songbird's crazy world

For the Christian world, today is Good Friday, a mournful day, an observance of the Crucifixion, leading up to the joy of Easter on Sunday. But for the Jewish community, tonight is a joyful occasion.  At sunset tonight we begin the observance of Passover, the festival commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. this year I will observe the first Seder at my mother's house, and Drew is hosting a Seder tomorrow night.  And yes, at my mother's house, we will use the " museum piece ". I still marvel that something my grandfather bought back in the 1920's is considered worthy of display in not one, but two different museums.  It's time to observe the ancient traditions, time to gather with family and friends and create new traditions.  May your holiday -- whichever holiday or holidays  you choose to celebrate this time of year -- be filled with warmth and joy and love.

Word came early this morning that Rusty Staub has died. Staub was one of the heroes of the 1973 Mets, helped the team win the National League pennant, and also played for the team in the early 1980’s. Staub was also a philanthropist, most notably a supporter of the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Childrens Benefit Fund. Staub had been hospitalized for many weeks. There’s an element of poetry here, that he died on Opening Day.

It's Opening Day at Citifield, Thor is on the mound, and all is right with the world.  Let's Go Mets! On Opening Day, everyone believes their team is a contender for the World Series.  it's a long, long way to October, but right now, when the season is bright and shiny and new, we can all have our dreams. The Long Island Ducks, our local independent league team, don't begin their season until the end of April, but Drew is already looking at their schedule and choosing our seats for the games we want to see.  I am that rare Mets fan who also likes the NY Yankees.  I come by it honestly, my mom was raised in the Bronx.   My late father was a Brooklyn boy, born in the shadow of Ebbets Field, a loyal Dodgers fan, but for his first official date with my mom, they went to Yankee Stadium to see DiMaggio play.  He must have really wanted to impress her, to venture into enemy territory like that.  (They were married on March 29, 1959, 59 years...

Tuesday, March 27, 2018 Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 346 I will refrain from mentioning here how I haven't been on my blog since last week's Hodgepodge. Consider it unmentioned. Here are the questions to  this  week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here tomorrow to share answers with all your peeps. Joyce  always has good questions. 1. What's a word that describes your life? A word you  wish  described your life? Lately it's been stressful.  I wish it were more interesting. 2. Back in my day we___________________________________? did interesting things that you couldn't really do now.  Remember road rallies?  You'd get really weird instructions.  For example, instead of telling you to "make a left turn onto Sparrow Lane", you'd be told "make a left when you see the bird".  Half the drivers would get lost... 3. When it comes to takeout are...

So they estimate that the crowd at Farmingdale on Saturday was 1,500 strong.  The total number of marchers, across the nation and the world, must have been upwards of 1 million.  The cry of "enough is enough" continues to echo... During the rally, my friend J told me that she's drafting me to be a member of our town's Democratic Committee.  Committee members are responsible for obtaining signatures on a candidate's nominating petitions to be filed with the board of elections; they work on the campaigns by walking with candidates, stuffing envelopes, etc.; and, most important. the committee designates who will be the party's nominees for local office.  She said that I do more for the cause than half of the committee members, that I might as well have the title, and the ability to vote at committee meetings. What a world we live in, when the biggest story on 60 Minutes  is an interview with a porn star about her affair with the President of the United States...

Anyone who knows me did not have to guess where I would be on March 24. With over 800 events nationwide, 9 of which were on Long Island, the only mystery is which event I attended. Drew and I went to Farmingdale State College, an event sponsored by three members of Congress:  Tom Suozzi (D), Kathy Rice (D) and Peter King (R). Yes, a bipartisan effort.  But the real stars, of course, were the students who organized the event. I was very impressed with the bright, articulate student leaders who made their way to the stage. One young woman read a letter from a Parkland survivor, another told of how her cousin was killed in gun violence. And a young man asked us to sign the petition to Congress asking for sensible gun legislation. And then there was a Kevin McCarthey. Back in December 1993, a lunatic shot up a Long Island Railroad train.  He killed 6 people and wounded many others. McCarthey’s father died in the attack, and Kevin was shot i...

I used to keep a datebook, listing all my appointments within its pages. And there’d be a desk calendar at work, with all my meetings and assignments. And then Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar came along.  My calendar lives in my phone and on my iPad, I back up my data in the Cloud, I will never lose it.and I’ll never struggle to decipher my own handwriting. But then ... I heard on the radio, if you write something by hand, you’re more likely to remember it. And so many people are raving about their planners.  More than date books, these planners have space for goals and projects and lists. Maybe it could help me focus, stay organized. That’s always been an issue for me. But who wants to spend $50 - $60 on a fancy planner? So when I saw “The Simple Elephant” planner on Amazon... $20 for a datebook/agenda/planner seems a lot more reasonable, doesn’t it? Here’s what I got: When I opened the box, I found The stickers are cool...