When our son Noah was young we spent several summers in the Hamptons in a rented house a short drive from both the beach and the town. One summer my husband Danny invited his business colleague Stan to join us for the weekend with his wife Lynn and their two sons. Noah was about five at the time, and their sons Josh and Mikey were probably four and six. The three boys played nicely together, but I couldn’t help noticing that Stan and Lynn seemed over-anxious with their...
This was to be the summer I really worked on my tennis game, and planted my garden earlier, learned to play Mah Jongg, and caught up of all those unread New Yorkers. And this was to be the summer I finally mastered the barbecue, and took out my old bike and checked the tires, and did some serious antiquing. And the summer I ordered Tanglewood and summer stock tickets before the good seats were sold out, and swam laps instead of just chatting with friends at the pool. This was...
It’s hard to believe it’s been over two months since we started our unplanned coronavirus quarantine, and I’m still reeling with dismay and disbelief. And in March I was so sorry to learn of the Covid-related death of Terrence McNally at age 81. McNally had been one of America’s greatest contemporary playwrights and apparently had chronic pulmonary disease and had overcome lung cancer. In my college days at NYU, I took a modern drama course with a professor whose...
On our last trip to Paris we planned to spend an evening catching up with our friend Jane. An artist and writer, she had gone to Paris to live and work a dozen years earlier. Jane met us in the elegant dining room of our hotel and we were having drinks when my cell phone rang. “Hello, this is Rabbi Zeller replying to your message.”, said an unfamiliar voice. “I’m sorry I didn’t call back sooner, but the factory was closed for Passover. How can I help you?” Then I...
Like everyone of my generation I had a favorite Beatle, and about a year ago we actually met. My husband and I were having lunch at Lexington Candy Shop on Lex @ 83rd, a favorite local coffeeshop. The place prides itself on it’s celebrity patronage with signed photos on the walls of Woody Allen and others, and stills from a scene in Three Days of the Condor that was actually filmed there. At lunchtime the coffeeshop is usually crowded and we were lucky to get two stools at the...