14 years ago today #grateful Bright Pink. Dr. Patrick Borgen forever respected . Jodi Schneir Kreizer-my guardian angel. Pay it forward!

Puligny Montrachet with Union Square berries, flowers, peaches, corn, shishito peppers, with fresh (if you’ve got it—thyme on your side.)

We mourn and cry for the inflammatory state of terror our world is in. Some days waking up and exhuming memories of our youthful days is medicinal and the panacea we need after days of binge watching massacres, slaughtered children and visuals of the carnage of war.

So with a cup of coffee and lactose free milk, we recall our skate keys used to hold our place on the chalk drawn hopscotch board on the sidewalk. Handball at Third Ward Park- shout out to Tom Saba- the hot dog king of Passaic Park.

Who remembers the wide tooth pink plastic combs that came in the dippity do straightener box? How bout the 74 bus to the Montauk Theater and then grabbing a slice at the Pizza place across from Ginsburgs?

Ode to the greasy spoon smells coming from the Red Chimney hamburgers. How about Awful, Awfuls at Bonds, ice cream from Applegates- and Sunday dinners at the Clairmont Diner?

Loved the Friday night steak sandwiches at the Bonfire? If the guy you liked gave you his I.D. Bracelet, well you could call Sergeant Krupke and tell him Conrad just proposed to you. What we would do to get one last kiss, oh give me one last kiss from Conrad Birdie?

We loved those Days of Wine and Roses when The Bird’s gave us our first Hitchcock drink ( vodka, brandy and orange juice) while watching Perry Mason from the “Rear Window.”

Very fast Forward to last week listening to music at a venue we frequent.

At the end of this concert we were told not to leave, the doors are locked. The bomb squad was outside making certain the suspicious box they found was not a bomb.

As the announcement cleared the doors to open we exhaled and left as the crowd sauntered out the door heads down.

Dr. Strangelove knew when Sterling Hayden, the General of the army in charge of the air base started the war. He knew not to leave the decisions up to distracted Politicians. They didn’t have the ability nor the understanding as to how War begins.

So just for today during the Indian Summer of climate change on the precipice of Halloween, watch as the kids paint pumpkins, all dressed up as fun characters. Count your blessings as you eat the orange colored peeps, candy corn and a dollop of lactose free whipped cream on your slice of Pumpkin Pie.

With The Fringe on the Top🎼

Cards and tiles grab a seat better hurry.
Bring your glasses so your eyesights not blurry.
Counting 7’s or hoping for jokers.
Thinking Concealed hands are the chokers.
Watch your partners as they go down with Aces.
Don’t forget to wear poker faces.
Playing the games, we learned from our mother.
Laced with memories not like any another.

All our games help to add “the fringe on the top.” 🎼

Replacing tiles adds smiles to our miles.
Add some luck we’ll trade the joker.

Eye on the prize, the wild card as the topper.
Planning our games for the week, there’s no stopper.

Soon we stop, take a break for a nosh.

Give a kick a charlotte russe-
Oh my gosh.
Yep, one more thing to add “the fringe on the top.”

When we sit back down to the tiles.
Mixing and rolling the dice brings us smiles.
Singing along to Frankie Valli and his crew.
As we bank on a good time will ensue.
So let’s keep on counting and mixing, pick the pack will help add the fixings to “the fringe on the top.” Phew!

Alexander Graham.
Hold on to your Bell.
Listen very closely to this tale we’ll tell. 
4 out of 7 people walking on the street, 
Faces we will never know,
No one we’ll ever greet.
The instrument you invented, that sat upon our desk.

Came alive with a Ding a Ling and oh, you know the rest.

An hello was the greeting, 
The connection came so strong.

We got to schmooze and gossip.

Tell a joke, sing a song.
147 years later and 
The world has gone to hell.

Oh, Alexander, we need to be saved by the bell. 

We are carrying, pressing and gazing at your namesake like no other. 

You brought communication from one house to another.

We chat with our friends and check in with each other.

If you could see the spin off, we are holding in our hands.

The newest and most modern always in demand.

You gave us communication, sensibilities though were lost.

In fear of missing an email, a text at any cost. We are talking while we’re walking, our stories overheard.

Every Tom, Dick and Harry can hear our every word. 

Let’s travel back in time, when a phone call cost a dime.

A party line was the norm and it all seemed just fine.

We couldn’t take a picture or play a word with friends.

It simple was a means to a very happy end.

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. 🙏