Goodbye amazing deal. Hello winter!
November 26, 2013 Comments Off
I’m not usually into promoting big business on my blog (or anywhere really), but we just ended an amazing run with Dunkin’ Donuts and I am in mourning. For the last eight weeks, I’ve enjoyed a free medium iced coffee to kick off my work week.
I owe it all to Zevi. Every week, all the homes in our neighborhood receive a free “newspaper” on our doorsteps stuffed with all the coupons a saver could appreciate. I’ve never bothered to unpack the bag to look at what’s inside. Instead, I usually toss the paper directly into the recycling. We were on one of our neighborhood adventures one day in October and Zevi dumped out all the coupons in front of a condo down the block. Inside, we discovered a golden ticket. Then we scoured the neighborhood looking for more coupons to share with others. Almost everyone in our neighborhood must have gotten the memo because we could only find two more Dunkin’ Donuts coupons. (Some papers were still out on stoops, but the DD coupon had been removed.) Yesterday Joe and I drank our last free iced coffees while commuting.
Check out this amazing turkey ice cream cake at Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins, just in time for Thanksgiving. Thank you for the free iced coffees, Dunkin’ Donuts. You’re welcome for the free advertising.
Brooklyn Ice Capades Date Night
November 22, 2013 Comments Off
Now that summer is but a distant memory, McCarren Park Pool has been converted into a little ice skating rink. (Last year the Parks’ Department forgot to purchase the ice, so this is the first year to ice skate anywhere in Brooklyn.)
And ice skating is what we did.
This was the first time Joe and I ice skated together.
A simple way to have fun; we will definitely go back again this winter.
A tribute to baby’s first lessons in queer theory
November 20, 2013 Comments Off
Charlotte Zolotow died yesterday at age 98. (Honestly, I am not intending to turn my blog into an obits column, but I read the obituaries daily and frequently I’m reminded of how life is composed of the labor, stories, and art created by others.)
For anyone who grew up on Free To Be… You and Me, you know that William Wants a Doll was major for learning to deconstruct gender norms and to break out of rigid boxes at an early age. William Wants a Doll was a song inspired by the story, William’s Doll, written by Charlotte Zolotow and published in 1972. I was born seven years later and never knew a world without William’s Doll. Now I know I have Charlotte Zolotow to thank (and my mom for playing the Free to Be record throughout my early years).
I love what Charlotte Zolotow said about children and grown-ups: “We are all the same, except that adults have found ways to buffer themselves against the full-blown intensity of a child’s emotions.”
She added, “We are not different from the children we were — only more experienced, better able to disguise our feelings from others, if not ourselves.”
Although we carry many of her books in the library where I work, Zolotow was not known to me until I read her obituary. Thank you for creating and leading a quiet revolution.
Rest
October 27, 2013 Comments Off
For many months after Zevi was born, we played Lou Reed’s Hudson River Meditations piece, Move Your Heart on a loop during the night to help her sleep. This meditation is 28 minutes and 56 seconds. According to my iTunes, we played the piece 1,921 times. There were nights when I thought I might throw up from listening to Move Your Heart. This is to say Lou Reed has been pervasive, ever-present, always here. In every part of my life in relation to music, Lou Reed has existed. Intellectual, academic, smart musician, I am so sad to say goodbye and so thankful for you. You are and forever will be part of my family’s narrative. Thank you.
Urban camping
October 14, 2013 Comments Off
Sandra is one of the best house guests I know. She is super conscientious and eager to help out around the house. This past weekend she came to visit us from the Bay Area. She came up with the idea to pitch a tent in our backyard and camp in Brooklyn’s great outdoors. The weather was warm enough and we lucked out with no rain. Since I don’t enjoy camping, it’s impossible for me to believe Sandra when she said she slept well and wasn’t too cold. This is my new favorite idea for hosting guests. With four people, a cat, and a dog, our space is kind of tight. But we could easily fit a few tents in the backyard. Maybe we could even charge rent?
These are the people in my neighborhood
October 6, 2013 Comments Off
Our neighborhood is blowing up and as it rapidly gentrifies, I have reminded myself to appreciate all the people who we’ve come to know over the years, people who we talk to everyday when we’re walking around, many of whom we have lovingly nicknamed as we haven’t always known their names.
Some of these nicknames are:
The “enjoy that baby” woman
The guy who sits outside who looks like my grandpa
The woman with the lunger dogs
The Linked In guy
The guy on Withers who got rid of all the homeless people
The woman with the off-leash pit bulls
The couple who sit outside and give Nukah treats
The old woman who tried to give Zevi a pint of ice cream
The firehouse woman
The sweet man who played mandolin and fiddle for Zevi and Ezra
The man who looks for cans with his corgi
The improbable couple
The guy who we suspect was a famous childhood actor
The 102-year old woman who goes to church every Sunday
We are so blessed to know all of these people. They make our neighborhood what it is.
Happy birthday, babies!
September 22, 2013 Comments Off
Today our beautiful chunk, Ezra turned two months. Tomorrow, his brilliant big sister turns twenty months.
We finished off an action-packed, celebratory weekend with some relaxing time in McGolrick.
So proud of my babies and excited to find out more about who these two people are. Happy birthday, Ezra!
