Down for me is up

I was recently exiting the subway when I saw the funniest thing ever. There was a fellow vaulting the turnstile. That’s nothing unusual in New York City, must happen hundreds of times a minute throughout our vast subway system. The thing that was unusual was that the fellow was a well to do white guy in his thirties. Not that only people of color jump the turnstiles, I’ve seen white college girls…

Being retired I have to think of creative ways of filling the day. Being on a fixed income makes it more of a creative pursuit. Fortunately, this being New York City there are plenty pf low-cost things to do. Some are even free. In the past two weeks I’ve seen three movies for half price, gone to the Goatham opening day in Riverside Park, and attended a “Relaxed open rehearsal” at Lincoln Center.…

Yesterday afternoon I was wondering what I was going to do today, having no commitments scheduled. Being retired and alone (my wife’s away) I’ve come up with some creative ways of filling time, writing being one of them, but I always make it a point to get out of the house. In the past week I’ve seen 3 movies, one open rehearsal at David Geffen Hall and attended the annual Goatham festival in…

I just watched the last episode of “The Deuce,” on MAX, a totally underrated show if there ever was one, perhaps because of the sordid subject matter. In the final scene Vince, played by James Franco who is in New York for a wedding, having left town sometime in the past, walks along 42nd street, “The Deuce,” for the first time in a long time.As he walks through the brightly lit streets of…

Change is good.

I ran into a streak of work the last half of January, and realized I’d have some extra money. Not a whole lot, as Charley Varrick once said, but more than I was expecting to have. A windfall, you might call it. Of course, I had to work for it, the emails and phone calls just came in a sudden torrent for the work. The work ranged from replacing the valves on an old (and difficult) shower body on…

The Red Caboose is a self-proclaimed “hobby shop” in the basement of a commercial building at 23 West 45th Street, in the heart of the diamond district. Damn, I should be writing for real estate brokers! Their website proclaims that while they “still do have trains in a variety of scales,” they are also “strong in die cast planes, cars, and have a vast supply of hobby supplies: paint, tools,…

A new year story.

Guacamole is a staple of the Mexican kitchen. It’s become an American favorite, an essential for Superbowl parties and fourth of July barbeques. Guacamole has become as American as apple pie, so to speak. And like apple pie recipes, there are endless variations. I learned to make guacamole from my mother, who grew up in the mountains near the city of Puebla in Mexico. In our kitchen my mother…

FIVE MINUTES IN THE WATER

THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS TREES PAST

The first Christmas tree I remember with any clarity was the tree my mother bought the Christmas of 1963. I was 7 years old and President Kennedy had been assassinated just weeks before.We waited till Christmas Eve, my mother explained that the tree man would want to get rid of any trees he had left and we would be saving money. So Christmas Eve my mother and I set off to the Christmas tree man…

           When my therapist asks how I am feeling and I say, “Tired,” he says: “That’s not a feeling. Glad sad mad scared. Those are feelings.”

Sometimes I feel happy, sometimes I feel sad, but mostly now I just feel helpless.

There are a few people that mostly just make me mad, but this isn’t about that. This is about having my life turned upside down, leaving me feeling helpless,…

WHAT WE DID FOR CHRISTMAS

I’ve been doing this volunteer thing, and I guess it grew out of my community garden volunteering. Since I’m retired now, I try and think of better things to do than binge watching the entire Sopranos saga (twice) or looking up arcane stuff on the Internet.

When it’s warm and it’s garden season I spend a lot of time working at our community garden, Hope the Friendly Garden on the Hill. It’s…

Last night my wife Danusia and I went to The Cathedral of St. John the Divine for the annual New Year’s Eve “Concert for Peace,” and had an amazing time.

At first, when we were planning to go I was surprised and more than a little disappointed that it started at 7 PM and ended at 8:30, I could swear it went on later than that. What else could we do till midnight, I thought?

The first…

When I was living at the Pratt Institute dormitory in the early 70s I would play this song every Sunday morning after waking up. Actually I did it after lighting the first cigarette of the day and going to the bathroom, of course.

Probably while the coffee was brewing on my roommate’s Mr. Coffee machine, and while I was…