Gang?

I thought this was the perfect picture to explain how I felt last night and actually for quite a few nights now. We've been having the best weather here in New York City. Spring is in the air and we've had a few 70 degree days, sun shining and everyone was working on their lawns. Yesterday there were landscapers around the neighborhood, putting down seeds and that white powder, whatever that is? I was sneezing all day into the night!

But the nice weather has brought a group of about 8 to 10 older teenage boys, parking their cars, two or three cars, and hanging across the street from about 7pm to 9:30pm or so. I've looked at their faces, they look very young, like just old enough to have their driver's license. Baby faces, yet there's 8 or so. A gang? Trouble? Disturbing? Yes and no.

They really don't look like they're up to anything. I think it's just a meeting place, my block is quite. Across the street is one house and then the rest of the block is just a big area that's the side yard of a neighbor from around the block. All trees and the house is set back. The boys are not smoking or drinking or playing loud music. They don't even talk too loud. I don't think there's any drug dealing going on either. All the same, when I see them and especially when I'm by myself, I get a little nervous.

Individually they look as cute as the Muppets usually look. But together they look like the Muppets above. All together they become "they". Do they still think individually or do they become of one mind, doing things they normally wouldn't do by themselves, the gang giving them more nerve?

Mr. B, my neighbor across the street was walking his dog Trixie (cutie pie) and I noticed him giving them a little stare, like what's up guys, are we going to have trouble here?

I remember when I used to ride the bus from Brooklyn to Staten Island for high school. There was a big dip in the road on the first exit getting off the Verrazano Bridge. It really felt like the bus could tip over because it slanted so much to the right side. A bunch of us would free stand, not holding on to the bars and fall all over whoever was sitting their, friends or poor innocent strangers. I would never do that traveling alone. Now that wasn't such a horrible thing, but again, it was something we all did, and something we all wouldn't do by ourselves.

I hope these young men who have started hanging on our block keep behaving the way they are now and make me believe there are still times when it's not such a bad thing to see a gang of kids hanging out.

Where Are The Cobblers?

When I was a kid we always took our shoes to the shoe shop to get them repaired. Everyone did and there were shoe shops all over the neighborhood. It smelled of glue, leather and shoe shine. When you went to pick up your repaired shoes, they were on shelves with a ticket that had your name on them. Simple business deal. Drop them off, chat with the cobbler to see if indeed they were fixable and come back in a few days to pick them up. When you picked up your shoes they would pack them in a paper bag.

I can still hear my mom's voice saying, oh we gotta bring these to the shoe shop.

There are no more shoe shops or if there are I haven't seen one in years. I especially remember bringing my school shoes to the shoe shop. Got new heels or soles, sometimes both at the same time. You could tell how I walked by the bottom of my shoes. And with the price of shoes these days, maybe that's a trade that will come back to being. We just throw our shoes away, even if they're not worn out, they're out of style, there's so many shoes to buy, so many choices. Me, I used to be one of those women with tons and tons of shoes. Same shoe in three different colors. Shoes that matched only one dress or outfit. I remember I fell in love with a pair of shoes once and I bought two of them for when I wore the first pair out. And I wore both those pair of shoes to death.

I have to say I still have way too many shoes but not nearly as many as I did in my 20s and 30s. I go for comfort these days and wear my sneakers as much as possible and my other favorite footwear after sneakers are my black boots, no heal to speak of, very basic and I have to buy them on line because they are so hard to find in stores. I guess they are out of style but they're still my style. Now if there were shoe shops in town I'd be able to take them to get fixed, instead when mine get worn out I spend hours on line looking for my black boots.

There also was a shoe shine guy on the corners, again all over the neighborhood, even in the subway stations. I don't see them any more either. The last shoe shine guys I've seen have been at the big financial firms and law firms I've worked for in Manhattan, older gentlemen who walked the floors saying "shine?" And while working on the trading floor or on a legal documents, they would get their shoes shined men and women. Also the Staten Island Ferry, there again you would hear an older gentlemen walking buy saying "shine". And lots of people would get their shoes shined while riding the Ferry to or back home from work.

I still shine my shoes at home. It's something I have had for 25 years now at least, works really great on all kinds of shoe material. It kinda looks like an eraser, the wooden side being some sort of plastic with ridges and it works great on suede shoes and again other types of shoes as well. The eraser side looks like a soft piece of packing material, it's grey, sponge like. That side shines my shoes and they look like new. Unfortunately I still wear the bottom of shoes out pretty quick from my fast paced, off balance walk!

I remember my father had a shoe shine kit and I remember he had lots of shoes. I bet more than my mom had. All shiny and perfect and remember him using his shoe shine kit. When you closed the box it had the little lift for your foot to rest upon while you polished and shined your shoes. The kit was in the family for years. When my dad used it you would get shoe polish in a can that was kind of like a hockey puck and he had old rags in there to buff them and a brush to shine them, a process. Then they came out with the shoe polish in a bottle which had a sponge dispenser on top, I rarely see that anymore. Do you? Just throw the shoes away and buy a new pair. I know in my family shoes and sneakers, boots too are passed down and starting now to be passed up. My 15 year old nephew, Christian, who, as most kids do, grows out of his sneakers before they are worn out and my sister packs them in a bag for my brother Joey's boys. Last time Joey's son Robert tried them on, he said hey dad, these are your size! So now Joey's getting hand-me-ups. I myself have been getting hand-me-ups for years now. Again I am the family measuring stick. Let's see how much taller than Aunt Tricia are you. There's only six of them now smaller than me, gaining on me every day!

Maybe years ago things were meant to last. Yes maybe things would need to be fixed along the way, but basically houses were built well, strong thick walls, brick. Shoes were made to last and were worn pretty much everyday, you didn't have two pair except sneakers and the cheap flip flops you bought in the supermarket. Those I could wear out in a day with my walk! The house we lived in was old and there weren't a lot of closets and the ones we had were not very big. The biggest closet in our house was the kitchen pantry, that was like a little room. The other closets were small, made for the one coat per person, a few dresses or suits and some small storage area on a shelf above the bar to hang clothes on (a wooden bar with wire hangars!) and again just a small closet, the room for so many shoes was just not there.

But when did the cobblers disappear? And the shoe shine men? When did it become okay to just throw away good shoes without trying to fix them or pass them down. I guess people do donate them? A throw away world, with so much more than just shoes.

I think there are many things in our modern world that are better than yesterday, but you have to admit, nothing is made the way it used to be, to last, even fixable. A throw away world.

Bring back the cobblers!

Honeysuckle

This morning my neighbor, I call him
Mr. B from the TV series 24 as we would always have deep conversations about what would happen next on the show. I call him Tony too, his real name, but mostly Mr. B. Kinda reminds me of the old TV show Hazel, she was a maid who always called her boss Mr. B.

Anywho...

Mr. B always has a project. When it snows he's out there even making a parking spot for me, he's a great neighbor. He's got all kinds of gadgets and I'll see him just studying his trees out front, they kinda look like big lollipops. Last spring he bought a new toy, a power saw with an extension and he can trim the trees from ground level. First he studies the trees, does his trimming and then studies them again. Perfection is Mr. B's middle name. So there's always something going on with Mr. B and his garden and landscape in front of the house. It's beautiful too. When I walk out my front door my first view is Mr. B's garden and the brick wall from his neighbor's side yard which also has shrubs and big trees. It's a nice view to walk out to every day.

Well this morning Mr. B is planting some fir trees and removed the honeysuckle vine that was there before. At first he couldn't remember the name of the plant he removed, said it was a stinky plant which made me think of something not nice as I couldn't remember what was there before myself. I was just going back home and he screamed across the street that it was honeysuckle. I turned back and said, "that's what you call a stinky plant? That's not a stinky plant!"

I love the smell of honeysuckle, grew on the back fence of our yard in Brooklyn and we would actually break the plant from the bottom and eat just a little juice/nectar that would come from the honeysuckle. We loved it. Sounds weird maybe but we did it all the time and would invite our friends to taste. Reluctant at first, there was always an "ah" followed by a smile on their faces when they tasted the sweet juice. And again I loved the smell, wouldn't call it stinky.

Made me remember my backyard too. For Brooklyn, even then when lots of people in the neighborhood had great big yards, it was a great yard. We had a brick walkway slopping down to a large yard. It was great in the winter for sleigh riding. Not only was there the slope going down the walkway, it got extra icy from the dryer vent blowing hot air on to the snow, making it slicker. And then there was another hill just as you got to the front of the yard and you would go flying up on that and into the rest of the yard. We would have contests who could get the furtherest into the yard. Of course that meant more weight to move faster, piling kids on top of kids and flying down that walkway. Then you would see multiple kids flying in the air after that first hill in the yard. So much fun, right in my own back yard.

We also had a huge tree, can't remember what kind of tree it was, I can't remember seeing anything fall to ground from it, but my godfather put up a tire swing for us the day we moved in and I know it lasted for years. I also know someone was on it when the rope finally snapped from rubbing against the tree limb so much. Wasn't me, but I kinda think I was there. At least whoever did was sitting on the tire, it offered a little protection from the fall to the ground!

We had a grapevine that served as our clubhouse in the winter, the dried vines giving it the privacy for our club. In the spring and summer you really couldn't go in there, it was filled with leafy vines and grapes. So yes, we did get grapes, but they weren't really tasty, the honeysuckle was much better.

On one side of our yard the neighbors had a big apple tree, which was right next to our fence so there were always apples falling into our yard and those we loved. They also had a huge weeping willow which I think are just beautiful trees.

Doesn't sound much like Brooklyn does it? But for a long time that's what it was like. My backyard was an adventurous place. They've torn down my house, and the houses that were on each side of mine. Built condos. They also ran out of money building those condos and where my house and my neighbor's house with the apple and willow trees stood is now just vacant and ugly. They didn't have to tear them down. Such a shame, both were really nice houses, built well and would have left a nice piece of the old Bay Ridge Brooklyn there today.

And I would never call honeysuckle stinky. It's an aroma, and if you get the chance, taste the the little drop of nectar you get from the bottom of the plant! You can actually look up on line for directions showing exactly how we did it, back in old Brooklyn days.

Thanks Mr. B. You sparked some nice memories this morning. I can almost smell the honeysuckle of my yesterdays.

Happy St Paddy's Day 2012

IT'S A GREAT DAY FOR THE IRISH

It's a Great Day for the Irish, it's a great day for the fair!
The sidewalks of New York are thick with blarney,
For sure you'd think New York was ol' Killarney!
It's a great day for the shamrock, for the flags in full array.
We're feeling so inspirish, sure because for all the Irish,
It's a Great, Great, DAY!

This is my crazy, obviously Irish, friend Linda. My cohort in crime back in high school and still my friend today. I've written about Linda, she's one of the kindest people you could be lucky enough to meet. And she's funny! She was voted Class Clown of our graduating class and there was no question who would win that title. I kinda think everyone voted for her.

As you can tell she went all out at work in a pre-celebration of today. Still just a funny girl inside! I can only imagine how much crazier she's dressed today! She makes everything fun, makes all feel comfortable in her presence, just "good people" as "they" say!

But today everyone is Irish. Everyone has added an O' in front of their names, no matter what their nationality. And here in New York City it's a perfect day for the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, perfect weather.

Everyone is cooking up their corned beef and cabbage which my mom did every St. Paddy's day as well. Me, not a fan of corned beef and cabbage, love the potatoes and carrots, especially the potatoes, my favorite food. But my family loved it and it was traditional for my mom to cook that on St. Paddy's Day. The leftovers she used and made corned beef hash, of course I didn't like that either, I'm way too picky an eater, better now but still way too picky. To be honest, I don't even taste certain foods, just act like a baby and say I'm not eating it because it doesn't look a certain way. Some day I'll grow up (eating wise anyway).

This morning walking in my quite town, which was a really cool morning, cool meaning awesome, cool looking. There was a fog laying over the town and the sun was breaking through, halfway through my walk I wish I had taken my camera with me. As I neared the main street I could hear what sounded like 20 kids screaming and having fun walking up from the block around the corner from where I was. When we finally met up at the crossroad before the main street I saw that there really weren't that many of them, maybe 10 at most. They were loud, getting ready to get on the train in Staten Island to take them to the Staten Island Ferry and then subway it uptown for the parade, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were drinking alcohol already.

To be honest, in my commuting days to Manhattan, having St. Patrick's Day on a work day was the worst. The kids were loud and crazy and lots of them drunk on their way to the parade and fugetaboutit, as we say in Brooklyn, coming back from the parade is an ugly scene. It's sad, but for a lot of people today just means a day of drinking.

On the other side, there's homes filled with the smell of corned beef and cabbage cooking all day, your family and friends surrounding you and watching sports and talking and yes, some drinking too but it's not like out in the streets, it's calmer, fun, safe. That's my kind of St. Patrick's Day.

So before any St. Paddy's Day parties for me, this afternoon I took a free class on b&w digital photography at Blue Heron Park here in Staten Island. When I was setting up to leave this afternoon I noticed that I didn't have a black and white option for my camera but decided to go and learn anyway. So glad I did. The gentleman who was teaching said take your pictures in color and think of your computer photo programs as your dark room, where you can turn them into B&W and create a totally different look to a picture.

Even choosing the right picture to change to B&W is very important.

For an example here I just used my fun friend Linda's zany St. Patrick's Day picture. One that you really wouldn't want to turn into B&W. But it's St. Paddy's Day, it's appropriate! Below are just some examples of how you can change a picture.


This is the original color picture.



Next I just copied the photo and used special effects to change it into B&W. When I did change it to B&W is when I noticed there was someone in the background typing, I noticed the hand, which I didn't when I first looked at the photo, I noticed Linda and GREEN! But that's just an example of what he was teaching us, not only can you change a picture into B&W, but you change the look of the picture, you can draw a person's eye to another part of the photo.



This photo I used the sepia effect, making it look old fashioned, again it changes the picture and again, this is not a photo you should choose to change to B&W, as you can tell that's the best one of the four.



This was the antique effect. Had I added a little more of this effect, it would almost be a question about whether it was color or B&W. If I added too much of this effect, the picture turned pink which you might want to use with a beach shot or sundown shot, again it depends on the picture you choose.



It was a great class, I really learned a lot, too much actually, came out with lots of notes and know I have so much to learn. I did these effects on my MAC iphoto program but there are more sophisticated programs that will allow me to fine tune the B&W exposure and depth and again a whole bunch of other things I am looking forward to learning about.

Happy St. Paddy's Day! Be Safe. Have Fun. God Bless!

No Offense...

My brother Joey used to rent an apartment when he first got married and this morning while talking to him and his ex-wife JoAnn, they were laughing and telling me about the landlord. She always, and they said always, used the phrase "no offense" when she had anything to say. Example, "no offense, have a good day", "no offense, good night", "no offense, thanks for the rent check". They would tell their friends and make jokes constantly during their time together. "No offense, but that was a good dinner hon", "no offense I'm leaving for work", etc.

One day a couple of JoAnn's friends were in a supermarket and ran into the "no offense lady" at the checkout line. They could hardly contain themselves. She was with her children and even when speaking to them she would actually say, "no offense little Johnny or Judy, but you're misbehaving", "no offense cashier person, thank you". JoAnn's friends called JoAnn as soon as they could to say they met the "no offense lady".

Now that's a little strange. I've heard people say certain things all the time, people in my family, my friends and myself. I know you have people like that in your life. Just people who seem to say the same thing all the time, it's part of every conversation. I myself hate that I say "you know" and "like" way too much, but those seem to be words a lot of people use. And, like, that's not good, you know!

But "no offense"? Really, have you ever heard anyone using that phrase in day-to-day conversations?! Well unless of course you've run into the "no offense lady" shopping somewhere. I can't imagine where this woman would have picked up that phrase. Seems a little dark, like something bad must have happened in her life.

I have used the phrase "no offense" but I use it when it's correct. As in "no offense but you need a mint"!

During the "Valley Girl" era, "like" and "you know" was the "wassup" and "sup" of today.

Not that I was a Valley Girl but I totally was into their phrases, found them funny. "Gag me with a spoon"! I remember my father joking with me about that one and he loved when I said "grody to the max", got a big kick out of that one, just as he got a kick from my younger brother using "word" or "word up" which was a popular phrase during his young teens.

When in California during the Valley Girl craze I had this picture taken at Universal Studios, it was like totally awesome, like, you know, totally cool! It fit me at the time.

Unfortunately "like" and "you know" stayed with me. Again I can't stand that I can't stop it!!!! Just is what I say, but thank goodness I don't use "no offense", again seems kinda dark, like, it's, you know.

This morning I had to call one of my friends. I knew she uses a certain phrase all the time but I couldn't remember what it was. Called her up, and she's a yapper, love her, but a yapper! So as I'm listening to her go on about something, I really couldn't tell you, I just kept saying "yeah, yeah", cause I'm really not listening, I'm waiting for that phrase. Took about a minute but she said "none the less" and I had to write it down right away, cause she's still yapping and I'm going to forget!

So, no offense, but none the less, you know, like, I gotta go start my day and all!

Checkerbells

Checkerbells is a wonderful shop. When you walk into Checkerbells you want to look and touch everything, especially little kids, more little girls and young teenage girls.

My friend Laura created the shop and has owned and operated it for ten years now. Unfortunately she has decided to move on to another adventure in her life, and one that doesn't keep her as busy as owning her own business, which was a 24/7 job. She wants to pursue other creative enterprise that will also give her time with her twin boys, young men now.

If you live in the West Brighton area or have shopped along Forest Avenue in Staten Island, you had to have been drawn into Checkerbells just from the window display and though I was only there once to visit my friend Laura, I found myself examining every item in the store, a wonderful place to just window shop, I guess for big girls as well!

Though she's selling the store, she is hoping that whoever buys it leaves Checkerbells the way it is. I hope so too. It really has charm, it's original, it has Laura's magic touch. But just in case, get there before she closes her doors.

END-OF-WINTER SALE

Now in progress is Checkerbells' end-of-winter sale, with all items 25 percent off, except those on consignment from local artists.

Check out Laura's own unique hand-painted furniture - – breakfronts, hutches, and armoire furniture – perfect for children's rooms, and also on sale.

Prospective buyers of the business should contact Nancy Galatro of Robert Defalco Realty, 917- 975-5212.

Checkerbells, 643 Forest Ave.
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday,
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Closed Sunday and Monday.
Phone: 718-390-9822
Email: checkerbells@aol.com

I met Laura in 1985 when I switched jobs, leaving my fun secretarial position at WOR-AM Radio to downtown Manhattan, in the oh too serious financial district. The lure of more money brought me there and I had my first exposure to computers. Had I stayed in the radio business, it would have been a few years before they would have what the financial district did electronically.

Laura was not so serious, we had a lot in common, both of us from Bay Ridge and we had some similar friends from the neighborhood. Laura was one of the people I considered "normal" at this job. Everyone else was so serious, so different from my radio days and Laura made me feel comfortable right away.

Laura taught me to use a computer and from the way she approached teaching me, her logic, I believe my ease in learning new programs to this day is because of Laura. She made it very simple, logical, she didn't over explain anything and I thank her to this day for passing along her knowledge. Because of her I've done very well as a word processor and love my work.

Before owning Checkerbells, Laura quit being a secretary, and became a word processor herself with one of the big financial firms downtown, still one of the big ones. I think she was running the department by the time she left that job and created Checkerbells.

Laura and I worked on a mini trading floor for the traders and mini didn't mean there weren't quite a few people we were answering the phones and performing secretarial duties. There was another girl that worked for the head guy of the department. Laura, me and the other girl sat at big fancy desks right in a row and I sat in the middle desk. I was kind of the lead secretary's secretary but still had to help out the other traders. Laura didn't have to work as much with the lead secretary and if she was out, I was the fill-in, again very serious atmosphere, I needed to let the real Tricia out of the box a few times a day and Laura helped me do that.

Laura and I had a view of the entire trading floor so we could catch their attention when they were on the phone, which basically was always and tell them they had a call. I remember there were so many buttons on the phone! I didn't think it was something I would get use to at all, but before long it just became second nature, answering a line and screaming out to one of the traders who was calling for them. I wrote in one of my other blogs that this job was where Oliver Stone and Charlie Sheen spent a few days getting the feel for a trading floor when Oliver Stone directed the film Wall Street. I'm sure he heard my big mouth screaming out to the traders during those days. I'll have to watch the film again and see if any of the workers on the trading floor have any of my traits!

We used the WANG computer system at that time and it was a very basic word processing system, but popular at the time. It was about two years before I saw a MAC Apple, and it was so evident and exciting to me what computers would become, I was caught up in computer world and was so interested in how things kept changing, constantly and again because of Laura my expertise with computers made it fun rather than being overwhelmed by the changes occurring overnight.

When we had down time, rare, or just when we needed a stress release Laura and I would play a game called Animal on the WANG. We also had Space Invaders but you could tell when we were playing that, you would get caught up and before you know it, there's a trader in your face asking what you're working so intently on. Not cool.

When I first asked Laura about the game Animal, she said it was boring. It was. It would ask questions and tell you what animal you were thinking of. Like "do you swing through trees" and if you answered yes, it would say "are you a monkey". But you could teach it new animals when you answered no and it would ask you for hints. Well of course I didn't create new animals, I created hints for people on the mini trading floor.

I would say no and when it asked for a hint I would put something like "who is the moodiest and hairiest guy who walks by your desks too many times and needs a mint". Stuff like that. About everyone on the trading floor. And Laura learned the new version of Animal quickly, she had my kind of sense of humor.

Out of the blue, Laura or I would say "play animal" and then we'd both bust out laughing, having the lead (oh so serious) secretary giving us looks like an old-fashioned librarian telling you to shush. It got us through the day. Again it was a busy intense office atmosphere and our little game of Animal kept our sanity!

The mini trading floor needed more space after a couple of years and we were moving upstairs to a bigger space but Laura and I knew all this silly and funny (well only to us) information from our game of Animal might be seen. We had to explain to the IT tech that he had to delete Animal from our computers and stopped playing after that, learning early in the game what you put out there is out there forever!

Well Laura put Checkerbells out there, a great shop which I'm sad is closing but glad that I got to see Laura succeed the way she did. She deserves to succeed, she works very hard and I'm sure whatever direction she heads in, she will make her mark.

I hope whoever buys it keeps Checkerbells the way it is and if not, we've been so lucky these last ten years to visit and buy anything from Laura's beautiful creation, Checkerbells.

And of course I'm super glad that Laura and I crossed paths in our journey through life, she surely made a difference in mine.

Second Chances

One of my friends on Facebook posted this today:

Sometimes giving someone a second chance is like giving them an extra bullet for their gun because they missed you the first time!

I laughed and then during my long walk on this absolutely beautiful sunny day in New York I thought more about second chances.

Second chances.

There are those I know who don't believe in second chances. As much as I have given so many people second chances, more than just second chances, so many chances, I have to say that most of those times, I was so happy I did keep giving so many chances, I've given myself many chances as well. Of course there are those who I'm sorry to have wasted so much time giving so many chances. And I have to admit, there are those I've not given a second chance to and I would bet I was wrong more than half the time about those people.

We all get pushed by different buttons, something that irks me may be something that doesn't bother you. Looking back, I feel ridiculous for not giving so many people second chances because of their outer shell, because maybe they said one thing I don't agree with, whatever.

I know I have given myself so many chances, made the same mistakes more than once, but I give myself another chance to start over, make it right. If I can do that for myself, how can I not do that for others? I guess there's a few sides to think about with second chances and I really thought a lot about it during my walk, again I must say on this perfect sunny day.

One side is my gut. What does my gut tell me about this person. I know if I had gone with my gut feelings about so many life events and relationships with people in my life, I would have made less mistakes. Hindsight.

And instead of my gut, sometimes I feel it's just my heart telling me to give a second chance. And is it wrong to pay attention to your heart?

Another side, for me anyway, is the chances I keep giving to myself. Should I do that for others?

Second chances, I think for the most part, we should give people more chances. Second, third, even a one hundredth chance, but I am going to try to use my heart and my gut which will ending up making me think, using my brain as well.

Second chances are good. Remember how many you given to yourself.

Monacnong or Enchanted Woods

Also known as Staten Island, New York.

From Ancestry.com
A Brief History of Richmond County, Staten Island
It is said that the Indian name for Staten Island is Monacnong, or Enchanted Woods. Staten Island has, indeed, been enchanted for those who have had the privilege of living there. Somewhere between the city and the country you get the balance that is Staten Island.

Today I'm just going to tell you about one of the enchanted woods here in Staten Island.

Blue Heron Park is located in the Annadale section of Staten Island, New York. Another place I've never been. It's a long walk, but I can do it. Just one of the enchanted woods of Staten Island I've ignored over the years.

I've driven around the island, found winding roads with a few houses on them and some that are just still bare land or have a really really old house surrounded by woods. There's a road close to where I live, Bloomingdale Road, and on one side there is a big development of houses, all the same. Don't get me wrong, they are nice homes, but right across the street stands an old home, surrounded by woods, the house has to be at least 100 years old and behind the house is Bloomingdale Park. That house might stand there for many, many more years, I hope it does, but they can't touch the woods and the park, it's all protected. More enchanted woods that haven't been destroyed.

There are roads along Hylan Boulevard where you can just park by the beach, some with actual viewing lots and bridges to get a better view. On a clear day you can see Sandy Hook, New Jersey across the Raritan Bay.

There's so much history about Staten Island and the Revolutionary War. I read on Wikipedia that Lord William Howe established his headquarters in New Dorp at the Rose and Crown Tavern near the junction of present New Dorp Lane and Amboy Road. It is here that the representatives of the British government reportedly received their first notification of the Declaration of Independence.

Now how cool is that for the "forgotten borough"!? It was here in Staten Island that the British first found out that we declared our independence!

I've lived on the south shore of Staten Island for most of my life, know many of the surrounding towns, as we call them here, and am still so pleasantly surprised to find some part of the Island that hasn't been changed. When I first moved here, in 1975, there weren't even stop signs on most of the streets, where there are now traffic lights everywhere. My backyard faced a small forest and across from our development was the woods, many acres of Monacnong, enchanted woods.

My sister Linda and brother Joe, maybe even my sister Deb too, went for a walk in those woods once, got lost for hours and didn't think they would find their way home. Obviously they did, but learned to respect those enchanted woods, learned how easy and scary it was to get lost. They must not have read the Brothers Grimm's Hansel and Gretel enough times!

After about 10 years or so, the small forest behind our house became a road with a school and a shopping center. No more did I see rabbits hopping by as I looked out my window. No more was I scared out of my mind facing a mama possum with her babies following behind. The first night that happened I was in my yard. No fences, no reason for a fence, there were just woods out there but when I saw those possums, eyes glowing in the night I ran inside probably begging my parents to move back to Brooklyn, back to civilization!

I learned to love Staten Island over the years. It's close enough to the city (well as long as you don't hit traffic) but it still has a small town feel pretty much every town, some more than others.

But this Saturday I am going to Blue Heron Park. There are so many free activities at the park for both children and adults. My nephews Robert and Jojo and niece Bella have already been on one of the Owl Hunts they have, which I think are just during certain seasons. FREE! They've seen falcons, and of course the blue heron.

222 acre Blue Heron Park is a New York City Department of Parks natural areas park which surrounds wetland ponds, swamps and streams which drain into the Raritan Bay.

Owl Prowl – Explore the dark corners of Blue Heron Park with owl enthusiast, Cliff Hagen, as he seeks out our nocturnal neighbors. Our feathered friends of the night enjoy the comforts of Blue Heron Park throughout the year as they build nests and raise their young.

This Saturday they are offering a FREE photography class, "Digital B&W Photography". I'm so excited to see the park and learn about something I have a great interest in as well. A free day of exploration and learning.

Below is a list of the FREE activities going on in Blue Heron Park for the month of March. If you go to the website (linked above) there will be a full description of the activities listed here as well as future activities for the year.

MARCH

02 Doodlebug II - 1 pm
03 Birding - Barnegat - 9 am
04 Herbs/Edible Flowers - 2 pm
04 Natural Science Club - 2 pm
09 Doodlebug I - 1 pm
10 Birding - Mt. Loretto - 9 am
10 Kids & Kritters - 11 am
10 Krafty Kids - 1 pm
11 Explorers of the Wild - 2 pm
13 Chair Yoga - 3 pm
17 Digital B&W Photography - 1 pm
18 Spring Sing - 9:30 am
23 Doodlebug II - 1 pm
24 Kids & Kritters - 11 am
24 Krafty Kids - 1 pm
25 Spring Sing - 9:30 am
25 Early Spring Hike with Mike - 11:30 am
27 Chair Yoga - 3 pm
31 Birding - Conference House - 9 am
31 Spring Nature Walk - 2 pm

Kids really enjoy the park and I think this adult is going to feel like a kid again on Saturday. I'm thinking of it as a school outing, only I don't need a permission slip signed!

A friend of mine has some old family film of her as baby in the town of Travis. At the time you could see New Jersey from Travis and it's so beautiful, no highways, no industrial pollution, no city dumping grounds. And at the time Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty were filming Splendor in the Grass. The film was shot entirely in New York, exterior shots filmed in Staten Island and upstate New York, which was meant to be Kansas in the 1920s. Interior scenes were filmed at Filmways Studios in East Harlem. So in 1960, Staten Island still had that old fashioned touch and lots of land, passed for Kansas in a famous movie. It's hard to believe that now.

My friend was still in her baby carriage and her parents took her along with them to see the big movie stars and the set. I'm sure that was a big deal having a movie filmed in Staten Island. Two big movie stars right in the little town of Travis. Warren Beatty actually tickles my friend and does a little dance for her to make her laugh. Wild huh? Warren Beatty! I haven't seen the film in years but there's also a scene of Natalie Wood sitting in one of those director like chairs, movie star sunglasses and I kinda think that she was smoking. She was waiting for her next scene to be filmed. Even just sitting there, she didn't look like a "regular" person, she had that movie star aura, as did Warren Beatty. Such a beautiful woman, so sad her life was cut way too short.

My friend also has film from about the same time of horses running along the beaches of Staten Island, there was probably a few nice sized stables out there. Looks like something out of a movie but it wasn't, it was just a natural sight in those days. Can you imagine! Only 50 years ago or so. Even when I first moved here, seeing someone ride by on a horse was a big deal the first time, but I got used to it, it happened so often. Unfortunately it hasn't happened in years, I know there are still some stables and horses in certain towns, not as many, but we just haven't crossed paths in years.

If you live in New York or are planning to visit, come see Blue Heron Park or one of the many enchanted woods, and if you don't live in the area and are planning to visit, don't forget about Staten Island "the forgotten borough". Monacnong, the enchanted woods. I promise you there's lots of interesting history about Staten Island and so many beautiful parks and preserved nature areas. Go back in time, to an old New York.

Come to Monacnong our enchanted woods!

Confetti On A Rainy Day...

I didn't use confetti when I started this little fun trick, but confetti is a perfect substitution for what I used.

I started my career as a secretary, who was of course going to become the greatest actress of our times, just working as secretary until the big part fell in my lap!

Well I ended up liking my job, ended up working with computers and work for a law firm processing all kinds of interesting documents, transcribing court cases, again a lot of interesting work.

When I first started working things were very different, no computers. Though we did have a xerox machine we still used carbon copies. Everything I typed was backed up with a few sheets of carbon paper and what I typed would be repeated on the carbon copies, however many I needed. It was usually two or three. By the way, in case you didn't know, "cc" stands for carbon copy, and is still used today when copying another individual while corresponding, even on our computers with email. "bcc" stands for blind carbon copy, meaning if I get a letter and you get a copy, I won't see the "bcc" on the bottom of my page. Same with our email now. You can send a message to everyone using the "to" option and all who receive it will know who else you sent it to. You can also carbon copy/"cc" others and they will also all know that they have received the same message sent to whoever you send it to. By using "bcc"/blind carbon copy, you can send the same email to hundreds of people, or even just two, but no one will know that it was sent to anyone but themselves. There's a little lesson from an old fashioned secretary!

All secretaries back in the old days used carbon copies, no white out and you couldn't make mistakes on your letters, you had to be totally accurate while typing, otherwise you would have to start all over again. Can you imagine? Being at the end of typing a long letter and making a mistake at the very end! Back to the beginning, very frustrating. I couldn't erase either. My first boss was a perfectionist! He would put the paper up to the light to make sure I didn't erase anything. He was a tough boss but every job after that was easy. He made me a perfectionist as well!

Also back in the day, we would three-hole punch or two-hole punch pages so that they could be stored in file folders or binders with fasteners that fit into the two-hole or three-hole pages. Though most documents are saved on computers now, backed up on CDs and DVDs, there are still many of my bosses that like paper. Like to see their documents in binders or file folders. But now they make paper already three-holed punched. Not sure about the 2-hole punch paper but I'm sure it's out there. In any case I have to buy confetti now for my rainy confetti days.

But back in the day I used to save all the holes that would get saved inside a little compartment inside the puncher. Most people would just dump them into the garbage when the compartment became too full but I saved them. At first I started saving them because I just knew there was something I could do with them, I didn't know what, but just kept saving them.

One rainy day I finally found a use for my hundreds and hundreds of little circles of all different colors. I would put a bunch inside the umbrellas of my co-workers. At that time a full umbrella, like a cane, was more in style. They were stored in corners, hanging on a chair, easy for me to get to and then would be carried outside into the rainy day or night like a cane, keeping my little confetti safely on the bottom.

Imagine leaving the office, coming outside to pouring rain, you just open your umbrella and start running or walking fast. But when my co-workers left the office, they were most times pleasantly surprised by the burst of colored paper falling down on top of them during a dark rainy day. I also learned how to rig greeting cards or get well cards with my colored holes. It worked kind of like a pop up book but instead when you opened the card the confetti would pop out all over you. Once I sent a co-worker a get well card, he lived in a high rise in Manhattan and opened the card I sent while riding back up to his apartment in the elevator. When he opened the card the wind created by the rising elevator caused the confetti to blow all over the elevator. It was raining confetti! Not just on my friend but on the other people riding the elevator as well. They all laughed and it was a get well card, I think my friend felt just a little bit better after his elevator ride. And of course it wasn't long before people I worked with checked their umbrellas before walking out into the rain!

You might want to get to a craft store, buy some bags of confetti and set up the umbrellas in your house and wait for the next rainy day. And the pop-up umbrellas work really well! Confetti added to a greeting card of any kind, even a card saying hi to an old friend will set the mood for what's written inside your card.

And for the bride whose wedding day is rainy, fill her umbrella with white rose petals! She'll smile in the rain!

Here's to the next rainy day! Hope it's filled with confetti or rose petals!

A Boy Named Alex

This morning I went to my local Dunkin Donuts for my usual cup of coffee. There was a long line when I walked in and about 30 seconds after I was on line a boy, about 9 or so, stood behind me. He said, "they should have more people working back there". Not mean, not rushing, just making a statement. He was shorter than me, which most people aren't, even 9 year olds. So being taller, not something that happens very often, I told him there were a lot of people working behind the counter. He then said, "they should have two cash registers". Which they do but I didn't tell him that, I just said the line will move quick, you'll see.

I asked him if he liked coffee. Kids today love coffee. I didn't have my first cup until I was about 20 or so but I can remember my oldest niece, Irene, loving coffee at about 2 years old. Lots of sugar in it, but she loved coffee. My nephew Robert too, at about the same age as Reenie, just loving coffee. Though his parents like their coffee with half and half with too much sugar as far as I'm concerned, usually four heaping teaspoons. Of course he's going to like that, it's like coffee ice cream! And there's so many iced coffee drinks with chocolate and caramel flavoring, they taste better than ice cream, but it's still coffee, something I just didn't grow up drinking. There's always a line of the high school kids getting coffee in the morning too, half getting donuts or bagels but the other half ordering coffee and iced lattes. It's just become accepted that kids drink coffee now. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing but lean towards bad. Just so much caffeine. I can't imagine that being good for them. I know it makes me way too jumpy, I drink decaf myself.

But this boy this morning told me he loved coffee and that he put Splendor in his coffee. He wasn't chubby, more stocky, but I guess he keeps away from sugar. He also told me that he loves it with half and half but that half and half is very expensive. Yes, acting a little grown up, but sweet, not showing off, just something I'm sure he's heard his parents say.

He also told me that he picks up coffee for the guys at the barber shop down the block and worked there last night. He cleans up and I guess makes the coffee runs for the guys and gets his coffee with Splendor too! He was such a nice boy and I introduced myself and asked his name. Alex he said and shook my hand. I wanted to hug him he was just too sweet. I told him that I enjoyed speaking with him and that he could get in front of me on line. Again so polite, he thanked me.

He was so refreshing. To meet a kid like that. Maybe because he was by himself but I believe Alex is probably polite even when his friends are around, he just seemed like that kind of kid to me. He ordered a coffee, looking at a list as he ordered it, so I knew it wasn't for him. He got his coffee and left.

They all know me at the local DD, I'm there for my morning cup of coffee pretty much everyday. My neighbors seeing me walking usually say, oh you're on your way for your coffee. I'm a creature of habit, in so many ways. So the staff at DD knows me and I don't have to order unless I'm adding a muffin or something else to my order, but most times, it's just my coffee. I was on my way out of the store just a few seconds after Alex left.

As I was leaving the store, Alex was coming back in, forgot something he said and I walked out. I saw a car parked and the passenger door open and assumed that was where Alex came from. I went up to the driver's side and Alex's mom was in the driver's seat. Well I found that out after knocking on the window for her to open it. I asked if she was Alex's mom and she said yes. I told her that her son just made my day. He was so polite and sweet and real and that she should be very proud of the boy she was raising.

Alex's mom was beaming. Alex made my day and because of him, I think I made his mom's day as well.

They're out there. Alex or whatever name, good kids, polite, respectful and age appropriate. Rare, but there.

Thanks Alex wherever you are, you touched my heart. You started my day off with a smile and as I write this down, I smile thinking about you. I don't believe in coincidences, I think Alex was meant to cross my path and I'm glad he did.