songbird's crazy world

The weather around here has been psychotic.  Winter one day, spring the next, then back to winter.  But we are moving inexorably towards warm, sunny days.   When I walk through the neighborhood I see daffodils and forsythia.  It’s lovely.   But that house I showed you, the one that was still decorated for Christmas in March?  The decorations are still up!   Last year they took everything down on Good Friday.  This year, it’s two days after Easter and they still have candy canes and Christmas trees on display,  Can’t wait to wear all those new spring/summer outfits. And sandals,  Though I have to stop shopping.  My closet is full.  I doubled the recipe for matzoh brei, and it came out like a frittata.  Leftovers reheat nicely in the microwave. Lesson of the day, don’t be afraid to try things in the  kitchen.  Next up, matzoh pizza.  Simple recipe, just put pizza sauce and cheese on a sheet of matzoh.   I...

 Long Island is shaped like a fish, with its head nestled against manhattan and its tail sticking out into the Atlantic.   The East End of the island is very different from the suburban community where I live.  The South Fork is made up of glamorous beach resorts — the Hampton, Sag Harbor, Montauk. The North Fork is more rural, farms and vineyards.  Both forks are major tourist attractions in the summer.  We’ve been known to gather a group of friends on a summer’s day, drive out to the North Fork, and visit the tasting rooms of several vineyards.  It’s off season now, but when a friend suggested we take a ride … I was sure a lot of places would be closed, but that we’d find plenty to do. We stopped at several farm stands.  This one was the most picturesque, I came home with Japanese radishes and cherry butter.  Now I just have to figure out how I’m going to use them. We spent some time in Greenport.  It’s a lovely town, very picturesque. ...

We had the pleasure of seeing Herb Alpert perform a few weeks ago. At age 91, he can still put on a show! He mentioned his friendship with Louis Armstrong and Sergio Mendes — his wife Lani Hall was lead singer for Brasil ‘66 and often performs with him.  He talked about Burt Bacharach, and even mentioned how he signed the Carpenters to his record label.  So here are some of his best: Fan video from 2025 —essentially the same show I saw last month Movie theme And yes, he did sing one song … That one is worth an encore (fan video) And finally … And yes, I got swag …

 Do you know what matzoh brei is?  Have you ever made it?  My mother used to make matzoh brei at Passover.  She’d use four sheets of matzoh,  she’d break it into small pieces and soak the pieces in water until soft.  She’d squeeze out the extra water.  Then she’d beat four eggs and add them to the matzoh.  Then she'd heat up some oil in a frying pan and add the matzoh-egg mixture,  and cook it like a frittata, flipping it once so that both sides would brown.  She’d dust it with some sugar before serving. I’ve made my mother’s recipe a few times, Drew’s version of matzoh brei is slightly different, after he pours the matzoh-egg mixture into the pan, he cooks it the same way he’d cook scrambled eggs, so that when he serves the final product it looks like a mound of fried matzoh. Well, since my celiac diagnosis three years ago I have not been able to eat real matzoh. Fortunately Yehuda makes gluten free “matzoh squares”.  They’re not b...

  Easter Parade Welcome to  Saturday: 9 . What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme! Saturday 9: Easter Parade Revised and revived from the archives Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it  here . 1) This song  is best known from the 1948 movie of the same name, but it was originally written for a 1933 Broadway play called  As Thousands Cheer . In the play, a young man reads about the parade in a New York newspaper and decides to go and show his lady love off to parade goers. What's the most recent parade you attended? I don’t think I’ve been to a parade in decades … when my kids w...

 I believe you are in my spot Neighborhood cat on my fence Shadow worries about her weight She loves her boxes She loves high places Dominance games  But they sleep near each other, so I guess they actually like each other. So Duchess was in the “bucket”, the top level of the cat tree.  And then shadow came over and started using the bottom pillars as a scratching post. If looks could kill, Shadow would be dead right now. But she’s so innocent, right?  Just sharpening her nails … Just like sisters …