but the truth is that I don't know how! Woe
It's almost Christmas. Last week I thought Kate and I would have a cozy girls evening and go buy a Christmas tree from the local guys on Park & 34th Street. We wanted the experience of picking out the tree and carry it home. It was a routine that I remembered so clearly from untold Christmas tree buying expeditions with my Dad who was always well turned out in an overcoat, hat and I don't mean baseball cap, and gloves. That was how I saw the evening until Kate turned up at home with a couple of school friends and looked surprised when I asked what Adam and Kyong were doing at the house? Going with us to buy a Christmas tree, of course. Hmm. Lets be open to a mid course correction here. Ok. lets do it. So we picked up my trainer Nick on the way cause I thought that without Arnie's help I would need extra hands. You know, where everybody helps carry the tree through the darkened streets with a light dusting of snow. ok, that's for books. Nick got the tree to the apartment house and then Adam and Kyong helped set it up. It was a totally different and wonderful experience. The guys worked really hard and we managed for the first time in years to get the tree up with an exquisite ornament that Arnie and I had bought several years ago. Normally we forget to put the top on until the tree is halfway decorated. It was sad to see how many of our old christmas tree ornaments had broken, especially the glass ones from World War 2 but there are still ornaments that I remember from my childhood. It is a living history tree. And this year I found tinsel, lots of tacky wonderful tinsel. I had trouble for several years finding any, and of course, blamed its paucity on environmental whacks. Maybe I was just late in buying it.
The tree looks wonderful. It is Christmas. I have distributed my version of largesse to all the doormen. I made the requisite plum puddings with more brandy and beef fat than anything and sent them off to Columbus. Once I read that a pair of Victorian explorers had taken off on a cross Siberian trip with only plum pudding as sustenance, I became interested in plum puddings again.
This morning I had to track down an errant side of smoked salmon that had gone missing from Columbus. Just heard that it arrived. Paid some taxes. going to the gym. Having a manicure....And transplanted a tree. Now that really was a first for me.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Nostalgia
My saturdays when I was a kid were very very simple. I listened to a radio program whose theme song was the Teddy Bear parade which I knew by heart. I listed to it from the safety of a large armchair and then who knows what else I did. Probably I spent the rest of the day at home. As a teenager I'm sure I was more active but there were no tennis lessons, piano lessons and frequent trips to Broadway shows. It's not as if we lived in Smallville, USA it was just a different time with different expectations about what activities kids might have. Maybe I am jealous...
This morning Kate and I went to a really professional Wall Street sound studio so that she could record piano piece for a CD done by her music teachers. Then she went to fencing and after 2 hours doing feints she went off to the hair dresser to have her hair dyed pink, I think.
Definitely jealous. I would have looked great with pink hair or even blue.
This morning Kate and I went to a really professional Wall Street sound studio so that she could record piano piece for a CD done by her music teachers. Then she went to fencing and after 2 hours doing feints she went off to the hair dresser to have her hair dyed pink, I think.
Definitely jealous. I would have looked great with pink hair or even blue.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Early role models
It's 60 degrees today. And it was 60 degrees yesterday. How can anybody even question the probability of another Sandy like storm? Now I have my new batteries, my coleman lamp is on its way and I am a champion toilet flusher. What else could a girl ask for?
This weekend I rediscovered my enormous love for butchers and butcher shops. Arnie and I had a full round of dinner guests and veal took center stage at most of these meals. So off we trotted to the Florence MeatMarket on Jones Street to buy plume de veau veal. I had pre ordered osso bucco but then thought I should also buy a breast of veal and god knows what else....We shopped for bread and cold cuts at various shops on Bleecker Street and then headed home with our ample provisions.
On Saturday I went downtown again for the Florence Meat Market to buy veal for a Blanquette de veau on a really early on a foggy misty morning. My earliest role models were butchers and door men because they were the authority figures in my life. Butchers were big red faced men with large knives who ruled over their shops and handed out Bologna to kids. In fact the Lexington Meat Market which was two doors down from our apartment building was boycotted by Liza Hennessey's mother because they sold black market meat during the war. The other major figures in my life were Doormen because they were tall and very imposing in their long dark green coats and caps and they would always refuse to let people park in front of the apartment building!
At 8:00 am I had the butchers all to myself as they worked cutting, slicing, dicing and preparing cuts of meat for me. Then I strolled down a totally empty Jones Street Saturday to go buy bread at Murrays. None of the stores were busy with the exception of Faicco's which already had 3 guys buying meat and coldcuts.
I am trying to persuade Kate to go with me and I am using the lure of the butcher's cat as my prime persuader!
This weekend I rediscovered my enormous love for butchers and butcher shops. Arnie and I had a full round of dinner guests and veal took center stage at most of these meals. So off we trotted to the Florence MeatMarket on Jones Street to buy plume de veau veal. I had pre ordered osso bucco but then thought I should also buy a breast of veal and god knows what else....We shopped for bread and cold cuts at various shops on Bleecker Street and then headed home with our ample provisions.
On Saturday I went downtown again for the Florence Meat Market to buy veal for a Blanquette de veau on a really early on a foggy misty morning. My earliest role models were butchers and door men because they were the authority figures in my life. Butchers were big red faced men with large knives who ruled over their shops and handed out Bologna to kids. In fact the Lexington Meat Market which was two doors down from our apartment building was boycotted by Liza Hennessey's mother because they sold black market meat during the war. The other major figures in my life were Doormen because they were tall and very imposing in their long dark green coats and caps and they would always refuse to let people park in front of the apartment building!
At 8:00 am I had the butchers all to myself as they worked cutting, slicing, dicing and preparing cuts of meat for me. Then I strolled down a totally empty Jones Street Saturday to go buy bread at Murrays. None of the stores were busy with the exception of Faicco's which already had 3 guys buying meat and coldcuts.
I am trying to persuade Kate to go with me and I am using the lure of the butcher's cat as my prime persuader!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
bob's your uncle
I think the expression Bob's your uncle is the british version of Yessiree bob...I have been reading a typical murder in the vicarage book and if they used that expression once..of course they also laid out in detail the kinds of meals that an English country house might serve with the appropriate afternoon teas. Make me gain 5 pounds reading it. But since I lost 2 pounds on the Hurricane Sandy diet I am good. All good.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Bummer - Whats Up With this?
Was it Queen Elizabeth who decreed an annus horribilus? Well, if so I am with her because it's been a weekus horribilus for us and for many people here in New York that I know. And for those of you who haven't lost power, electricity, the ability to cook, shower or flush toilets, let alone charge your cell phones. Lemme tell you that the revolution is coming and you will be the first to go.
The storm was a long time coming in the current manner of the media who forget that all that bible thumping with predictions of diaster makes for ennui. I know that they are selling time to advertisers on their stations -- I wrote one of my best stories about it in 7th grade LOL -- but for most people it's become rote. A hurricaine? oh yeah. Next.
Governor Cuomo managed to get people's attention because of his less than oratorical delivery and his emphasis on being sensible. Too late for many people. I like thousands of my fellow citizens thought that it would be like Hurricaine irene because how could anything happen with a storm that had such a silly name as Sandy.
Well now I know. Arnie was probably on one of the last flights out Sunday which was all to the good. Then the lights went out on Monday night which was already a slothful day with really nothing to do because schools had been cancelled. The lights went out and Kate yipped with enthusiasm and I growled because I knew from our blackout experience during the summer of 2003 for 3 days that this was not going to be fun.
Many many people In China starved during the great revolution or the great leap forward. And so they would routinely greet each other with the greeting:
Churlema which meant did you eat/what did you eat. People still use this in China as a greeting. And these days in new York when 2+ weeks after the "event"there are still people without power, the greeting is: How are you? It's Churlema.
Our lights came on last weekend in the early hours of the morning as a soft yellow glow that lit up all our rooms in the apartment acompanied by the spitting, gurgling, and chirping of electronic equipment. But by that time all of us were shell shocked and definitely showing signs of stress. Kate wrapped herself in an old blue blanket and took on the guise of Mahatma Ghandi as she drifted around the apartment with a book in her hand. Miss Murray was off her regular routine because none of us sat in the bedroom but defected to the living room because it has such great light. in the end her stress level resulted in her peeing in the living room, throwing up and having diarrhea. All on the white rug. And while those were not my symptoms I can't say that I was a walk in the park either. I was tense, cranky and bored out of my skull. Walking the dog early and then sitting in the living room trying to read all the while knowing that the light was slipping away. 6 pm. Bang. your life is over.
By the time I went down to see Arnie in Nashville I was alternatively laughing and crying from stress. It was like being in mourning for a way of life...
The storm was a long time coming in the current manner of the media who forget that all that bible thumping with predictions of diaster makes for ennui. I know that they are selling time to advertisers on their stations -- I wrote one of my best stories about it in 7th grade LOL -- but for most people it's become rote. A hurricaine? oh yeah. Next.
Governor Cuomo managed to get people's attention because of his less than oratorical delivery and his emphasis on being sensible. Too late for many people. I like thousands of my fellow citizens thought that it would be like Hurricaine irene because how could anything happen with a storm that had such a silly name as Sandy.
Well now I know. Arnie was probably on one of the last flights out Sunday which was all to the good. Then the lights went out on Monday night which was already a slothful day with really nothing to do because schools had been cancelled. The lights went out and Kate yipped with enthusiasm and I growled because I knew from our blackout experience during the summer of 2003 for 3 days that this was not going to be fun.
Many many people In China starved during the great revolution or the great leap forward. And so they would routinely greet each other with the greeting:
Churlema which meant did you eat/what did you eat. People still use this in China as a greeting. And these days in new York when 2+ weeks after the "event"there are still people without power, the greeting is: How are you? It's Churlema.
Our lights came on last weekend in the early hours of the morning as a soft yellow glow that lit up all our rooms in the apartment acompanied by the spitting, gurgling, and chirping of electronic equipment. But by that time all of us were shell shocked and definitely showing signs of stress. Kate wrapped herself in an old blue blanket and took on the guise of Mahatma Ghandi as she drifted around the apartment with a book in her hand. Miss Murray was off her regular routine because none of us sat in the bedroom but defected to the living room because it has such great light. in the end her stress level resulted in her peeing in the living room, throwing up and having diarrhea. All on the white rug. And while those were not my symptoms I can't say that I was a walk in the park either. I was tense, cranky and bored out of my skull. Walking the dog early and then sitting in the living room trying to read all the while knowing that the light was slipping away. 6 pm. Bang. your life is over.
By the time I went down to see Arnie in Nashville I was alternatively laughing and crying from stress. It was like being in mourning for a way of life...
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Learning to Talk
Right now I am doing exactly what I claim I abhor: writing, doing work and listening to television. Because I can. I'm an adult. LOL But let me say quickly that it makes me nuts to see Kate texting as she watches TV...what the hell. It's true that texting is to these kids is what talking on the phone was to us. The difference, of course, is that after hard won battles for independence and privacy, we had phones in our rooms! Not in our laps half tucked under the napkins..tick, tick
And of course language has really changed in the last 50 or so years. The Oxford English Dictionary has nothing on me even though I can't even remember what slang we used then. And now my language as a parent is changing again. When Kate was3 years old, instead of taking my parenting style from my 1950's parents I stopped using NO and instead tried to divert Kate with the old bait and switch. I refused to use Stupid as a label and treated it like a swear word. Swear words? Kate found the numerous swear words I was in the habit of using frightening and so she fined me $1 for every swear word I uttered.
Now that she is 16 years old, god help me, I am keeping up to date with two amazing new words that I recommend to everyone.
Bummer and Whats Up with That.
You want to know how to use them? Often and with a light tone is my advice because they are the appropriate answer to everything...
Mom, I lost my wallet, my metro card and life is over.
Bummer.
That's code for "How could you have been so stupid as to lose your money...." but I get brownie points for exhibiting some sympathy without lecturing.
Or listen to this conversation: I was supposed to meet Fred on the street and he stood me up. I found out that he was hanging out with his friend instead.
What's up with that?
I could have said, "Are you crazy to hang out with a loser like that?"but instead now I walk the walk and now I know how to talk the talk.
And of course language has really changed in the last 50 or so years. The Oxford English Dictionary has nothing on me even though I can't even remember what slang we used then. And now my language as a parent is changing again. When Kate was3 years old, instead of taking my parenting style from my 1950's parents I stopped using NO and instead tried to divert Kate with the old bait and switch. I refused to use Stupid as a label and treated it like a swear word. Swear words? Kate found the numerous swear words I was in the habit of using frightening and so she fined me $1 for every swear word I uttered.
Now that she is 16 years old, god help me, I am keeping up to date with two amazing new words that I recommend to everyone.
Bummer and Whats Up with That.
You want to know how to use them? Often and with a light tone is my advice because they are the appropriate answer to everything...
Mom, I lost my wallet, my metro card and life is over.
Bummer.
That's code for "How could you have been so stupid as to lose your money...." but I get brownie points for exhibiting some sympathy without lecturing.
Or listen to this conversation: I was supposed to meet Fred on the street and he stood me up. I found out that he was hanging out with his friend instead.
What's up with that?
I could have said, "Are you crazy to hang out with a loser like that?"but instead now I walk the walk and now I know how to talk the talk.
Monday, September 17, 2012
It's a Portland Day
It is very much a Portland day. The sky is bright blue without any hint of clouds, and the sun is strong. It's not " another day in Paradise," cause we're not in Key West...Today is Portland Day even thought I find myself in New York. The sky is really blue and the sun is really shining bright and I'm not at work courtesy of the Jewish holidays....I wonder what they are doing in Maine....
We, nuclear family consisting of Arnie, Kate, Lile, Grandma Dot and Miss Murray, spent a great week on Chebeague in a new house that we rented. The Crapsers decided not to rent this year We were all cautious optimistic albeit nervous and also sure it would be terrible. We had references for Miss Murray and for ourselves it would seem but change is tough even for adults...But the new house while not warm according to my lights had the advantage of a great screened in porch where we spent virtually all our time. I don't think I realized what an interactive spot a porch can become. You see people passing by and they see you. You wave. You hope you are fully clothed. Miss Murray sees people walk by and she goes nuts. That was the big problem: She morphed into testosterone watch dog....
She was active and happy until Wednesday of that week when we decided to take her with us to a beach that Lile and Kate had found. So we saddled up Miss Murray and put her into Kate's care as we biked off to this beach destination. Murray has a habit of stopping suddenly and so Kate took on the challenge as we set off and arrived happily at a really nice beach which was the site of a 4th of July celebration some years ago. That was the year that Kate had head lice. It's just a nice personal note.
I thought Murray was limping but then it seemed to stop. So we sat for a while and then headed back to the house. I am now calling it the Bataan death march because it was a 7 mile walk for a dog who walks only 4 blocks and every other weekend goes to Central Park to run off some energy. She is not in good marathon shape or used to walking on concrete. Shame on us. So Murray gently lay down on Wednesday and really wasn't herself until Friday. She had done some damage to the pads of her feet and we applied bacetracin and mushers wax, and beat ourselves up for being bad dog mothers. We didn't let her go far or visit the beach because she was really out of it until Friday when she began to be her old self again....
Then poor puppy we put her in the car and brought her right back to New York. Next summer we will know how to better schedule her exercise.
We are back in the Ring Cycle of School Days which seem to be going pretty well. I am learning how to edit my responses to everything with these words: Bummer or Whats Up with That?
It's a Portland Day.....
We, nuclear family consisting of Arnie, Kate, Lile, Grandma Dot and Miss Murray, spent a great week on Chebeague in a new house that we rented. The Crapsers decided not to rent this year We were all cautious optimistic albeit nervous and also sure it would be terrible. We had references for Miss Murray and for ourselves it would seem but change is tough even for adults...But the new house while not warm according to my lights had the advantage of a great screened in porch where we spent virtually all our time. I don't think I realized what an interactive spot a porch can become. You see people passing by and they see you. You wave. You hope you are fully clothed. Miss Murray sees people walk by and she goes nuts. That was the big problem: She morphed into testosterone watch dog....
She was active and happy until Wednesday of that week when we decided to take her with us to a beach that Lile and Kate had found. So we saddled up Miss Murray and put her into Kate's care as we biked off to this beach destination. Murray has a habit of stopping suddenly and so Kate took on the challenge as we set off and arrived happily at a really nice beach which was the site of a 4th of July celebration some years ago. That was the year that Kate had head lice. It's just a nice personal note.
I thought Murray was limping but then it seemed to stop. So we sat for a while and then headed back to the house. I am now calling it the Bataan death march because it was a 7 mile walk for a dog who walks only 4 blocks and every other weekend goes to Central Park to run off some energy. She is not in good marathon shape or used to walking on concrete. Shame on us. So Murray gently lay down on Wednesday and really wasn't herself until Friday. She had done some damage to the pads of her feet and we applied bacetracin and mushers wax, and beat ourselves up for being bad dog mothers. We didn't let her go far or visit the beach because she was really out of it until Friday when she began to be her old self again....
Then poor puppy we put her in the car and brought her right back to New York. Next summer we will know how to better schedule her exercise.
We are back in the Ring Cycle of School Days which seem to be going pretty well. I am learning how to edit my responses to everything with these words: Bummer or Whats Up with That?
It's a Portland Day.....
Sunday, August 19, 2012
More glue sticks
How boring is this. I am back to glue sticks and incredible procrastination. I waited until Sunday, took a nap, had a nice long chat with Arnie, put on some music and now I REALLY have to do IT. I probably won't finish until 8 pm tonight. Grrr
Took Kate and Grandma Dot to the Intouchahables this afternoon and we all cried at the end. Actually Kate got very teary in the middle. It's all about where you can be touched.
ok, ok. I am going to do my second and I hope last round of show and tell with a glue stick.
Took Kate and Grandma Dot to the Intouchahables this afternoon and we all cried at the end. Actually Kate got very teary in the middle. It's all about where you can be touched.
ok, ok. I am going to do my second and I hope last round of show and tell with a glue stick.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
School Days
My entire life is about school days and so today it came this hot steamy morning about that I handled a glue stick for the first time in many many years. And, you know what? It wasn't so easy. I have a much better shot at using crayons and making sure not to go over the lines. What a law abiding child I must have been. or at least until i became a teenager. Sssh. Don't tell
I will be carrying a show tell poster board thing -- you know the kind of thing that students use to show off their science projects -- to a meeting on 6th avenue with an ad agency that my new boss characterizes as creative but a pain in the ass to work with. Who wants that? I have to educate her about the Sallie method of working with suppliers. It should be fun, they should love you and not be a pain in the ass and they have to understand that their relationship will be short and painful.
Two cups of good strong coffee this morning has made me feel WONDERFUL, HAPPY, LOVING, POWERFUL....I see that my tea drinking days are numbered and I will take up coffee as my drug of choice again. This is really great to be flying and to be so brilliant. Ok. I am speeding. ...
Arnie and I saw The most amazing movie this weekend and I want to see it again immediately. Haven't quite figured out what got me so wound up about The Intouchables but I spent my morning trying to get it on Netflix and then finally bought it from Amazon. Of course it's French but besides that it is now one of my obsessions. I may give it to everyone for Christmas. It's taking the place of my annual OMG you must read this book. Now it's OMG come with me and see this film.
Kate comes home tomorrow from a month at camp and I am thrilled. I was happy to see her go because I had had enough and I know she felt the same way. I think she was happy to go and is happy to come home. It is the beginning of pasta, pasta, pasta until we go off to Maine for a week. I am knee deep in my shopping, cooking, menu lists....
I will be carrying a show tell poster board thing -- you know the kind of thing that students use to show off their science projects -- to a meeting on 6th avenue with an ad agency that my new boss characterizes as creative but a pain in the ass to work with. Who wants that? I have to educate her about the Sallie method of working with suppliers. It should be fun, they should love you and not be a pain in the ass and they have to understand that their relationship will be short and painful.
Two cups of good strong coffee this morning has made me feel WONDERFUL, HAPPY, LOVING, POWERFUL....I see that my tea drinking days are numbered and I will take up coffee as my drug of choice again. This is really great to be flying and to be so brilliant. Ok. I am speeding. ...
Arnie and I saw The most amazing movie this weekend and I want to see it again immediately. Haven't quite figured out what got me so wound up about The Intouchables but I spent my morning trying to get it on Netflix and then finally bought it from Amazon. Of course it's French but besides that it is now one of my obsessions. I may give it to everyone for Christmas. It's taking the place of my annual OMG you must read this book. Now it's OMG come with me and see this film.
Kate comes home tomorrow from a month at camp and I am thrilled. I was happy to see her go because I had had enough and I know she felt the same way. I think she was happy to go and is happy to come home. It is the beginning of pasta, pasta, pasta until we go off to Maine for a week. I am knee deep in my shopping, cooking, menu lists....
Monday, June 18, 2012
The stapler kerfuffle
I don't know if this is a commentary on my life -- god help me if it is-- but I can't figure out how to work my new stapler. Don't weep for me Argentina but I just bought a sleep OXO stapler and can't figure out how to use it. And Kate, who is the ultimate handy person, couldn't figure it out either. So I have a new stapler and don't know how to use it. Is that a statement on my low tech life?
This morning I carefully filled a number of spaghetti pots with water because the building sent out a notice that they are turning the water off this morning. But whoops not this morning it seems. So I have buckets of water placed in the kitchen and bathroom and no shortage of water. It's all a muchness with the damn stapler.
Kate is home today lounging in her bed, eating steamed pork buns -- breakfast you know -- and reading manga or anime which are Japanese comics....what happened to slavish attention to the summer reading lists? And what happened to school, you ask? Can't answer that? She is taking regents which she characterized as "mad easy - no need to study" and has blocks of time where she is eating bon bons and doing little else.
I think my response is typical....
This morning I carefully filled a number of spaghetti pots with water because the building sent out a notice that they are turning the water off this morning. But whoops not this morning it seems. So I have buckets of water placed in the kitchen and bathroom and no shortage of water. It's all a muchness with the damn stapler.
Kate is home today lounging in her bed, eating steamed pork buns -- breakfast you know -- and reading manga or anime which are Japanese comics....what happened to slavish attention to the summer reading lists? And what happened to school, you ask? Can't answer that? She is taking regents which she characterized as "mad easy - no need to study" and has blocks of time where she is eating bon bons and doing little else.
I think my response is typical....
Monday, May 14, 2012
Vacation is always a good thing
Remember that slogan: See the USA in your Chevrolet....I'm thinking that maybe thats the way to go...We left the apartment at 6 pm in order to do due diligence, etc. etc. and our plane took off at midnight. No 12:30. Actually everybody on the flight thought it was going to be cancelled because the poor woman at the gate had the unenviable job of saying. I am so sorry but the plane is caught in traffic crossing the airport runways...Now, how lame is that. For 3 hours.
But our trip wasn't on a chevrolet but in business class which is always pretty swell. And now they have barka loungers in the sky which meant that I could actually get my feet up and sleep. Of course I can sleep almost anywhere but I remember all too clearly a really long flight where I felt like the poor security guard in a bank who has to sleep sitting up in a chair. Of course Arnie alleges that he didn't sleep but I think I heard him get off some zzz.
We flew into Charles deGaulle /airport which could really double as a set for blade runner. It is enormous and confusing but I was happy to be able to pick up a sandwich and start speaking french which has really improved since this crazy wonderful course I started taking this fall on comic books and now detective stories with the requisite conversation...
Originally i thought we might have time to go into Paris before our connecting flight that afternoon to Copenhagen but a 3 1/2 hour delay out of JFK put finish to that idea. We had a quick flight to Copenhagen and quick taxi ride to our hotel which Arnie initially hated, but I think he learned to like a lot because the owner is really the poster child for hospitality. It's one of those unprepossessing looking hotels with lots of blond wood and a feeling or organic everything...I liked it and we had a great view from our teeny tiny balcony. I had never been to any Scandinavian country before and found Denmark to be very relaxed. Maybe even just a little dull with beautiful blonde children looking out at the world curiously from their perches in bicycle baskets of varying sizes...We walked a lot and enjoyed the Danish people, had several excellent meals, bought little, saw several castles which i thought were second rate, experienced a changing of the guard at one, strolled through a cheerfully crowded and chilly Tivoli which was well known to me because of my parents interest in Copenhagen, and also went to a wonderful museum out of town called the Louisanne. I 'm sure I've spelled that incorrectly. I would say the weather word for Copenhagen was crispy. I wore gloves.
But Paris was glorious and warm.....And so francais, francais thank god.
But our trip wasn't on a chevrolet but in business class which is always pretty swell. And now they have barka loungers in the sky which meant that I could actually get my feet up and sleep. Of course I can sleep almost anywhere but I remember all too clearly a really long flight where I felt like the poor security guard in a bank who has to sleep sitting up in a chair. Of course Arnie alleges that he didn't sleep but I think I heard him get off some zzz.
We flew into Charles deGaulle /airport which could really double as a set for blade runner. It is enormous and confusing but I was happy to be able to pick up a sandwich and start speaking french which has really improved since this crazy wonderful course I started taking this fall on comic books and now detective stories with the requisite conversation...
Originally i thought we might have time to go into Paris before our connecting flight that afternoon to Copenhagen but a 3 1/2 hour delay out of JFK put finish to that idea. We had a quick flight to Copenhagen and quick taxi ride to our hotel which Arnie initially hated, but I think he learned to like a lot because the owner is really the poster child for hospitality. It's one of those unprepossessing looking hotels with lots of blond wood and a feeling or organic everything...I liked it and we had a great view from our teeny tiny balcony. I had never been to any Scandinavian country before and found Denmark to be very relaxed. Maybe even just a little dull with beautiful blonde children looking out at the world curiously from their perches in bicycle baskets of varying sizes...We walked a lot and enjoyed the Danish people, had several excellent meals, bought little, saw several castles which i thought were second rate, experienced a changing of the guard at one, strolled through a cheerfully crowded and chilly Tivoli which was well known to me because of my parents interest in Copenhagen, and also went to a wonderful museum out of town called the Louisanne. I 'm sure I've spelled that incorrectly. I would say the weather word for Copenhagen was crispy. I wore gloves.
But Paris was glorious and warm.....And so francais, francais thank god.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Apologies
Apparently I have cranky and demanding readers who are insisting on more....so I am graciously acceding to these pleas.
It's been a little turbulent around these parts. I left the Museum at the end of March and frankly it was time for me to go. I had nothing to do and I was bored. I started my so called consulting thinking naively that I would actually have something to do or could bring value to the equation...Not to be so I was lucky to have 6 months to get used to leaving a place that I had called home for 12 years. I watched the amazing trees outside my window go from full bloom to winter to full bloom again. Ok, slopping sentimental but I've always had great views...not necessarily great offices but great views to muse my time away watching.
So now I am the new kid on the block which is the Board of Ed. New people, new locations, new M.O's and just new everything. Actually I was never entirely confident that this job wold come through and not entirely sure that I even wanted it although I interviewed with people that I liked. And that's one of the rules: Only work with people you like from the outset. But later you may discover that they are crazy and you are screwed. So then you leave. I had a killer interview for the Board of Ed at the beginning of February and then started the last week of April or so. Amazing to me. I had some great job interviews along the way but this job was interesting to me. And they wanted me.
So I am learning everything I can. After 12 years at one place where you know all the people, all the procedures more or less...you are a known fish in a big pond then moving on can be exhausting. That's the word I have to use. I have no set office and so nobody knows where this team of professionals actually is. Oh, what's my title: I am the publicist for public school District 3 which runs from 59th street to 123 streets on the west Side. What am I doing? Riding the subway comes to mind immediately because I am traveling between 8 schools on the upper west side which is really quite an education to coin a phrase....
ok, more later cause n ow I have to go to school.
It's been a little turbulent around these parts. I left the Museum at the end of March and frankly it was time for me to go. I had nothing to do and I was bored. I started my so called consulting thinking naively that I would actually have something to do or could bring value to the equation...Not to be so I was lucky to have 6 months to get used to leaving a place that I had called home for 12 years. I watched the amazing trees outside my window go from full bloom to winter to full bloom again. Ok, slopping sentimental but I've always had great views...not necessarily great offices but great views to muse my time away watching.
So now I am the new kid on the block which is the Board of Ed. New people, new locations, new M.O's and just new everything. Actually I was never entirely confident that this job wold come through and not entirely sure that I even wanted it although I interviewed with people that I liked. And that's one of the rules: Only work with people you like from the outset. But later you may discover that they are crazy and you are screwed. So then you leave. I had a killer interview for the Board of Ed at the beginning of February and then started the last week of April or so. Amazing to me. I had some great job interviews along the way but this job was interesting to me. And they wanted me.
So I am learning everything I can. After 12 years at one place where you know all the people, all the procedures more or less...you are a known fish in a big pond then moving on can be exhausting. That's the word I have to use. I have no set office and so nobody knows where this team of professionals actually is. Oh, what's my title: I am the publicist for public school District 3 which runs from 59th street to 123 streets on the west Side. What am I doing? Riding the subway comes to mind immediately because I am traveling between 8 schools on the upper west side which is really quite an education to coin a phrase....
ok, more later cause n ow I have to go to school.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Great day
The first day of my hiatus. Is it a hiatus when you're waiting to get fingerprinted and get a start date to go work for New York's board of ed? I guess so. But everybody else that I know is busy and focused, specially Arnie who flew into New York from Alaska last weekend -- such along flight -- and then he flew out to the west coast again. He is a resident of Delta, not the country the airline....
So this morning I went to the gym, had coffee with a friend, stopped at Whole Foods and then went to have my hair cut. How great is that!
So this morning I went to the gym, had coffee with a friend, stopped at Whole Foods and then went to have my hair cut. How great is that!
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
And then I said...
Today is my last day at the Museum of Natural History where I've worked for 12 years...gainfully employed as they say. But it is time to move on and move on I can. To the Board of Ed and a new gig. But last night I had to give some serious consideration to what to wear, what my final costume would be on my final day in this play. I tried to tell Kate that when I left Barnard College some 30 years ago I had worn a purple silk shirt and black trousers which was seen as a "statement." To today's kids trousers aren't much of a statement. Actually it's even hard for me to see what all the fuss was about. But I thought about this costume pretty hard because I am in the business of facade and spin. So this morning it came down to black turtleneck sweater, black trousers and red leather jacket. The intended message: I am rich, italian and chic....
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Rap Music
Have I said recently how much I hate rap music? In the past I didn't hesitate Ito ask cab drivers to turn it off but now that my daughter has discovered a love for rap music it's a whole different thing. I am trying to sound open minded. I've come to understand the lure of Eminem with his anger and lyrics of anguish and pain..... but last night and then this morning she was listening to CJ Mac. or I think it was CJ mac....This is the rap that is so anti female that you can hardly breathe when you hear it...that talks about love and having babies but then asks a woman to have an abortion.
I can hardly write about it because it is so insulting to women...Ok time for me to pause....
I can hardly write about it because it is so insulting to women...Ok time for me to pause....
Sunday, March 11, 2012
teen age mom
who knew I'd be spending my time this gorgeous sunny and almost warm Sunday in March baby sitting teenagers? It occurs to me that I've started many posts with "who knew?" so it is clear that I must spend my life in a state of constant surprise. Well I'm not exactly baby sitting but certainly my time is constricted because I must be here when Kate and her posse come by. The big rule : no friends at home unless there is a grown up present.
Oh god. I have more to say but I also have tax papers to lasso...
Oh god. I have more to say but I also have tax papers to lasso...
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
It's all in the mind or the Eye of the Beholder
Kate went with me to the hair dresser this week and decided to have her hair cut really short and kinda punk plus we decided that it would look great with red streaks. And it does s great but the week before she returned to school she kept worrying about her classmates reaction...whether they would think she looked like a member of a Kpop band. It's all in the eye of the beholder I kept saying. If you see a woman with a bag emblazoned with gold CC's do you think that her name could be candy cochran or do you immediately assume that it's a Chanel Bag? Depends on your age. And demographic. So none of the adults who saw Kate's hair thought she looked like a Kpop band member and apparently none of her classmates did either!
Friday, February 10, 2012
a la française
It's hard for me to really remember how much I hated French when I took it in school. I was always failing french which is also probably why I hated it. A whole lot of tutoring going on there...but when I was in Turkey one summer after I graduated I finally got that I could be a spy and that maybe my education had paid off. I was able to translate a conversation from Turkish to French to English and actually help somebody make the right bus. Isn't that what's all about? Helping people. This was not philosophy or anything highbrow but it was useful. That was a great feeling and so now I actually enjoy speaking French. I of course feel chic-er than everybody who doesn't speak french unless they are speaking Italian in which case I have instant Italian envy....This year with a reduced work load and 3 days of leisure, so called, I finally signed up for French lessons. But not at the granddaddy of all french teaching institutions in New York, the Alliance Francaise which I had understood was populated by young French matrons. No, I decided to take French at the Idlewild Travel Book store where mon prof teaches bain dessine which is comic books. Incredible fun. We read Tintin en Tibet which i didn't really like -- it is a true period piece -- but the professor is great...young with a sense of humor and appreciation of the ridiculous...In fact I think I will take another course from him. To Kate's amusement I am always late doing my homework and end up sitting like a tailor on the bed with a dictionary in one hand and 3x5 cards in the other writing furious as I intone the words slowly and clearly.
Way chic
Way chic
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
A Momentous Day
It's a momentous day for me BECAUSE I walked out of the house without earrings. Sans boucle dore which is french for earring. And why would anybody give a damn about that you say? Beats me but ever since I had my ears pierced at age 18 I have rarely, if ever, gone without earrings. Because thats the point of having your ears pierced. It means you can always wear them and be perfectly groomed and exhibit perfect manners by wearing your earrings. Of course I have also rarely experienced a 60 degree day on the first of February so there are firsts all around us.
And now I am cooking with gas. No, not like I forgot my earrings...I don't mean that literally but it's just that somehow I found my work mojo and things are moving along. I have a job interview tomorrow which is good, an appointment to talk about some regular consulting work and some conversations a new project that I am suddenly energized about. Courtesy of Arti Finn who is always up.
And last night I went to my 2nd french lesson at the Idlewild Book Store on 19th street where I am studying Bain Dessines or comic books. Te teacher is young, amusing and fabulous and the class is reading Tintin en Tibet. Don't you just love all the crazy sub cultures that exist in New York. My first homework was page 1 through 30 of Tintin which is pretty copy dense which I discovered only when I sat down on Monday night to do the reading for the next day. Kate was thrilled at this major demonstration of my procrastination and told me over and over again how bad I was. I'm sure that she was disappointed when I managed with the help of a dictionary to get through it. The idioms are many and I was curled up on the bed with a dictionary and 8x10 vocabulary cards. Zut
And now I am cooking with gas. No, not like I forgot my earrings...I don't mean that literally but it's just that somehow I found my work mojo and things are moving along. I have a job interview tomorrow which is good, an appointment to talk about some regular consulting work and some conversations a new project that I am suddenly energized about. Courtesy of Arti Finn who is always up.
And last night I went to my 2nd french lesson at the Idlewild Book Store on 19th street where I am studying Bain Dessines or comic books. Te teacher is young, amusing and fabulous and the class is reading Tintin en Tibet. Don't you just love all the crazy sub cultures that exist in New York. My first homework was page 1 through 30 of Tintin which is pretty copy dense which I discovered only when I sat down on Monday night to do the reading for the next day. Kate was thrilled at this major demonstration of my procrastination and told me over and over again how bad I was. I'm sure that she was disappointed when I managed with the help of a dictionary to get through it. The idioms are many and I was curled up on the bed with a dictionary and 8x10 vocabulary cards. Zut
Monday, January 23, 2012
Posting
Recently Kate and I went to New Orleans for a girls weekend with Spook who s working on a film with Will Ferrell and Zack Galafinakis but as they work during the week and we were there on a Saturday/ Sunday we saw no stars but had a great time none the less. It was warm enough that we could have lunch al fresco and sit a charing garden and never shivver. That's something in January. But since the weather all across the country is not the norm, maybe that will become the new norm. Now that we are back in New York there is plenty of time to shiver and worry about snow which we had this weekend in small does. But it's nice to hunk back on New Orleans where we went to Preservation Hall to hear Dixie Land Jazz, had Sunday lunch at the iconic restaurant Galatoies with its generations of N'orleans natives who have been tucking into etouffes, gumbos and shrimp remoulades for generations, toured the Frances Parkinson Keys house, she of the 50+ novels and bought Mardi Gras masks. I promptly lost mine. But I also bought pralines which I did not lose...I liked New Orleans much better this visit where we had a great room with windows on the Mississippi with a perfect view of the heavy boat traffic.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
A sunny but cold watershed day
Well, today was my watershed day. Kate decreed that yesterday was her watershed day because she walked Miss Murray this morning at 6:00 am when it was 12 degrees. And this, I am happy to report, is just the beginning because Kate is going to walk Miss Murray every morning and feed her. Plus she is going to get a 85 in her course on Digital Design Planning. How do I know this? I just do.
And today was my watershed day because Kate walked Miss Murray again and was up and showered by 6 am without any prodding. All of this momentous change came about because we got Kate a new phone. Her 3rd new phone. She always wants something better. This time she wanted a touch screen and the ability to have more data. I didn't want to pay for it so we came to this accommodation: She would walk Miss Murray for $1 a day for basically the rest of her life to pay the $30 monthly data charge. Woof. What is this hole in my schedule. I have been walking dogs for so long that it almost seems really strange to me not to go out with Miss Murray at the crackers of dawn. But I imagine that I am flexible and will be able to manage this deprivation.
Do I look deprived yet?
And today was my watershed day because Kate walked Miss Murray again and was up and showered by 6 am without any prodding. All of this momentous change came about because we got Kate a new phone. Her 3rd new phone. She always wants something better. This time she wanted a touch screen and the ability to have more data. I didn't want to pay for it so we came to this accommodation: She would walk Miss Murray for $1 a day for basically the rest of her life to pay the $30 monthly data charge. Woof. What is this hole in my schedule. I have been walking dogs for so long that it almost seems really strange to me not to go out with Miss Murray at the crackers of dawn. But I imagine that I am flexible and will be able to manage this deprivation.
Do I look deprived yet?
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