Ever since our boys were young we’ve decorated our hearth with Santas big and small. As the years passed “Santas” became a hallowed, enjoyable family tradition with our grand kids replacing our now adult sons with me as the only constant. Then came COVID and we were compelled to break tradition last year. It was a very sad and difficult decision, …
My grandson, who is a few months shy of his sixth birthday, recently started playing Monopoly. It was no surprise that he challenged me and his father to a game when we visited them last weekend.And when our brother and sister-in-law visited, we took out Connect Four and played several games.I don’t generally play board, or computer, games, and was …
One of the fascinations of moviegoing, for me, is going to worlds and times that are new. I always try to not know the plot details and I will not provide any spoilers. Three terrific movies provide such an experience. Two of them journey to the American past and the other takes us across the ocean to Italy. Try to stay in the dark about the plot …
It’s that kind of week in the middle of a raging pandemic and so what do we do? We figure out what is best to next binge watch. Our most recent A+ goes to The Kaminsky Method which touched both of us way too personally for so many reasons. We watched Manifest for a while and it was good, but after a while was a bit too much. We started The Cha …
Computer updates. I have to admit that they give me anxiety. Whenever I see the prompt when I try to turn off my computer that there updates are available I get nervous. There there’s the prompt as to whether I want to update and restart or update and turn off. More anxiety. I am uncertain as to where the anxiety stems from. Could it be that some …
My post Thanksgiving blog shared the latest iteration of a Happy Holidays in song playlist to allow folks to enjoy musical cheer throughout the holiday season. Ahead of this new year we embrace, I offer an updated “Songs To Ring In The New Year” with a few added selections. You can view the list with each song linked to its YouTube video – 27 …
Happy Christmas! It's a very special day. Children are running down the stairs to open presents and people are smiling. I wish everyone joy, peace and happiness! And BTW, the James Webb Telescope was successfully launched this morning but it's just the start. The telescope has to go through about 344 steps and travel a few months to get to a …
Our granddaughter Maggie came home from college for the holidays last week and stayed with us due to illness in her home. Her stay was highlighted by our parenting her through previously scheduled LASIK eye surgery. Was she nervous? Was there anxiety? Were there thoughts of backing out? Of course! She’s so down to earth. So human. So natural …
This past Tuesday was the Winter Solstice - the “shortest day of the year”. It was also the first day of winter. Winter conjures up visions of cold and snow. For me, beginning yesterday, the days will be getting longer and we’ll enjoy a little more sunlight every day. I’ll focus on the sunshine and look forward to Spring Equinox. Happy Holidays.
For over 40 years, The Kennedy Center Awards have celebrated America’s cultural icons. This year’s cast of honorees are terrific. In alphabetic order they are: the opera singer Justino Diaz, Motown’s creator Berry Gordy, singer-actor Bette Midler, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels, and singer Joni Mitchell. Every December, CBS has broa …
We have all had at least one, or now maybe two birthdays since the pandemic began. Celebrations have turned into gyrations of creativity and honestly it has been fun to watch. So many of you played an important part in celebrating my birthday this year. While it was certainly not the picture I had in my head of a birthday celebration outside a …
Anyone who knows me knows I love to travel. The last time I travelled outside of the US was in February 2020. We had planned and taken a family trip to Italy. We left evening the day after COVID-19 was detected in Italy Since that time we have restricted our travels to the US. But now we have decided to venture past the US. We will be trav …
I suspect folks who attended the Gotham Happy Hour on Friday might expect one of my musicals blog. Suspect they need to wait until the proverbial next year, to apply the well-used cliché. Instead, I prefer to hail and welcome a significant change in the fraternal Order Knights of Pythias. The Order, founded in Washington, DC, in 1864, became the fi …
Have you noticed it? Everyone has a heightened sense of anxiety. Lack of social interaction, polarizing politics, mutating viruses...it's no wonder. We all have coping mechanisms and many are taking it out on their fellow humans by acting aggressively with little tolerance for their opinion or even consideration. I believe we are truly living i …
The best word to describe the afterglow generated by last week’s annual Holiday Party is the Yiddish word Kvell, which I jokingly described as a “Legal term” during the party, but is more accurately defined as “to be extraordinarily pleased; to be bursting with pride, as over one’s family.”So many operative/descriptive words:I was extraordinarily p …
