Sesame Street's number of the day is the big 40

Sesame Street was a favorite of mine as a child. Now, I read that the original street has had some subtle makeovers of the residents and their dwellings. Over the years, Oscar apparently received a citation or two and had to clean up his garbage can act and Cookie realized the dreaded food police were onto his food pyramid and its lopsided leanings to all things bakery related. Talk about taking the wind out of someone's sails. He's the Cookie Monster. If I could, I would tell him about the article I read about Mr Mayor of NYC and his mission to rid every adult of their individual decision to indulge in trans fats or not. It seems that the king himself has some of the worst dietary habits and likes to put salt on his saltine crackers according to the always available to quote 'unidentified staffer.' It seems that Sesame has struggled to keep their foothold in children's interests in order to keep up with the Joneses. You know the Joneses. They're the ones who never have dirty garbage cans and treat cookies for their children like contraban. Next, Bert and Ernie get seperate places and the next character introduced on the street is Cougar Cathy.

turkey lurkey

The dog and I spent some quality time in the park this morning since we have been given the gift of another unseasonably warm day. The rain pounded the windows in the den last night and the constant droan of the ships' horns in the harbor started to make it diffucult to hear the dialogue of a movie I was watching. A storm like that makes you savor such a clear morning that much more. Some people dress to the calendar I guess. We passed a woman in an anorak, hat and gloves. Is she not experiencing the same morning the rest of us are? This time next week people will be walking off their turkey feasts or waking to the bugle to celebrate the true meaning of the holiday season. Scoring the best deal on a flat screen t.v. One radio station became all Christmas music all the time today. Slow down, you move too fast.

facebook 'friend' farce

Here's another entry for the 'you just can't make this stuff up.' It is a clear Autumn afternoon in the park with the season's brightly colored leaves floating down on warm breezes. I am speaking to a couple about a recent gathering I attended. We realize that there is a person I had a conversation with at this function who knew these people before they were a couple. The wife mentions the woman that I had spoken with and says that she is this woman's 'Facebook friend.' "Really?" says the husband and asks about her life. The wife eagerly shares all of this woman's information about her husband, children, where she lives and on and on. She tells her husband that she has, in turn, filled this woman in on all their personal family information.

As fate is known to do, a few minutes later the woman from the event happens upon the scene and we are all in each other's little corner of the world. I bring the women together and say nothing more than 'look who is here.' They look at each other,confused and then me. After what seems the right amount of time and puzzlement I say their names and introduce the 'Facebook friends' to each other in a park in the light of day.

salute

It is Veteran's Day. A salute to those who have served us and those who are doing so now. It is my sincere hope that all the parents who didn't send their children to school last week so that they could take the kids to the parade for the World Series Yankees take advantage of a school holiday and return to the 'canyon of heroes' today to honor the veterans. They are most likely hitting the sales at Macy's though. The kids saw 'history being made' with the World Series champions last week.

brotherly love

Filed under you just can't make this stuff up.

A mother is having a casual conversation with another mother as two small children, pacifiers firmly in place, start playing the hand challenge. Poke. Poke back. Poke again. The action escalates into a shove from one boy and the other goes down. Mom does a triple take and now is aware of what is going on. She takes both boys by an arm and brings them face to binky face for the required negotiations. Hunched over, she demands from the pusher the following:

'Did you push your brother? Did you? Did you push him? Say you're sorry. We don't push. Say you're sorry. Do you hear me? Say it. Tell your brother you're sorry. Now. Say you're sorry or you're going to get a smack!'

See what I mean?

moving in and moving on

Ah, Mother Nature. She never lets us become complacent. Just when we think we have her all figured out she surprises us with what we don't expect. I had given in to the cooler forces that blew through a few days ago and then it all changed to a relaxed warmth that embraced once again. It took me back to the day we moved into our house and filled it with what reflects who we are and made a house a home. The moving truck backed in our driveway with the slant of a November sun and the leaves crunching at our feet. It was a day of importance coupled with something as mundane as carrying boxes and potted plants. All I wanted at the end of that day was an outlet to plug in a tv to tell us who the leader of the country would be. That evening I realized that perhaps I may have hung out with a guy named Chad, no not really, we would all learn the meaning of a 'hanging chad.' November 7, 2000.

Montauk daisy and feeling lazy

The first real gust of air blew off the water when I was walking through the local cultural center this morning. That first blast that says it is really time to face the cold season that is rolling in. The magnolia tree is laughing at us and our never ending quest to clean up its leaves. The rake is barely put away, the groan of the garage door closing and those leaves start to trickle down to the empty patch we have just cleared. It has been a crazy growing season. The Christmas cactus, who took their usual summer respite on the back porch, are in full bloom and Thanksgiving has yet to happen. The morning glory vine on the lamppost that I nurtured from seed did nothing this summer. Now it has grabbed hold of the bare dogwood branches above it and it is sending forth bell like blossoms of periwinkle. The Montauk daisy which peaks when every thing else has finished for the season is always a wonder at this time of year. It stands strong among all the discarded leaves around it. This was a long week. I need to be more like the Montauk daisy.

boo

When did Halloween become such a celebratory holiday? Sure, there have always been some people who are more into the festivities of all that is spooky than others. But adults wishing a Happy Halloween to each other with no children around? Orange strings of lights twinkling on bushes as kids run from one house to the next. We never had them. Then again, I never thought I would see the day that a kid would reach into his stash and hunt around among the sugary treats to retrieve his ringing cell phone from the bottom of his bag and answer it. But I did.