There’s a crystal shop in Great Barrington. Lots of meditation, wellness and supporting crystals.Thinking that a smooth stone in a pocket would be nice - pink quartz is very calming - we ventured in.Inspecting the abundance of quartz, there was one that stood out . Unlike the others, it was cracked. Its smooth surface was interrupted.It spoke to us …
Thursday, July 3rd … and we’re in Great Barrington (Massachusetts) awaiting the arrival of our children and grandchildren for our third annual July Fourth family reunion.From Washington D.C., Alexandria, Virginia, Brooklyn and Manhattan, they will journey to the Berkshires for a weekend of fun, sushi at Bizen (our cousin’s famous restaurant), and, …
We were just seated in a restaurant at 20th Street and Tenth Avenue.“Hi Flo, hi Ben …. Steve, what are you doing in my neighborhood?” as he moved on to a nearby table.A familiar face but no quick recognition. After a while, we figured it out.Later, as he was leaving, he said, “Let Fred know that there was another “Gotham Sighting”.I hadn’t heard th …
Juneteenth. Realizing the significance of the day - and that it has finally received the appropriate official national recognition it deserves - I search for its meaning to me.Do we take freedom for granted? I pause and consider the significance of realizing that you are free.I am reminded of my mother’s story. After being restricted in the Lodz gh …
Rudyard Kipling, is his famous poem “If” got it right.“If” is the most consequential word in our language, and in our lives.
As I was entering the Diner, I held the door open for four women who were leaving.As each passed me, they said “Thank you” and I responded “you’re welcome”. Until the last who said “No tip tonight” to which I did not respond.I wonder whether she was trying to be clever?
I was invited to an event yesterday afternoon. Instead of attending, I had tolet them know that rather than making a toast at the event, I would probably make everyone sick. Therefore, I didn’t go.During Covid, we were routinely reminded of our obligations to others if we felt sick or had been exposed. But has the sensitivity and obligation endured …
Watching a baseball game. It’s only the second inning and the pitcher has given up five hits and three runs and there are runners on base with only one out.The manager walks out to the mound, nods to the pitcher, takes the ball and lightly slaps the pitcher’s backside as he leaves the game.“He just didn’t have his good stuff today,” says the TV com …
Following up on Fred's Blog last week.... A few weeks ago on Saturday night after a show, we found ourselves in the West Village and wanting the dessert that we had passed on at our earlier dinner.Outdoors at a sidewalk cafe. Enjoying the surprisingly warm evening and delicious pastries.The weather forecast was the farthest thing from our minds ….A …
Gothamites Laurel Scarr-Konel and Crysti Farra brought Tuscany Italy to Gotham on Tuesday night in the form of an entertaining sommelier- Gabriele Salvatori and an amazing sampling of wines from the Tenuta Torciano Winery in San Gimignano.About 25 of us were treated to a fine selection of wines, light fare (to accompany the wines), and bread (to sa …
As I glanced out the window a few days ago, I saw a bumblebee hopping from bud to bud in the morning sunshine. The first bumblebee I had seen this Spring…and I smiled in the secure understanding that Nature would keep us grounded.
We live in a world of acronyms and initialisms. Acronyms being the initials of words forming a grouping of letters that is pronounced as a word. Initialisms, on the other hand, are a grouping of initials that is pronounced as individual letters. Try NASA and FBI.How often have you heard such a grouping and were too insecure to ask what it meant?A f …
Oftentimes we’ll just put the TV on in the evening for background noise while we clean up the dishes and move on to other tasks. (We rarely block out the time to sit and watch one of the many “streamed” shows the are in the “must watch” list.)So, we have one of the formulaic network shows in the background.And now it’s baseball season and there is …
There’s an elderly couple in our development. We often see them walking. She with a walker and he cautiously walking beside her.The thing that set them apart was that they never seemed friendly. No smiles. No reciprocal greeting.Recently, there had been activity at their home. Ambulance. And the woman is not around.I met him at the recycling bin an …
Do you have Real ID?The restrictions on domestic air travel without Real ID are finally going into effect on May 7th.When the topic came up with friends at dinner the other night, I cautiously removed my driver’s license from my wallet. I had no recollection of the last renewal and, in the dim light of the restaurant I couldn’t make out any of its …
