don't erase the line!

I'm not sure you can see this unless you have Facebook, but I find it hilarious.

new york, new york

 Maybe because I'm leaving and it's spring, my apartment looks extra good to me. I am sure yu are wondering how my bitter melon plant is doing, and if you look carefully, you can see that one of them has wrapped a tendril around the window guard. I don't know if it will make it through the next month without watering—it likes a lot of water. But we shall see. It's on its own.

les girls

In the wake of 9/11, Donna got us an intro to Oxygen media. It was a rough time for me. I was 50 years old. I'd left my job of twenty years, my daughter had gone away to college, my lover had dumped me, and I was feeling pretty unsure of myself before Donna took me in hand. And then Roni took us both under her wing as our producer. We didn't know anything about making TV shows, but she trusted us and taught us. We had a great time, learned a lot and had some popular success.
   Oxygen moved on, and so did Roni, and so did we. But it was just like the old days when we got together the other night. So fun.

At a guess, these are the same white go-go boots Donna had when we met.

Roni has been seriously competing in triathlons, as you can tell by her body.

Roni holds the dummy of Donna's book, which will come out this summer. I wrote an intro.

a tree grows in brooklyn

 As many of you know, when nice weather comes to New York, I make a pilgrimage to Brooklyn. And I have to blog about it because otherwise certain friends would say I never come to Brooklyn. Let me just point out that this was my second visit within the month. Anyway, we were sitting at an outdoor cafe when this amazingly orange Charger (?) came along Dean Street. As I was taking its picture, I saw a flash of yellow in the crotch of the tree behind it. I did not know what it was, so I approached.
It was an apple, though this was not an apple tree. Overripe. Odd.

 After dining at The Usual Place, we meandered down to Jolie to eat oysters and meet Ed's future partner, the chef Neil of Flying Lobster fame. You can read all about it here. We also wound up with a couple of very tall, blond Danish schoolteachers, and all of us headed to Neil's restaurant, La Petite Crevette, where he treated us to more seafood (yes, I had lobster—along with mussels and scallops and shrimp in some fab soup). That's Neil, with the taco chips in his ears.

 And finally, I Ubered home. The Empire State building and others were lit up in honor of France in the wake of the Notre Dame disaster. It was a very long lunch.

holidays

 It's been about thirty years since Hannah and I went to Alabama one spring break in search of a new truck. (We found one, but this wasn't it. It was the brown and tan Ford.) Anyway, this time Hannah and Chris took their own kids on a road trip to Alabama. They needed a bigger vehicle.

 Hannah et al spent a few days with fam. The kids got to go swimming and dye Easter eggs with Jan. Then they drove all out to make it  home for the bunny visit.

 Me, I celebrated Passover instead of Easter with Toby and her grandkids, who are about the same age as mine, and about the same age their moms were back in the day when us 98 Riverside folk started celebrating holidays together.

i know

I have been remiss and not posted much this week. I have a lot to report, but won't get to it today.
This entry is just to say that I have pulled the plug on the phone number that is one of the few many of you have memorized.
212-595-5701 is no more.
Sorry.
I just couldn't tolerate Verizon x3 any more. Especially super slow DSL for $70 a month. I'm down to Verizon x2. Also slow, but no alternative in Block Island.

the kid is all right

A OK. Adam back in the day when drinking was still exciting.

Word. Adam has undergone surgery, had a baseball-size tumor removed from his kidney (but was able to keep most of the kidney) and will soon be released from the hospital.
  Here's a little flashback. That's Adam on the left, with me and Baby Hannah and Cousin Ian and Barrett. We were dressed as "Fiji Islanders," but so inaccurately that I don't think we can be accused of cultural appropriation. I mean, people from Fiji probably wear the same things we do. We were attempting to play a prank on a Block Island cab driver and take an island tour. Sadly, Barrett had successfully played this joke on him before in a different disguise (overexcitable city girl), so this time he was on the alert. "OK, Barrett, I know it's you," he said. He refused to take us on an island tour, even though we were willing to pay. Adam remembers the day.

Adam and crew as Fiji Islanders, circa 1982, when he was twelve.

et tu, fairway!

I. Can't. Even.

magic beans?

This is what is coming up in the window pot. (Not the ferns—they are unkillable.)  I did not plant anything this year, so it is either leftover magic beans or bitter melon that didn't sprout last year or something a bird dropped. Looked like beans until I saw the serrated leaf. We'll know soon enough.

so over it!

 Check out that garden! A friend sent me this pic recently. This was back in Athens, Il., @1976. Victory garden! Organic! I was so into it. And continued to be when we bought the Block Island property in 1980, branching out from vegetables into flowers and hydrangeas. Gardening by the sea, however, proved to be challenging, with the wind and the salt, not to mention the deer and snapping turtles (I know they are not supposed to eat plants, but I swear to the goddess). Then, what with not being in Block Island to tend a garden during the summer, not being in Missouri early enough to plant and late enough to harvest, I kinda quit. Then there was laziness—I no longer sew my own paisley clothing or crochet or knit or embroider either. Now I content myself with planting a couple magic beans in my pots in the kitchen window and paying guys to mow. 

must be spring

 Refinished kitchen floor. Well, not really. A little sanding and two coats of urethane. But hopefully no more splinters. And collected more shit to haul around the countryside. People seem to be spring cleaning and moving in and out of the building. The latest acquisitions include seven chairs (four of which I don't really like) a mirror and an ugly glass end table destined for the bathroom in Missouri. At least I didn't accept the matching dining table. It'll all work out, but I'm going to have to offload some other stuff.

oooooom my god!

 It is spring cleaning time, when I pick up a lot of good stuff.  I scored this buddha. (Interesting that spellcheck doesn't know how to spell this unless I'm wrong.) A guy in the building said his new wife didn't like it. It made me so happy! It is very heavy—I wanna say 300 pounds—made of cement and it ain't going anywhere. It's going to sit and meditate for me right here in New York City.
   And thanks for the headline, Ed!
   PS Many suggestions have been made about what to put in his hands, from a lotus to a hard boiled egg. What would you recommend?
   

breakfast on brook street

 Before I left Providence on Monday, I had breakfast with Douglas at Louie's (or Louis—the awning says one thing and the website another)  which is, as you can see, a classic class joint. It specializes in breakfast and in catering to the college crowd, Brown and RISD students and profs alike
   And then we got back to Hannah's and, in a special surprise visit, Johnny and Pam and Julia appeared.
   And then I hopped in the truck to look for a parking space in New York.

Douglas looking doubtful with little brother Johnny.

kidz room

Isaac's side

Isaac and Camilla wanted to share a room when they moved into a new, bigger house last year. They still like sharing, so one room is the bedroom and the adjoining room is the playroom. But the bedroom seems to be a playroom as well. In fact, so is the living room, the kitchen, mom's office, and then there's the yard.

Milla's side

trucking

The kidz had their last play session in the truck before I brought it back to NYC, where I just found a parking place. Mind you, I had two slight parking quarrels before I got a space, and I don't know whether I have to move it again tomorrow or not, but at least I'm not moving at the moment. Leaving a vehicle sitting all winter isn't the best idea (except for people who want to use it as play equipment). I had to switch out windshield wiper blades on a rainy day (but the guy didn't charge me), and en route from PVD to NY I got a tire pressure alert (three too high, one too low), but that's all I know about for the mo.