I took a brief winter vacation as you probably noticed. Frankly, I was exhausted with all the holiday hoopla. Nonna, Teri and I went to a wonderful family dinner on Christmas day at my cousin’s, Ginny Jannace Malara, and we saw about 20 friends and relatives there. Two dogs. Great food
Greetings. Was everything you wanted under your trees? If you feel you are missing anything here is a gift from me via one of my very favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut: ”Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard.
Are you waiting? Waiting for that large flat screen TV you hope to get for Christmas? Waiting for the family to congregate and review old times and older jokes? Are you waiting to win the lottery? Well, I am waiting, too. Waiting as in Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s amazing poem in Pictures from the Gone World.
Well, I really stepped in it last week. Who else noticed my glaring omission? May I be condemned to be in a stalled car in the middle of Five Corners on next Labor Day weekend when I am rushing to the boat for neglecting to list the Mother of All Island Charities, The Red Stocking Fund, at the top of my holiday gift-giving list.
Get out your pens and check books, here is my annual wish list for the holiday season. First, I want to mention that while there are many, many worthy causes off-Island I am a firm believer in charity begins at home so my list is geared to Island needs. If you need any addresses call me up!
Call them what they are, jerks. Terrorist is a well-worn word that ascribes too much recognition, exactly what the bully on the playground wants. Don’t publish their names, no pictures. Just say this jerk did this, that jerk did that.
Mouse lovers, here is a story for you. I had the back door open after dinner last week to get some air in after Teri almost burned supper. Nonna was in her favorite chair in front of the TV. Teddy Paul Bruschi Kennedy Gardella, my five year old black cat, ran in from outside. Nonna began to yell, “I think Teddy has a mouse!” And so he did, and he dropped it still alive with no apparent damage on the living room floor so he could chase it around the piano and furniture.
Once upon a time on Saturday mornings in the 1950s, my mother would trek to Elmsford to rehearse her choir, my father would be working on his lawn and flowers, and my brothers and I were left to our own devices in the living room with the one television in the house. We watched wrestling and then raided mom’s linen closet for sheets, set up a wrestling ring, and proceeded to practice half-nelsons, full-nelsons, and all kinds of tricky moves we thought were real.
Stand in wonder and awe with me at the very large shadow cast by one of our most accomplished and beloved Tisburians, Duncan MacDonald, who will celebrate her 100th birthday on Wednesday, Nov. 4. I have known and enjoyed Duncan over the years but it wasn’t until this brief biography of her crossed my desk — (crossed my computer?) — that I realized what an incredible human being she is.
Well, Pulitzer Prize-winner Geraldine Brooks has done it again. Her latest book The Secret Chord is sure to join her long list of New York Times bestsellers, and will be available for purchase and a book signing, complete with refreshments, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center on Sunday, Oct. 18 at 5 p.m.
