sarah in nyc

When I went out earlier to pick up fruits and vegetables for Shabbat about 1/3 of the people on the street were wearing face-masks. I was not. I wore red lipstick and a big smile because you need that too during worrying times.  As I took these photos by the Franciscan church on the north side of 96th Street a street person was losing it on the south side of the street, screaming and yelling as he ran into stores. You could almost see the thought balloon above everyone else's heads " Listen Mr., all of us our stressed here and your mental illness does not give you permission to amp the tension up for the rest of us." Perhaps he heard our collective thought because after a few minutes he had calmed down. We are having no guests and three or four virtual ones. The folks physically at our table will be eating chicken. This is the marinade it was cooked in. In case you can't figure it out from the photo that's a mix of whole grained a...

Our youngest turned twenty four yesterday. He had been looking forward to this birthday and had planned an array of events, some with his siblings, some with high school friends and some with work friends. He had planned a festival of celebrations. Unfortunately, Corona-virus put an end to his plans. Our son decided that he would celebrate when the crisis was over and had gotten his mind around the fact that this would be a not particularly pleasant or celebratory day. But all through the day greetings arrived by way of social media and old fashioned phone calls. We ordered dinner from a local kosher meat restaurant. My husband brought home a large bottle of Corona beer. Our daughter and son in law joined us at the table via Google Hangouts. Our son's closest friend from childhood and downstairs neighbor joined us for dinner. We talked and laughed together and after we cleaned up from dinner gathered around the TV and played a high tech version of old fashioned party games ...

Inspired by the videos of Italians singing together across courtyards while they are all quarantined, we decided to open our dining room windows Friday night when we sang Shalom Aleichem. We share a courtyard with an SRO, a single residence occupancy hotel, that is temporary shelter for folks just out of prison or mental hospitals. About twenty years ago I remember hearing the sound of our then neighbors on the third floor singing Shalom Aleichem as we waited for my husband to arrive home from work. I felt so deeply comforted by their singing. Perhaps someone felt a bit of comfort and human connection from our voices Friday night. My youngest and I took a walk in the park in late afternoon yesterday. Our older son received a frantic call from the blood center to donate platelets and went this morning to donate. He is just now eating a restorative lunch. I suppose that eventually we will settle into the new normal. Until then we are all anxious

The other day I had a delivery to make to 103rd Street. I had never noticed this plaque before. I had known for years that Humphrey Bogart was born in the neighborhood But now I know exactly where. A few houses down I admired a really nice addition to a brownstone. It's really difficult to marry modern design with a more old fashioned building. I can't tell you exactly why this works, but it does. It might be how the new shapes echo the old or how the weathered copper looks so right with the brownstone. It's just a joyful addition to the streetscape Further up the hill I saw signs of spring time. A tulip is blooming in a tree pit coming through the bed of pine boughs that was put down as a winter blanket. Soon whoever is in charge of the tree pit will clear away the signs of winter. I passed one of my favorite buildings on West End Avenue.For many years one of the residents used to decorate all of the little porches...

Is the first line of a  Yiddish Purim poem my mother-in-law used to recite every year. As she aged and became more demented this poem also got folded into her singing of Chanukah songs, or more accurately emerged willy nilly from the soup of memories in her brain. This has been a complicated Purim courtesy of the Corona virus. This fabulous parody appeared on my FB feed last night. I am sorry I can't give proper credit  to the brilliant person who wrote it.  I am not translating this...it is an extra bit of joy and pleasure for folks with better than average Hebrew skills. Many in Jewish communities all over the world including our own celebrated Purim virtually, listening to live streamed Megilla readings either from their own communities or from those further afield. My friends who listened to the Megilla at home felt lonely and sad. Those of us who braved doing the best we could in a shrunken community felt sad as well. We all did the best we could. Yesterda...