songbird's crazy world

So we've finally reached the end of Passover.  Tonight we can go back to our normal way of eating. So yeah, I think I was just a bit obsessed with Passover this year.  It was an interesting holiday. Remember when I posted about our  family's Passover heirloom ?  A Seder plate bought by my grandparents, used at every Seder my father lead, as far back as I can remember.   The back of the plate bears the inscription:  BARDIGER, London, and TEPPER, London with a circular seal that says, Manufactured by Ridgway England My sister found the same plate, but in blue, on eBay !  Here's what it looks like: They have it listed for $350. I saw another blue one listed for $175, don't remember which auction site that was. So I did a little research. This design was first registered by Ridgways, the Staffordshire manufacturer of the plate, in 1923.  (I thought it was earlier than that, I thought the plate was made before WW I.) "B...

I used to work in lower Manhattan, used to spend 40+ hours a week in the neighborhood.  And when you're there all the time, you can forget how special the neighborhood is, how tourists come from all over the world to see what's in your back yard.  These days my office is on Long island, close to home.  But my client is in lower Manhattan, and occasionally I have meetings in the city.  And after one such meeting, about a week ago, I had some time to revisit some of the sites of the city.  Wall Street, as seen from Broadway: The New York Stock Exchange: The Trump Building at 40 Wall Street: Federal Hall: President Washington: I visited an old friend in Liberty Street Park. He sits with his briefcase on the corner of Liberty Street and Church Street, across from the World Trade Center complex. He has a brother in Jersey City, at the Jercsey City 9/11 Memorial: The reflecting pool where the South Tower (Two World Trade Center) once s...

Prince's death last week brought back a lot of memories. In the 1980's, MTV was synonymous with "music television".   Insstead of a DJ spinning records on a radio station, we had a new art form:  VJ's would present music videos.  By 194,watching MTV was like "watching" a Top 40 radio station.  Everyone knew the catchphrase:  "I want my MTV". This was the heyday of the music video.  We could see Michael Jackson dance his way through "Thriller".  .  Madonna was decked out like Marilyn Monroe as she sang "Material Girl".  Billy Joel dressed as a mechanic while singing "uptown girl". Weird Al's parodies were funnier because of the visuals. To this day, when I hear Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time", I see her bright red hair and partially shaven head..  The wonderful Claymation of Peter Gabriel's  "Sledge Hammer"... And coming full circle:  The slogan was incorporated into a music vi...

So I'm loving my workouts at Planet Fitness.    I don't have a workout buddy, which means I go at my own convenience, and work out at my own pace.  But I was kind of looking forward to my work out date with Becca.  Becca usually works out in the gym at her apartment building, but she was coming home for Passover... And then she ditched me.  Went to work out with David-who-is-not-her-boyfriend.  (Yes, sweetie, I believe you when you tell me you and David are "just friends", as if all those years of being boyfriend and girlfriend never happened.)  So she went to David's gym to work out.  And the next day, after considerable "girl drama", she took a yoga class with Angela. Jen has been taking yoga every week.  she goes with one of her friends, I think.  I'm happy she found a class that gives her a good workout without risking injury.  She was so upset last summer, when she blew out her knee in an adult gymnastics class....

Anyone who knows me understands that I am very passionate about politics.  I've been  a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat since before I could vote.  And I've made no secret about which candidate I support this primary season. Today being the primary in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland. Connecticut and Rhode Island, I thought I should talk about an event I attended at Five Towns College in Dix Hills, NY, just before the New York primary. It was an event sponsored by the Hillary Clinton campaign, so of course you will hear the speakers endorse her candidacy.  But what made it interesting...it was hosted by Congressman Steve Israel, it featured former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her husband Captain Mark Kelly, and it was a forum about gun violence and gun control. This country has a gun culture like no other civilized country.  Gun violence scares me.  the power of the NRA scares me.   Reasonable and sane safety measures, thing supported by ...

Last spring, when my health started to be not so good, when I had visions of a future dominated by words like "heart attack", "stroke" and "diabetes", I decided it was time to finally get my act together and get fit. And I was so overweight and so out of shape that the only exercise I could manage was walking.  That's when I started going to Jones Beach and Sunken Meadow, that's when I started taking long walks on the boardwalk.  But there are days when I can't get to the beach, there are days when I have other commitments after work.  I'd have to do my walking at lunchtime. When I worked in lower Manhattan, walking was never an issue.  It's the principle mode of transportation.  You get a significant amount of walking done just by getting yourself from one place to the next. When I worked in Jersey City, my office was right next to the Hudson river.  Jersey City has a river walk, beautifully landscaped, with park benches.  I...

His birthday is the day after mine, he's just a day younger than I am. His brother is a year younger, the same age as my sister.  We were an interesting foursome when we were children.  And then, when he and I were just 11 years old, his father died... If you asked me who Don is, I would tell you "He's my cousin."  but that's not the whole story.  Don's father married my Aunt Eileen in 1966.  My sister and I were flower girls at the wedding.  Don and his brother did not attend, they were with their mother and her husband.  Divorce was much more unusual in those days, and children of divorced parents did not attend the wedding of one of their parents to someone else.  In fact, Don and his brother were the only kids I knew whose parents were divorced.  My aunt and uncle would pick up his kids every Sunday, and most of the time they'd head to my parents' house.  We'd hang out in the back yard or watch TV in the den.  Sometimes w...

Until dementia robbed him of his memories, each Passover, just before we would sit down to begin the Seder, my father would mention his mother. She died a few years before my parents married, I think it was 1955 or 1956. She died the day before Passover, and each year my father would say "She died, and we went home and made a Seder." My father would talk about that traumatic Passover until he was well into his 80's. So this was our first Passover since my father died. The Haggadahs we use have a simplified service, all in English, with portions of the text designated to be read by the "leader", a "participant" or "assembled". We've been using this version since the 1960's, the books are falling apart, with generations of wine stains and matzo crumbs amid the pages. So we designated my daughter Becca to lead us, but in my head I heard my father's voice. My father's voice, not as he was in the final years of his life, but...

"I have to go make yontif ." A simple phrase, spoken in my grandmother's heavily accented English, employing the Yiddish word for "holiday".  "I have to go make yontif ."  It meant all of the holiday preparations, which were quite extensive.  Especially at Passover. "I have to go make yontif ."  That meant grocery shopping, not just for the food for the two Seders, but also for the special Passover foods she fed her family all week. "I have to go make yontif ."  It meant cleaning the house from top to bottom, removing every crumb of leavened bread.  It meant packing up all the pots and pans, all the dishes and glasses and silverware, everything to be stored away for a week.  Instead, she would use the Passover kitchenware, cups and plates and pots delegated to be used solely during the holiday. "I have to go make yontif ."  It meant cooking.  Everything was made from scratch.  Chicken livers would be fried and g...

I only wanted to one time to see you laughing I only wanted to see you Laughing in the purple rain The 80's...when music and TV blended, when MTV was all about the music, all about the video. And Prince was so much a part of that.    Hits like "Purple Rain", "1999", "When Doves Cry".  Hits like "Kiss", "Raspberry Beret", "Little Red Corvette". He was splashy, he was showy, he was larger than life. And when he ran into some difficulty with his record company, he replaced his name with an unpronounceable symbol, but everyone just referred to him as "the artist formerly known as Prince." 2016 has not been a good year for our music icons. But this one was a shocker.  He was only 57, would have turned 58 in June.  Way too young. Rest in Peace, Prince.

So...our dinner cruise... Bateaux New York Cruises Take in 180-degree skyline views from Bateaux’s curved glass ceiling and walls. Seduce your senses with delicious cuisine, live band entertainment and exceptional service. Two climate-controlled dining rooms that can be adjoined or separated Centrally-located hardwood dance floor and full service bar Two outdoor decks offering wide-open views of Manhattan Three-course plated menu featuring delicious, contemporary cuisine Dinner first.  I had a very nice glass of chardonnay.  Drew ordered an amaretto Collins.  He received some sort of amaretto cocktail, not quite what he asked for, but it tasted good.  We enjoyed dipping our onion dinner rolls in the herb-infused olive oil.  Drew chose the duck pastrami appetizer -- small, tasty slices of cured duck meat.  The field greens in my goat cheese and beet salad would have benefitted from a vinaigrette dressing, but the candied pecans were very tas...

I voted shortly at 6:00 AM, the very first person in my election district to do so. Now I'm watching the results. So weird to see all the reporters here in NY, it's been so long since our primary mattered. Reporters in Trump Tower. In Co-op City. Harlem. Brooklyn. Wow, it's so exciting. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

It must have been sometime in 2007 that I bought it.  A black dress with a muted print, tea length, with long, sheer sleeves.  the kind of dress you wear for an evening out.  I'd just lost 70 pounds and wanted to celebrate.  It wasn't an expensive dress, but it was lovely, and I just knew I'd find a reason to wear it eventually. But the right occasion never came along.  And after I gained back the weight, the dress got shoved into the back of my closet. And then a few months ago, Drew said to me, "Let's plan a dinner cruise around Manhattan."  And I said, "It sounds like a lot of fun." And then, a couple of weeks ago, he told me that the boat had a dress code:  Collared shirts for gentlemen (jackets requested).  For women, cocktail wear, a dress or dressy-casual attire.  Dark or dressy Jeans are acceptable. However, we strongly recommend  no  casual jeans, t-shirts, shorts, athletic shoes or flip flops at any time. ...

No, I didn't win the lottery and buy it.  I wish I had $365,000 for  to spend on such things.  Sigh.  Three minority owners of the team pooled their resources and bought it.  They intend to have it rotated on display at Citi Field, the 9/11 Memorial Museum and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Piazza tweeted his thanks to the buyers, glad that the jersey is going where it belongs. I'm glad, too.

Passover is a week away. Since "kosher for Passover" products have very limited appeal after the holiday is over, the supermarkets order only a limited supply of such products.  You have to stock up on the nonperishables well in advance of the holiday, or you take the chance that you won't be able to find everything you need. So Wednesday night I donned my combat gear and headed for my favorite supermarket.  This store has a huge Passover aisle, you can find almost anything you want. The five pound package of Streit's matzos?  check.  Matzo farfel, matzo meal, potato starch?  Check.   Kosher for Passover ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard?  Check.  Gefilte fish (we like the frozen kind, you cook it yourself and it tastes freshly made)?  Check.  Macaroons?  Check. Candy? Houston, we have a problem.  There was a lot of candy available, but they were all sold out of  Barton's Seder Mints. Barton's Seder Mint...

In the 21st Century, taking your music with you is extremely easy.  You can download it from iTunes onto you phone, or your iPod, or your iPad.  You can stream it from Amazon or Pandora or Spotify.    Just choose a device, plug in your earbuds, and you are set.  That wasn't always the case, though. The Sony Walkman revolutionized how we listen to music.  In the 60's and 70's, you  basically had one choice -- buy vinyl records and listen at home. Nothing portable about that at all.  Yes, there were car radios, and portable radios, so to some extent you could take you music with you -- if you could get reception.  Introduced in Japan in 1979, and in the US the following year, the Walkman was a small cassette player that could easily be carried in pocket or purse, and came with headphones for your listening pleasure.  Audio cassettes had been in existence since the 60's, but were not widely used for recoding music until the dev...

Drew sent our money in awhile ago to buy our tickets for the Dark Shadows convention. Yesterday he got a letter from the convention organizer and a refund, the convention is completely sold out.

One of our favorite places is The Tilles Center, a performing arts venue on the campus of LIU/CW Post.  We found ourselves there last Saturday to see Michael Feinstein in concert. Feinstein is a singer, pianist and musical revivalist.  Back in the 70's he worked for Ira Gershwin, cataloguing all of Gershwin's music. By the 80's he gained fame as a cabaret singer, focusing on The Great American Songbook. The last time Feinstein was at the Tilles Center, he performed an entire evening of Gershwin music.  Great show.  this time around, he included a lot of music by Jerry Herman, Jerome Kern, Sondheim...there was a tribute to Sammy Davis Jr., and one to Frank Sinatra.  And he spoke about his celebrity friends, past and present:  Peter Allen, Liza Minelli, Rosemary Clooney.   Wonderful show, great music that endures.

Passover is, I think, the essential Jewish holiday.  Just as the Crucifixion and the Resurrection are the core elements of Christian belief, the Exodus from Egypt and the Giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai are the core of Jewish identity.  At Passover it is incumbent upon Jews to retell the story of the Exodus, to reenact it. Scripture tells us that if G-d had not redeemed our ancestors, surely we and our children and our children's children would still be slaves.  And, unlike most Jewish holidays, Passover is centered on home rituals: holding  a Seder, reading the Haggadah, eating the prescribed foods and drinking the required four cups of wine. The Haggadah my family uses was printed in the 1960's.  The booklets are falling apart, they are stained with wine, there are matzo crumbs caught between the pages.  And we will never replace them.  The Seder plate is a family heirloom, inherited from my paternal grandparents.  I never met my paternal...

The first Seder is April 22. And it's bringing up a whole bunch of issues for me, both practical and emotional.  Today I discuss the practical. I am a modern Jew.  I belong to a synagogue and observe many of the rituals of my faith, but I also live in a secular world.  I don't keep kosher.  My mother kept a kosher house when I was growing up, but we ate non kosher foods outside of the home.  So it was never that important to me. But on Passover, everything changes.  I guess the symbolism of keeping kosher and adhering to the additional food restrictions of Passover is a way to bring the practical and the spiritual together.  Once we were slaves, and we were forced to depart from Egypt in haste, before the dough for our bread had a chance to rise.  So we reenact the Exodus, we avoid leavened foods and eat only matzo. Which leaves you scrambling to find substitutes for things you normally eat. Being told "no" makes me feel deprived, even...

So I go to the synagogue 2-3 mornings a week to say Kaddish for my father.  The official period of mourning for a parent is one year. I will be saying Kaddish until October, the anniversary of his death. People who do not regularly attend synagogue services tend to become more observant during the period of mourning -- a year for a parent, 30 days for a spouse, sibling or child.  Lately I have been seeing a lot of familiar faces at services.  It seems I've reached an age where many of my contemporaries find themselves in the same situation as I do.  Even our Rabbi is saying Kaddish for his mother these days.    I guess we're all members of the same "club".  But the other day I felt my heart break for the youngest member of our "club". Lisa's husband has been coming to morning services since she died.  And the other day, he brought his daughter with him.  Lisa's daughter is 25, the same age as Jen.  They were friends in Hebre...

It was lunchtime, on a weekday, and we were a party of 7.  I guess that was a bit unusual, because the waitress was a bit frazzled.  Nothing went horribly wrong, but service was a bit "off". But the food at this iconic diner lived up to expectations.  Most of us ordered fish.  No complaints.  My Hawaiin tilapia was moist and flavorful, served with a mild pineapple salsa.  Pistachio ice cream, with real pistachios, was a hit.  My rice pudding was sweet and creamy without being cloying. I love a good diner, and this one qualifies.  We will be back.

I've known her for about 5-6 years now.  She's a delightful woman, in her early 60's, well-traveled, smart, a bit flamboyant.  Passionate about the arts.  .  She's been known to literally squeal with joy at the thought of another Disney World vacation.  She lives for her daughter and her music This larger-than-life personality is housed, unfortunately, in a larger-than-normal body.  She is not embarrassed to tell you she weighs more than 320 pounds.  She has mobility issues, she can walk for only a short time before she must sit down.  Her health has suffered.  She is a diabetic.  You can see where this is leading. A week ago she posted on Facebook that she was in the ER and would be admitted to the hospital.  Diabetics, unfortunately, are prone to serious foot problems, and she had developed a foot ulcer that required surgery.  Of course I reached out to her, to see how she's doing.  She had the surgery, but she's...

So it's finally baseball season again.  We have secured tickets for 7 Long Island Ducks games.  We have tickets for at least one trip to Citi Field, and hopefully may add another visit later in the season. It was painful to watch the Mets' opener.  They played at Kansas City.  the schedule was set before last year's playoffs, so no one could know that the Mets and Kansas City would play in the 2015 World Series.  It was a bit painful to watch the Royals raise the championship banner.  It will be a bit painful to see them receive their rings tonight. All told, the Mets have played in 5 World Series -- 1969, 1973, 1986, 2000 and 2015.   And on the two occasions when they became world champs, it was positively magical.  I don't remember the '69 series very well.  But 1986....yes, that was wonderful. Back then, the team still played in Shea Stadium, a bright blue and orange paradise.  Home to the Mets, it had also been home to the...

I guess I'm not very good at solving puzzles that involve special relationships, because Rubik's cube was the bane of my existence. Remember Rubik's cube?    It was one of the biggest fads of the 80's. A cube with 9 tiles on each side.  Each tile was in one of six colors.   The idea was to move the tiles around until each side of the cube was a single color. I'd twist, pivot and maneuver the cube, but never managed to get even one side uniform.  I'd spend a few minutes trying to work the puzzle, without success. Props to anyone who can turn this: Into this:

i don't need to look at the calendar.  I don't need to look at Weatherbug. It is most definitely spring allergy season.

A stand-alone restaurant in the middle of West 57th Street, a huge red sign proclaims this place to be a  DINER.  Comfortably spaced tables and booths -- ask for a booth under the window if you need access to an electrical outlet to charge your phone. Small brass plaques salute the "celebrities" who have dined here.  (The only name I recognized on our booth was Storm Field, a NYC TV weatherman.) I love the mural salute to Ebbets Field. The food is a bit pricy (we're in the Theater District, after all), tending towards burgers and sandwiches.  Portions tend to be rather large. I was craving pastrami.  My sandwich was served on toasted rye bread, with almost as much meat as you might find at the Carnegie Deli down the street.  The meat was tender and flavorful.  The sandwich was accompanied by a kosher pickle and a carrot slaw (carrots and raisins in a sweet vinaigrette). I could not resist the lure of their famed noodle kugel, a puddi...

Whan that Aprille with his shour e s soot e , The droghte of March hath perc e d to the root e , And bath e d every veyne in swich licóur Of which vertú engendr e d is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his swet e breeth Inspir e d hath in every holt and heeth The tendr e cropp e s, and the yong e sonn e Hath in the Ram his half e cours y-ronn e , And smal e fowel e s maken melody e , That slepen al the nyght with open y e , So priketh hem Natúre in hir corag e s, Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimag e s, And palmeres for to seken straung e strond e s, To fern e halw e s, kowthe in sondry lond e s; And specially, from every shir e s end e Of Eng e lond, to Caunterbury they wend e , The hooly blisful martir for to sek e , That hem hath holpen whan that they were seek e .