Anything by O. Henry; I certainly agree; I think my favorite is The Gift of the Magi.  But you know, Redbook Magazine, many years ago, had a novelette or short story each month.  They were all so good.  Sadly, along with so much else, they no longer offer it.

Where’s London, New York, San Francisco, Paris, Rome?

PS  I really wanted to say "the big hand is on the ….."  :)

As my watch is getting older, it seems that it’s numbers are shrinking….odd, isn’t it? 

The Tony Awards for a chance to get a taste of those shows we may like to see.  As well…….some of the people are so out there :)  Love it.  The Oscars are glam, glam, glam and they’re fun to watch.  Apologies to Whoopi, but my vote is to bring back Billy Crystal.

That’s what I want; a family gathering including me in their lives long after I’m gone.  Since it’s a Russian tradition, perhaps we can add vodka and really have a good party :)

There were three funerals that come to my mind:  one was when Billy Crystal was eulogizing his mother in a movie and he said "….she was 97 and she died too young……"  That line has resonated with me for a long time. 

Another was a friend of ours, a late-life baby who lost his parents while he was still relatively young but they were ‘of age’.  He spoke at his father’s funeral and it was so beautifully done; he managed to convey the love he had for his father and his father for him.

The third was that of an aunt, who though the rabbi didn’t actually know her, spoke to her family and managed to tell of her life so beautifully that we all thought he had.

Mine?  When I’m buried, I want a stone bench with a coffee pot so they’ll sit and stay awhile. 

 

James, that’s what my husband has been saying he wants to do:  leave a recording.  "Hi, so good of you to make it; how’s everything?  I never liked you…"

Yay! No pie chart …. it’s the little things.  We can handle the big things, but that pie chart goes right up there with nails on a chalkboard.

As Liz said:  There are going to be more and more old people in America for the next 20 years and they need to be catered to. And more and more mature women will be making buying decisions."  Therefore, I would suggest that the advertisers stop targeting older people with Viagra, arthritis medications, Ensure, etc. and understand that we too are a buying public; that not all of us wish to appear to be anything but we are.  We buy cars, we buy houses .. and in some cases can actually afford them; we purchase all there is to purchase and won’t buy it simply because a skinny bikini clad teenager tells us how wonderful it is.  Rather offensive I would say.  Dove came out with a line for mature women that was lovely and beautifully done.  Advertisers could take a page from that book.

Shoulders and neck; if only, like Marlo, I couldn’t eat — but mine also takes me to the fridge — ice cream will always trickle down around that lump in my throat.

My mother was a smoker for most of her life and so, that cigarette smell mingled with perfume is a somehow comforting scent for me.  My own children, and some of my grandchildren, really like Jean Nate since that’s the only scent I wear and have used for so many years.  They all went out and bought it thinking that perhaps that’s what the fragrance was that they detected when they came to our house.

It almost doesn’t really matter at all which show one sees on Broadway; it’s exciting to be there.  My daughter, her two children and I recently went to see The Lion King on Broadway….I’d seen it before.  But the exictement of New York, the production that a New York company puts on, everything conspires to make it memorable.

Ironic that this would be a question today — I was just thinking of how the choices we’ve made enabled us to have a life that we can feel proud of and that we can find a great deal of comfort in. 

After spending a fabulous day in New York with one of our daughters and two of our grandchildren, ages seven and nine,  I have to say: "Regrets?  I have a few, but then again, too few to mention………"  The choices made in my life enabled me to enjoy a day such as that.  It was a gorgeous Spring day. The weather was perfect,  the kids:  so wonderful.  We saw "The Lion King" and the rapt look on the children’s faces could be in a commercial for Broadway.  We ate the best food in the world, rode in the back of one of the New York cyclists (This guy didn’t even break a sweat! !  His heart rate must be at 10.), who was so personable, so lovely, he had us laughing all the way.  The whole day, though exhausting — was worth it and I’m still smiling. 

PS

We live in Maryland and a comment or two on the infield situation is necessary.  What were they thinking?  Pimlico Racetrack is in trouble.  It’s been in trouble for a long time.  So, the biggest money making event of the year is then changed, of course.  In the past they allowed people to bring in food and coolers; it was a huge kind of tail gate party.  Granted, it got out of hand occasionally and truly we, ourselves never went (not our thing….and we’re older than the crowd it generated), but it did generate a lot of money.  As well, the local churches helped with clean-up thereby helping the city with the cost.  Actually many benefitted from the huge crowd — from the people who offered their lawns for parking, to the area merchants, the memorabelia sold and all the other accessories to an event. 

This year they didn’t allow any food or drink to be brought in and of course, the charge was something like $35 (not sure of that, but something I heard, though I know you do pay for the infield) for admittance.  I know, I know — the thinking was by some bright light to make this a "Family Day", though what family could afford the admittance fee plus a hot dog and drink went beyond that bright light’s thinking.  The attendance was really down and thus, of course, so was revenue.

 It seems that there is more and more of that lately where so many of the people who are not hurting simply do not acknowledge the existence, no matter how much it’s in the newspapers (or what exists of our newspaper now), television or on the internet.  A "Let them eat cake" philosophy — so sad, so frustrating.