momentary

Shihan - A Love Like
Antony & the Johnsons - Hope There's Someone
Stevie Wonder - I Love Every Little Thing About You
Ani DiFranco - In The Way (live)
Jefferson Airplane - Pretty as You Feel
Otis Redding - That's How Strong My Love Is
Victor Manuelle - Lloré Lloré
Curtis Mayfield - PS I Love You
Mama Cass - Make Your Own Kind of Music
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Change It
The Roots - Here I Come
John Hartford - Turn Your Radio On
Eric Carmen - Make Me Lose Control
The Ventures - Pipeline
Jamiroquai - Spend a Lifetime
Jill Scott - The Way
The Beatles - Girl
Cat Stevens - Trouble
Chris Isaak - Wrong to Love You

~20 January 2008

Jack Goes Boating

Every moment in this film was just beautiful and Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Ryan were absolute perfection. I anxiously await Mr. Hoffman's next directorial project.

(photo kidnapped from onlinemovieshut)

Happy Memorial Day!

Hanging' out with my cousins in Abington - here's my niece Izzy, in mid-air, mind you.

A Lovely Cottage

(photo kidnapped from home-designing)

For Byron

The meaning in each step tells me his precise mood. Today he is weary and walks like the chiming of a grandfather clock. Steady. Slow. Deliberate. He is broken and it shows. His green shoe's laces are untied and sweep along the linoleum, like a sled dragged behind its owner. There's an ache in my chest at the knowledge that no matter what, there is nothing I can do to assuage his distress.

- 2nd March 2008

Ideal

Last evening, Marina and I were discussing what makes up our perfect partner. Marina said that her BF hits on 95% of what she had written down as her ideal fella, which is pretty damn impressive. I think if memory serves the things he doesn't hit on might be "the perfect height", US citizenship (they're working on it) or speaks English as well as Spanish (he's taking courses at University) or something that, in the long run, she is more than happy to trade off on. Oh, and her guy - he's the best of the best and I could not be happier to have a new primo in Mario.
Anyway, Marina, here's my list - it's lengthy, but thorough:

kind
well mannered
intelligent
fabulous sense of humour
good or interesting tastes
open minded & accepting
reads
has intriguing or exciting interests
understanding
non-judgmental
an incredible kisser
affectionate
sexually responsible
drug and disease free
employed and enjoys his work
drives
takes care of his car
healthy libido
likes animals but doesn't nec. own any
doesn't curse too much
drinks socially and never excessively
handsome/attractive in my opinion
thoughtful
confident
compassionate
patient
bearded
intact
warm brown eyes
stable family upbringing
not violent
respectful to women
is a feminist
believes in a greater power
vegetarian or vegan
faithful
brings out the best in me
likes to cook & is good at it
adores me
is charming
laughs easily
healthy physically, mentally, and sexually
likes me for who i am - as i am
is fearless
makes me a better person
enjoys documentary films
is gregarious
taller than me
protective and caring
tries new things
isn't mean or unkind to others
straight
no lesbian fetishes
wears converse all stars
keeps a clean home
never married
no children
likes children but doesn't nec. want any
likes my friends and family
is liked by them in return
his family and friends like me and i like them
sweet-natured
good teeth
lives alone
body hair
still possesses his transitional object
likes Rocky
enjoys traveling  
well adjusted/even tempered
optimistic
can fix things
is a man of honour and dignity
smokes cigarettes on extremely rare occasions

I've gone over this list several times and I can't think of a single one that I am willing to budge on. Especially the manners. I'm a sucker for a man with exceptional manners.
Now accepting applications.

Goethe

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.

Best Childhood Memory

This one didn't come to me as quickly as I thought it would. Usually I always have an answer to nearly any question. But, eventually my best childhood memory came to me.
When I was probably about four, my mother and I would drop my older brother off at school. Occasionally, my mother and I would go to the local mall, most likely Neshaminy, to walk around. We had very little money growing up, every penny was budgeted, so Mum introduced me to Window Shopping. I'd be in the stroller or at her side on foot and we would "walk a mall" and look in the windows. Not to buy, just to look and talk about what we liked behind the glass. Only once do I remember seeing something and getting it. There was a tiny porcelain Siamese kitten on a piece of paper that was the size of a thumbnail. Decades later I saw the same one for sale and it was only twenty-five cents, which explained everything. I of course, still have it, as I never dispose of anything that has even the slightest sentimental value.
Another afternoon we went to the mall and each had a slice of pizza with mushrooms. Another time we met my great uncle for breakfast (his treat I believe) at a pancake joint. I can still see the view as I walked with my hand in my mother's towards the door to get in our old green Comet. Nothing spectacular ever happened on those afternoons - it was just an ordinary moment in my life, but those ordinary moments are what make up my extraordinary life.

After Hours

This is the track listing for the After Hours overhead music when I worked at Pier 1 imports back in the late 90s. Whenever we played this, there would at least be one song where Nora and Harriet would tell us, "Oh, I remember dancing to this at Studio 54..." and then tell us about the time they went to the legendary club. Both ladies were classy and proper, especially Miss Nora. I couldn't help myself one time and I asked, "So did you do some blow and have unsafe sex with Mick Jagger in the basement?" Her immediate and emphatic response was, "I most certainly did not! I was there to dance, I was not interested in all that filthy nonsense."

Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
The Trammps - Disco Inferno
Evelyn "Champagne" King - Shame
LTD w/Jeffrey Osborne - Everytime I Turn Around
A Taste of Honey - Boogie Oogie Oogie
Thelma Houston - Don't Leave Me This Way
Bee Gees - Night Fever
Chic - Everybody Dance
The Ohio Players - Love Rollercoaster
The Village People - YMCA
KC & The Sunshine Band - Get Down
Sister Sledge - We Are Family
Rose Royce - Car Wash
Gloria Gaynor - Never Say Goodbye
Yvonne Elliman - If I Can't Have You
The Hues Corporation - Rock the Boat

Diana Ross - I'm Coming Out
Earth, Wind, & Fire - Serpentine Fire
Vicki Sue Robinson - Turn the Beat Around
Donna Summer - Heaven Knows
Tavares - It Only Takes a Minute
Chic - I Want Your Love
Anita Ward - Ring My Bell
Andy Gibb - I Just Want To Be Your Everything
Bonnie Pointer - Heaven Must Have Sent You
Barry White - Can't Get Enough of Your Love
Shirley and Company - Shame, Shame, Shame
Bee Gees - Jive Talkin'
Chaka Khan - I'm Every Woman
Donna Summer - Hot Stuff
The O'Jays - Love Train

Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up
Alicia Bridges - I Love The Nightlife
Sylvester - You Make Me Feel
The Andrea True Connection - More, More, More
Kool & the Gang - Jungle Boogie
The Jackson Five - Dancing Machine
Earth, Wind, and Fire - September
Cheryl Lynn - To Be Real
Chic - Dance, Dance, Dance
The Commodores - Brick House
Patrice Ruskin - Forget Me Nots
Donna Summer - Bad Girls
Sister Sledge - He's The Greatest Dancer
Isley Brothers - That Lady
Natalie Cole - This Will Be (an Everlasting Love)

Heatwave - Boogie Nights
The O'Jays - I Love Music
The S.O.S Band - Take Your Time
John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - You're The One That I Want
McFadden & Whitehead - Ain't No Stopping Us Now
Chic - Good Times
Michael Jackson - Don't Stop Til You Get Enough
Karen Young - Hot Shot
Carl Carlton - Everlasting Love
LaBelle - Lady Marmalade
Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive
Lipps, Inc. - Funkytown
Amii Stewart - Knock on Wood
Earth, Wind, & Fire - Let's Groove Tonight
Donna Summer - Last Dance

George McGovern

(photo kidnapped from nndb)
I'm sick and tired of old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.

Watkins Glen, Cathedral Glen

Words to Live By

Pray to become a source for everyone to have inexhaustible well-being and happiness.

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

Nicole's Text

On January 20th I left a note in my niece's college notebook saying how awesome she is and how much I adore her and our friendship. On February 3rd she sent me the following text:

Omg I just seen the note you left me in my notebook : ) it made my day love you!!!

I responded with:

yay! i was gonna be way more sappy but i didn't want you crying in class. lol!

and finally Nicole writes:

Lol i was like did i write homework on the cover then i read and was like awwwwwwwwww i love love love her so much. And good i don't need to be cryin in class ppl look at me like i was nuts lol

Oh how I do so love my nieces, they are both so thoughtful and warm and just the most incredible ladies on the whole damn planet!

My Best Life

O magazine has a section that is devoted to Your Best Life and one feature is a series of questions asked of someone to describe their Best. I have a pretty spectacular life, so I'm gonna start to catalogue my bests. Here goes:

Best School Subject

Psychology of Death and Dying - Professor Frank Mitchell

After a less than wonderful high school experience, I decided that if I were to attend classes at a local community college that I must steer clear of any courses that took place during the day. I knew that mostly adults went to night classes and that teenagers wanted their nights open and would most likely take day classes. Avoiding my so called peers was paramount to a bearable college experience.
My Friday nights in 1995 were spent in Frank's classroom and if memory serves they began at 8pm and ended at 10:30. Not a single person my age in the room. It was heavenly. I was surrounded by grown ups who never knew me as everyone else had. I was The Kid in the back corner of the room who was real quiet. I wasn't stupid or a loser or whatever else everyone used to think. I was just another body in a classroom and it was unbelievably freeing.
Frank mostly told incredible stories and asked questions of the class and made the room a space for open discussions. Any class that allows its students to feel at ease enough to learn and absorb everything taught is without question the best.

Humina, humina, humina....

Old Evesham Road

I've passed this sign countless times, but never noticed it until yesterday. I love all the ivy.

Happy 60th!!

Love ya Mama!! Yer the best of the very best. Happy Bday! xoxo

Ann Jillian

It was twenty-four (ohmigod!) years ago tonight that Rachel and I met our childhood idol. We were eleven and completely and totally obsessed with all things Ann. We were able to get tickets to see her with my Mum and Aunt Bernadette at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. As Rachel and I got all dressed up in our pastel pink outfits, we had no idea that by the night's end, we would have met Ann Jillian. Never having been to a concert of any sort, we behaved as if we were Beatles fans at Shea Stadium in 1965. Pounding on the floor and screaming after every song like escapees from a local asylum. Very bourgeois in a caviar world, but, man, did we have fun. Rachel owned Ann's album, so we knew every song by heart. We flipped out when she sang "Somewhere Out There" from "An American Tale," and when she asked, "How do you sing like a mouse?" Rachel and I burst into hysterical fits of laughter. Then she sang Rick Astley's new song "Never Gonna Give You Up" and we clutched hands and wriggled in our seats, just bursting with excitement.
After her set, Victor Borge came on and we ditched him and went to try to get backstage, not aware of how absurd it was to even think of such a thing. Rach asked an usher who sent us to another usher who sent us to another usher who sent us to another usher who took us to the green room and told us to wait there. We did. The four of us sat there with the security guard that was watching Rocky IV until close to eleven. We were very anxious and getting irritated and Mum and Aunt Bernadette were ready to give up when a door to our left burst open and a princess in gold floated into the room. She danced around the now crowded room talking to the rich and famous locals as well as members of the press. Our eyes were bugging out of their sockets as we watched her and waited with desperation for her to speak to us, which she did. The first words that Ann Jillian said to us were, "Well, hello young ladies!" we all but shit ourselves. Mum and Aunt Bernadette were awesome; they snapped candid shots of Ann talking to us and signing our program and just let us bask out there in the spotlight. We met Ann's fantastic husband Andy who loved us both for asking for his autograph. Then we all posed for a photo. Andy, me, Ann, and Rachel. We look absolutely ridiculous; our faces are red as hell and I have never seen either of us smile like that before or since. We were in a complete state of bliss. Time stood still for those ten minutes or so and every year, Rachel and I would wish each other a happy anniversary and treat ourselves to Mr. Mom and play Ann's cd, remembering back those many years ago to when we were young and deliriously happy. Ann, you are one classy lady and I am still in awe of your grace, kindness and beauty.
 

Rashi

Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you.

(i stumbled across this quote scrawled in an old journal. i googled it and found that i must have gotten it from A Serious Man. oh man, that movie was so good. i just gotta go home and re-watch it tonight!)

Comfort Food

Opening the heart shaped box that Marina gave me I saw this one:

onion rings
french fries
soda pop

Mmmm...is there anything better than that combination? Nothing comes to mind.

Da's High School Years

Class of 1960 ~ That there's m'daddy! And here he is at the end of the bench - number 32.

Random Church

Among the card catalog drawers filled with postcards at Murphy's Loft, I found this random one of a church. I've no idea where it is or how old the postcard is because it was never mailed or addressed to anyone. I love the tilted telephone pole and the gorgeous bell tower. However, I can't stand not knowing anything else about this mysterious building and if it still stands today...

Terrifying

I don't know which is more frightening, that goofy bonnet I'm wearing or that hideous wanna-be owl that some insane relative purchased. One word - yikes.

 

June 1977

Happy Bday, Keith!

Thanks to Google, I remembered it's Keith Haring's Bday - they honoured him with a Google Doodle. Keith is my all-time favourite artist and I absolutely adore his vibrant, fun, outspoken, often shocking work. When I worked at the café there was this one customer, Gregory who was a bit of a germaphobe, quiet, and a little awkward. Clearly, I adored him. On our first meeting he asked if I was an artist, since I had purple spiked hair and dressed like a street urchin. I was used to this, I either got asked if I was an artist or a drummer. I am neither. Then we got to talking about who we liked and I said Keith was my fave. Gregory told me that he worked in NYC across from The Pop Shop and I was immediately jealous. Two weeks later he returned, having bought me a Keith Haring shirt from the store. It was black and had a Barking Dog on one side and The Radiant Baby on the other. It fit perfectly, like no other shirt ever had, and I wore it til the underarms were discoloured white and it grew tiny holes where my belt and apron ties rubbed against it. I will never get rid of it. I may actually chop it up and turn it into a pillow, but not yet. I am a woman who never, ever forgets a kindness.

Somebody That I Used To Know

I am currently obsessed with this song and have not stopped playing it over and over and over and over since first hearing it Wednesday night. It is total perfection.

Now and then I think of when we were together
Like when you said you felt so happy you could die
Told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it's an ache I still remember

You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end
So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I'll admit that I was glad it was over

But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and I feel so rough
No you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

[Kimbra:]
Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
Part of me believing it was always something that I'd done
But I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know

[Gotye:]
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and I feel so rough
And you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know...

~by Gotye

(lyrics kidnapped from azlyrics)

Youthful, Fresh, Fun...

...that's my mother! And here she is in 1973 on her honeymoon with my dad as the photographer. Dig those fab chunky shoes on mama and that gorgeous jacket. Oh-so-stylish...

The Cog Train

(photo by Rose)
on Mt. Washington ~ October 1973