December 4, 2012 · 12:27 am

Time to Cry Tuesday – The Beach

Yes, I am back. And after quite a long break I have decided to blog regularly again. I am not quite sure why I stopped, probably a little burnout and a lot busy. But I missed it, and hopefully you did too.

beach-boy

Here goes. Funny that I chose to come back on a Tuesday…

The beach. If you know me, my definition is not that place you go in the summer or on vacation. Sure, those are nice, but the beach is part of my soul. For my kind, off season beach is as enchanting as on.

As you know, Sandy beat the crap out of a lot of places in the Northeast.  The greatest victims were the beach communities. And with that she took a piece of many of us that is hard to reconcile.

Long Beach, NY. City by the Sea. To me, this is not just a town by the ocean. It is that part of me that threads itself through the fabric of my life. A constant.

It is 3 little sunburnt girl cousins in an outdoor shower of their Nana’s house, giggling and screaming after a long day in the sand and surf. It is those same little girls running barefoot to the stores ‘Around the Corner’ to buy candy, feeling the freedom that only a small beach town can offer a child. It is the entire extended family spending weekends together. It is the teenager who hitch-hiked to the beach in the off season with her friends, not because she did not have bus money, but because it was part of the adventure. It is under the boardwalk and all the experiments and rights of passage that happen in that magical space that are better left untold. It is new loves and old ones. It is my first summer as a mom, dragging that stroller and nursing that little baby non-stop under the shade of a beach towel. It’s a little boy on a skim board till it is almost dark. It is beach club cabanas and showered kids falling sleep on the car ride home. It is the boardwalk – that poor ravaged soul – where we took our 3 generation stroll every Friday after Thanksgiving for the past 25 years. And long walks on that same boardwalk to think something through or just calm down and BE.

It is where my family always goes to feel better. No matter what ails you, a little salt air and sea breeze is the best cure.

It is the place that never fails me when I am suffering. That great majestic soother.

So many have lost so much there, it is heartbreaking to comprehend. And it seems more than a little self-indulgent to speak of this type of loss in the shadow of shattered lives.

But anyone who grew up in those parts – or any beach community – will nod their heads and indulge me these thoughts. For you will understand that sometimes a place is more a part of you than you ever realized.

Let the rebuilding began.

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November 23, 2012 · 8:17 am

God’s Love We Deliver Thanksgiving

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There are events in your life that change you. In big ways. That make you think, OMG why have I never done anything like this before?

This Thanksgiving we were fortunate enough to be part of just such an event, the annual God’s Love We Deliver Thanksgiving effort. Yesterday, we woke at 4:15 (ok, so I tend to be up then anyway, but Gary is certainly not), hopped into the city and jumped on the assembly lines of one of the most remarkable machines of humanity that I have ever seen. With logistics precision coupled with an undying spirit of combined compassion, humor and the sheer joy of volunteerism, 950 people came out to donate their time in the wee hours of Turkey Day to help make the holiday of the seriously ill a little more bearable.

In the neighborhood of under 7 hours, almost 3400 meals were assembled and delivered to 2014 homes; not just for clients, but for a guest, caregiver and children under 18 living in those homes. Not to be forgotten are the countless hours spent by the staff, prepping and cooking those meals.

Volunteerism. My dear friend Karen says sometimes she thinks that it is actually not a selfless act, but more a self satiating one, for the need it fills in all of us to help others. I cannot argue that point, for as amazing as receiving these meals is for those in need, the way we felt yesterday morning was a greater gift than we could ever provide. The people we met are veterans; most volunteers for this org are staff volunteers, meaning they work a set weekly shift, many more than one. The spirit of both having fun and the seriousness of the task is second to no other volunteer experience I have ever had. These are the kind of people we aspire to be. There is no place I can imagine spending Thanksgiving morning ever again. I have taken a big swig of this koolaid and nothing has ever tasted better!

Full disclosure, the over the top icing on the cake of this experience for us was that our oldest child, Jana, is the newest member of the GLWD staff. As a volunteer specialist, she took her special brand of camp counselor people skills and ran around with her clipboard and iPad, learning the ropes as the newbie in the dept. In the few short months that she has worked there she has experienced their gala fundraiser, worked the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, The Race to Deliver AND survived Sandy and her aftermath where they lost power and scrambled to save food and still deliver to those in need. Watching her do a job she loves AND being able to participate… Priceless!

Post Sandy has made me very reflective. I have yet to be able to finish my thoughts on that experience and get them down here, but I will. For now, I can say that being so incredibly fortunate surrounded by so much need has left me feeling highly motivated to do more. This chronic volunteer is ready to kick it up another notch. There is something about ground level, specific task driven volunteerism that leaves you feeling like nothing else.

The world is pretty broken, go out and fix a little piece.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and consider donating a portion of what you save on Black Friday to those in need. Hey GLWD is a good place to consider.

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November 8, 2012 · 1:58 pm

A Tip for LIPA: Knowledge is Power

Let me start this post with the fact that today marks the 11th day that I have been without power in my home, where I also have my office. But, post Sandy reality for me has been more of a major inconvenience than a major hardship.

I say this because I have still have a home; one that is whole, dry and undamaged. And I have dear friends who are housing us AND our dog! My parents home is also in perfect shape and they sit in the middle of a community that has been highly compromised. I was fortunate enough to help them get out of town to warmth and safety, since we had no idea when their town would be ‘reenergized’. (Good Lord, I am getting tired of THAT word)

I consider myself truly blessed.

This post is not about demanding accountability or judging the job LIPA is doing on the ground. I will assume they are doing the best they can. I do not have the knowledge of what their plan IS to make any judgement. THAT is exactly the problem.

I am writing this post in desperation for myself and my community; for those throughout LI who are sucking it up and dealing with their new normal the best they can. I am not saying, ‘plug me in first’, I am  only asking to be informed. If the news is grim, we are grown ups, we will deal with it.

Instead, we are left in the virtual dark; the communication to individual communities is non-existent. There are more rumors and speculation than facts. That is way more dangerous than serving up the truth.

How do we explain to Long Island Power Authority – LIPA that they are in the midst of one of the biggest social media fails of the century. Forget the tens of thousands of tree trimmers and linesman. Stop posting those ridiculous charts with number of customers and outage maps that mean nothing to us. Give us a solid line of two-way communication.

Respect us.

Where is their crisis management comm team? There is absolutely no managing of expectations where I live. I have seen @LIPAnews answer questions on twitter, but I have not received a single response to over a dozen tweets and Facebook posts. That poor soul manning their twitter account must be having a nervous collapse trying to keep up. I don’t blame them either.

What they need is a social media STAFF. Call a staffing agency that specialized in trained SM experts including a crisis strategist; I will be happy to give you some names. Set up an individual twitter and facebook account for each set of effected communities. Staff them. Team each group with a field manager who knows the daily updates and give them a direct line of communication to enable them to answer individual questions in realtime. This is not brain surgery, this is crisis management.

I have not seen a single truck in my ‘hood. So therefore people assume we are the forgotten and become angry. I get that there must be a plan. Tell me 3 weeks and I will cope. Tell me Long Beach needs power first to pump out their flooded homes and I will donate a week of juice to help them. (if you know me, I would… just don’t share that with my neighbors). I will even be your evangelist. But tell me nothing and ignore my tweets and you only inflame me.

Sending out an SOS. (fyi, it could be the 12 day sinus infection that is making me crankier)
Photo credit: Amy Zimmerman. Model Release: my deceased apple tree leaning on my neighbor’s house. If you know of a tree guy with some free time, give me a shout.
NOVEMBER 9TH UPDATE:
I will take back my comment about judging whether they were doing the job well or not… it is apparent this is, as Rep. Steve Israel said, ‘a disaster managing a disaster.
In a press conference today, local officials called for the Federal Government to take over the recovery effort from LIPA. Lack of communication with the public was one of the major complaints. A request was made to have a federal plan implemented immediately. Watch the press conference here. 

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October 21, 2012 · 9:50 pm

Flat Cat on The High Line

I would like to start this post by assuring you that no animals were harmed just for a laugh.

We spent the afternoon on The High Line today. It was a glorious afternoon and there was a claustrophobic mass of humanity nice crowd out there enjoying the day with us. The thing about The High Line is that it was built after many of the apartments that are adjacent to it. I would imagine those who previously had lovely private terraces and windows facing what was an abandoned raised train track are now less than thrilled to have throngs of people strolling past their windows every day. I would also imagine that the window treatment biz picked up in this neighborhood after the completion of this extraordinary public gem.

I digress. One of these very not-so-private apartments facing the walkway had this cat wedged in between the couch and the window. At first a crowd started to gather and point in horror that this poor animal had been neglected and was now in its final resting place for all to see.

Until the little sucker moved. It sort of stretched and repositioned itself and settled back into its big snooze under glass.

This confirms my theory that cats are more than a little messed up in the head.

My favorite conversation:

Man: It’s not real.

Woman: Sure it is, didn’t you just see it move?!

Man: That doesn’t prove it’s real.

Me: (to myself of course) IDIOT!

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October 15, 2012 · 8:42 pm

Time to Cry Tuesday – Girl Launched

The picture above is the Holstee Manifesto. If you are not familiar with Holstee, I urge you to read about them here. When they started their company they wrote this manifesto. “It was about what they wanted from life and how to create a company that breathes that passion into the world everyday. It was a reminder of what we live for. The result became known as the Holstee Manifesto”. 

For those who don’t know our family, my girl is filled with this kind of passion. She has a spark in her eye and a smile that can knock you over (ok, I am her mom, but she does!). She has ideas about helping people and wanting to make a difference. And for the past year she found herself in a job that, let’s be kind and say, did not fit that bill. Not remotely. And it took its toll on her. At times she felt as if it would break her. But she stuck it out and trudged away, spending a year trying to get out of it the skills that she could.

And now? She has been given the opportunity to live the Manifesto. “If you don’t like something, change it. If you don’t like your job quit… Start doing things you love… Life is about the people you meet and the the things you create with them… Live your dream and share your passion.” (she is still working on the ‘stop watching TV piece… hey this is a launch post, not a miracle post).

They say that you are only as happy as your most miserable child. But in turn, you are also as happy as your most ecstatic child, too. When your daughter finds the world she expected to find after college, when she gets up in the morning with a smile on her face, when working on Sundays and odd hours is not a chore, when she stays up and rewrites her notes from work because she is so excited about what she is learning and wants to get it right… when the spark comes back in her eye and you see her smile more in a week than you have in the past year… well, you know your girl is launched.

And quite frankly, there is nothing better on this earth.

Congrats to my girl for being launched. May you shine as bright as you can. I love you to the moon and back again.

And then some.

 

 

 

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October 11, 2012 · 8:29 pm

Unattended Children

 

This sign hangs in the waiting room of my Vet’s office. (the wispy stuff is halloween related).

I love these people. We have been through a lot together in the past 13 years, both with my first dog and now my new one. They are kind, compassionate, loving people who have to put up with people and their pet craziness all day long. Which I would imagine is nothing compared to the irresponsible parenting that comes along with the territory.

I love this solution. Clear, to the point and with humor.

Hey, I wonder if there will be a band of wired kids and puppies running around in town this month.

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September 26, 2012 · 11:36 pm

Another Senseless Pumpkin Deflation

Early each morning at the crack of dawn I unwrap my day during a peaceful walk with my dog. I often snap an amusing sight and post it to facebook in realtime. These are sort of little notes to myself for blog posts. This was one such image.

These ridiculous blow-up lawn ornaments can be seen all over the zip code from late September through early January. We start with the ghosts and pumpkins, roll into the turkeys and then hit the crescendo of lawn tackiness with the vast array of Christmas offenses. There is everything from the mundane Santa through to enormous snow globes with full nativity scenes or reindeer extravaganzas.

Early each morning you can drive through town and see at least half of them deflated on the front lawns of our less tasteful neighbors. It is as if someone has driven around in the cover of night pulling the plugs on all these babies.

I swear it is not me. But I do applaud whoever it is.

In this one instance, I have a sneaking suspicion it was the patriotic ghost.

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September 13, 2012 · 2:57 pm

Three Stooges Dog Toys?

Yes, I am pretty sure my husband has died and gone to heaven. I brought home the Moe version for him the other day and it actually talks! Now he wants Larry and Curly. As you can see on the display, the Curlies were all sold out at the store (of course) but I can get the others here. And no, there are no Joe Bessers or Shemps. Seriously, did anyone like them?

No I was not insulting him by buying a dog toy; The Three Stooges is sort of an alternate religion in this house. (please do not think less of us). 

My kids have watched since they were little. You know, “honey, don’t worry, I will keep the kids occupied while you food shop”. Oddly I would come home to a ‘Nyah, Nyah, Nyah’ or a ‘Are you happy or are you married?’ comment from the little rug rats.

A word of caution, the nose seems to have fallen off from quite a few of these in the store. Then again, if I gave them to Iko they would be gutted in less than an hour.

Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard… for duty and humanity.

Here is the full set. 

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September 11, 2012 · 9:48 am

Time to Cry Tuesday – 9/11

A picture speaks 1,000 words and a word can inspire 1,000 pictures.

Remember.

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September 9, 2012 · 10:01 pm

Mannequin Love

I will never be bored. I will surely never be bored as a passenger in city traffic. On a ride with friends the other day we got stuck in some traffic and our driver was bordering on a full blown anxiety attack getting a little cranky about our gridlocked situation. I took the opportunity to start taking pictures that would amuse her.

Our other passenger was fairly convinced that we must have been stopped near a methadone clinic by the looks of the parade of people that passed by our windshield. Quite disturbing.

I loved this window. It was up on the second or third floor so it was hard to get a clear shot. But you can almost see the romance and heat between these two.

I know, now you all want to take me on a road trip.

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