He was the keeper of the neighborhood. A tall, thin man with white hair who stood watch at his post on the front porch while smoking a cigar. Dan and his wife Helen live in the downstairs apartment and silently tolerate my piano playing, furniture rearranging, and that phase when I attempted to do an aerobic exercise DVD once a day. They never say a word when I turn the radio up late at night and clean house, and don't even mind that my dog barks endlessly with every buzz of the door bell.  Dan lit my stove pilot light when it blew out and I was too afraid and inexperienced with gas ovens to do it myself. I once shattered a heavy, glass cooking pan on the floor and 30 seconds later, Dan knocked on my door to make sure I was okay. He doesn't play with the neighborhood kids, but he's always on guard, looking out for them, ready to tell them to stay back from the street, and keeping track of the strangers that walk by on the sidewalk. He and his wife know all the neighbors, t...

It's become a habit of mine to begin a prayer almost the exact same way every time..."Dear Lord, thank you for everything you've done for me, and thank you for my family's health and safety." Somehow, my loved ones and I have really hit the health jack pot. The only time I've ever been in the hospital, is when I was born. And while there've been a few minor mishaps over the years, we've been beyond fortunate. So it's easy to become complacent in my true thankfulness when it comes to this matter. But something happened with my niece, Zoey, that made me stop and not just  say  "thank you," but seriously,  seriously  mean it. Her mother, Deb, explained that 4-year old Zoey was drinking from a cup with ice cubes, when suddenly one got lodged in her throat. Deb, a registered nurse, tried everything to help her daughter, but soon felt helpless as no oxygen was getting to her daughter at all. She began to foam at the mouth. And though Deb kne...

While my little sister was visiting, I took her to see the new  Cirque du Soleil  show at Radio City Music Hall. I had a feeling it would be right up her alley. We tease her that she's the "quirkier" of the 3 sisters.  I had recently watched part of a documentary describing the extraordinary undertaking it takes to put a show together. They audition acts for an entire year, have elaborate costumes and make up, and boast some of the most professional lighting directors, choreographers, and staging equipment in the business. The stage itself is so extravagant, they could not run a complete dress rehearsal until mere days before the opening at Radio City, as only a few stages in the country are able to accommodate the grand scale of equipment, and Radio City's stage was occupied with other acts. Instead, they rehearsed different sections of the show on different stages  around the country , until they were able to piece it all together in New York.  Quirky it wa...

And a few other things as well...I've been to this  park in Bernardsville, NJ  once before, but I had to stop again today on my way to work. It's just so lovely. I tried to come up with all captions from classic country songs since I already had the willow stuck in my head. It does get to be a bit of a challenge... "I stop to see a weeping willow, cryin on his pillow. Maybe he's cryin for me."  ( Walkin After Midnight  by Patsy Cline) "Ah, breaker, Big Ben, this here's the Duck." ( Convoy  by C.W. McCall) "Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing." ( Love is Like a Butterfly  by Dolly Parton) "The cattle are prowlin, the coyotes are howlin, way out where the doggies roam." ( Cattle Call  by Eddie Arnold) 

It's not often that I learn a song strictly from sheet music. And it's even less often that I learn and memorize the whole thing in just one day. But I guess stranger things have happened. This is a piece from the soundtrack of " The King's Speech ." I let the credits roll just so I could hear the whole thing! I thought it might work to play for ballet class. Of course I have to chop it up first to make it "square." But I thought I 'd learn it in it's entirety before I did that. It's a little rough, but I wanted to record it while it was still in my head (it may fall out by tomorrow).  This is a beautiful piece and I hope you enjoy it. (The movie's pretty good too!) ~~~ Other posts like this: A Day's Work Beth's Adagio New Spin on Classic Rock Name That Tune

"Please, I'll never eat another Cheeto as long as I live!" If you are ever in charge of trapping a pesky animal of some kind to "take care of it," here is a tip. Don't call me to come check it out before you "take care of it," or it won't get "taken care of." As seen in this example when someone, was supposed to do something, but he -or she- didn't because someone else would have made him -or her- sleep on the couch that night if he -or she- had done it. For music, I couldn't decide between something French in honor of my old buddy Peppy, or the classic ballad, "Born Free." Either way, I bet this little fellow is never tempted by the smell of Cheetos (yes, Cheetos!) again. (In case you missed  yesterday's  disclaimer, I am  still  not Steven Spielberg)

While my husband Eddie was at the Grand Canyon for National Park Service training, he got up early one morning to watch the sunrise. That evening, he watched the sun go down. He took the camera, and snapped a picture from the same vantage point every 2-4 minutes! I thought it would make a great time lapse video (keep in mind I'm not Steven Spielberg!) and you could get a sense of the wonder that is the Grand Canyon! ~~~ Goodbye Breath If I was a Squirrel, I'd live in the Grand Canyon On the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown Life Among the Rock I Spy