Cat In an Empty Philadelphia Storefront: A Marvellous Mystery

 For the last few weeks, I've been using my cool new phone camera to take pictures of my many "working" feline friends. All but two of them are employed by Brooklyn businesses (the two non-Brooklynite felines were encountered… Read full post »

I have another photo blog in the works but am still trying to get all the pictures for it (some of my subjects being elusive). Just so y'all won't think I fell off the edge of the earth ('though it sometimes feels that way to me) I'll write about what little… Read full post »

It's Labor Day and I went to work, as did Lady Lucia, because we work in social services and don't automatically get holidays off. (She is paid much better than I but, in many ways, her job is also even more of a pain-in-the-tush than mine). Anyway...I went to work and… Read full post »

Two Lions Watching the gate of a Bay Ridge House

Recently (in response to my kvetching about how bored I am in "suburban" Brooklyn and how little this neighborhood inspires me to write, when compared with Manhattan) OS blogger Alysa Salzberg gave me a writing exercise: stop kvetchi… Read full post »

Lady Lucia and I went to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire for our "belated mini honeymoon" and ended up taking a second, unplanned "Magical Mystery Tour" on Sunday (after doing the Ren Faire on Saturday). To backtrack...

We left Brooklyn on Friday afternoon and took our time getting to PA, stopping… Read full post »

It's been too long since my last post. These days, I seem to have Blogger's Block, mainly because my life has gotten so routine. I feel like a hamster on a wheel, either walking or riding the bus (depending on weather) to and from the Home six times per week (Monday… Read full post »

Since I wrote my last list, I have acquired a few new favorite things, some of which will probably be lasting and others which are likely to be more ephemeral.

1. My Holy Union and Engagement rings. Lady Lucia and I have matching ring sets (they didn't come as sets; we… Read full post »

I have written, many times, in this space, about my passionate love for my home town (which happens to be Manhattan). Reading Alysa Salzberg's writing about her beloved Paris has inspired me to share a poem I wrote (back in 2008, while sitting in Straus Park on West 107th Street and… Read full post »

I've always been proud of my skill as a Hack writer. I can crank out a decent blog post, sermon or poem, pretty much on demand, usually in less than half an hour. Give me an assignment and I'll run with it. Fast. I almost never revise, except for typos. Yes,… Read full post »

  My Grandpa Joe was born in the USA, but just barely. His mother was pregnant (very pregnant) on the boat, and he was born about a day after they got off Ellis Island. My great-granparents hated it here and brought Grandpa Joe back to Italy (Sambucca; where the great liquor… Read full post »

Well, it seems that OS is still here. Until such time as the rumors of her demise prove true, I'll continue posting. While I don't want to lose touch with any of youse, I have a genuine love-hate relationship with FaceBook, and find it more irksome than most other forms of… Read full post »

We did "A Midsummer Night's Dream" yesterday. I had fun playing Hippolyta and was flattered that the company's founding Director (who had not seen me in many years but was there to play the role of Oberon) recognized me immediately. Of course I recognized him immediately, too. But I had this… Read full post »

It's been nearly two years since I moved in with Lady Lucia. Two years with her (and with Alice and Trixie). That part is and has been wonderful. The two years in Brooklyn part has been less wonderful. Still, being in Brooklyn means being with my three "blonde blue-eyed girls" (as… Read full post »

Read the following on the back of a teenaged girl's t-shirt this afternoon: "In case of emergency, use your problem-solving skills." I will try to remember that.

Yesterday I got an email informing me that I'd been cast as Hippolyta (the Queen of the Amazons, not to be confused with my… Read full post »

This afternoon, I received a call from an HR representative at a social service agency, whose craigslist posting I'd answered. I'd heard of the agency, which administers health and recreation programs for seniors in various nursing homes and residences; they were seeking a Program Assistant, who woul… Read full post »

Lady Lucia was home for a week before she had to go away without me AGAIN. This time just for two days instead of eight, but still...

She's away attending a clergy gathering, to which I was also invited, but couldn't go because I don't get any paid time off from… Read full post »

I've washed my hair and cleaned the bathroom. Cleaned the kitchen a bit, too. It still feels too early for dinner, so, here I am, filling time and my computer screen with letters, like little ants marching in a line. This is the last of my EIGHT long nights alone. Lady… Read full post »

Those of youse who have been reading this blog for a while were aware that Lady Lucia and I had been planning our Holy Union ceremony for nearly a year and would be having it in late April. (I hadn't wanted to specify the exact date on this blog until after… Read full post »

Interesting. Just a few days before my 50th birthday, I have discovered that two  artists I really admire were also born on April 25th. Maude Hart Lovelace, the author of the "Betsey-Tacey" books, which I loved reading as a child and am re-reading now (I found a bunch in a second-hand… Read full post »

This is one of those (fortunately very rare) Saturday nights when Lady Lucia and I are not together. She's out and I'm home alone. I could have gone with her if I'd wanted to but there are times when her idea of fun is my idea of torture. Tonight's event is… Read full post »

We did the Fred Allen Show on Thursday night. My first show in over two years went very well, as far as our performances and the audience response were concerned. Afterward, though, there was some of what my Mama, Rosy Cheeks, calls "difficult sociology."

First, there was the uncertainty about whethe… Read full post »

Last night, Lady Lucia and I attended a 40th birthday party for our friend Hippolyta. I think that, these days, Hippolyta is probably my youngest friend (I used to hang out with a couple of people in their 20s while still living in Manhattan but have lost touch with them since… Read full post »

Approximately 90 minutes ago, I was in an overpriced, snooty Manhattan restaurant with a group of really cool OS bloggers, including Cranky Cuss, Alysa Salzberg, Sally Allen, Dirndl Skirt and a few others I was meeting for the first time. Lady Lucia was there, too, and I'd told her she would be… Read full post »

I guess many would call it a good problem to have. I refer to the problem of finding something to wear for the commitment ceremony that Lady Lucia and I are planning for the end of April (yes, mere days after my fiftieth birthday). There are two challenges associated with my… Read full post »

When I came back to NY, after spending my 8th grade year in San Francisco, I was intent on becoming a professional ballet dancer. Miss Jean's teaching had really helped me believe in myself and I was ready to take on the New York ballet scene - or so I thought. There… Read full post »