The Cafe Recently at a neighborhood cafe I saw an attractive older couple deep in conversation,  their hands touching on the table.  (See West Side Story)    Both wore wedding rings,  but their body language told me they weren’t married to each other.  I’ll never know their backstory so I imaged this one for them.… Read More

Good Night (Hurricane) Irene! We’ve been affected by hurricanes twice  – by Irene in 2011 and by Sandy a year later.    Sandy caused us the most disruption – our Manhattan apartment building is near the East River and the storm caused it to overrun the adjacent FDR Drive and our street,  East End Ave,… Read More

Odessa When I was growing up my parents had a housekeeper named Odessa.   She was a tall and stately-looking Black woman,  and I adored her. In the mornings before my mother left for work Odessa arrived,  made sure I finished my breakfast,  and walked me the few blocks to school.  And at 3:00 she’d be… Read More

Mother’s Day 1985,  Van Courtlandt Park After the lunch and the long-stemmed rose,  we stopped in the park for a catch.  My husband took the baseball gloves from the trunk of the car and tossed one to each of us. “Both of you spread out.”   he said,  and so obediently we each trotted across… Read More

The Play That Goes Wrong – sidesplitting. On the Aisle As a girl I dreamt of a life on the stage,  I acted in neighborhood and college theater, and spent a wonderful summer directing camp productions,  but alas I didn’t pursue that early dream.   (See Theater Dreams,  and Piano Man – Remembering Herb) But going to the… Read More

What Does a Woman Want? That supposed smart guy Sigmund Freud may not have been as smart as we thought.   His friend Marie Bonaparte ,  the great-grandniece of Emperor Napoleon,  a French author and analyst herself,  once sought treatment from the renown psychoanalyst for her own sexual problems. Famously Freud asked her,  “The great… Read More

Melting (Soup) Pot One afternoon taking a break between chores I stopped for lunch at the 2nd Ave Deli,  one of my favorite eastside haunts. After a leisurely meal I was waiting on line to pay my tab when I overheard the following conversation at the take-out counter: Young Asian woman:   “What soup do… Read More

Lyrics and Lyricists When we moved to the Upper Eastside many years ago,  we never imagined how much time we’d spend at the 92nd St Y. My husband joined the gym and swam several times a week in their Olympic-size pool;  I became a Poetry Center member and twice or thrice a month I heard… Read More

Sold Out! I love theatre and go pretty regularly,  often with my fellow theatre-loving friend Babs.  And although we’re both pretty savvy about ordering tickets,  sometimes one or the other of us screws up,  and the last  time it was me.  Here’s the embarrassing story. For years Babs and I have shared a subscription to… Read More

Smokey and the Screen Door Until she outgrew it,  my baby sister slept in a lovely little wooden cradle.   One morning my mother found our cat curled up in the cradle next to the sleeping baby. Not an animal lover herself,  my mother had tolerated pets in the house for our sake.  (See  The… Read More