Happy Easter

Well, I hope everyone is in fine fettle, and regardless of religious persuasion, had a nice Easter. A good day, the pirate scourge has been temporarily scuttled, and with an excellent result. Beautiful here in Southern California - Leslie and I went into town and had sunday brunch at Le Bistro, with our friends, the Fish and the Cades. I then lounged around the Fish (fishes?) residence and watched the pirate saga play out.  They had a bowl of candy and Connie, a Ph.D. principal and superintendent, showed us her talent and proclivity at blowing multiple bubbles inside bubblegum bubbles. This multifaceted educator is also capable of tying the cherry stem in her mouth, no hands. A great huzzah!  Of course, my friend Garry Cohen the glassblower is the hands down winner in such feats of magic, since he can loft a saliva bubble into the ether at will, where it will float into the heavens.  Never seen anyone else do that one...

Had a bit of a start today when my mother in Pennsylvania left a message that she is now reading the blog.  I don't know who ratted me out but she is on to me.  My mother, Adelle Fisher Rosenberg, for all her peccadilloes, is one of the brightest, most talented people on earth.  Her curriculum vitae includes managing the rock group Kiss at inception, writing the first african american curriculum in New York, managing various newscasters including Roger Mudd for ICM, was the editor of Pinnacle Books and dramatically increased their production of crappy fiction, worked as a high school history teacher and guidance counselor, employed as a muckety muck at the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations, where she palled around with a lot of big shots, being a regular at Elaines and Le Veau d'or in their heyday and engaging in a million other high powered pursuits. Worked at a battered women's shelter. All while raising from five to eleven kids, depending on the circumstance.  She often took people in off the street in my childhood, instilled a passion for civil rights and justice in her children as a lifelong unitarian, and always valued people over the material.  Helped run Eugene McCarthy's campaign in Texas when I was a kid.

She was a health freak and gourmand, before it became fashionable, can make five different kinds of scratch biscuits, and is a master of the forgotten art of the casserole. She can pilot an automobile in a forward direction without looking while simultaneously taking off her shoe to throttle the passenger in the back seat and engaging in a conversation with the creator in Esperanto.

Now we can't necessarily be in the same room for five minutes without fighting but I love her and we don't have the option to pick and choose real well regarding our relatives in this life.  So now she's reading the blog so I will have to watch my punctuation and taste my words a bit prior to publication.  So hi mom!  Welcome on board, I guess...