee just jerks.

Day dreaming is a wonderful panacea.
Tony Bennett crooned “ Oh, the good life. Full of fun seems to be the ideal. Mmm, the good life. Let’s you hide all the sadness you feel.”

The year is 1963. We are starting camp the next day. We lay out our new keds sneakers, chose a pair of “pedal pushers,” a sweat shirt and one of the many colorful tee shirts we bought at Alexanders. We will grab a tennis sweater as we run out the door to catch the bus.

Ah, we remember it well. Not unlike the first day of school, camp offered unparalleled excitement coupled with the trepidation of will I meet new friends feelings.

With our camp bag complete we get ready for bed. We finish reading one of our favorite Nancy Drew books, The Secret of the Old Clock, turn off our record player that was spinning a 78 Johnny Mathis album and ”Get Misty” as we shut the lights.

Euphoric recall is medicinal and certainly helps minimize the startling tone of the in our face senior moments, that turn into, wow time flew by.

Our take away is that there is a religious and spiritual component where forgiveness and celebration hold court. “Are you having any fun? What you get out of Living?”

So on the precipice of unknowing chapters coming our way, fast and furiously -let’s fill the empty space that we made room for in our proverbial closet and invite the new woman we met to join us at our “table.”

“Accentuate the Positives. Eliminate the negatives.”

Oh, hey Lionel Ritchie this time we are going to “Make the Magic last for more than just night.” We got this Wednesday.

Thanks for making us scrambled eggs and pancakes when we couldn’t decide what we wanted- Soph you were our sunshine and now feathers brush our hearts, Today you would have been “97” Ur girls-xxx and the kinda

SOME NIGHTS YOU DANCE WITH TEARS IN YOUR EYES

When guns have more rights than women.
We march to gain control.
Our bodies, ourselves, our credo.
We stand united and determined and yell.
Overturning our dignity.
The fire, the fury, the horror.
We beg to know the “why’s.”
As we scream and wipe our terror.
Children shot dead in the school yard.
Before our very eyes.
With prayers as they get on the camp bus.
That we’ll share dinner when they return.
The devastating threat to our values.
Standing sideline as our moral bibles are burned.
The legislative banning of assault weapons.
Our lack of control has us sitting in fear.
Our constitutional rights dispelled.
In a huge destructive hand-basket,
Our world has gone to Hell

Dear Our New York, Our Friend.

The safety of your harbor.
Your crescent shaped appeal.
Could fill bottomless pit emptiness.
We really had some deal.
Your allure and all your glamour.
From every pillar to every post.
Almost on the daily you proved the consummate host.
The streets were jammed with clamour.
Central Park our landing pad of choice.
We rarely missed an opening.
So many opportunities to rejoice.
Shared songs at your great venues.
Danced on too many floors to count.

There never was a question.
You were where we did belong.

The seasons changed with such panache.
The leaves, the snow and the flowers they did bloom.
Our frowns would turn to smiles.
Never sat with doom or gloom.

Your restaurants encouraged our palette.
Started with foie grois ended with chocolate soufflé.
Never missed an opportunity to window shop and stray.
As we collected a lifetime of memories.
Full-filled so many dreams.
It’s time to say we’ll see you.
On the road our show we’ll take.
We are packing stacks of pleasure.
On the wonder you create.
Hit it.
“From the very Heart of it New York, New York. If we made it here, we’ll make it anywhere… With ❤️

Where sunrises unleash the possibility of a new beginning; in the same spot where sunsets

breathe beauty. 

Shall We Play? Tra la la-

We’ve just been introduced.

I do not know you well.

But when the cards were shuffled.

Something drew me to your side.

I sensed we could be friends.

Share a joke or two.

It made me think we might be— Similarly occupied.

Shall we play? Tra la la-

Shall we all sit together,

And depend upon each other?

On a clear understanding that we signal with the 7’s-remember to count aces.

One two three -as we give it a try.

On a bright cloud of music.

Go down with four jokers and hope our partner can add to the pie.

With a clear understanding that this kind of thing can happen, so we try and then try, yes let’s try.

Shall we still play together, when the last of the three’s have left the deck?

Staying tethered to the table.

And show up with poker faces.

Cause we know we are better.

For engaging one another.

So we played and we played and we tried.

“My romance doesn’t need a castle rising in Spain.

Or a dance to a constantly surprising refrain.

And wide awake I can make my most fantastic dreams come true.

My romance, doesn’t need a thing but you.”

Written by Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers.

Father Time You Need a Haircut.

World Book Encyclopedia, The Merriam Webster Dictionary and The Thesaurus– versus Google, Kindle, Amazon Prime, Tik tok, Snapchat, Facebook,

Instagram, and a myriad of search engines plus. A.I. give it a try.

Our days of licking our finger to turn the pages are virtually over. Although we still pick a hard cover over a battery operated read. Can you easily bring to mind memories of brown paper bags with pencil calculated totals of grocery store purchases? How much were a dozen eggs? Anyone else struggle thru trigonometry? Specific functions of angles and their applications to calculations- no comprende.

How about looking up Ticonderoga and cutting out pictures from National Geographic Magazine for a cut and paste project on Africa? Oh, and who doesn’t remember carrying that elaborate science project to school hoping it wouldn’t spill or rip?

What happened to Ed Sullivan on Sunday night, Tom and Jerry and a deeper meaning to Bugs Bunny then we ever knew (google him) Saturday mornings. 

Yes to the the guilty pleasure of Luke and Laura’s General Hospital Wedding? Would you “Bet your Life” on Groucho, if he threw in the swinging Duck? How bout (pie in the face) Soupy  Sales?

Our days now where we are going at a slower pace with the absence of having to re-boot anything is high up on our “only if” list. We have finally come to learn when you call customer service you have to press #1 and scream loudly #9 times. Operator assistance please. 

When we step back and chronicle the speed at which life has reinvented communication it is mind boggling. 

Ironically we miss the days of waiting on line to buy tickets to a Grateful Dead Concert. We brought our lunch and a snack and sat through 3 hours and 42 minutes of loving Lawrence of Arabia.

We look back at memories of being careful not to touch chewed gum under our seats. We could come in the middle of a movie and watch it again. A couple of cartoons thrown in. A box of bon-bons please.

Missing slower paced times. Some days we jam pack activities to avoid suffering from FOMO, ( fear of missing out.) Of What we ask?

Beam me up Scotty- sets in as we exhume the days of the smells of home cooked meals. Our fav- Very well done baby lamb chops, baked potatoes, canned le sueur peas and fruit cocktail with Entenmann’s toasted pound cake. Yes, two n’s.

We miss getting hand written letters, and saving them in our memory box, scented envelopes and all. I repeat – “Can it be that it was all so simple then, or has time re-written every line?” Hit it

Barbra with an A.

So just for today, pay less attention to the frequency of sound with every e-mail or text coming in on your Apple watch.

Explore some hand written behaviors. “I’m gonna sit right down and write myself a letter. And make believe it came from you.” Fat Waller’s piano version is fun.

Perhaps on demand old episodes of Dr. Kildare or Ben Casey -our original Mc Dreamy’s. And Have a 

Happy Father’s Day!

Mazel times three 💙💙💙