With strength and honor you set the stage- you forge ahead and turn the page.You shop for knowledge with recipe in hand 

Your style for dealing with a story not planned

“Get off the couch” you scream one and all

The benevolent despot, at your beckoned call

You have no patience when your words go a wry

You say it louder, give it one more try

Your fate unfolded no script, no plan 

You stand oh so tall, right next to your man

You’re brave when needed

Keeping the fire alive

Another opportunity to do and to strive 

I admire your candor

I take pride in your charm 

And now my dear friend I’m extending my arm 

Through this you’ll get

There’s no doubt in my mind

When determined and focused

You’re one of a kind

The troops all gathered from far and from near

For you darling Linda 

We’re Raising the chair.
                               Ode to our Friend
Reboot and fix the bugs, get your biggest asset back in gear- you hold so many people in your heart, with tender care. Your arms equipped for hugging, your eyes have seen so much- You look, you see u wander, your reach so full of touch. For summer, you’ll be ready to photo shop us all- perhaps with “brand” new pieces you’ll have a “brand” new call. .As you navigate life’s albums please include our great big kiss. For we know our Tiger Weiller will surely sail through this. 

 

I’m sick of winter- and who cares about Charlie Sheen? Is too much binge watching bad for you? Even if it’s House of Cards and Billions? And –one perfect thing is the love between a grandparent and their grandchildren. The fun is FUN- the benefit of those hugs for both way beyond belief or medical explanation- Do we really want to live without all the foods and mustards that cause acid reflux? Be You– that’s the only thing that matters. Unload the nonsense. It’s quiet at rush hour does tomorrow’s primary portend to trouble? So what’s the deal with biscotti? Who wants to break a tooth for another cookie? Walk out of movies that stink – especially if it’s ur picture show. If a Melissa McCarthy movie isn’t funny it’s because she isn’t. Sunsets are glorious and the right before it’s going to rain moments are stirring and thought provoking. Non sequiturs are hard to follow unless you’re on the same wave length. Julia Roberts looks the best she ever looked in Pretty Woman. Always choose sugar over saccharin products. Deal with the extra intake. Find what you are good at and do it a lot. Mix in incandescence, stir up a little trouble and twirl your own baton.   

Definition of Recidivism-a tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behavior; especially : relapse into criminal behavior. Is there a fine line between addiction and recidivism? Let’s consider how popular prison romances are and seem in no danger of dying out. One theory is that prisoners create a literal wall against closeness. Conjugal visits preclude hanging out Sunday morning with Russ and Daughters and The New York Times. They certainly eliminate variegated activities i.e. strolling through The Whitney and eating french toast at Bubby’s TriBeCa.

Delving into a veritable pantheon of theories that depict the profile of personalities enraptured by the incarcerated is a thesis unto itself. Far from the cover for every pot concept.

This week-end I viewed Jacob Ephron’s documentary on his mom Nora Ephron. Oh, Nora you hated your neck and we loved you. So relatable through your self- deprecatory humor- so charming. And I quote “when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” Amen! The converse rings ever so true. When you understand that burnt pot roast doesn’t necessarily taste so good, negating what we grew up eating it, you throw it out and start again. Sensibility does not kick in by chance. When our palates change through the “don’t touch the stove, you’ll burn your hand theory; hopefully we don’t wait for the next ship to come in to carpe diem. The “I would rather not’s” turn into the “I won’t again’s.” We plunge ahead, dive right in allowing nothing to eclipse change. Seizing opportunities and disregarding discouragements our modus operandi.

How many reapprochments fail? If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. When we get sick and tired of being sick and tired, so they say, we invite someone else to play mah Jongg, over for dinner, or out to lunch. Unshackled, we go forward and ask for a second portion. And- I quote Nora again. “Above all , be the heroine of your life, not the victim. It will be a little messy, but embrace the mess.” Let’s do it Monday- I got you covered.

Richard Burton called Elizabeth Taylor his “eternal one night stand.” I croon at the tenor of the mere idea of that. An emotional reverence of prodigious proportions hardly containable in thought. Conversely as reality stands still for no one he played George to her Martha in Edward Albee’s- Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe? They were married and divorced twice, although their fascination for one another lingered on. The intermix of hindsight and reality defines “the serpent in envy paradise theory.”

We all have an emotional fingerprint that comes to full expression when it is stamped and recognized by that “special someone.” The state of limerence (infatuated love) is fleeting. It serves as the gestation period waiting to convert impassioned into permanence. If Jack is in love with Jill he is no judge of her beauty. With a fortuitous, a skewed eye we hope that our veneration for our beloved evolves into a ” happily ever after” place. Can waxing poetic last and last again? 

Calvin Trillin wrote a terrific short read called “About Alice.” He eulogized his wife in beautiful detail. He tried his best to make her feel real in spite of it’s hyperbolic style. My take away was reminiscent of “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.” Michel Legrand wrote the music under the direction of Jacques Demy. The movie plays out in song. The music adds breathless enchantment to the character’s dialogue. I am always left wondering how this would have played out outside of song. I imagine this is one reason we can’t get enough of any media that has a beat and a tune. Tickets to coveted Broadway Musicals – a veritable waiting game. Nothing like a good American Songbook excerpt to get the hoof beating and the heart racing. The fantasy and sighs as we sway back and forth completes the experience of wonder. Yes, Calvin Trillin loved Alice, his muse, that he is quoted as saying “all his writing was for her.” She was described by friends as ” someone who managed to navigate the tricky waters between living a life you could be proud of and still delighting in the many things there are to take pleasure in.”

So “hello young lovers wherever you are.” Getting it close to center in the quadrants of your life is the journey. Destinations perhaps overrated. Let’s do Saturday tra-la tra la! 

 

Recipe for long living, long ago. How many had grandparents who lived well into their 90’s? Maybe they knew Vic Tanny existed but they were too busy working hard, cooking and baking and smoking cigarettes to get to know him well. My Grandmother, (Bubby Chicken), for those in the know, led with an indomitable spirit. She had a startling ability to push unpleasant thoughts down the block and across the street. She was too busy to worry about what so and so said or thought. With rolling pin in hand and her grater not far away she filled part of her days. I often wondered if she slept with her apron on as it was ever present and the first thing we noticed when we ran in for her endless Hug. 

We believe she was the prototype for the ” I’m gonna live forever, I’m gonna learn high to fly” lyrics. So, noodle and or potato pudding, apple cake, rugalach with raisins and jelly and her famous candy bowl filled with hard candies were things we came to depend on. We never knew how we would make it to dessert as we were left stuffed with carbs, salt, schmaltz and gribenes(for those in the know.) And- just in case she had her trustworthy mylanta, gaviscon- or “here mamala have a tums” waiting on the counter next to the left over flour and right under an old plant that still had the ribbon and card on it from last Mother’s Day.

In the absence of probiotics, papaya enzymes, lactaid free whatever’s, Pilates, colonoscopies, portion controls, calories counts on products, my grandmother and her friends lived forever. 

 Were their stomachs better equipped? Was it not considered abuse to reach for the sugar and go for the salt first? Perhaps endemic to generations long ago who focused less on Vit. D levels and more on how good Halavah tasted, whether it was marble or chocolate covered. The conundrum eludes me, how about you?

A three pronged example of a lifestyle fast forwarded is a workout on the treadmill, a bullet green shake and dashing off to have our blood work tested after a 50,000 unit regimen to pump up the numbers. Bub, we all miss the high caloric, straddled with confectioners sugar way you celebrated life. By the way thanks for palming us the good luck gelt every time we left your side.

Recipe for long living, long ago. How many had grandparents who lived well into their 90’s? Maybe they knew Vic Tanny existed but they were too busy working hard, cooking and baking and smoking cigarettes to get to know him well. My Grandmother, (Bubby Chicken), for those in the know, led with an indomitable spirit. She had a startling ability to push unpleasant thoughts down the block and across the street. She was too busy to worry about what so and so said or thought. With rolling pin in hand and her grater not far away she filled part of her days. We often wondered if she slept with her apron on as it was ever present and the first thing we noticed when we ran in for her endless Hug. 

We believe she was the prototype for the ” I’m gonna live forever, I’m gonna learn high to fly” lyrics. So, noodle and or potato pudding, apple cake, rugalach with raisins and jelly and her famous candy bowl filled with hard candies were things we came to depend on. We never knew how we would make it to dessert as we were left stuffed with carbs, salt, schmaltz and gribenes(for those in the know.) And- just in case she had her trustworthy mylanta, gaviscon- or “here mamala have a tums” waiting on the counter next to the left over flour and right under an old plant that still had the ribbon and card on it from last Mother’s Day.

In the absence of probiotics, papaya enzymes, lactaid free whatever’s, Pilates, colonoscopies, portion controls, calories counts on products, my grandmother and her friends lived forever.

Were their stomachs better equipped? Was it not considered abuse to reach for the sugar and go for the salt first? Perhaps endemic to generations long ago who focused less on Vit. D levels and more on how good Halavah tasted, whether it was marble or chocolate covered. The conundrum eludes me, how about you?

A three pronged example of a lifestyle fast forwarded is a workout on the treadmill, a bullet green shake and dashing off to have our blood work tested after a 50,000 unit regimen to pump up the numbers. Bub, we all miss the high caloric, straddled with confectioners sugar way you celebrated life. By the way thanks for palming us the good luck gelt every time we left your side. 

 

“There were bells on the hill, 

But I never heard them ringing

No, I never heard them at all

Till there was you.”

Lyrics by Meredith Wilson-1957 for The Music Man- Paul McCartney loved and incorporated the song into The Beatles repertoire. We heard this song performed at Broadway by the Year last week at Town Hall on West 43rd Street. The Antiquated theater couches precious jewels of entertainment. 

On the top of our list the bells, the jewels – our grandchildren. The noise, the tumult, the pita chips, the sticker books and the craft projects fill our hourglass. The artifact of time is what we have to carry from day to day. Gratefully we fill them up with the things we pray for as we eliminate the clutter and have the bugs fixed. 

The “till there was you” moments are here now as “the parade marches on.” We embellish the when you get it moments even if we just get a glimpse of how good it can be. Bronzing opportunities and saying hello in passing is taking life on life’s terms and sculpting success. A PH.D. of a sentence. 

So just for today let’s realize a dream we never dreamt. Perhaps some questions about the meaning of time and space will be answered tonight. Neil deGrasse Tyson moderates a debate we are attending at The Museum of Natural History. It’s an Issac Asimov tribute. The subject- Is the Universe a Simulation? Maybe a computer simulation. I suppose the answers we are seeking won’t be unfolded this evening. As we imagined all along they were right there with the “bells on the hill.” Only now we hear them. 

 

“There were bells on the hill, But I never heard them ringing

No, I never heard them at all

Till there was you.”

Lyrics by Meredith Wilson-1957 for The Music Man- Paul McCartney loved and incorporated the song into The Beatles repertoire. We heard this song performed at Broadway by the Year last week. One of our music events that we religiously attend at Town Hall. The Antiquated theater on West 43rd Street couches precious jewels of entertainment. 

The bells, the jewels our grandchildren. The noise, the tumult, the pita chips, the sticker books and the craft projects fill our hourglass. The artifact of time is what we have to carry from day to day. Gratefully we fill them up with the things we pray for as we eliminate the clutter and have the bugs fixed. 

The “till there was you” moments are here now as “the parade marches on.” We make the when you get it moments happen, even if we just get a glimpse of how good it can be. Bronzing opportunities and saying hello in passing is taking life on life’s terms and sculpting success. A PH.D. of a sentence. 

So just for today let’s realize a dream we never dreamt. Perhaps some questions about the meaning of time and space will be answered tonight. Neil deGrasse Tyson moderates a debate at The Museum of Natural History we are attending. It’s an Issac Asimov tribute. The subject- Is the Universe a Simulation? Could it be a computer simulation?

I suppose the answers we are seeking won’t unfold this evening. As we have come to learn, they were right there all along with the “bells on the hill.” Only now we hear them. 

 

My mother loved FOOD- shopping, unpacking, organizing the refrigerator,preparing, cooking, eating, wrapping leftovers, eating, cleaning out the refrigerator eating some more. She studied food and became a dietician. Studied some more and with her masters degree was titled nutritionist. Then got an M.S.W. In social work at the age of 50. I think she wanted to figure out through research why food was always top of mind. 

I relied on radishes cleaned and in Tupperware with French dressing as an after school snack. Sometimes I opted for Buitoni Raviolis, yum as I think about it now.

I waited around and did homework until dinner. I came to expect something breaded, something fried with Le Sueur Peas and a baked sweet potato. I looked forward to broiled baby lamp chops- I still do. The melody lingers on. Snowballs, hostess cupcakes, twinkies, drakes ring dings, yodels -yum and yum. Euphoric gastronomic recall. She saved the Lindt Chocolate for her card games. 

As the culinary seed was planted I waited for it to sprout into my type of cuisine. I too love food. However everything else around it feels equally as appealing. I have an extensive salt and pepper shaker collection. Varied, and meaningful. Collected from places I’ve been, antiquing and from gifts. Some are antiques, several glass, some ceramic. Betty Boop and Harley Davidson sets hang out in my cabinet together. Dishes, silverware and amber glass represent my treasured items. Flowers and table settings add to the allure of my meal. My collection of soupcons (fancy serving ladles) makes me smile.

Shopping for the ingredients and researching who has the best mozzarella and filet mignon a past time. Aligning the seats for comfort and space adds to the canvas. I make sure the creases in the napkins are well pressed and the water glass is properly situated. I light candles and get dressed. I then set up the ice on the bar and cut lemon slices. All the time this is going on I have the oven on, the flames on low and I check my ” something breaded, something fried.” I learned from The Best.

 

With all the mechanical knowledge that every kid we know has how is it possible that the grown ups around them are slipping backwards? And— not just with how to download, update or successfully install a new computer program. Algorithms really? I read the definition three times and couldn’t get it. From Mayor Bloomberg to Mayor De Blasio WHAT? Would Joe Lhota have triumphed over this mess?Was there an Al Gore Florida counting error? Did everyone think De Blasio would reverse bike lanes? New York, New York, what a wonderful town. The city that never sleeps. We are the role up your sleeves and take car services home in the middle of the night from your job population. Rudy,Rudy even you are looking good. Our populace is struggling to understand this ill elected head of our city. 

With no dress rehearsals and slim second chances what is happening to the “if you can make it here, you’ll make it anywhere city? Subway slashing exists with more severe Marla Hanson tragic endings. How about the Mayor backing Al Sharpton in his disdain toward our police force? Oh and carriage horses- a visual landmark and a throwback to the Trader Vic days. The Plaza Hotel, a euphoric experience to behold. Who remembers luxuriating in the plush red carpet walk downstairs to sip a Mai Tai. Love those little umbrellas, still.

 

The Four Seasons Restaurant closes in July. Loehman’s is now replaced by shop at Barneys for a $3,000 handbag. But – it’s still a 30 minute wait to sip hot chocolate at Serendipity. I miss the long ago and far away error. Mayor Beame, Lindsay everyone looks better, like them or not.

So the bigger issue I chose not to address this morning- Is there a stronger punishment for multiple abortions? To be continued… One nexium day thank you!