Looking Up Honestly, I’ve lost count of the number of times that my knees shake at the sight of a full moon — at the blast of a full moon! And I’ve run this adventure more times than seems humanly possible! I still remember that night so clearly!  And, I won’t let you forget that tonight’s moon spectacle is also special: it’s an Aquarian full moon!  P.S. The previously unidentified family in my story was none other than Horace Digby’s clan — remember when he won the exalted Benchley award! *  *   See for yourself  — from the ever-talented,...

For a starter — oh, my incredible English teacher, Mrs. Goldman at Riverdale JHS 141, oh-so-secretly invited me to help out at school, one hour early, so, that with the the dawn’s early light, I could secretly help her mark my classmates’ essays… No, maybe it was Miss Rau in ninth grade. (Your guess is as good as mine!) I was never a hard grader — besides, everyone in our class was so smart to begin with — and Miss Rau was forever conscientiously looking over my shoulder to be sure I didn’t give my friends any special benefits. Longtime cohorts like Peter (Dr....

October 1980, the usual —  every Saturday the same. Quick breakfast, pretty stroll over to the New York Society Library, where Philip Roth and Barbara Tuchman wrote, too, and where I started digesting Pythagorean Numerology.* Then off to Madison Avenue for a burger and a bit of sight-seeing. After taking a very thorough workshop on how to survive as a single woman in NYC, I had thought I learned most of the tricks — since I sometimes traveled alone at night,  I understood how important it was to be careful. 1. Walk like a man, cocksure, no invitations to strangers. 2.  When alone on an...

“No secrets between us,” he whispered. “Wait a second … none at all?” “Non, ma cherie.”  His how shall we say French accent was Collegiate perfect. “But if this is going to be a Significant Romance…. shouldn’t there be a little left unsaid?” I said practicing my coy Music and Art tongue. “Significant — where did you ever get the notion this would ever be significant,” he asked me, after chasing me for four months  — spurned opera tickets and one or two rejected motorcyle ride invitations. Singing the theme from...

Have I mentioned anything about our koi pond before? It’s so pretty– right next to our front door. When we moved in two years/eight months/seven days ago, there were two rather neglected goldfish floating absentmindedly in a pond fit for a prince or two.  A week later, Bill brought home two lively goldfish-like animals to spice things up, and then after considerable ogling, we chose our first-time-ever baby kois.  Kois!  Very smart fish who answer to their names and make us smile each time we look at them.  Bill has fed them diligently and I’ve called their names lovingly, every...