songbird's crazy world

Nobody Listens to Andrew When his family and friends finally get around to listening to Andrew, they find he really does have something important to say. It's out of print now...but it was a great little book.

She looked at the Trojan horse and knew the Greeks would destroy the city of Troy.  But no one would heed her warnings. Some days I feel like Cassandra.

go see Fright Night . We saw a neak preview of the movie last night.  Really enjoyed it.  There was a thunderstorm overhead during the movie, and the power went out briefly in the multiplex.  the crowd took it in stride.  Drew reminded me that we saw the original Frigh t Night together way back in 1985.  I had forgotten, but now that he reminded me....I remember that I really enjoyed that version, too.

So last night we went to see the revival of Sondheim’s Follies. You know how I love live theater! Our evening began, as it frequently does, in Ellen’s Stardust Diner. We love this place! You go for the atmosphere, not for the food.   This is not a place for quiet conversation.. Ellen’s, as I’ve probably mentioned before, is a salute to the pop culture of the 1950’s, the outside designed to look like an old subway car, and inside   you’ll find old fashioned diner tables, video screens showing scenes from I Love Lucy and real vinyl records and album covers (from artists like Johnny Mathis and Elvis Presley) on the walls.   It’s also the home of the singing wait staff, where the person who just took your order is the next person to grab the mike and sing. The wait staff used to be very 1950’s as well.   The guys would wear red bowling shirts and paper soda jerk hats.   The girls would be in poodle skirts, red t shirts and little scarves tied around their necks.     It was very discon

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Home of the singing waitstaff! Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Trying to decide if this polish makes me feel pretty ... or pretty foolish. Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

My cousin A is the oldest of the first cousins on my father's side. She was born when my dad was just 8 years old. She's now in her 70's. She's got children older than I am, but nevertheless she is my first cousin. She retired to Florida many years ago. And I have not seen her since. Shortly after she retired she was told she needed a hip replacement. She refused to have surgery. She was fearful. So she's been in a wheelchair for years. She's put limits on her ability to move because of fear. Can't come north for weddings and bar mitzvahs. Well fear has ruined her life. She just got a cancer diagnosis. She will have radiation and chemo but can't have surgery. She'd morbidly obese because of inactivity and the surgery would kill her. Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

yesterday Jen went to an open house at one of the colleges she is considering for grad school.

Last year we lost my mother’s sister. I wrote about it  here . Jewish ritual requires that a headstone be erected at the grave, and that a ceremony called an “unveiling” take place to observe the occasion. Traditionally the headstone is erected shortly after the funeral, with the unveiling held before the first anniversary of the person’s death. I haven’t written about the unveiling … because it hasn’t happened yet. For whatever reason, my mother just couldn’t bring herself to order the stone. It was becoming, as my late grandmother would say, “a shonde for the neighbors”. ( Shonde means “shame” or “embarrassment”, but with a Yiddish inflection it’s more powerful….) So finally I had to take matters into my own hands. I’m the one who made the phone calls. And on Sunday I drove my mother to (Lord help us) the Lower East Side to visit the showroom and place the order. This type of transaction is all very new to me, I’ve been fortunate enough not to have had to purchase a grav

Three simple letters adding up to one very big test! Jen will be graduating from college in May, and her plan is to start a Master’s in Education in the fall of 2012. The programs she’s most interested in “strongly suggest” that a candidate take the GRE and include the test results as part of the application for admission. Well, since Jen has time available now (not having found employment this summer), she decided that she will schedule the test for the last week in August, just before she returns to school. (I love that she can schedule the test at a testing center anytime she’s ready. So different from taking the SAT exam, which you take at the convenience of the College Board.) She bought the GRE review book two days ago. She’s serious about the test. (And she’s getting study prep for the exam from a family friend. Jenn is a high school English teacher who also teaches SAT test prep. Yes, Jen (with one “n”) and Jenn (with two “n’s”) will be working together. “Single ‘

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yes, they're delish! I never had one, until we were at Citi Field a few weeks ago. one of the food vendors sells hot dogs steamed in beer, and Drew insisted I try it that way -- he loved a place called Zum Zum's when he was a kid, and they cooked their dogs in beer. we're going to try do do it ourselves Saturday night.