At first glance, driving down the Palisades Parkway on a late spring day makes one aware of the beauty of nature. A closer look, however, reveals the real truth: the trees are slowly being suffocated. Vines are insidiously taking over, so much so that in some cases one cannot even see the poor tree. Now, they should get that looney guy from the ( Read more... )

Yesterday the weather was gorgeous so rather than do 30 minutes of treadmill indoors I took my fitness act to the local park and walked around the track. The park was a scene of domestic tranquility. Jewish men walked together in animated discussion; Jewish women strolled behind with the kids. Young black men were getting a lot of use out of the ( Read more... )

So Friday was looking good. John & I were on our way home from work, nothing planned for the weekend, 48 hours to just kick back and relax. Well, that plan lasted until we got to South Mountain Road and saw the black smoke rising above the trees. As we got closer, it appeared that the smoke was near where our house was. Sure enough, we pulled ( Read more... )

NEW YORK (AP) -- A New York artist has fashioned a bust of financial swindler Bernard Madoff into a piggy bank that won't give your money back. Sculptor Palmer Murphy says he designed the faux-bronze "Ponz'' piggy bank with a coin slot on top and a phony plug on the bottom so you can't open it. He calls it the gift that keeps on taking.

"I don't know anything about this man. Anyhow, I only know two things about him. One is, he has never been in jail, and the other is, I don't know why."

I had heard that there were coyotes in this area. Elena Rose once told me that she saw one but, until today, I hadn't seen them for myself. Then this morning, while looking out the kitchen window around 9:00 AM, I saw not one but two, making their way single file up the mountain. I watched them until they were out of sight. I hope that they make ( Read more... )

Don Carlo is delighted that the camp surgeon has been able to save the life of Don Alvaro. Now, when Alvaro is fully recovered, Carlo can challenge Alvaro to a duel and avenge the death of Carlo's father, who was accidentally killed when Alvaro's pistol, which he had thrown to the floor, discharged its fatal contents.

Last night I was watching a program about how the dimming of the sun, because of particles in the atmosphere, is ruining our ecology. But wait, you ask, I thought that the dimming of the sun would be good because it is staving off global warming. Apparently, that is the only good benefit of the sun-dimming phenomenon because if the bad effects ( Read more... )

The royal physicians at the court of Arkel, king of Allemonde, cannot understand why Melisande appears to be dying. Surely it is not from the superficial wound that she received from Golaud, her husband. They all agree that a wound that small wound not even kill a tiny bird. And yet, Melisande, who has just given birth to a little girl, is ( Read more... )

So last night I dreamt that my mother was getting re-married. There were a lot of people in the long, narrow reception hall but I couldn't make any of them out clearly. I was there dressed in a suit and tie - no shoes, no socks. Someone proposed a toast; there was a whole lot of drinking going on. It became crowded and I had to get out. I snuck ( Read more... )