Dan's 40th B'day Party! So, let it rain! - Poem: Sarah's Cake

 Look, Bubby! He named the cars on his train set. All's I remember is Douglas.

Max has been potty-trained for about 4 days.

My mom and I got there early, which was great, so we could all be together before the party animals arrived.

 And our darling Grace Katherine missed school for about 4 days with some sort of virus.

She was fairly quiet for a while.

 Dan's reading the card from Gram and explaining to Grace about endorsing a check. Darn, I forgot to endorse the two books by Candice Millard I bought for Dan.

Coincidentally, Dan's late father was named Millard "Mike" G Deming. Another person who had no business dying so young. 62, I think. 

 Gram sat on the couch for a couple of hours. Her legs are pretty bad but she walked bravely with one person holding her hand on each side. Donald and Hillary.

Finally! John McCain said he wasn't gonna endorse him.

 Gram had given me Sarah's diploma from Brown. I brot it over asking Dan to give it to Say when she arrived from Bklyn. (He forgot) She didn't plan her trip right and had to leave in about two hours to unlock her apartment for her cousin Nikki.

They're having a party for a very nice man who's dying of cancer. Just as my writer friend Kym died yesterday of cancer.

 Met this interesting fellow Rob, whose family is originally from Staten Island. We have relatives buried there. Great-grandfather Louis, who killed himself; critical Aunt Tay, an artist; and a former friend Susan Axt.Will never forget when her husband Marshall called to tell me. Hadn't realized he was an actor.

Rob, who's half -Italian and half- Puerto Rican was the first to leave Staten Island. Over the years, his family followed. You were the pioneer, I said.

"O Pioneers" was required reading in high school. Did not like it at all, though I LOVE the mostly forgotten author Willa Cather. 

 Rob and his GF have taken a no. of great trips, including to Iceland. Reykjavic. He pronounced it RAKEyaVic.

Told him I'd watched (1) a documentary about the amazing country of 300,000 people (Rob had mentioned with very little crime - was it this? - and  (2) also a Netflix film about Iceland being occupied by Russia.

Actually it's a Norwegian film and was quite good. 

If YOU could take a trip WHERE would you go? Hmmm. I spose wherever Rick Steves takes us on his show.

Grace took this pic with my camera. Then she took a couple other photos.

Grace made this bus with Legos.

My mom loved the view out the window.

Dunno what this is. Nice colors tho, Grace.

 Hello Tariq.  Big black guy...a Muslim. My support group was having a program on Major Religions of the World and I asked him to come.

He didn't, so I asked Latif.  Tariq now runs an IT school and does very well.

 Grace was kind enuf to get me a glass of water. Max only drinks water. I enjoyed various types of bottled beer, none of which I finished.

Stagger stagger stagger. Lee.

What a joy to see A J, who's now a lawyer in Albany. He and his wife Mara have four b'ful kids. She's originally from Bryn Athyn and his people are from Afghanistan.

He came into the room, looked at me and said Hello. Then, You have no idea who I am.

A J ?

Oh, my, oh, my. He's a year younger than Dan but was in town to drop his son Jovan at the boarding school in Bryn Athyn, PA.

His family lives in Albany, state capital of New York.

Mom, who's hard of hearing, did mention that her nephew, my cousin Mark, was an art prof at SUNY Albany, now retired and living in The Big Apple.

 I seemed to excel in having conversations with Robs. Here's Rob from New Jersey. He, his wife, Anita, and their two kids, Maya and Keiran, are super interesting!

Anita brought a crock full of a spicy lentil dish. She and Mom talked about the sweet and sour lentils my Grandma Lily and also my mom used to make. Nothin like it. From the Settlement Cookbook, which Mom said is in shreds now. 

Rob works from home - most of the guys are in I T, like Dan - so he keeps his own schedule and has trouble sleeping.

Did that ring a bell!  At our ND meeting, we discussed that. Many of our folks take melatonin. Rob has tried it but it doesn't really work.

Why don't you drink wine, I suggested.

I'm an excellent sleeper and usually fall asleep as soon as I turn on a movie. I can get along with very little sleep but then I make up for it.

Scott just came over, said Judgment at Nuremburg is on Channel 12, so I'll go over and watch shortly.

Hope I can stay awake, he said. Scott has a permanent sleep deficit from working the night shift on SEPTA. Here's a story I got published about him and his friends when they were kids. I also emailed it to Pauly, featured in the story, who is deaf, and wondered if he'd feel bad about what I wrote. 

 Rob and Nita brought a great gift.... three huge bottles of liquor.

I had a sip of his rye whiskey.  Delicious!

The shot glass was long and thin and beautiful, like a model.

 At last Sarah arrived!

 She always looks great. My mom was so happy to see her.

The blue cans are seltzer water.

BURP.

 Evan is a happy laffin kid, who knows to pose for the camera, said his mom.

 Sarah was starving when she arrived and gulped down a cheeseburger. I'd already stuffed myself with Nicole's delicious slow-cooker mac and cheese, and two grilled hot dogs which I painted with a cheese dip and moutarde.

 We took a piece home for my sister Ellen, Gram's protector. Just wrote a poem on the day after.

Maya and little Kieran, which is both a boys and girls name. His mom made a top knot for him. Tub of vanilla ice cream to top off the cake. I had two pieces and kept shooting up insulin. When I got home the first thing I did was check my sugar.

A decent 205, which will gradually descend by itself.

They were playing a Dancing Game.

 Is that you outside, Hilliard?

 Bye bye.

I had to put Wite-Out on the switches on the car so I could see them in the dark when I turned on the front defroster.

Tough to see in the dark and the mist when I drove Mom home.

We made it!

Great time.

Now.... bringing my Trail mix to Scott's to watch Spencer Tracy, Richard Widmark, and Judy Garland who plays a traumatized woman.

Great film, made in 1960, a necessary antidote against the evils of the war age. 

SARAH'S CAKE

She arrived at her brother's
party, cake plate in hand,
after babysitting her
best friend's daughter,
after stopping at the
gym where she works,
then catching a taxi,
called 'a car' in
Brooklyn, who drove her
to the train station,
then stepping carefully
aboard those slippery
steps in the rain,
arranging her white
fishnet stockings before
she sat down - what those
would go for in the war
years where her Grampa had
served as a Marine

Taxiing to the party house
lit up in the twilight
greeted as she entered
by the calico cake
and then entering like
a beauty queen into the
kitchen to resounding
yays and applause.

Was the cake any good?
Do the planets still
revolve around the sun
or the leaves fall
off in autumn?

Yes. That good. Damn good.
 

Kym Cohen of our Writers Group Died of Cancer yesterday - Poems: Good to the Last Drop and In Memoriam

GOOD TO THE LAST DROP

With trembling heart
I brewed some Maxwell
House Coffee in the
familiar blue can
Bet it didn't have
a bar code in
our younger years

Was on a reading
marathon, must
get to the finish
line, some 500 pages
egods!

All the Light We
Cannot See, by the
shaven-head author who
gives a whisper of
a smile as we
wonder How? How?
How did he do it?

The coffee was
ready. I sipped
from a flowered
cup from my
sister Lynn.

Ptah! Too strong.
I added honey and
walked outside
cradling my cup
as drinkers
always do.

The hours passed by.
So did the pages.
My guess? Eleven
hours, finished
at two in the
morning.

Upstairs to bed
I went, switched
on the light,
and picked up
the next book,
The Hidden Life
of Trees.

This was all a
forest before
we came. The
squirrels more
than people know
the hidden
life of trees.

***

  Here's Kym. 

IN MEMORIAM

They came for her
yesterday, in the early days
of October when the leaves
parachute to the ground.

When I awoke this morning
there was your smile and
your bald, egg-shaped head
filtering through my curtains.

What good is it
eating an omelet if
you're dead. Or petting
your cat. Or looking up
at the Milky Way?

How shall I find thee,
Kymster? To whom shall
I make the send-no-flowers
donation?

My check's in the mail
to Planned Parenthood for
all the children you never
did have.

No mail on Columbus Day. It'll
get there in its own good time
like the ones who came to
fetch you, a woman and her
legions gone too soon.

VIEW this blogpost featuring two people - Kym and Winnie - who were vanquished by cancer.

ENJOY LIFE NOW before you're on your deathbed.

Does that mean, Ruthie, you should endanger yourself by going to.... guess where? 

 BBQ sandwich made with pork was delicious!!! What dyou mean Jews don't eat pork.

 Am sitting on a bench watching the people at Tom Sawyer Automotive. That's where I go.

Dan's 40th b'day party is today. Will show him the two books I got him..... hmmm, I should endorse them. What does endorse mean?

Sign it, which I will, though I've already put it in the car.

Dyou ever do dat, Dear Reader? 

Sold my impulse purchase - this GPS - on Craigslist.

Eric from King of P will be over soon.

I wanted to sell it for the best price I could get. Too much and it would never sell. I wrote $30 firm.

Gotta figure out a closing statement on here. Keep the Faith is Tavis Smiley's.

LIVE WILD!

Que pense-tu?

Thanks bearded Eric for making me $30 richer!

Ya-hooo!

How hard is it to read for hours and hours? - Mused Bella Online publishes many of my works - Poem: Elinor's Bowl

First of all, I drank several cups of Maxwell House Coffee. Made it too strong so I adulterated it with honey.

Spent a couple of hours at Scott's reading downstairs while he watched TV upstairs.

I was really determined to finish before the book group at 2:30 tomro.

ALL THE LIGHT YOU CANNOT SEE was lyrically written using unusual language, imagery and filled with many surprises. Every sentence was a gem

Am now relaxing with a new type of pretzel - Natures Promise - and unsalted peanuts.

Spoke to my friend Denis today who is living at Watermark at Logan Square.



I emailed him the real confessions of Nat Turner.

This black slave who concocted a revolt against his master was not only hanged but retaliation was swift against other slaves.er

Turner was a brilliant man who easily learned how to read and speak eloquently.

   a

Even tho I drank coffee, I did fall asleep on the couch at Scott's. Will hobble upstairs in boot after this and hope I can fall asleep.

After a clump of rejections and feeling very badly about them, I decided to check Bella Mused Online to see if it had been published.

Indeed it was with loads of my work on it.

Fiction: The Coyote and Wait Till Your Father Gets Home.

True stories: The Missing Book and The Red Pony

What poem would I write about on FB?

ELINOR'S BOWL

Favorite neighbors
she and George left
for "the old ladies home"
as he called it a good
ten years ago.

They gave me a choice of
things they left behind.
My car sagged with the
things I lugged home,
all of them thrown out
except her bowl and her
hurricane lamp that lights
the darkness of the basement
with a snappy click.

Her beige-colored bowl has
tiny cracks, fine as varicose
veins, or the slow breakage
of the mind's descent when
dementia's ripped her
brilliant brain to pieces.

George, too, who fought in
the Pacific, followed his
lady love.

Best to remember the time
I visited, sat in the dining
room munching on a tuna sandwich
on toast, her cooking days were
over. They were not young.
And now, they simply
are not.



The dearest man ever!

Discovered he died when he stopped sending out 'silly forwards.'

Willow Grove Day Camp has been sold - Death of Robin Williams - Poem: Will I Be Late?

cam

While I was shopping at Giant with boot, I met Bill K once again. He's the groundskeeper at Willow Grove Day Camp and lives there for free.

Bill is not to be confused with the groundskeeper in Lady Chatterly's Lover.

He told me the camp was sold to the YMCA.

Did you know there's a catchy song about the YMCA?

Bill thinks he'll have a job with the Y. Altho he's 69, he's not about to retire.

He and his wife will live at Heritage Creek which is where (Uncle) Howie and Gloria live.

"Is that where Tulip Lane is?" I asked.

Yes, said Bill. It's the main street.

That's where the co-chair of my MGPGP dept lives with his wife Arlene, who has a teeny tiny Argentinian voice. They have all sorts of primitive masks and sculptures there. He also has some sort of memento from Irv Yalom, father of group psychotherapy.




WILL I BE LATE?

I've a date this morning
with my friends
Joe, Josh, John and
the Girls, but in
bed this morning when
the mind goes wild
I thought of a faster
way to reach them.

Down Byberry I will go
past Mom's and the
Fleishers, my eyes
searching for Pine.

Will my eyes blur with
anxiety, my heart romp
all over my chest?

Only one way to find out.'s
Heigh-ho Silver.

***
I was 10 minutes early. Ran my Now and Then Group. As I've said, I make them use their imagination, reflect on things, and do a little teaching. Told them about Hurricane Matthew which is in the Caribbean - where's the Caribbean - where it's landed - track it here.

Probly b/c I'm a therapist and know how to gauge people, we talked a lot about death today. It simply came up and people wanted to talk about it, esp. "Kate" who lost a daughter to cancer - I still can't believe it, she said, and her husband to Parkinson's.

I said Very slow progress is being made against Park's and mentioned Michael J Fox and his foundation. Everyone agreed he's probly not doing well.

Let's see.

Health and activism

Fox started displaying symptoms of early-onset Parkinson's disease in 1991 while shooting the movie Doc Hollywood, although he was not properly diagnosed until the next year.^[33] After his diagnosis, Fox began drinking more heavily than in the past; however, he sought help and stopped drinking altogether.^[50] In 1998, he decided to go public with his condition, and since then he has been a strong advocate of Parkinson's disease research.^[6] His foundation, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, was created to help advance every promising research path to curing Parkinson's disease, including embryonic stem cell studies.^[6]
Fox manages the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease with the drug carbidopa/levodopa,^[51] and he also had a thalamotomy in 1998.<sup>[52]


.Carly and I visited Solebury Orchards a couple of years ago.</sup>

Also at the Giant I met Carly and Charlie Brown. Hadn't seen Carlana in ages. Just emailed our writing group to say I saw her.

She's running a creative arts group at Gloria Dei and loves it.

Told her I love my PT job at Symphony Manor, where I went today.

Met Carly Brown and husband Charlie while shopping. I was talking to Larry.

Larry, I asked. What's the best kind of soup of buy, I asked.

Italian meal ball is dull, he said. Your best bet is the corn chowder.

Larry used to work as a repairer of musical instruments! The owner sold the place, tho he didn't have to, said Larry, so he got this job.

I told him to check out DeLuca's Instruments in Hatboro. Maybe they'd have work for him.

The wife of the late Robin Williams made public his losing battle with Lewy Body Dementia. Read about it here. 

A terrible disease. No wonder he killed himself.

A Few Words about Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light You Cannot See and his private school in Cleveland

Here I am in the early hours of the brand new day looking up the author of the book I'm currently reading.

I was curious about his being raised in Cleveland.

He attended University School, a private boys school with two campuses.

Here's their lovely website.

Their commencement speaker this year was Michael Hingson....

This morning’s 14th Annual Spencer Lecture Series featured Michael Hingson as the keynote speaker. Blind since birth and an entrepreneur and internationally acclaimed speaker, Mr. Hingson survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog, Roselle.

The story is captured in his book, Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog & the Triumph of Trust.

In his speech – Turning the Tales on Terrorism: Lessons from the Twin Towers – Mr. Hingson shared his personal tale of heroism and teamwork in escaping the North Tower and explored the broader lessons of his life and experiences as a blind person. His lecture was extremely personal and highlighted to the boys some of the misperceptions that still exist today about blind people.

Mr. Hingson spent the remainder of the morning visiting classes and talking with students and faculty.

The Spencer Lecture Series is named in honor of George “Twig” Spencer III ’69, the only known University School alumnus to perish in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

***
Anthony Doerr - here's his website - has been widely interviewed about his Pulitzer-prizewinning fiction book All the Light. Since I haven't finished the book, I mustn't read any of the interviews.

Born in 1973, he's only in his early forties and is so accomplished. He, his wife and twin sons live in Boise, Idaho.

The final resting place of Ernest Hemingway was in Ketcham, Idaho, where he died at age 61 of a gunshot wound.

***

While I'm up in the night reading or watching Joel Fuhrman, I often feel hungry. Tonight I have won the hunger battle and may indeed write a series called The Hunger Games.

What? you say. It's already been written?

And now, wearing my boot, sweatpants, a WXPN T-shirt and warm polka-dot PJ top, I'll stride right back into bed and pick up the book again.

It's one helluva glum read.

Writers' Group at B's Condo - This morning's FB poem - Pulling out the Blankets

Told the group that this book is immensely helpful to me. She gives you tasks to do and also has you write Morning Pages, which I do at any free hour I've got.

Told the group I found out about it on WOWBRARY, a weekly email that features new materials.

Beatriz was not interested as she has all the books she wants to read.

My goal today was to read to page 200 in ALL THE LIGHT YOU CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr.

I done did it.

Also wanted to figure out if I liked the book HARMONY by Carolyn Parkhurst. It's due on Tuesday, but I really like it so will put in a new request for it. No renewals.

Hold on while I place a request.

Done.  13 people ahead of me. But I'll remember what's going on.

Yeah... you don't even know what day of the week it is.

Roll call of writers.

Will add pictures when I go downstairs.

Linda wrote a poem called OCTOBER IS THE PINK MONTH. I liked the mystery of 'what's a pink month?"

The symbol for Breast Cancer. She wrote it for a friend.

Beatriz and many of her relatives have the gene for breast cancer. She's doing research hoping to find how to prevent it in the newer generations. She's got an appointment with a big breast cancer doc who will help her with research.

I'd emailed the group ONE SENTENCE POEMS, if anyone wanted to try them. All you do is start out a sentence with a Capital Letter and finish with a period.

Linda wrote a terrific one about a millipede.

Might as well write four, I said, that's the maximum. If you can write one, you can write four, which I submitted in the wee hours of the night.

B, are you sitting next to a huge aquarium?

I have three rooms on the second floor of my house. I'm in the office now, picking out nuts from my teeth with my tongue. The bedroom is the one with the TV.

Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid is on. Periodically I walk into the bedroom to see what's going on in this great American classic.

We welcomed Rem Hyer Murphy back from his trip to Las Vegas. He had a wonderful time. Until, that is, he got back home. Bedbugs live in his apartment. He's hilarious as he discusses them with a straight face. They come in different sizes depending on how much of his blood they've sucked.

Martha Hyer, I said, is an actress with the same name. A good actress, she never really made it big. Dead only two years ago, she was retired in Santa Fe.

The Irish name, he said, is as common as Smith.

Good news for Rem. He can now keep food down! It was his upper colon that was affected. He drank his favorite - Diet Coke - which felt great to drink - and can eat a good many of his favorite foods, including the cheese and crackers I brought as a snack.

I bought asiago cheese by Cracker Barrel. It was very salty. B said she can eat salty but not hot, as in spicy. I agree!

Told her I was boycotting Cracker Barrel, though I can't remember why.

Oh, she said, I always buy Cracker Barrel.

Was listening to a Robert Schumann symphony my sister Donna gave me and then I remembered it's Blues Night on WXPN. Nice saxophone by Nancy Bay to accompany some blues man.

Did I tell you I missed Buddy Guy last week b/c of my boot.

Rem read us Chapter 46 of his novel. Chapter title I AM LOVE.

He suggested we watch Comsat Angels' Independence Day. Find it here.

He continued reading about the reappearance of Mr. Flecks and the narrator appearing before him in the nude, cursing him.

The narrator gave a brief rant on Vietnam, dialoging with Herr Nixon. "What are you, some sort of shapeshifter?"

Martha couldn't join us as her daughter Emily had just given birth - prematurely - to a son, who's in the preemie unit of Abington.

The little guy's name is Gunnar.  In my book, ALL THE LIGHT, our German hero is called Werner.

***

Visited Mom after the writers' group. She and Ellen were arguing. The kitchen table was a mess, so I couldn't sit down.

After that I went to a garage sale in order to see the beautiful house. It was literally held in the garage, which was as big as my house.



The woman's name was Angelique. She lived on a hill. She has five children, from a darling boy of 3 to teenage girls. Their clothes were all hung up on hangars in the garage. She used to own a car dealership in Philly. Unique Cars. So she had biz equipment.

OH NO!  Gunshots from my upstairs bedrooom!


***

PULLING OUT THE BLANKETS

On these chilly days of autumn
out come old forgotten blankets
what we call "The Tiger Blanket"
Aunt Hy bought for Dad when he
lay dying, a gleaming white
comforter filled with duck
feathers that quck themselves
out upon occasion, and Sandy's
crocheted blankets that may
be my favorites.

Upstairs at night, I lie
smothered happily in blankets
falling asleep while thinking
Daddy was tucking me in.