It was later than I usually go for an evening walk. The sun was low enough that trees were more silhouette than foliage, and the air gentle after the day’s heat.
I turned the corner. An elderly man was picking green figs from a laden tree. I complimented the tree and its bounty. He told me that [...]
It’s been 65 years today since the devastating bombing of the city of Hiroshima. A month or two later (I have conflicting notes) my father was there, sent along with other American military personnel. He was in the the Coast Guard, then part of the Navy.
A couple of months ago, my father sent [...]
Did you know that today is Feel Teal Friday and that President Obama declared September Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month?
I bet you didn’t, and to be honest, until yesterday, I didn’t either. Ovarian cancer, unlike its pink cousin, breast cancer, is way down on most of our radars as familiar diseases to look out for. While is [...]
Years ago a friend lent me the classic anthology of collective nouns, An Exaltation of Larks which traces “multitude” nouns like “a pride of lions,” a gaggle of geese.” and so on — some of them quite fanciful, like “rash of dermatologists.” I’m willing to bet good money, however, that the book does not yet include [...]
My friend Cheri Lasher-Sandhu never met a surface she didn’t like.
When I knew her in Israel, she’d paint anything — cabinets, furniture, pillows, clothing, and the unfinished Arab-style pottery plates and water jugs sold all around Israel. If memory serves, she painted part of the hallway leading to her apartment. She was compelled to paint, a [...]
Last weekend I spent some time in Deerfield, Illinois, for a family wedding, and an uber-class act it was. In between the family, and the food, and the hospitality suite, and the food, and the schmoozing––and did I mention the FOOD?––I managed a quick trip to the Chicago Botanical Garden.
It’s been a long time since I [...]
No, it’s not Valentines Day but it’s an excellent time to show off my “ahava” (Hebrew for “love”) shirts. Edgy and tattoo-inspired, the design gives an otherwise schmaltzy concept a bit of biker spice, don’t you think?
The reason is Tu B’Av, the 15th Day of the month of Av in the Hebrew lunar calendar, which [...]
From Wikipedia:
Azadi (Persian: ) means “freedom, liberty” in Persian, the official and national language of Iran. This Persian word is also borrowed by Kurdish, Urdu, Pashto and Hindi languages.
The past few weeks I have, like everyone else, been riveted by the news from Iran, at least until Michael Jackson’s demise took precedence for so many in [...]
According to a Chinese friend I worked with many years ago, this is a saying from Shanghai. It explains why we are often attracted to places, cultures and even people who are very different from us. I love this saying and its succinctness. I also happen to love ginger too, heh.)
I am often asked how I [...]
Have you ever thought about things that have been in your head since you can remember and then one day it occurs to you that not everyone sees things that way? I have this mental image of a round elevator door window where my cousins lived when we were all very young.
When [...]
