I am my own shrink. It saves a lot of money and the necessary introspection usually produces insight and answers. At a recent check-up, the nurse asked are you bi-polar or schizophrenic? What? I said I don't think so. You tell me! Since half of America lives in a state of mild depression and/or anxiety, wouldn't do you have any depression or anxiety problems be a better question? If I had said yes I am schizophrenic, would I have walked out with a big gun prescription? Would they have helped me? Seems like they are crazy not me.
Anyway, I know I have some problems, some quirks, so I decided to look inward at one in particular. When people ask me where are you from I always answer I live in Minnesota but I'm really from New Jersey, somehow implying that thirty-seven years in Minnesota has been an illusion. What am I really saying here?
My inner analyst tells me I am actually saying I am not a Midwesterner so don't expect me to act like one. Don't expect "Minnesota nice" all the time and don't expect one word answers. Don't expect me to run out and catch an autumn leaf as it falls from the tree so it doesn't land on the neighbor's yard. Also,deal with the fact that I use a naughty word every now and then and that I don't read Christian fiction.
In other words, just like I said. I live in Minnesota but I'm really from New Jersey. I'm not schizophrenic but I definitely have a split personality.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Halloween Heaven
Pumpkin patches pop out all over Minnesota every October. And intricate mazes carved out of cornfields entertain with the scary prospect of getting lost forever in a quarter mile square that makes you feel like you are roaming around a whole county. The rusty ashes and elms, though, are only so-so pretty compared to knock-out New England foliage. Even with a "Haunted Places in Minnesota" book in hand the state comes no where close to the flavor of , say, a Salem, Massachusetts and its witch lore.
But while deciding that Halloween is whatever you make of it, all of a sudden it occurred to me that I actually used to live in THE perfect Halloween place. I was only one year old and wish I could remember more of my Halloween in Tarrytown, NY where I lived for a year or so..
Tarrytown, of course, is the setting for the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving. Irving lived in Tarrytown in a wonderful Dutch mansion called Sunnyside perched high above the gorgeous Hudson River and was inspired by a part of town called Sleepy Hollow and all the witch tales of the nearby Catskill Mountain region.
Tarrytown, now in view of the Tappan Zee Bridge, is all about Sleepy Hollow every day of the year. There is Washington Irving High School and Sleepy Hollow Middle School, Van Tassle this and Brom Bones that. It is a delight any time of year but especially at Halloween. Some day, I vow, I will spend another Halloween in Tarrytown. Until then I can't wait to savor the spooky opportunity to get back to these nearly forgotten roots and a chance to cringe at the conjured up vision of Ichabod Crane in hysterical flight from the headless horseman. Oh what a delicious Halloween that will be!
But while deciding that Halloween is whatever you make of it, all of a sudden it occurred to me that I actually used to live in THE perfect Halloween place. I was only one year old and wish I could remember more of my Halloween in Tarrytown, NY where I lived for a year or so..
Tarrytown, of course, is the setting for the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving. Irving lived in Tarrytown in a wonderful Dutch mansion called Sunnyside perched high above the gorgeous Hudson River and was inspired by a part of town called Sleepy Hollow and all the witch tales of the nearby Catskill Mountain region.
Tarrytown, now in view of the Tappan Zee Bridge, is all about Sleepy Hollow every day of the year. There is Washington Irving High School and Sleepy Hollow Middle School, Van Tassle this and Brom Bones that. It is a delight any time of year but especially at Halloween. Some day, I vow, I will spend another Halloween in Tarrytown. Until then I can't wait to savor the spooky opportunity to get back to these nearly forgotten roots and a chance to cringe at the conjured up vision of Ichabod Crane in hysterical flight from the headless horseman. Oh what a delicious Halloween that will be!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Top 5 Scenes I've Seen (so far)
1. The Grand Canyon
2. The Alps
3. The Headwaters of the Mississippi River - (really!)
4. Icebergs in the North Atlantic
5. Niagara Falls
2. The Alps
3. The Headwaters of the Mississippi River - (really!)
4. Icebergs in the North Atlantic
5. Niagara Falls
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
More Soon!
I miss blogging - a lot! So many activities recently and then there is SUMMER. So many excuses. I promise to get down to business and soon produce a gem. ( I would like to say "another gem" but...)
Friday, May 7, 2010
Money in the Family
Who other than PBS could interest me in a subject up until now I have avoided like the plague? A week or so ago I saw a program on economics. It was fascinating!. I especially liked the part that said the X factor in economics is the human element. (That seems obvious but geniuses came up with the notion so what can you say?) And I love the term rational economics, partly because it began, so to speak, at the University of Chicago and I love the University of Chicago, and partly because it makes sense.. Anyway, I got to thinking about people and their money styles, then about my family and THEIR money styles. Needless to say, there are tales to tell.
Besides the brilliant teaching and advice of their parents my childrens financial philosophy background on the Mom side came from Pop-Pop who paid off all bills every month, bought cars with cash, and had two mortgages but no other loans his whole life, and Nana who learned to write a check when she was 32 and never though she had enough money. Paternal people consisted of two frugal to a fault farmers who were embarrassed by the slightest hint of "wealth." For instance, Grandma was humiliated by her working adult daughter's trip to Europe. "Where will people think you got the money?," she lamented. Thank God the kids did not inherit this assinine attitude.
We'll briefly analyse four sibling financial styles. Little Ingrid always seemed to forget her wallet on shopping excursions. We, of course, would lend her the money for her purchases but Ingrid was highly insulted at the notion that she should pay us back. Of course, these days she realizes having a wallet at hand is a very smart move.
Young Jamie's first shopping expedition was a revelation to him. He chose a toy in the local 5 & 10, asked how much it cost, then went up to the checkout counter and stood there. It became apparent that Jamie thought the cashier would give HIM $5.99 as well as the toy. He was stunned to discover it was he who had to fork over the dough! To this day James is very careful about his purchases and enjoys a bulging wallet rather than a big bag of stuff.
Kit, perhaps, has the most "normal" attitude towards financial matters. He spends when he wants to with neither anxiety nor regret. After making a purchase as a little boy, Christian was usually thrilled and had no lamentations about the depletion of his fortune.
Alex, I would say, loves spending money the most. Usually it is because he wants the item ever so badly and is very excited when it becomes his. Lilttle Alex would be the first to ask to go shopping after a birthday or Christmas windfall and the expression about money burning a hole in one's pocket was a phrase Alex would never have to consider. Getting rid of money as fast as he could would avert this potential disaster.
So my hope is that after all this financial training everyone now has lots of plain old common sense. It should serve them well.
.
Besides the brilliant teaching and advice of their parents my childrens financial philosophy background on the Mom side came from Pop-Pop who paid off all bills every month, bought cars with cash, and had two mortgages but no other loans his whole life, and Nana who learned to write a check when she was 32 and never though she had enough money. Paternal people consisted of two frugal to a fault farmers who were embarrassed by the slightest hint of "wealth." For instance, Grandma was humiliated by her working adult daughter's trip to Europe. "Where will people think you got the money?," she lamented. Thank God the kids did not inherit this assinine attitude.
We'll briefly analyse four sibling financial styles. Little Ingrid always seemed to forget her wallet on shopping excursions. We, of course, would lend her the money for her purchases but Ingrid was highly insulted at the notion that she should pay us back. Of course, these days she realizes having a wallet at hand is a very smart move.
Young Jamie's first shopping expedition was a revelation to him. He chose a toy in the local 5 & 10, asked how much it cost, then went up to the checkout counter and stood there. It became apparent that Jamie thought the cashier would give HIM $5.99 as well as the toy. He was stunned to discover it was he who had to fork over the dough! To this day James is very careful about his purchases and enjoys a bulging wallet rather than a big bag of stuff.
Kit, perhaps, has the most "normal" attitude towards financial matters. He spends when he wants to with neither anxiety nor regret. After making a purchase as a little boy, Christian was usually thrilled and had no lamentations about the depletion of his fortune.
Alex, I would say, loves spending money the most. Usually it is because he wants the item ever so badly and is very excited when it becomes his. Lilttle Alex would be the first to ask to go shopping after a birthday or Christmas windfall and the expression about money burning a hole in one's pocket was a phrase Alex would never have to consider. Getting rid of money as fast as he could would avert this potential disaster.
So my hope is that after all this financial training everyone now has lots of plain old common sense. It should serve them well.
.
Monday, April 26, 2010
If You're Ever on the Witness Stand....Re-.Remembering the Bunny
If you are ever called as a witness in a trial, think twice about your memory. What you think you remember may not be the truth! Think about that. What you plain old say under oath might not be the truth. That's scary. I wrote the story about my Easter Bunny Experience Gone Bad and truly believed my memory produced an accurate account of the infamous encounter with no revisionist history.. I mean, how much worse could it have been? I am remembering the words "damn Easter Bunny." It happened that way, right? Not according to my son. He says the truth is worse, much worse. He says I said "damn" in my dreams but the real honest to goodness expletive was "I don't care what the f$%king Easter Bunny is doing." Oops! On second thought, I am thinking he is probably right. I am glad I did not have to appear on the witness stand, though, as that Big Bunny who just meant well did not sue me. Actually, come to think of it, I HAVE been on the witness stand and hopefully told the truth, although, to tell you the truth, who knows for sure?! (I was acquitted so whatever I said worked in my favor.) Anyway, I am now super SUPER sorry for my behavior to the Bunny so please remember this, your memory can and does and WILL play tricks on you. I think it usually tries to make the situation better than it was. The bunny probably was a damn bunny but he wasn't quite a f$%king bunny. My apologies.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Morristown Memory
I can't remember why I was thinking of Morristown the other day. I think I had read something about the public library there, which, by the way is infamous for having been the first homeless- man-decides-to-live-in-a-library case in America..
I had a relationship with this1715 northern New Jersey town for over thirty years and remember its pre- Interstate 287 days when it was a picture perfect Colonial town with a charming 1700s town square and really good shopping.
We actually lived in Whippany about five miles north of Morristown on a road that George Washington and his army had marched along on their way to Morristown where he spent the winter of 1779-80. He in a mansion and the troops out in the cold in the woods.
At the age of 10 I rode the DeCamp lines New York bus to its last stop in front of the movie theater on the square in Morristown before it went back into the city. Then I would walk ten minutes or so to St. Margaret School located in the Italian section of town while passing two or three parmesan perfumed Italian groceries. I loved the smell of parmesan in the morning!
But back to Whippany for a moment. Whippany was a small village on a Whippanong Indian site before Bell Labs came to town and precipitated the building of several hundred '50's ranch and split level homes. Years later, thanks to Google, I discovered that the Labs had been working on, among other projects, SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) behind its secured gates. How exciting it would have been to have known that at the time!
Anyway, one of Whippany's early residents was The Seeing Eye, housed on a former estate. The Seeing Eye, still in operation but now located in the beautiful hills just outside Morristown, trained dogs for the blind. In fact, they trained guide dogs for about 300 blind persons a year. The dogs used to do their on-the-job-training on the streets of Morristown with their trainers or with trainers and their new proud owners.
The citizenry of the area needed training, too, and we all learned fast. We learned not to stop and pet the dogs, just to let them do their thing alerting the blind to stop or start at crosswalks, etc. It was a beautiful sight that we took for granted as on any one day there were many dogs getting their education, on the Green and in the restaurants and shops of the town.
I think now what a unique experience it was to be part of this training, even in a very passive way and the people of Morristown are still enjoying this opportunity to serve.
I had a relationship with this1715 northern New Jersey town for over thirty years and remember its pre- Interstate 287 days when it was a picture perfect Colonial town with a charming 1700s town square and really good shopping.
We actually lived in Whippany about five miles north of Morristown on a road that George Washington and his army had marched along on their way to Morristown where he spent the winter of 1779-80. He in a mansion and the troops out in the cold in the woods.
At the age of 10 I rode the DeCamp lines New York bus to its last stop in front of the movie theater on the square in Morristown before it went back into the city. Then I would walk ten minutes or so to St. Margaret School located in the Italian section of town while passing two or three parmesan perfumed Italian groceries. I loved the smell of parmesan in the morning!
But back to Whippany for a moment. Whippany was a small village on a Whippanong Indian site before Bell Labs came to town and precipitated the building of several hundred '50's ranch and split level homes. Years later, thanks to Google, I discovered that the Labs had been working on, among other projects, SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) behind its secured gates. How exciting it would have been to have known that at the time!
Anyway, one of Whippany's early residents was The Seeing Eye, housed on a former estate. The Seeing Eye, still in operation but now located in the beautiful hills just outside Morristown, trained dogs for the blind. In fact, they trained guide dogs for about 300 blind persons a year. The dogs used to do their on-the-job-training on the streets of Morristown with their trainers or with trainers and their new proud owners.
The citizenry of the area needed training, too, and we all learned fast. We learned not to stop and pet the dogs, just to let them do their thing alerting the blind to stop or start at crosswalks, etc. It was a beautiful sight that we took for granted as on any one day there were many dogs getting their education, on the Green and in the restaurants and shops of the town.
I think now what a unique experience it was to be part of this training, even in a very passive way and the people of Morristown are still enjoying this opportunity to serve.
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