Harlem Nocturne

When people want to ‘get to know you’, often times a question they ask is “what kind of music do you like”?’ My hands-down all-time favourite is Harlem music from the 20s, 30s and 40s. To me, Harlem music is Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. It’s Willie “The Lion” Smith, Jelly [...]

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RENTED FINGERS: (best read while listening to Harlem Nocturne)

RENTED FINGERS: (best read aloud while listening to Harlem Nocturne playing quietly in the background) My fingers don’t work sometimes, resulting in typos which, goodness knows, I would never have made in my younger days when the old digits were in mid-season form. When the situation gets too grim, when even teenagers begin to comment [...]

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No Whining on the Yacht!

Grousing about the cost of maintaining three Jags, the Land Rover AND the Lexus?  Grumbling that the imported Italian Alba White Truffles are sub-par? Griping that the Prestige Cuvée Champagne is a bit flat? Oh, Muffin… you poor darling! Attention! Attention! This is the Captain speaking. No whining on the yacht! This means you. Yes, [...]

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TJLD (Total Jew Lock Down): It’s a Jew Thing!

Those who know me well also know that each week, from approximately 15 – 20 minutes before sunset Friday evening until roughly 40 – 45 minutes after sunset Saturday night, I go into what those near and dear to me refer to as Total Jew Lock Down (aka TJLD).  So, not only am I the [...]

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Haiku: Inspired Doodling

My first (and best) spouse [1] has inspired many things in me over the years, not least of which is Japanese poetry, specifically Haiku. Now, before you get the wrong idea, I don’t mean actual Haiku in actual Japanese. Example: 古池や　蛙飛込む　水の音 Old pond – a frog leaps in – the water’s sound [Matsuo Bashō, (1644 [...]

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Vampyres: A Lifelong Infatuation

What is it about a vampyre? [1] And I don’t mean the modern cheesy pop-ripoffs one sees cluttering the television and movie screens and littering the bookstore shelves. I mean the honest to goodness real-McCoy genuine article gothic-literature bloodsucking sexy undead fangs-in-the-neck predator by whom we are both attracted and repulsed. There is a more-than-usual [...]

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My Dream Spring!

This spring has been cold, damp and overcast with almost no sunshine. Until today, the temperature has rarely gone above 15C (60F) and is often quite a bit lower than that. People have been complaining for two months now how miserable the weather has been and how they yearn for sunshine and warm weather. So [...]

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The Kiddie-Winkers Go to Israel

Sunday afternoon, May 22, 2011, my kids board a plane and fly off to Israel. Exhibit One, my 21 year old daughter, and Exhibit Two, my 19 year old son, are spending 10 days there as part of the Taglit-Birthright Israel program. I am very excited for them. I’ve never been to Israel. (Full disclosure: [...]

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Rapture: Left Behind… or am I??

By now, the more perceptive among us have realized that… surprise… the Rapture has not occurred as predicted by that old preacher guy out in California. I am sure last week, a lot of people could recall his name. By Monday, it’ll be ‘that old preacher guy out in California’ and by Wednesday ‘that old [...]

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49-Million-Year-Old Spider

I came across an article the other day in Science Daily that caught my eye. Scientists used the latest computer-imaging technology to produce 3D pictures of a 49-million-year-old spider trapped inside an opaque piece of fossilized amber resin. Cool stuff, no doubt! What really captivated my imagination, however, was the image, shown below… There I [...]

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