Lunching with Dorothy - Bringing home the Wisteria - Hey, baby, you look great in your new 'do'

Have you seen my "grands" lately? Here they are:

Over the weekend, I delivered a gift for Max from Lesley Reed, a friend of my sister Donna, who lives in Boynton Beach, FL. I think you're an art teacher, right Les?

As a gift for Grace, I brought her two of my favorite seashells and a tiny ceramic puppy dog that seemed pretty hardy when she was banging him on the deck.

Does everyone in America have a deck?

I had the honor of carrying Max around for 20 whole minutes. He was wide awake and never cried. He did try to suckle but quickly learned not all lushly equipped women will comply.

Grace was helping Daddy water the flowers with her new watering can. The dandelion should grow even bigger next year, thanks to Grace's efforts.

Met Dorothy Rudolph for lunch today at - where else? - the Giant Supermarket. We had renewed our friendship at a Spiritual Seminar at Cranaleith, photo above.

Dorothy bought a delicious salad and I brot some soup that was simmering on my stovetop - lima bean and chick pea, with a felicitous blend of seasonings.

Afterward we went for a walk at an Upper Moreland park next door, filled with greenery, green weeds and big trees.

Twining around a tree was a wisteria vine with its long drooping light purple blossoms. Every year I find wisteria, so I'm up to date, The smell is heavenly

On my kitchen window sill. Here's last year's post about wisteria.

This year for the first time I have mine own lilac tree. Though, of course, we can't possibly "own a tree."

We care for it, nurture it, water it, and most important, look at it and appreciate it. Hmmm, do I feel a poem about a lilac tree burbling up?

This is the lilac is my backyard, hard by a cluster of Sweet Woodrow given to me by Carolyn Constable.

Dorothy Rudolph is a painter, water colors, and I wonder if she's ever painted lilacs.

On my living room wall I have an original van Gogh of lilacs. Mum's the word. Don't wanna get burgled.

Lilac. It's now in an empty maple syrup bottle sitting in my living room window sill, which is gloriously ant-free.

My left leg was killing me! Oh no, I thought, now I'm gonna need hip surgery. Shoooot!

Saw Richard Junkin, MD, who's in the same practice as Guy Lee, MD, who did surgery for my sciatica.

Much to my relief, he diagnosed me with tendonitis, which simply means inflammation of the tendons, apparently from overuse. Overuse of the hip? Maybe I stand with my hands on my hips yelling at people.

He asked me to walk. Student doctor Marguerite was with him. So I walked. Then he asked me to touch my toes.

I can go all the way down to my toes.

It didn't hurt.

And now the pain has practically vanished.

On Saturday, I have two exciting events. A talk "Understanding Bipolar Disorder and Depression" at the Doylestown Hospital Wellness Center, which I advertise as "The best $15 you will ever spend" to learn how to manage your mood disorder.

At 5 the same day is Tracey and Mark's wedding. Scott will wear his Armani suit, given to him by his friend Mike Kramer's brother.

These go for about two grand.

I'll tell Scott he doesn't have to wear a tie, but knowing Scott, he'll wear one anyway. For the record, I think women look horrid in ties. Why copy men?

Oh! She reads my blog and thinks it's fabulous. I LUV women in ties. (this is a joke)

Had my nails done by Tia and chatted with co-owner Glenn Wagner. June did my hair. I look great! Am gonna have Scott take a photo of me cuz I'm writing an article for the Intell on May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

When I saw Tia, I said, "So how are the four A's?" speaking about her sons, who range in age from 15 to 3.

Then I tried naming them: Andre, Aiden, Andy.... and

"How can you forget Ashton?" she asked.

Remember reading the Ann Landers and Abby van Buren advice columns? They were actually older women but used old photos of themselves.

When I worked at the Intell, I wrote headlines for the advice columns and loved Abby's column.

Always end your posts with something absolutely fascinating.

Speaking of ants, Edward O Wilson, expert on ants said, "Karl Marx was right, socialism works, it is just that he had the wrong species."