We were at the local diner. Seated in a booth by the window overlooking the stairs leading up to the front door. A perfect perch to view those coming and going. I noticed the couple as they walked carefully from their car to the stairs. They were elderly. As he reached to hold her hand and help her toward the stairs, it was with the tenderness of t …
It started with a little tickle... (or was it a little scratch?) in my throat. Ignore it. Within an hour, there was no denying. It was my winter cold 2016. By the time I gave it the attention it deserved, it had taken over. “Don't respect me? I'll show you!” What to do? Take zinc. Take vitamin C. Drink plenty of liquids. Starve it. Feed it. …
Last weekend, Flo and I took our grandson, Jackson, to the Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden. For an hour or so, I looked at the world through the eyes of a three-year-old. I shared his amazement as the G-scale trains circled the reconstructions of the great sites of New York City, past the historical buildings and over the famous br …
It was several years ago. We had a few days left in Italy before our return flight to New York when we got a phone call from the airline that an airport strike was planned for noon the next day and we could catch an early flight to Paris. That would leave us with the whole day in Paris before our evening flight back to New York. We had it all p …
December 31st sixteen years ago and we were all worrying about the imminent disaster of “Y2K” that was to occur when computers did not recognize the year 2000. Without such concerns looming today, we are able to reflect upon the past year and formulate our hopes for the coming year. May today be a day of reflection and may all of our hopes for the …
This blog is not written by Scroog. However, I noticed that I received fewer holiday cards this year than ever before. Several years ago the trend of fewer paper (and mailed) cards replaced by eCards became more and more apparent, but this year I received fewer holiday greeting cards of either kind. I am not sure of the reason for this phenomeno …
How do you put 70 people of diverse backgrounds and interests in a room at the Friar's Club for an hour and a half lunch and keep it in the family? Well, that's exactly what Nancy Schess (and all those who attended) did yesterday at a triple meeting of the New York Women's Group, The Bandit Group and the New York Health and Aging Resources Group. …
A lesson in how it works. Last Sunday there was a Fredslist posting from Warren looking for a nurse in Delray Florida for his mother. I saw the posting and got an email from Debbie highlighting it and asking me to forward it to the Advocates. I did and also emailed Warren with my suggestions for how best to proceed. But that wasn't the end. Fl …
Flo and I were cleaning her mother's house in anticipation of the closing. The house that Flo and her brothers grew up in. The house where her parents spent almost sixty years. There was a lifetime in that house. I was packing the breakfront and I came to the crystal. There was a set of tall water glasses, wine glasses, and both large and small st …
Last week I heard a psychologist on the radio talk about how stressful Thanksgiving has become. She focused on the difficult choices people have to make about where to be for the holiday. As families grow, in-laws, and other complications lead to impossible choices and conflicts. I think that thanksgiving includes understanding and forgiveness …
Recent events in Paris bring me back to September 11, 2001 and its aftermath. For several years, beginning in the late 1990's, we visited Paris with friends for a long weekend in December to celebrate Flo and our friend’s birthdays. In those early years, I found Parisians to be less-than-welcoming to Americans. The cause -- whether it was the …
The Downtown Marriott in Chicago has a nice bar in the lobby. A great big screen with six different TV screens dominates one side. Six different sporting events on one screen. The bar is a real gathering place. We were sitting at the bar. I am not sure whether we said something or the man sitting next to Flo started the conversation. It's easy …
For quite a while, I had fantasized about writing this blog. It would have been after a Game Six or Game Seven clinching of the World Series by the Mets. But that, as it turned out, was a fantasy. The “would have been” did not materialize. We were in Lenox, Massachusetts last weekend while the Mets were hosting the Royals at Citifield. There was …
New York has Mets fever and I’ve been part of it. Last week, I bought a Mets hat to send to my daughter, Mea, who lives in Washington, DC. I was in Manhattan and decided to wear the cap for the day before sending it off to Mea. I was on the street for less than three minutes when, crossing Seventh Avenue at Thirty-Fourth Street, a young wo …
One of the aspects of watching the Mets on TV is that, in addition to watching the action on the field, you get to watch the fans in the stands watching the game. When the Mets are away, watching fans takes on an especially heightened level of aggravation, annoyance, empathy or joy. So it has been watching the Mets play in Chicago. (I like the …
