A new city for my husband and me. A new job for one of my children. A new year soon to begin for us all. Still, “new” is not how I feel. Adrift. Unmoored. Those are words to describe me right now. Instead of downsizing, my husband and I recently purchased a bigger house in The post 5782 is […]

We’re moving after eight years. My husband is excited. He should be. The move to Reno is his idea. A return to his childhood home state, something he’s been longing to do for many years. I, on the other hand, am not excited. It’s a relatively small town. I’m a big-city girl. So I view The […]

Growing up, I watched Betty Boop and Mighty Mouse cartoons every Saturday morning. Then I played with my Barbie dolls all afternoon. And for a break, I read and reread my ever-growing stack of Superman comic books. Weekday afternoons, I watched Shari Lewis and her puppet creation, Lamb Chop, on TV. […]

When I was a child, my Uncle George would grab my cheeks so hard I thought he’d lift me off the ground. “Such a shayna punim” he’d exclaim with joy. “Yes!” my parents would reply with equal joy. At 6, I hated Uncle George and I hated my parents. Now, at 67, I hate my The post My face […]

It’s been a hard year in oh so many ways. Now, thankfully, in most parts of the United States, we’re starting to emerge from the fear and isolation of sheltering in place. And as we do, I for one, am pausing to reflect on what I learned about myself during this time. One “lesson” surprised […]

Here in the Bay Area, sitting out the pandemic, I’ve developed a serious addiction. It’s surprising it’s taken so long. After all, I’m a native New Yorker, the daughter of native New Yorkers, the granddaughter of Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Experts say addictions run in families. […]

Three years ago in this space I asked, “Am I a Galatz from Galați?” Well, since then, I’ve been taken on an unexpected joyride of genealogical learning and been thrilled by the revelations I’ve acquired. Here’s a brief sampling: First, genealogists are delightful fanatics. Second, forget […]

It’s been a tough couple of months. Politics and pandemic have taken their toll on me. Like many people, I have lost loved ones this year. And almost a year of sheltering at home has made me feel that my once larger-than-life life has shrunk to minuscule proportions. Stuck at home, I have been […]

Here in California, we continue living under shelter-in-place orders. It’s gone on for so long, I’m beginning to forget what not sheltering-in-place feels like! I’ve covered my “good” clothes with tissue paper, so they won’t get dusty and periodically I dust my unworn shoes, which do […]

Don’t call her a survivor. She doesn’t like the term. Yet it certainly applies. Many times over. She says instead that she was “lucky.” That she’s lived “a charmed life.”  Meet 87-year-old Marika Somogyi, who lived through both the Holocaust and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Happy […]