Na Zdorovie!!

 I still read the obits every morning, and I always check the first words

 "died peacefully in her sleep"--

 (how do they know it wasn't terrifying?) 

 Sometimes it's "at home surrounded by his loved ones"

(a consummation devoutly to be wished, btw ..)

 And then yesterday this one... If you can't read it on your cell phone, I expect there's some way you can enlarge it.  

 

 

 anyhow, it starts --" Rochester:  (1947-2017) Released to the next adventure ..."  That birth date is an alert right there -- he was in his teens through much of the 1960s.  It was an exciting time to be a teenager but a pretty hard time to be a parent --trust me, I was there.

  Between them our boys drove Abbie Hoffman, marched on Washington with MLK,  hitch-hiked to the moonshot and heard Arlo Guthrie at the Newport Festival, registered for the draft and debated fleeing to New Zealand or Canada -- and then they turned middle-aged with good marriages and respectable careers. 

 I was curious to read what became of Charles, but judging from this obit, he was a living fossil -- true to his era right to the end.  Anyhow, what I started out to tell you is that someone thought it worth including in his obituary that he

WENT TO WOODSTOCK WITH A PURCHASED TICKET.

YES!  Our Dov went to Woodstock (driving his friends in our station wagon after dawn because his junior license didn't allow driving at night)  And YES! he'd PURCHASED A TICKET, only to find that as Woodstock developed, the fences were thrown down and the gates opened.

Na Zdorovie!

Here's a First!

Could it have been half a century ago that Anna made paint-by-number portraits of The Beatles?
 I guess if you live long enough (and I have) what goes around comes around.
At any rate, here's what the magazine from Cornell Ornithology looked like in the mailbox yesterday --

 

and when the outside cover was removed -- 

 

 

So I'm curious -- is this indeed a first, or has anyone already received a magazine with this kind of embellishment for your coloring pleasure?

Balanced -- and a Bargain!

      As a public service, today's post is all about a perfectly balanced bargain meal --and  one that can be eaten without having to leave the driver's seat.  For your reading pleasure I append a McDonald's check and here's your script:
      First, you drive up and order a "small cheeseburger".  Right there is your dairy and your protein. 
     Then you ask for a "senior coke".  (I know, I know, but I need the caffeine these days and I don't drink coffee.)
Besides, I want to alert those of a respectable age -- did you know you can get a full-size drink for 79 cents?... or even 69 cents? (read on)  You just have to ask.
    Then, because the chopped onions on that cheeseburger don't really provide enough fruit-and-vegetable component -- and because I've eliminated the pickle and the ketchup, which you may remember Reagan (was it?) classified as a school lunch vegetable...
   ...it's prudent to end the meal with a hot apple pie.
   Yes, this nicely balanced meal can be had for just three dollars,
   BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!!

   If you go to store #32511 instead of store # 4789, you save a penny on the cheeseburger, the coke is ten cents less, the pie is a real bargain and the tax becomes only twenty cents.  

  A third MacDonald's had even different pricing, but I can't seem to find the check.  At any rate -- here's your well-balanced meal for
LESS THAN THREE DOLLARS.

       We're Lovin It!

 

Bigger than the Carnegie Deli

After at least a decade I still remember the address of the Carnegie Deli -- 56th street between 5th and 6th.

Last time we were there, Norm wanted to buy a half-pound of pastrami to take home-- and the guy behind the counter said "It's cheaper if you just order a sandwich."

So we took a sandwich home.

Just as well he isn't here

to know it's not.

Meanwhile --

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/money/business/2016/12/30/real-estate-columnist-edith-lank/95518148/

Holiday Leftovers

 It's way below freezing out today. 
 Way past noon.  I'm still in furry slippers and cozy bathrobe, with every intention of staying that way till bedtime. 
The house is pretty well back to normal after the Holidays and the family Visitors, with just a couple of leftover mysteries:
Whose is the red apron?  I suspect Maria.

 

And who left the impressive paperback Hamlet and Oedipus?
Julie just finished a course that involved Greek drama, so I suspect her, but yet -- look at the price in the northeast corner of that cover:
 -- that's got to be a generation or two earlier.  Maybe Julie got it while they were visiting Anna, who has a nice collection of drama stuff from her Equity days.
But anyhow -- the big mystery is
 What Ever Happened to the Bathmat That Got Soaked When the Fancy Shower Leaked?
I have looked high and low. 
Come to think of it, that's a figure of speech. 
I can no longer look either  High or Low.
                        Any information will be appreciated.