For my family, the only upside of the protests in Madison is the living classroom it provides for my kids. Jana went up to the Capitol to document the event and this is one of my favorite shots.
When teachers are the protestors the slogans are surely one notch up on the clever scale.
Filed under carry a camera, communities, Jana, politics
The other night we stopped by the King Kullen to pick up dessert to bring to a friend’s house. On the way out between the Pennysavers and the auto finders was none other than…
I love their tagline: We are keeping Long Island safe… and you can help!
Yikes!
Really? In our sleepy little town this is the last item I would have expected to find on the way out of a supermarket . We particularly liked the Fugitive of the Month on the cover. I shudder to think how he earned that spot. Note that this paper is free. Seriously, would someone pay for the Fugitive Finder? Or is there a worry that it would be stolen? The whole thing is a bit creepy.
If you are wondering who advertised in there we found a Become a Security Guard ad, a couple of attorneys, a bail bondsmen, a staff and recruitment company (odd, to say the least) and on their website this ad was my absolute favorite!
Guess someone was scorned out there in Quogue.
We picked this copy of the Fugitive Finder up as a gift for our friend the criminal attorney.
He was touched.
Filed under absurdities, communities, humor
It’s called micro-giving. A lot of people giving a little can make a big difference. Great concept. Easy to do. And it can change lives.
Nate St. Pierre from ItStartsWith.Us made a commitment to change the world. Yep, that’s right.
Change.
The.
World.
And change he has. He is committed to making a difference in the lives of people in need. His latest project is Love Drop. Check out the link. It is really simple to make a difference. The idea is ‘spend a dollar, change a life.’
Cool.
He has even found a way to make this into a consulting gig for himself to help companies with their own initiatives.
He can tell you about it a lot better than I can. The first video is about Love Drop. The second tells you more about ItStartsWith.Us.
I could be in love.
(fyi, they are not a non-profit so the donations are not tax-deductible, but the concept is still quite unique)
Filed under charity, communities, Time to Cry Tuesdays
This one can be filed under what we say and what they hear.
Tonight we were driving to a fundraiser that was based at a local Yoga Studio. Our dear friend Gail (yogamom to you who read the comments here) was kind enough to donate her beautiful space to the Port Washington Education Foundation for our first ever Amazing Race which was an amazing success.
I was telling Gary that the construction that was going on in some retail space in town was going to have a whole new row of stores facing the back parking lot. I also informed him a of a new yogurt place, that I thought was a franchise that was opening there. I said the guy already had 2 others.
Fast forward to the end of the race and poor Gail pulls me aside and says, “Gary already ruined my night so now you might as well give me all the details.” Hmmmm, I thought to myself, what the hell is she talking about. I leave him here bartending for an hour and a half and he has ruined her night? WTH.
Gail: So just give me the details and let me get this over with.
Me: Um, what are you talking about?
Gail: Gary told me a franchised yoga studio is opening in town.
Me: How would he know that?
Gail: He said you told him on the way here.
Me: (lightbulb going off in my battered brain). Not yoGA… yoGURT!
Note to self: schedule Gary’s hearing test.
Filed under communities, gary, health, humor
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
This year instead of looking back on the horror that was, let’s look forward to the thriving neighborhood that will be. Don’t read that wrong. I am a firm believer in never forgetting. This is a solemn day that deserves respect and reverence. But I believe there is always a place for hope.
In case you missed this NYT article, here are the plans for what will be a completely new piece of New York. One that will both remember what we have lost and give hope for what we will gain.
In this time of insanity surrounding the protest of the building of religious institutions and the burning of sacred texts, is it not time for us to be the America we have worked so desperately to defend and preserve?
Enough hatred.
Please feel free to remember anyone you have lost or hope you may have for the future, but do not feel free to preach hatred in these comments.
Filed under communities, current events, New York, New York City, politics, religion
on facebook
If you read me regularly you have noticed that I also write over at 50-Something Moms Blog. I have been part of the SV Moms Group community for almost two years and consider them a family of sorts. Or as Gary likes to refer to them, my satan-worshipping blog friends.
As far as I can tell, none of them are actual satan-worshippers. Instead they are hundreds of moms – and a few dads with a strong sense of their masculinity – who write about everything from parenting to politics. The blogs are segmented geographically with one demographic group – the must current group of 50-somethings I have ever met!
In the background we are members of a thriving discussion board where we offer support, help promote one another, network and collaborate. Never before have I worked within such an amazing group.
I have been in business for many years. I have watched moms struggle with every aspect of the collision of parenting and career – be it the choice to continue working or the option to stay home. As part of this group I have watched and listened. At times I have given council and at others I have been taught by the masters. When I needed an answer or a resource on any topic, they were my go-to group and there was always someone who would jump in and help me out.
It is with great sadness that I report the SVMoms Group is dissolving the site. The bloggers were all notified at around 3:00 PM EST on Monday. Within 6 hours a new alumni community was formed on Ning with members immediately joining by the dozens. I would imagine the whole group will migrate there within a day or so. This is a network that will not dissolve.
So, to the Sisterhood of the SVMoms I show my deepest gratitude for having been a part of something so very special. And to our fearless leaders, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for inviting me to be a part of something so life-changing. (oh yeh, and letting me lie about my age for the first year I was writing on 50-something).
Yes, there will surely be a hole in the blogosphere where we once lived!
Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.
Filed under 50-something moms blog, blogging, carreers, communities, companies, moms, parenting, Time to Cry Tuesdays, women
Today I bring you a little story about the absurdity of the area in which I live. Some of you may know of it as the Gold Coast, made famous by the Nelson Demille book of the same name. Don’t be fooled, the entire area is not like this, there are plenty of normal neighborhoods and the community I live in was a great place to raise a family.
But! Part of raising a family here is to keep them grounded in the midst of some crazy money. Silly money really. Silly money sitting next to regular families like ours. My friend Twentyfour at Heart writes about the LA version of this life and she refers to it as moneytown. Well, 24, you will love this story!
Enter the story of the red Ferraris. We were in a shopping center nearby – buying sneakers of all glamorous things – and we ran into some friends we have not seen in a long time. We started to chat in the parking lot when we saw a red Ferrari F430 16M Scuderia Spider parked with the license plate 1 in 499 (yes, I am miserable that I did not get a shot of that). Wow, a little research tells me that sucker sells for around $220,000 and in fact only 499 of them were produced.
Yeh, that’s not nuts. I mean, shouldn’t it come with 3 bedrooms and some major appliances for that price? Ok, so wow. This guy is really loaded. Or he is in a lot of debt. Or he wants us to think he has a really big dick (most likely).
So, we chat,chat, chat a bit more and then my friend says, “Oh boy, Mr. 1 in 499 is going to be really pissed off, here comes another car just like his.” Yep, that’s right. There we were in a parking lot with not one but TWO of these cars. As we wondered where the other 497 of them were residing you would never believe this but a THIRD one drove into the lot.
Ok, that is just crazy. Funny money. There we were in the midst of $660,000 worth of red Ferraris revving their engines trying to get their 3 dicks to be as big as they were when they left their driveways that morning.
And you know what? I was still just happy to have a new pair of kicks.
Filed under absurdities, communities, humor
Today was a lemons to lemonade day. I woke all cranky about the broken trackball on my blackberry that would go sideways and up but would not go down (please, hold the jewish girl references here). If you are a blackberry user you know that down is key. Without down you can’t read your emails, you can’t turn on your bluetooth and you can’t change your settings to vibrate so your phone bings all night long with emails. Ok, so I could have shut it off for the night but let’s not forget I have a daughter overseas and without the blackberry we have severed-comm (yes, I have been watching too much 24 – copy that).
So, on this unseasonably beautiful April day I was not all that sorry to take the convertible out to the Verizon store to get it fixed. Happily it was only a $20 replacement part. And while I was there I had a nice lively debate on the worth of the iPad with my favorite guy there.
But, the biggest treat of all was that today a film was shooting at our town’s train station. And who was there, but Paul Giamatti (who I called Giamotta on Facebook today and am still a little embarrassed that I have a photo album there with that name in the title).
Poor Paul. There he was in a wool cap and this heavy jacket and it was near 90 degrees at high noon. I am guessing this was not exactly lemonade for him.
Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.
Filed under carry a camera, communities, photography, places of interest, technology
There is something about that first weekend of warm weather that can all but break your heart. One minute you are shoveling obscene amounts of snow and a few short weeks later you are trimming back the perennial garden and marveling at the crocus blooming all over the neighborhood.
Ok, a little corny. But honestly, I never tire of those first warm days when nothing can seem all that bad if you can be outside and feeling the sunshine. One day walking around the city, drinking beer at an outdoor cafe and people watching, and another in the ‘burbs doing what we ‘burbanites do was the perfect cure for anything that ails.
I suppose my elation with spring is because I come from a family of garden junkies. My earliest memories of my grandfather were of him tending to his garden, which in my youth was beyond magnificent. My mom’s love of the garden was passed down to both my brother and I. And although in the past few years her bones have fallen victim to a couple of, what shall we call them, garden mishaps, she still plugs away out there and her garden shines for all the attention she showers upon it.
Even though this weekend was a fleeting tease of spring finding ourselves thrown back into a stint of miserable rain, it was just enough of a taste to keep us hopeful that the warmer weather will be here to stay before we know it.
Spring. It almost makes you feel like anything is possible.
Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.
Filed under carry a camera, communities, gardening, homeowner, Time to Cry Tuesdays
It’s moments like this I am absolutely certain I was born to carry a camera. And I always wonder if other people notice this kind of stuff.
Right after we saw the white dogs with orange socks, we came upon this odd little scene on the World Financial Plaza. This was one of the first warm days in NY and everyone was trying to catch some time outdoors. The odd thing was that these five seemingly unrelated people decided to do so in almost the exact same way. They were spaced perfectly (hence equidistant), legs crossed on the same side, each one reading, as if they had been set up by an art director. Of course this was not, in fact,’a shot’.
It was real life.
I mean, seriously, what kind of art director would have kept that guy in the powder blue sweater on the left side there. He is the wild card in this shot. I mean, for G-d sake, he is not even crossing his legs.
Damn rebel!
Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.
Filed under absurdities, carry a camera, communities, humor, New York, New York City
i could cry but i don't have time 