Hometown October 29, 2009

One can go long and far from the hometown, couldn’t wait to leave it and live life miles away. Still,when the place is mentioned  in the news or elsewhere, it peaks attention and one listens. Sometimes the news is good, sometimes bad. In today’s NYTimes, the news about my hometown is good and it kindles [...]

Poland, anyone? October 28, 2009

Does the average American ever think of visiting Poland, as he does, say, France or Italy? Probably not, but I do.
This blogger goes way back with the Poles and Poland. Growing up with them (two Polish families lived above us in a 3-family house in New Haven), having a little Polack, Manya, as my best [...]

Do you lie? October 26, 2009

I do–to my hubby.  But just to keep the peace. You might call them small fibs of marriage. The Catholic Church calls such sins venial, minor offenses, certainly not mortal ones that involve matters of grave importance.
“Did you buy the salt? We’re low,” says hubby. “Yes.”  The answer should be no. I forgot the salt, [...]

Birds, cat prey October 1, 2009

In the NYT yesterday (9/30/09), Natalie Angier wrote a piece called “Give Birds a Break. Lock Up the Cat, ” in which she beseeches catowners to keep their cats at home, so they won’t roam the streets and kill birds. 
Ms. Angier, let me tell you. we keep our cat,  Aurora Borealis, at home and never [...]

Small joys of age October 1, 2009

Drinking tea, for one thing. For years I turned up my nose at tea. I was a dedicated coffee drinker and proudly served steaming cups of Italian espresso (instead of the American variety). You see, I came from a culture where heavy, black coffee was de rigueur, socially obligatory. Serving it was like others offering a [...]

Crunked on vermouth September 27, 2009

One of the things given up by Henry and me some years ago was a daily bourbon Manhattan before dinner, our version being 1/3 bourbon, 1/3 sweet and 1/3 dry vermouth. It was less lethal than the traditional drink but still capable of packing a wallop. Then, at 70+, we said “no more.” Henry reduced [...]

Alec Baldwin September 21, 2009

Henry and I are very pleased that Alec Baldwin has won an Emmy Award a second time for his performance on “30 Rock.” We feel pleased because he’s not only an exraordinary performer, but like us, a resident of the East End of Long Island (he lives in Amagansett and we in Springs).  In season, [...]

Keeping a blog September 20, 2009

Writing posts each day is not easy. For one thing, blowing your own horn, as some bloggers do, can turn away  readers and that’s something to be avoided. To minimize this, what this blog does–whenever possible avoiding the unspeakable I–is to use the third person in place of I  (as in, this blogger thinks, etc).  and [...]

Summer scenes August 31, 2009

To add a footnote to  an Our Towns  column (NYTimes 8/31/09) about sighting animals on the East End 0f Long Island this summer, here are a few sightings of our own. For Henry and me, sighting animals is much more exciting than celebrity sighting.
In Springs, driving on Springs Fireplace Road, we saw a mother deer [...]

Sen. Kennedy (cont.) August 29, 2009

It’s well known that the Kennedy family is Catholic. When I was planning a book of interviews on American Catholics, Catholics USA (William Morrow, 1989), it was natural to include a Kennedy. Since both John and Bobby had died tragically from assassins’ bullets, only Teddy remained, and he is in it. Frankly, if all three brothers had [...]