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[athingirl]

A Quiet Loss

  John Kennedy Jr. and Anthony Radziwill were more than just first cousins, their mothers being sisters. They were best friends since they were kids. Both stood up for each other at one another’s wedding. Their wives too becoming best friends.  In July of 1999, the Radziwills were staying at Red Gate Farm, John’s mother’s summer home on Martha’s Vineyard he took over after she died, waiting for…

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Life On The Train

 The 5 Train  Noonish   I’m not in the best of moods after a woman practically kicked me through the turnstile. I was a little slow for her it seemed as she yelled at me to hurry up.   I bit my tongue since she was the size of Cleveland.  As I sit down on a half empty car, who comes strolling in, in full costume but a mariachi band: two guitars and an accordion. They even have identical mustaches…

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So You Went To College and I Didn't

 I’m what you’d call, self-taught not having the privilege of attending college. I will say, though I wish I had, learning on your own reaps its own reward. It’s all your idea, what you learn, rather than being told what you should and must know.    I have a friend who has to remind me she’s smarter than I am having a degree from Oxford. She’s also critical correcting my grammar not…

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Did You Know...The Parlez-vous francais Edition

We all seem tantalized by anything French, starting with Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy who was admonished as First Lady for preferring French couture.   The designer, Oleg Cassini forced upon her, one can be assured, wasn’t her idea.   Hey, she was part French on her father’s side, it was in her blood to wear scarves and pearls.   Even the iconic pink suit she wore on that fateful day in Dallas,…

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The Well-Mannered Beast

  Why is it, so many dogs are more well-mannered than their owners? It’s a pity they can’t walk them.    I can’t say how often I come across a friendly dog with an unfriendly owner who shows contempt even if you just smile.   Happened today. I was coming back from my run when a Black Lab came bounding over. I knelt to give him a good heiney rub, the canine’s universal sweet spot.   His mistress…

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Racism At Its Most Cruelest

   Manny, a middle-aged man of color and the longtime deli man at my friend’s gourmet store, had his feelings quite hurt.    He can be sarcastic and cranky, but when push comes to shove, he’s a noble knight, just with cheese and assorted cold cuts.    A woman came in clearly not from here, garishly dressed in a too short dress and heels a little much for noontime. She had a dozen or more gold…

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Strolling In The Park

 Central Park’s 72nd Street Boat Pond…11 a.m.  It’s our first spring day, or blazer weather as I like to call it. The air is fresh with a hearty breeze wooing like a lusty call girl.  I’m sitting at a green lattice cafe table sipping tea surrounded by a group of other strollers taking five.  On my left are two spry men well into their 80s eying all the women as if it were a lavish buffet.   As I…

[athingirl]

Life On The Train

I’m on the Number 6 local turtling uptown. I’m standing holding onto a strap lucky I even got on, the train so packed.   Being thin I can always squeeze in like Gumby to the irritation of my fellow riders.    I’m doing my best to detach from the discomfort of being wedged between a kid’s backpack and a man’s camel-haired coat smelling of old cigars. I can feel a newspaper grace the top of my head…

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If I couldn't Write

To quote the writer Anne Lamott...if I couldn’t write, I’d be a balloon with a slow leak.   Another writer I respect, Julia Cameron said…writing is a friend whose shoulder we can cry on.   It’s my mainstay…my buoy in the water. It’s where I go no matter what else is occurring in my life. The mere grace of loving it so makes up for all those brusque rejections...  thank you very much, but it’s not…

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Did You Know...The Slightly Tacky Edition

Harry Truman served as Vice-President for only 82 days before replacing his boss, Franklin D. Roosevelt who died at 63 without any drumroll, his doctors not letting on how sick he really was.    Truman might have turned the job down if he had known.    Talk about an unwanted promotion.    When Truman asked what he could do for Mrs. Roosevelt, she replied, “Is there anything we can do for you Mr.…

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Best Story Of The Week...April 4th

  Since I can’t sleep, I’m at the all-night diner a few blocks away.  The place is empty except for the staff and a robust man seated at the counter. He’s eating heartily what smells like corned beef and cabbage.   He has a black handlebar mustache I have an urge to go pull.   The smell wafting pushes me to a table way across the room.   The young Mexican waiter bringing me tea and an English…

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The Pagliacci of Presidents

  I don’t expect much interest in this since who cares about a past president, especially an obscure one. But I wrote about him anyway. It’s hard to find integrity in anyone these days, so that’s what struck me the most about William Howard Taft.   I make the comparison to Pagliacci from an Italian opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo, because he was a very sad clown.  After reading about our 27th…

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Life On The Train

  Number 6 Train  11:00 a.m.   I’m on my way to Rivington Street way downtown. It’s one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city that has yet to be gentrified. It looks as if it’s truly from another era making you wonder how it has escaped the wrecking ball this long.  At Bleeker Street I’ll change for the F Train one stop.  The 6 is running smoothly since it’s past rush hour so it has a peaceful,…

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Holy Shamoley

We’re about to embark on what Christians call Holy Week.  I’m not a practicing Catholic anymore but still remember its drumroll before Easter Sunday.  My mother though hardly a role model, still took it very seriously. It was my first lesson in what you see isn’t exactly what you get. But be that as it may, I too took it seriously not understanding how a father could do that to his son.  “To save…

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Susannah's Spring, Summer Reading List...2024

I’ll start with our eminent United States Capitol, beginning with a favorite book of mine I’ve read many times. The American Spirit: Who We Are And What We Stand For…David McCullough (2017)   He so eloquently reminds us of the Capitol’s sanctity, our very own Notre Dame standing majestically in our nations’s capital. Too many Americans think of it as just another building. After reading his A…

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Words Seldom Used

  I am very seduced by the English language.  Words wooing from the page. A writer whose name escapes me said, some are simply meant to stay there. In other words, unless you’re an English Lord in the 18th century, they’re longer used in casual conversation.  Postprandial is one. An adjective…what happens after mealtime…a post repast. What one does afterwards.   Do the men head to the library for…

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Life On The Train

    Stalled on the Number 5   I’m seated with a herd of other pissed off passengers as we hear the conductor say for the 20th time, sorry for the delay, we’ll be moving shortly.  We’re stuck in-between stations so there’s no option to run. Being claustrophobic, this isn’t my finest moment, but as my late friend Jackie would say...when you get lemons, make lemonade, so hence, on a Panera napkin…