songbird's crazy world

     Everyone’s on line these days 

 

My mother’s side of the family.  Definitely the “wedding, bar mitzvah and funeral” crowd, though I do speak with several of them on Facebook all the time. The wedding was in New Jersey, about an hour’s drive, but Drew and I chose to book a hotel room overnight because of the anticipated bad weather. (That meant leaving the cats home alone, but  we left them with full food bowls, so they were ok for one night.) It was a beautiful wedding,  The bride was radiant, the groom ecstatic, their parents kvelled  all night.   And my cousin laughed when I mentioned Chiclets — it was her grandfather (my mother’s uncle) who was the source of that gum. Unspoken family drama.  The bride’s sister and brother-in-law, who got married a year and a half ago, did not attend, and their names were not mentioned.  Clearly a “mind your own business” moment, I’m not going to ask … Fun moment of the wedding.  As we entered the venue we were handed champagne.  In a very...

 And it’s a “your choice” week. Let’s talk about Carole King, Born Carol Jean Klein in NYC, she met her future husband Gerry Goffin while attending Queens College,  They became a successful songwriting team in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. A couple of interesting tidbits. She was friends with Neil Sedaka in high school — he wrote “Oh Carol” for her — and one of her first jobs was making demo records with her friend Paul Simon. Today I’m going to play songs King wrote for others.  Come back in two weeks and we’ll play the hits she sang herself. No wonder she’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was a recipient of the Gershwin Prize, and a Kennedy Center honoree.

 A friend posted on Facebook the other day about how her snow boots fell apart while she was walking around the city, and how she ran into a store and scored a new pair of snow boots at a discount. And it sparked two memories. Autumn 1986.  Drew and I spent a Saturday afternoon at the Guggenheim Museum.  I wore my favorite chunky-heeled boots. The heel of one boot broke off while we were in the museum. Limping was not fun. I made my way to Bloomingdale’s and bought a pair of ballet flats, A few months later, January 1987.  The Long Island Railroad went on strike for 11 days.i was living on Long Island at the time and commuting into NYC, and the strike meant I couldn’t get to work.  My aunts and grandmother lived in Queens, and invited me to stay with them so I could ride the subway to work.  Back then I’d wear sneakers during my commute and change into pumps at the office. Which was fine, until the day we got a snowstorm.  And my snow boots were at ny ...

 Drew took me to  The Melting Pot  for fondue. The restaurant was decorated for the occasion l    Our table awaits. Tin and Yang Martini, my favorite  Loved my salad Gluten free dippers for the chocolate fondue    Complimentary champagne Drew and his margarita  We ate the cheese fondue and the salad, and brought most of our entrees and dessert home.