I love July 4th weekend. To me it is the official beginning of the summer; being a bit more relaxed at work, barbecues with friends, days at the pool and beach. But, most importantly, July 4th brings to mind summer vacations.   Almost every travel article I read predicts that travel this summer will be at an all time high. We have plans to bring our kids to Epcot this summer for their Food and Wine Festival. We have been there in the past and always had an incredible experi...

Today we celebrate 245. A special day. When a nation got born. It meant a lot then. It means more I argue today. Today the promise of 1776 applies to more than ever before. Inclusion matters. Let this year realize that promise (or bring us all closer to it.) Click below to further your understanding: https://youtu.be/BaqC7QSXjDU or this: https://youtu.be/9F9eUux5Ir8 ...

I'm reading about the tragic collapse of the building in Surfside, FL and wondering why. It appears that the condo owners kept bickering and fighting over the years delaying a decision, while the building kept exponentially degrading so the cost of repairs skyrocketed and nothing got fixed.   We'll eventually learn what technically happened as other buildings in the area will be scrutnized and I'm sure some will close.   Hopefully we can learn from this tragedy. Maybe the les...

Can you believe I really don’t listen to the words of a song? Talk about being one dimensional! What’s more, I don’t read books.  I listen to them. As a consequence of this unusual quirky combination, I recently heard Dylan’s lyrics of The Times They Are-A Changin’ for maybe the very first time. Here’s how it happened. I’m listening to a very recent book about Dylan, The Double Life of Bob Dylan by Clinton Heylin (pictured), and in it Heylin describes Dylan’s process of wr...

We were sitting outside having dinner at a local restaurant and Flo noticed a woman at a table nearby whose handbag was on the pavement by her seat.“She could really use a Clipa.” One of those handy rings (available from Refined Finds) that hangs a handbag from the table and keeps it off the ground. Flo wondered whether she had an extra in the car.We finished dinner and walked to our car which was parked nearby. As Flo looked for the extra Clipa, we saw another woman walk tow...

This month is full of jubilee. If you’re working to make strides in life and business, try focusing purely on relationships for the month of June. Everyone I’ve been in touch with this month, just wants laughter, hugs and new memories. Employers, if you’re looking for productivity, you’ll find it in the fall, only with more charm and delight. If you allow your teams to celebrate after a long 20 months of sad isolation, you’ll be in good graces. This is the business of the hum...

  At the end of our weekly Chinese food treat, we go around the table and share our fortunes. It’s a tradition. I don’t claim to own this tradition as I’m pretty sure it is universal and almost a required part of the meal. I think I noticed it once in the fine print of a menu. “The best exercise for the heart is to reach down and help someone up.” This was Friday night’s fortune. Yes, I understand I am talking about a fortune cookie here but the message stuck with me. T...

I need a new breakfast routine. For several years, during the weekdays, I would make a breakfast sandwich on toast and eat in the car. Not the best way to eat breakfast, I admit, but it worked for me.     As I had previously blogged, I recently leased a new car. I finally realized that my prior breakfast routine was not “car friendly’” i.e. too many crumbs. So I need to change my breakfast routine.     I am trying to work on sitting down to eat breakfast be fore I leave the...

I learned to wait until Fathers Day passes before I put down my red mulch in my yard. Though not complete, we started the task on the large area around our two trees Friday eve, and worked on one of the two smaller flower sections yesterday; we expect to complete the smallest section tomorrow. Yes, Shelly helped; no complaints here.   Preparation and a helper, never before involved, made the task rather quick. I early deployed the bags of mulch to each section. I use newspape...

Last Sunday I came home to disover a huge box on the porch. There was no return address but it had bar codes like it was sent through UPS. On the site of the box was a phone number.   We did not order anything that large so I decided to call the phone number. Here's the conversation:   Box#: Hello? Me: Hi, who is this? Box#: Who is this ?! Me: I'm on my porch looking a big box with your phone number on the side. Box#: That's creepy Me: Yes it is Box#: I'm Mo, who's this? Me: ...

Whenever a difficult situation presents itself I am heard to say “Up is down and down is up.” So much so that people that know me oft times say it before me. I can’t really say where I got it from (maybe it's because I’m left handed and think on the unconventional side of my brain), so I did some (Google) research and learned that in “1984“ Orwell wrote “night is day, up is down, black is white” and Carroll said in Alice in Wonderland “sometimes down is up and sometimes up ...

The small package was left on my desk. There was a package in a package and on the outside of the inner package was a note. “Ben - Like you, I always keep a pen in my pocket. And, I also loved my Space pen. I don’t have any more of those but thought these might be a nice substitute. Enjoy and be well. Neal” Fellow Gothamite Neal Berman had read my blog last week (about losing my Space pen). His gesture epitomizes what Gotham is all about. “…..what goes around comes around.” T...

Recently, I attended my (97 years young) Grammy’s memorial service in Illinois. COVID had us waiting to be together as a family, but finally we were able to be together to celebrate her life. Grandma Grace and her beloved had 8 children. Those eight, became 41. With spouses, 75 people rolled in to celebrate her life. It was sad to lose granny. She is like a silent force, ever present. However, I do believe she was thrilled at the showing and especially delighted at the love o...

  We have always chuckled at my husband’s special talent. Seriously, he can – and usually does – talk to anyone. It doesn’t matter where he is, what line he is standing in, where he might be going. If he stands next to someone long enough, there is a conversation to get started. A few weeks ago we were in Costco. He commented on this guy’s tee shirt. Next thing you know, he was deep in conversation and figuring out that they knew each other from years back. For the long...

Are you a car person? Admittedly, I am not. To me, my car’s function is to get me to and from where I need to be. Since that sometime means driving through inclement weather, I generally drive a SUV or cross-over.   For the past six years I have leased a GMC Terrain. I loved my Terrain but, for some reason, when the second lease recently ran out I wanted to shake things up. So I walked into an Audi dealer and looked at their SUVs. The cars seemed fine but the salesperson’s a...