songbird's crazy world

so this morning I found Mr. Kitty and Miss Daisy circling around the pet taxi as if they were hunting their next meal. so I decided that someone has to be the grown up. I took baby bunny out to the woods. I am going to get hell when I get home tonight.

so Miss Daisy brought us a little present saturday night, I wrote about it here . it's not unusual for the felines to bring us presents, we live next to an 18 acre nature preserve, Lord knows what you can find in the woods. as I said, we were able to rescue the baby bunny. what I neglected to mention was ...what happened to the critter. Daisy brought the poor thing into the house . when it escaped, it hid in the laundry room.my sisters looked all over that laundry room but couldn't find the critter. until yesterday, Tuesday. both cats -- Mr. Kitty as well as Daisy -- developed a fascination for the area immediately under a chest of drawers that's been sitting in the laundry room since the dawn of time. guess who was under the chest of drawers? upon being discovered, the bunny made a beeline into the kitchen, and hid behind the refrigerator. have you ever seen the dust and dirt that can accumulate behind a refrigerator? GROSS. anyhow, late last night my sister was finaly ...

I am now posting at All Voices: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/3100397

so last night as I was coming home I got a text message from Becca. Could I please go to subweay and buy lunch for her for school today? On sunday I spent $$$ at the deli counter in our local supermarket to make sure she'd be able to make herself a sandwich, so the request for Subway was...unexpected. it seems one of her friends...his parents went to Europe to visit his older sister, who is studying abroad this year...they left him home alone (he's a high school junior and very responsible)...they're due back tonight or tomorrow morning...and he "didn't have anything to bring to school for lunch." now, I know that my daughter's definition of "there's not food in the house" means she's looked at the bounty in the refrigerator, the freezer and the pantry but nothing appeals to her and she'd rather have take-out. I also know that the school lunch lady will let you buy lunch on credit if you don't have the $2 in your pocket that day....

anybody remember these guys? or this toy? did you have one of these? or this? and, of course, this iconic symbol was everywhere -- on t-shirts, rubber balls, pins, you name it:

as always, click to enlarge now this a much better view...cruise ship off lower Manhattan

first a little geography. I work in Jersey City, NJ, in an office building right on the Hudson River. Due east from us, across the river, is lower Manhattan, more specifically, the World trade Center. from our 30th floor windows, if we look due south, we can see ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. If we look north, we see the Manhattan skyline to the east, including the Chrysler building and the Empire State building. on a clear day we can see all the way to the George Washington Bridge at the northern tip of Manhattan. when Captain sully landed his plane in the Hudson, we were able to watch the rescue from our office windows. so you think someone might have realized that people in this neighborhood might be a wee bit...sensitive...to low-flying planes? ya think? so you can well imagine the panic this morning.... here, I'll let the media tell what happened: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nyplanes0428,0,1126948.story Newsday.com Low-flying Air Force One photo-...

Miss Daisy brought home a "present" last night...a baby bunny. Forntunately we were able to rescue the critter.

click to enlarge -- that 's the Empire State building across the river.

the Fair opened April 22, 1964. 45 years ago today. I was 4 years old when the Fair opened. I remember going twice, once in 1964 and a second time in 1965. somewhere in my mom's closet there's a box of slides showing the whole family at various places around the Fair. I don't think we have any snapshots, and we haven't looked at the slides in years. I remember the Unisphere: Sinclair Oil's Dinoland: and, of course, Disney's "It's a Small World": I had a "45" with the "Small World" song, which I played on my portable record player until the vinyl wore out, and I had a book that showed how the dolls were made for the ride -- very innovative technology in 1964. After the Fair was over...well, the Disney exhibits all made their way to disneyland, of course. My ex and I had to see "Small World" and "Carousel of Progress" on our Disneyworld honeymoon in 1987. Dinoland made a reappearance at Roosevelt Field shopping...

it's called KNIFE for a reason. says the woman who sliced open her thumb this morning. good thing I'm not squeamish about blood.

Billy Joel's breakthrough album, released in 1977. I was 17 years old. I bought this album and must have played it a thousand times. The Stranger .. .Scenes From an Italian Restaurant .... Movin' Out .... classics. and that was the year I had a teacher who actually knew Billy Joel. Seems my teacher was a graduate of Hicksville High School, attended that school at the same time as Billy was enrolled there. Barely knew him, though --- he would cut school to hang out in Oyster Bay or Cold Spring Harbor. I was very impressed, of course. though this was before I met my now-ex husband. he and his older sister also "knew" Billy -- they used to hang out in some candy shop in Hicksville back in the day...and billy would hang out there sometimes, too. I suppose every Long Islander of a certain age has a Billy Joel story like this. anyhow, Billy Joel became one of my favorites back then, and I am still a fan to this day.

Miss Rebecca Alexis has advised me that she is invited to not one, but two proms this spring. Our school district has done away with "junior prom". They have a semi formal "junior outing" instead, a casual dinner-dance on a party boat that cruises the Great South Bay. the kids don't "pair up" for the outing like they'd do at prom, there are no limos, no formal "after prom" parties. but that doesn't mean parents of juniors can avoid prom. Especially parents of junior girls . Becca has been invited to junior prom at another school -- a boy she met while working at camp last summer -- and she's been invited to one of the senior proms in our district (we've got 2 high schools, and they both hold prom on the Friday night before graduation). so we're getting swept up in the dress-hair-makeup scene. and the "mom, I need 2 dresses, I can't wear the same dress to both proms because everyone posts their prom pictures ...

testing...does my mobile device work? *Robin*

ut's the middle of the night -- actually 1:30 in the morning -- and Ms. Procrastinator finally finished her tax returns. at least I get to mail them at lunchtime, not at 11:59 PM. though I suspect I will be making a run to the post office late in the evening -- my parents are still working on their returns.

Becca has long since gotten over being cut from the dance team, but I haven't. Not after what the coach told me. after she cut my daughter, coach told me she was "raising the bar" because she wanted to do more national comeptitions, and what was "good enough" in the past was not going to work anymore. I took it very personally. I followed the team this year. It's not hard to do, the various organizations that run the competitions post their schedules and results on line. two years ago, the team won the Long Island championships in jazz and hip hop (they don't do kick or pom). they did 2 national competitions, in florida and in Myrtle Beach, with mediocre results. they didn't place at all in florida, and they got 3rd place awards in jazz and hip hop in Mryrtle Beach, and nothing for modern or lyrical. last year they couldn't compete in the Long island championships because it was held on the same day as one of the national events. they did ...

Becca left with her father around 2 PM, he's taking her to DC for ca tour of colleges. Jen left around 6, headed back to college, the final 3 weeks of the semester. the house is already too quiet.

Remember this? 1976, America's Bicentennial, and we were all crazy for red, white and blue. everyone painted buildings in our colors, displayed flags, showed their patriotism. wherever you looked, there were images of the flag, images of Colonial America. my mom even bought a set of Bicentennial placemats -- we still have them, buried somewhere in the garage. even our money saluted the occasion. remember the bicentennial quarter? it was the year of Operation Sail, tall ships in NY Harbor on the 4th of July. and Queen elizabeth visiting the United States. there were other things going on that year... people were listening to a variety of music, from Queen to Donny and Marie to Tony Orlando to Elton John to John Denver to Heart to Engelbert Humperdink... at the movies we cheered for Rocky (saw that at the 76 cent theater), got mad as hell during Network, and screamed at Carrie.on TV there was Saturday Night Live ("I'm chevy chase and you're not."), Laverne &...

because my girls are so close in age, I barely have time to recover from participating in the rights of passage for my older daughter, when I find myself doing the same with the younger daughter. I feel like we just went to Jen's graduation, it's hard to believe she will finish her first year of college in just a few weeks. Becca is a junior this year, which means she's been taking college entrance exams and visiting college campuses. in a few weeks she will sit for her formal senior portrait, and shortly after that we will receive the "proofs" -- and I will see my baby in cap and gown. and then she will go to the junior outing,a semi formal held in lieu of a junior prom (which does not involve all those after=prom issues!) and today she informed me that one of her friends, a boy who goes to the other high school in our district, has invited her to senior prom.

I think one of the reasons I can't sleep at night when I know Jen is driving around...I am haunted by the memory of Homecoming 2006. Jen was a junior, and on the varsity cheerleading team. Becca, a freshman, was on dance team and in the freshman class skit. my day was spent trying to juggle my responsibilities as a dance team mom (we had a fundraiser, the moms were selling refreshments) with my interest in watching my kids perform. our school's homecoming isn't very elaborate. I mean, we don't even do a dance after the game, just a day of fun for the kids, a chance to show their school spirit. the night before the game, there's a pep rally in the gym. the cheerleaders and dance team perform, the marching band plays, and the members of the homecoming court (all graduating seniors) perform funny skits. the main action is on the football field the following day. first there's a parade, where each of the four classes marches with a float they've built. the m...

(sings) wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles... we had our family Seder last night, and the only drama was what we found in the Hagaddah. The story of the Exodus from Egypt is drama enough for one night, we don't need the family histrionics to add to the tension. Enjoying a quiet day at home today. Happy Passover, everyone.

story Jews celebrate the sun as they prepare for Passover BY MARTIN C. EVANS As observant Jews prepare for the beginning of the eight-day Passover celebration tonight, some will pause this morning to recite the least frequently spoken prayer in Judaism. It is a ritual that comes around only once every 28 years, one that commemorates the sun's return to the place in the firmament where, according to the Book of Genesis, God created it on the fourth day. This year's confluence of Passover and the sun's commemoration is particularly rare - marking only the 12th occurrence in the 5,769-year-old Jewish calendar. "There is something special about celebrating the beginning of the Jewish people coming out of Egypt and the Wednesday of the sun's creation," said Rabbi Anchelle Perl, of Congregation Beth Shalom Chabad, in Mineola. "It adds meaning to Passover," he said. "This is one...

live theater is my passion, but lately I haven't had much chance to indulge that passion. went to the theater Friday night. dinner at my favorite Thai restaurant, Pongs Ri -- I had the Thai salad with peanut dressing and the Bangkok chicken -- deep fried white meat with a sweet-spicy chili sauce. then we saw Next to Normal . The Wiki entry : Next to Normal is a musical with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt . Its story concerns a mother who struggles with worsening bipolar disorder and the effect that her illness has on her family. The play also addresses such issues as grieving a loss, suicide , drug abuse , ethics in modern psychiatry, and suburban life. if I tell you the show's a bit...weird... Act one was too long, I kep waiting for the crisis to happen so we could get to the intermission. Act two was much better. the music is great, the plot weird, and very thought-provoking. I found myself getting sucked into the story. not for the casual t...

I think every parent understands the worry abject fear the parents of newly-minted drivers live with. in our town, there is no such thig as public transportation, the only way to get anywhere is by auto. younger teens must rely on mom or dad or the carpool to go anywhere, and parents have at least a semblance of control over their children's whereabouts and safety. as Jen's friends began to turn 17, trading inthose restrictive junior licenses for a regular license and adult privileges, the dialogue became "who is driving? how long have they had a license? where are you going? what time will you be home? text me when you get there and when you're leaving..." and then you hope and pray that your child has common sense and a sense of self preservation.... when Jen finally got her license, that first time she took my car out for the evening....I think I sat here the whole night NOT BREATHING. couldn't sleep until I heard the car on the driveway and she cam...

Becca missed her driver's ed class this morning because she had to take the ACT exam. so as I drove her over to the school, we both wondered if "mailbox boy" would show up for class today, and if his driving has improved any since last week. the driver's ed class has been meeting since mid February. there are supposed to be 4 students in the car. but there have been only 3 in Becca's car. until last week, that is, when "mailbox boy" showed up for the first time. he'd never driven a car before that class. [FYI we have rural-style mail boxes in this neighborhood, you put your box on a post at the entrance to your driveway] Becca said: "The 3 of us in the back seat were clutching each other the whole time he was driving. we made double sure our seat belts were buckled. he was driving way too fast, he wasn't listening to the instructor. he almost hit a tree. and then he did hit a mailbox, and it flew up into the air and hit the windshie...

so Jen is coming home Wednesday for Passover (yay!), and will return to school on Easter Sunday. I'll have her home for 4 full days. Becca is on spring break thurday and Friday of next week, and then the whole week after Easter. she's using the time wisely -- on Easter sunday she's going with her fahter to Washington, DC, they will spend 3 + days in DC looking at colleges. I am trying so hard to get used to the comings and goings. the child-free house is an occasional thing now, a rare occurrence when both girls are away from home. but the reality is, as Jen becomes more and more involved in her college life, she will return home less and less often. and while the theme for Becca right now is "exploring your options", by this time next year the dialogue will change to "narrowing your choices" -- and then she will be gone. that portion of my life devoted to day-to-day parenting tasks will be gone. the "parenting" itslef doesn't stop,...

"Liza With A Z" anyone remember it? a tv special based on Minelli's limited-run Broadway show. directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse - when his still was new and fresh. now it's classic.... Showtime has been running it lately. there's Liza in her prime, in spectacular Halston costumes, singing and dancing. watching it 30+ years later...wow...

text from my child, about 2:30 this afternoon: "mom, can you please stop at subway on your way home and buy me lunch for tomorrow?" complete words and everything! yes, I'll be stopping for that $5 footlong....