Every weekday morning I get up bright and early and go to 5 Brothers (pictured) for the best coffee on the island served up by Pepe.   I wait my turn as the early bird (before 6:30 official opening time) regulars troop in for their daily dose of caffeine.  The regulars occupy the main bench next to the entrance and can be heard in their exuberant predawn chatter while I’m around the corner silently waiting my turn.  

Our soon-to-be six years old grandson recently shared one of his greatest confidences.“The bane of my existence is that I don’t know what the bane of my existence is.”I wonder whether he was simply expressing that he didn’t know what “bane of existence” mea

Early last month I drove to the Vipassana Meditation Center in Shelburne, Massachusetts to participate in a 10-day silent retreat. Vipassana is an ancient Buddhist tradition, often translated as "insight".   A major goal of the program is to develop your facility for equanimity - a mental calmness, composure, an evenness of temper in difficult situations, a grace under pressure.  

Mom had a cardiac procedure yesterday.  It was a super long exhausting day 10 hour day in the hospital starting early in the morning.  To put this out right up front, It was a fairly routine outpatient procedure and mom is fine (happily).  That’s not the point of my blog.  

I read Fred's blog on Friday and thought about an article I recently read about famous people who were Scouts. The list included Lucille Ball, Debbie Reynolds, her daughter Carrie Fischer, Barbara Walters, Reese Witherspoon, Condoleezza Rice (as well as every other female Secretary of State), Blythe Danner, her daughter Gwyneth Paltrow, Taylor Swift, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The list in the article was much longer with equally impressive names.  

Not yet reflected on the Gotham Networking website, but a partnership of two Gotham Groups that opted to meet together throughout the 2021 pandemic challenged year forged a brand new Gotham amalgamation for 2022.  Gotham Busines POWER Breakfast held its inaugural meeting, Wednesday morning January 12 (, 2022).   

After reading this you might think twice about badgers.   Experts believe that a badger foraging for food unearthed an ‘exceptional’ treasure trove of over 200 Roman coins.   The ancient coins were found next to a burrow, with some even inside it. Although the badger itself has not been seen, it is thought the most likely explanation is that it discovered the haul while hungry and looking for food.  

My friend’s daughter Allison calls me “Uncle Fred” and she’s in her last year of Girl Scouts and she’s got it in her head that she wants to go out in a flourish and what better way than to set the record for Girl Scout Cookie sales!   Being a good “Uncle”, I’m all in and, of course, gave her an order, but then last Friday her dad was on our weekly 5:00 Happy Hour Zoom and I had the inspiration to ask him to put her on screen so I could promote her quest.