songbird's crazy world

 The theme? Rendezvous, songs about meeting at a place or time That could be fun. Let’s start with something from a movie musical.    Petula Clark knows a place    Unless you’d rather meet her Downtown     Maybe meet on a train?    Speaking of trains   Or you can meet up closer to home. Yes, that was Tony Orlando without his mustache…

 Deep purple. No, not the band.  That was the color my arm turned on Friday after I had bloodwork done.   There was a bad auto accident not too far from here on Friday that made national news.  An SUV plowed into a nail salon.  Four dead (including an off duty police officer just getting her nails done) and nine injured.  The driver was arrested for DWI.  Horrible. The mock rye from Bare Naked Bakery has to be the best gluten free bread I’ve ever had.  Seriously.  It was soft and fluffy, and actually tasted like bread. Like real bread.  I will have to try more of their products. So much “fun” yesterday…took my car in for service (oil change, brakes, state inspection). Sigh.  We went out last night, we had Italian food…I had a veal dish, sautéed with a Marsala sauce, with gluten free pasta.  It was incredible. We have tickets for a Ducks game July 4.  It’s fireworks night.  It’ll be fun. I’m so excited for the move. ...

  People 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: People (1964) Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it  here .  1) In this song, Barbra Streisand sings that pride can get in the way of happy relationships. Have you found that to be true?  No 2) The photo on the record sleeve was taken on Chicago's Oak Street Beach, as Barbra watches the sun rise over Lake Michigan. Have you been to the beach yet this summer?  No.  Here on Long Island you are always close to the beach, and we love to spend time near the water.  But between preparing ...

 Today we celebrate Duchess, who enjoyed her 11th birthday just two days ago. (Yeah, I had to include one photo with Shadow…)

 Well, that house we looked at back in  beginning of the month …the one we thought was perfect …the broker said we were qualified but the landlord wanted to see if “something better” came along …well, the ad for the house is still posted, with a reduction in the rent!  I guess “something better”  hasn’t come along yet.  Sorry not sorry. Meanwhile, we have a house that we like and we will be moving in just over two weeks. We are getting an estimate from the movers, we have to arrange to transfer utilities, renter’s insurance, etc., and of course we have to pack.   Our current landlord has had several prospective tenants look at the house.  It’s disruptive but we have to cooperate.  I hope he finds someone soon. I loved watching the Subway Series.  The Mets are hot!  The Yankees, not so much.  The teams will meet again in a few weeks.   On Sunday Drew and I saw a local theater group’s production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolant...

Ignore the fact that I desperately need a pedicure …   I think we’re going with the gold ... Now, how do I get rid of the tan lines on my feet?

 

 Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder.  But for simplicity’s sake we can refer to it as a “gluten allergy”, since gluten triggers symptoms. My symptoms are relatively mild.  If I eat food that contains gluten I will feel discomfort, but my symptoms are not debilitating.  Eating gluten brings on swift and painful retribution. It’s different from a weight loss diet, where you can rationalize cheating … Drew is the type to examine a restaurant menu before we go, so by the time we sit down he will know exactly what he wants to eat.  Before my diagnosis, I’d quickly scan the menu of any place Drew suggested, but I wouldn’t make up my mind until the waiter asked for my order.  But since my diagnosis I have to examine the menu in detail to make sure there’s something ‘safe”. Back in the beginning of May I went to a gluten-free food expo.  One of the vendors was a local business,  Bare Naked Bakery and Cafe .  I tried a few of their products and ...

 Are you familiar with a comic called  The Lockhorns ?  It’s a single-panel comic, syndicated to newspapers all across the country.  It follows the adventures of a middle-aged married couple, Leroy and Loretta Lockhorn.  They’re supposed to be a typical suburban couple.   They’re sarcastic, they exchange barbs far more often than pleasantries, but underneath it all they love each other. Sometimes I think Drew and I are a lot like the Lockhorns. And today I remembered something that really made me laugh. When the comic was first published, back in 1968, it was called The Lockhorns of Levittown.

 We signed the lease for the new house Thursday. On Friday I told our current landlord that we’re moving. He posted an ad Friday night and he’s got prospective tenants coming tonight,

 Another “your choice” week. Before I get to my theme, here’s a baseball song from the 80’s that just seems appropriate right now. Figure out my theme.               

 This is what’s growing at my house,

If you live on Long Island you’re acutely aware of the multiple levels of local government — county government, school district, fire district, water district …But most municipal services come from “the Town”. There are three townships in Nassau County — Hempstead, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay — and 10 townships in Suffolk County. We live in Hicksville, which is within the Town of Oyster Bay.  The Town is named after the hamlet of Oyster Bay, a community located on the shores of Long Island Sound, most famous as the location of Sagamore Hill, Teddy Roosevelt’s family home.   One benefit of living in the Town of Oyster Bay — residents can get a beach pass to use Tobay Beach, a lovely facility on Jones Island, just east of Jones Beach State Park. Another benefit? You know all those documents you don’t want to throw away because they contain too much identifying information?  Bring them to the town waste disposal facility on Homeowners Cleanup Day and the Town will happily...

 We signed the lease Thursday.  The new house will be ours on July 1. Can’t wait.  The new house is significantly larger than our current abode, and the layout is perfect for entertaining friends and family.   We plan to move July 15,  That will give us two weeks of overlap, where we can figure out what goes where before the movers show up. Our current landlord isn’t happy to see us leave.  He’s being a bit …difficult.  I gave him official notice Friday afternoon, and the house was listed on Zillow Friday night.  I’m not sorry that my time dealing with him is coming to an end. The new place has a professional property manager, we haven’t met the owner and are unlike to meet her.  So there are a ton of things we need to do.  I should make a list…maybe I can find the list I made last year, when we moved into this house. I am nervous and anxious but I am also excited.

  I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive 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: I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive (1952) Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it  here .  1) In this song, Hank Williams sings that his fishing pole is broke and the creek is full of sand. OK, so he can't spend his Saturday fishing. What are your Saturday plans? I’ve got a pool pass and I’m not afraid to use it. Actually most of my day will be devoted to packing,  we signed a lease on a new house, and we will be moving shortly. 2) He regrets how sha...

 What would you have done? As I mentioned before, I live near a public park — climb over my back fence and you’ll find yourself in the park. Just beyond the park is a public elementary school. Walk in the opposite direction and in about half a mile you’ll reach the Catholic high school.  Walk another half a mile and you’ll find the public high school.  We’ve reached the end of the school year, the high school students are in the midst of final exams. We’re in the midst of a heat wave.  It’s 90° out there right now. A few minutes ago my doorbell rang.  It was two young ladies from the Catholic high school. Given our proximity to three schools I would never be surprised by students going door to door selling …whatever they sell for school fundraisers these days. But these girls weren’t selling anything,  After their final exam they had walked over to the park, and were now on their way back to school.  Could they please have a bottle of water? I gave the...

 They love the window. They love watching birds on the lawn.

 Yes, that was a dragon wrapped around the Empire State Building.  Actually it was a giant balloon, placed there to promote the tv show House of the Dragon.   I’m used to seeing King Kong put in an occasional appearance, but a dragon?  🐉  Very nice.  There are times I miss traveling into the city. The Mets are hot!  A seven-game winning street and suddenly they’re contenders for the wild card … I hope they can keep it up. Speaking of “hot”, the heat wave continues.  Yeah, summer has arrived in force. And by the time you read this we will have signed a lease! Yeah, we got the house.  It’s about a mile from here, but it has a Levittown address (goodbye Hicksville).  It’s a Levitt house, but the owners built up and built out so you can barely recognize the original structure. The kitchen seems a bit small because they added additional counters and cabinet space, but the living room/dining room is huge!  I’m already planning the menu f...

 I got my first Fitbit activity tracker in 2015, and while I have experimented with other brands, I always come back to Fitbit. I  currently wear a Fitbit Sense 2, but I still have my original Versa and my Luxe.   I’m thinking I might upgrade to the Google Pixel smartwatch (Google bought Fitbit a couple of years ago), but maybe I’ll wait… …because rumor has it that a Fitbit is developing a smart ring; smart rings are the latest trend.  The leader in ring technology is Oura, but Samsung is about to release a ring.  And according to  Forbes , the Samsung ring and watch will work together, so you can wear both devices and get better data.  I’d like to see Fitbit do that ,,, I am amazed at myself, being so enthused about fitness trackers.

There are a few large, ugly weeds growing among the gladiols.  Ugh … Looks like the orange lilies are back, I’ll have to post a picture later. I’m going to miss the flowers, but the pine cones and pine needles … sorry not sorry to leave those behind. We’re having a heat wave … a tropical heat wave … and it’s not even summer yet.  The solstice arrives tomorrow.   I’m going to have to get that beach pass …  Fingers crossed … landlord requires a background check … then the next step would  be signing the lease …

 The Mets retired his number in 2022, belatedly keeping a promise made in the 1970’s. He played in the Negro League, then the NY Giants and the San Francisco Giants before ending his career with the Mets. One of the greatest players of all time, he died yesterday at age 93. Rest in peace, Willie Mays.

 Got my refund for the purple dress.  Moving on … So I ordered shoes for the wedding,  they’ll be here next week.  The ones I had in my closet just didn’t seem to go with the vibe Becca wants. I also bought something to change into at the reception.  Slippers   I plan to do a lot of dancing at the wedding … Still waiting to hear about the house, but I think I may have found another house I like…can we fast forward to ‘the lease is signed, here are the keys”? I really want this to be resolved,   In the meantime we’ve started to pack up the house. We will be ready to move as soon as we have a new place. So grateful for the pool pass now that we’re about to experience our first heat wave of the summer. It’s very hard to focus on work when there’s a sleeping cat in your lap.  Shadow is my baby.   Duchess has never been a lap cat.  She’s affectionate but simply won’t curl up in anyone’s lap. She’ll rub against me, let me pet her, but no one c...

 And it’s time for the Father’s Day tribute. My father’s name was Leon.  We always called him “Lion”.  So I’ll focus on songs about lions.         And this last one … when my father worked at the day camp he took the melody of this song and rewrote the lyrics, made a song about the group of boys he worked with … but the original song is about Lions!   

 When Levitt & Sons erected their prefab houses in the 1940’s and 1950’s, they didn’t just build homes, they built communities.  Neighborhoods throughout Levittown included shopping centers, parks/playgrounds and pools!  There are 9 swimming pools throughout the Levittown area (two are actually here in Hicksville) maintained by our local municipality, but use of the pools is limited to those who live in a Levitt house.  All you need to do is go to Levittown Hall, show proof of identity and residency, and you will be given a pool pass good at all 9 pools. Well … we live in a Levitt house.  And we have a pool pass. The closest pool is actually about half a mile from my house.  I often  walk past the pool  during afternoon walks.  So I packed my towel, pool pass and sunglasses, donned my suit, and walked to the pool for my first swim of the season. The water was a bit cold, as you’d expect in an outdoor, unheated pool.  But I was able t...

 We saw a house yesterday.  It was listed for rent on Thursday and we were the first prospective tenants.  We put in our application as soon as we walked out of the house.  Broker had two additional appointments to show the house yesterday. Still upset about the first house, it would have been perfect, but this house is very nice, has a great location, and we’d love living there.  I want this settled soon.  Fingers crossed. We had our Father’s Day celebration last night.  Jen is going to a bridal shower today.  She’s a bridesmaid and has known the bride since they were in kindergarten.   Besides, Becca and Brendon had to run errands for their wedding, so they were out on Long Island all day.    The restaurant was wonderful, even had numerous gluten free choices.   So today we’ll do some cleaning and packing.  Friday night could be interesting…the full moon coincides with the summer solstice…will there be magic in the air? ...

 Sigh.  We didn’t get the second house.  Still looking…we have feelers out on several houses… wish us luck. Shadow lived up to her name yesterday.  I think she was a bit clingy, probably because of the unsettling weather — we were anticipating thunderstorms in the afternoon. The storm didn’t hit until 7:30; it was wild but didn’t last very long. Drew’s tux issues have been resolved, he will head back to the tailor next week.  Now on to my shoes … I love a man who picks up dinner on his way home.  There’s a great chicken restaurant, it’s called  Zorn’s , And it’s been a Long Island staple since 1940.   It started as a poultry farm, but eventually the food service part of the business took over.   Cherries!  I found cherries at Trader Joe’s, and I’ve been indulging. 

  Wait Till You See Him 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: Wait Till You See Him (1967) This song was chosen in honor of Father's Day. Hear it  here . 1) This is Nancy Sinatra's celebration of her father, Frank. She singles out the sound of his laugh as something special. Do you know anyone who has a great laugh? Nothing out of the ordinary.  But I really love my daughter’s giggle. 2) Frank Sinatra recorded this song himself a decade earlier.  It was one of more then 1,400 recordings he made over his career. When you think of him, what so...

 So … I sampled the gluten free options at MetLife stadium (great burgers), UBS Arena (cheeseburgers and hot dogs) and Citi Field (burgers, chicken tenders, quesadillas, but pre cooked and under a heat lamp …). But the best ballpark for gluten free food?  Fairfield Properties Ballpark, the home of the Long Island Ducks.   You have to have access to the Duck Club (the full service restaurant), and it’s a bit more expensive than the food at the concession stand, but …there are many options and it’s all cooked to order.  Last night I had a sausage and peppers hero with French fries, and the most delectable flourless chocolate cake …The options include hot dogs, burgers, grilled chicken, a roast beef sandwich and pulled pork. So I was able to actually enjoy a meal AND watch some interesting baseball.  Not a bad way to spend an evening.

 A first — Duchess came upstairs to my office. I’m used to Shadow traipsing in and out, but Duchess tends to stay downstairs. I think she’s starting to like me again.

 With India’s victory over the USA, Eisenhower Park’s hosting of cricket games is officially done.  I tried to avoid the neighborhood during the cricket matches, but I had to go there earlier this week because of a doctor’s appointment.  Traffic wasn’t too bad that day.  But I am glad to get my park back. We put in an application for a rental house, and should hear back shortly.  Fingers crossed. I may not have to buy shoes for the wedding.  I have a dressy pair of sandals, I have to see if they go with the dress. The purple dress saga … finally heard back from the company, they canceled the order and will issue me a refund. Or so they said.  I’ll believe it when the money is in my hand. Drew is frustrated.  He bought a tux, took it to his tailor … tailor said it’s too small, he has to exchange it …

 Today is Shavuot, a very important  Jewish holiday. Shavuot is the commemoration of Moses receiving the Law at Mount Sinai.  On Passover we remember the Exodus from Egypt, on Shavuot we remember the Ten Commandments.   It’s observed with prayers in the synagogue and a festive meal at home. What’s different about Shavuot? Traditionally we don’t eat meat on Shavuot.  We feast on blitzes, cheesecake, noodle pudding, anything dairy …  It’s tied to words from the Song of Songs, “Honey and milk are under your tongue, and that Israel is called “the land of milk and honey”. I found gluten-free cheese blintzes and gluten-free cheesecake.  Pure happiness.

 My cousin J, who lives in Myrtle Beach, was unable to attend Becca’s shower, but sent her love and a generous gift. My cousin loves to tell the story about her own bridal shower.  J and her late husband got married in 1964.  My mom and my dad’s sister Sonia (who lived with us) decided to share the cost of a  shower gift, and bought a toaster.   Well, apparently that toaster was built to last.  In July 2023 my cousin posted that she still uses that toaster every single morning. My mom is gone, my aunt is long gone, J’s husband died about a year ago, but that toaster endures.

 We may have found something …not perfect but close enough …fingers crossed.

 Another “your choice” week. As you know, I’m  from Long Island.  It’s a beautiful and diverse place.  And it has been the source of much of our pop culture.  You can hang out with Billy Crystal (Long Beach), Rodney Dangerfield (Babylon),  Melissa Joan Hart (Smithtown), Ralph Macchio (Dix Hills), Eddie Murphy (Roosevelt), Kate McKinnon (Sea Cliff), Idina Menzel (Syosset), Rosie O’Donnell (Commack), Telly Savalas(Garden City), Carl  Yastrzemski (Southampton), Natalie Portman (Jericho), Tony Danza (Malverne) Let’s start with a girl from Merrick.    From Hewlett A band from Massapequa (according to Jerry Seinfeld, “Massapequa “ means “near the mall” — when Seinfeld lived in Massapequa he must have spent quite a bit of time at the Sunrise Mall.)    (Massapequa is also the hometown of the Baldwin brothers.) From Levittown     From Freeport   From Lindenhurst    A band with origins at the State University ...

 Everything was ready! Yes, those are pink jellybeans on the table … The party was wonderful.  Becca was glowing.   And there’s a side story … My Aunt Eileen, of blessed memory, loved bridal showers.  And she loved to do craft projects.  Every bride I. Our family would receive a shower gift from Eileen: a beautifully decorated umbrella.  She’d sew lace and artificial flowers onto the umbrella, to be used as a party decoration and then kept as a momento.  My umbrella is buried somewhere in my parents’ garage.  But my cousin loaned her umbrella to my sisters, to be used as a decoration at Becca’s shower. Eileen died before Becca was born, but I’m sure she would have loved my baby — she loved Jennifer so much — so it was nice to have a piece of my aunt at the party.

  Footloose 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 to answer the questions, however, and here are today's questions!   Saturday 9: Footloose (1984) Unfamiliar with this week's tune. Hear it  here . 1) In this week's song, Kenny Loggins encourages everyone to lose their blues by dancing. What reliably shakes you out of a funk? I can’t stay upset when hugging this little furball. 2) To cut footloose, he has to kick off his "Sunday shoes." What's on your feet as you answer these 9 questions?  I’m barefoot. 3) This is the title song of the popular 1984 movie of the same name. It's...