Good morning everyone, today is Saturday May 8, 2021. Well we made another weekend, isn’t it a shame we wait our whole lives to get these two days off at the end of the week . Many people put off doing anything until Saturday and Sunday. What a waste of time that is. I can say that because I was victim to it for most of my working years. The real sad part is I’m so conditioned to it that now retired I still tend to do it. Why can’t we go out to dinner Wednesday night , because we had work in the morning. I’m trying to break that habit still now but that mindset is not easy to crack. Don’t be like I was enjoy everyday to the fullest, I’m trying to follow my own advice.

Now I made a great error this week, with everything going on, anniversaries, teacher appreciation day I completely overlooked an extremely important day to me, Nurses Day. I have always had the highest regard for nurses and the work they do. I guess I got that from my mother being a nurse, but the reality of all they do really struck home when I was sick. Doctors are wonderful and thank god for their knowledge and skill but when you are in the hospital you wait all day for their 10 minute if that long visit once a day usually unless you are really sick like I was, I saw them more often. It is the nurses who are with you all day, they comfort you, educate you, clean you and 1000 other things, without them you would be lost. Over these past years I have needed them at times desperately and they always are there for you, many a night at 2, 3 in the morning they would hold my hand as anxiety set in. When I no longer could stay in the bed they would help me up and walk me in the chair sometimes just to sit at the nurses station. When the pains were so bad they always figured away to relieve it. So I will say God Bless nurses and the profession.

My parents actually met in a hospital. Italians are great and wonderful people with true love of family as I am sure all cultures do but I have to speak of what I know. But no others can hold a vigil for a family member in the hospital better than we can. Just to have my family present gave me relief. As the story goes my fathers uncle was very sick, and it was a Sunday and he wanted macaroni and gravy, and of course the whole family sent him a dish but he was unable to eat it, so my mother the nurse saw all this and said he could not have it and threw it away, all the cousin had some choice words. Later in the day as everyone sat in the waiting room listening to the World Series of course the Yankees were playing on the radio , my mother again intervened saying you are too loud and this is not Yankee Stadium if you want to see the game go there and shut the radio off. Again some choice words were said. Later in the day my father went for a walk in the hallway when he passed the Nurses Station he saw my mother listening to the game on the radio, he knocked on the window and when she opened it he said This is not Yankee Stadium,if you want to hear the game go there and walked away. As they sat in wait they encountered her a few more times finally they all made a bet which one would have the nerve to ask this sanctimonious nurse out on a date, my father lost the bet and the rest is history. I could just picture her in that white starched uniform and cap.

Well it’s time to say good bye for the day. I’m sure there is a lot of preparations to do for Mother’s Day, I was smart this year and did a lot of it the other day. However, the gift which they promised overnight delivery Wednesday has not arrived yet, the person on the phone yesterday said you still have tomorrow, I guess they don’t know what overnight means. Enjoy your day it is Saturday so plan some fun, remember little things count sometimes even more. Talk soon Til Tomorrow!

Good morning everyone, today is Wednesday May 5, 2021. Hump day already and of course it is Cinco di Mayo, a great day to celebrate. Alas another cloudy rainy day. Did Mother Nature forget that it is spring and has the sun in time out for some infraction. Well we’ll live through it and when she is good and ready we’ll enjoy it even more.

There is a nice family story I’d like to share today , I should have posted it yesterday but I could not miss Teacher Appreciation Day, something so close to my heart. After the war when the men came home there were many programs for learning available. My father chose one to become a butcher,a school rather than an apprenticeship in a shop. I think that’s why he knew so much about the meat we ate, while there he befriended a man from Jersey City, Frank, and they became good friends. Now my fathers wedding was May 3 and Frank’s was May 4. At the time there were still shortages from the war , cars , gas and such. Both were going to Niagara Falls for the honeymoon. They decided to make it a double honeymoon and pool the money and go together. The only problem was they had to sell the idea to their fiances who had never met. When proposed both were skeptical but Marges mother told her he is a nice man but a little boring maybe it would be nice to be with other people. So they all agreed . My mother first met Marge on her wedding day and and they left that night. People in those days sometimes stayed in guest houses rather than hotels, I think what they really were , were the front runners of Bed and Breakfasts but they could use the kitchen if they wanted to. Everything was going well and one night about midnight marge told Frank she heard a noise outside he went out to check, my father hearing a noise went out to check, they encountered each other and in the dark grabbed each other and almost fell into the falls. But the reality of the noise Marge being of Irish decent, wanted pasta and she didn’t know how to ask my mother being of Italian decent to make it for her in the middle of the night. They made the pasta and enjoyed every bite Frank also was Italian To make it short they became the best of friends for the rest of their lives, they were my sisters godparents and as we Italians do they became Aunt Marge and Uncle Frank . When my mother died suddenly she was the hardest person for me to see. Friendships can be born from anything and last forever.

Today is May 5 another anniversary in my family, my sister. I would be very remiss if I didn’t wish her and her husband a Happy Anniversary. Even though time and distance has seperated us it is still nice to know there is someone out there that shares DNA and a common background and memories.

Well it is time for me today to put a cork in it. I hope you all enjoy this beautiful day , not weatherwize, and do something fun, we have the perfect excuse today Cinco Di Mayo visit Mexico and have a Margarita and a taco or burrito if that is not to your liking just eat a bag of Doritos and celebrate, it will make us all happy. Til Tomorrow!

Good morning everyone, today is May 4, Tuesday 2021. The weather I think will be mostly cloudy today. May is not starting out so well, I hope it gets its act together soon. Today is National Teacher Appreciation Day, I have a little partiality to this day as I was a teacher and god knows many days we were and are not appreciated. However, this year I feel teachers have worked harder than they ever did before. Many people have no idea of the amount of work a teacher does all they see are the summers off , without pay I might add but that is never discussed, but this year has been a challenge in every aspect of life so imagine teaching. Yes imagine teaching at least 25 student on-line, keeping them focused, introducing new material, testing. I can’t even imagine how primary teachers set out on the arduous job of teaching children to read, I felt that was almost an impossibility. However , it was done and done well above all this when some came back to in person learning, teachers now had to keep them safe and healthy. But every teacher I know stepped up to the plate and worked to the enth degree to teach our children. We will actually never know the impact that this year has had on our children . I pray daily that most are resilient enough to get over it. We always talk about the little ones but imagine the hardships on high school and college students. We all need that personal contact. After the medical professionals, I feel teachers were our next essential workers they held the next generation of Americans in their hands, they had to work to make them productive citizens which to me is the most important job of any teacher. So Appreciation Day, we can never appreciate them enough and certainly not with a bagel or a lunch . It’s a gesture and a nice one but what really needs to change is mindset. We can never forget what teachers accomplished this year and give them their respect which is long over due. Know teachers I will always respect you and commend you on what you accomplished this year. I don’t know if I could have done it as well as you.

I’m always telling you to enjoy anything big or small but yesterday I was driving and I heard a song on the radio which I never heard before on the radio. You know I am a Francophile and love anything French and I think the song le vie en Rose epitomizes France, sung by Edith Piaf. Well I heard this yesterday by Louis Armstrong , I never knew he even sang it. But that three minutes brought me a measure of happiness and envoked many nice feelings. So a mere nothing can make us happy we just need to be aware of them.

Well it is time to close I have to get to work. babysitting is not easy getting it all going in the morning, so have a great day remember the small things. Talk soon , Til tomorrow!

Good morning everyone, today is Saturday May 1, 2021. So far the outlook for the weather is good sunny reaching into the high 60’s. There is nothing wrong with that if it holds true. So we start a new month day May , the fifth month of the year already. May is considered to be the best month of the year, if not the luckiest. There is something to celebrate every day this month but the most important to me is it starts summer, a time most of us truly adore, we get to relax, bask in the sun, swim in a pool or the beach, dine al fresco in warmth. Spend time with family and friends. It is a more laid back time of year, but that all unfolds this month.

Today being the first of May has many historical connotations, first it is considered Labor Day in most of Europe. At one time it was also Labor Day in the United States. It was the day when workers protested unfair conditions, opted for an 8 hour work day and other benefits but somehow it also became associated with communism and we changed it to September. Secondly, it is a day to celebrate flowers and nature, this dates back to Roman times. A more recent custom was to decorate a basket with flowers and put it on your neighbors steps as a surprise. Could you imagine doing that today most people don’t even know their neighbors anymore. When I had the store in Montclair there was a town wide custom and contest for store owners, we had to make a May Basket of flowers or plants and put it in the front of the store to welcome shoppers. Then the town would judge, I never won so I don’t know what the prize was. But it was fun to do, it beautified the town and sort of unified the merchants. These little gestures help people to come together something we sadly lack nowadays. As a teacher we had to decorate our doors for Christmas, the same concept of course their are those who will not participate but that breeds contempt for anything enjoyable. Today we need everything to make a better existence. Thirdly, May is actually considered the luckiest month of the year and children born then are inherently lucky, the most unlucky being October wouldn’t you know that, my birthday, but I would be very wrong to say that because I actually consider myself a very lucky man in so many ways.

So let’s get out today and enjoy this beautiful beginning. Look at the flowers in bloom and appreciate that Mother Nature has given them to us with more to come. Find something to bring happiness to yourself. Well it’s time to say good bye for now and we’ll talk soon. Til Tomorrow!

Good morning everyone, today is Friday April 30, 2021. The weather right now seems fine but a little windy later on , temperatures up to 70. Doesn’t seem to bad to take. Today ends the week and the month. Tomorrow we start the beautiful month of May. But we have to get through today, imagine another week gone so it is getting closer to summer day by day. The weekend is already upon us , and I always like to plan something fun for it. What’s the sense of two days off for fun and relaxation and then do nothing with them. It’s like we cheat ourselves. I hope I get some time to plant things, now I am no gardener but I like to plant things that make everything look nice. It improves the aesthetics and actually it makes you feel better when things have some beauty in them. At least it does for me.

As a child I used to go to a department store named Bonwit Teller, it’s flagship store was in New York on 5th Ave. with my mother. They eventually opened one in Short Hills Mall. There were things there that I thought were cool as a child, one was the revolving door, when you went around they had a little sign that said the scent in the air and then the name of the perfume, and sure enough as you turned you got a whiff of something pleasant, now as a kid you always liked to go round and round but here you got an added treat. Until of course enough was enough and you got dragged out. The boxes and bags were white with bunches of violets on them, that was their logo the violet. I think that was one of the things my mother liked best about the store because she had a penchant for violets, she used to say they were the first flowers my father gave her. So her closet was full of these boxes and bags. When I got older and started to shop by myself that was always my go to store, so Marylou also had the violets. Sadly, it is now long gone and I actually think in New York the space was taken up by Trump Tower. It’s a shame these bastions of retail no longer exist, when they left they also took a more elegant and sophisticated lifestyle with them. I guess our world today doesn’t need that any longer, however to people my age these places that we see disappearing represented a certain way of life that has no place in our world today. It’s sad because when you went to them there was a certain way you were expected to act, it was actually a learning experience in a manner of speaking.

Why did I write about this today, I really have no idea. It is not what I planned to write about but I guess when I started to write about the beauty of planting things the violets popped into my head. But it was nice to reminisce about something you remember that is no longer there. It’s also nice to remember that these were not run in run out shopping events they were experiences, there was always a great lunch that went with them and time you spent together. At the time you didn’t realize that one day they would be a treasured moment. That’s why take advantage of our time and don’t waste it. Someday someone will look back at it and enjoy the memory.

Now start planning your weekend and how you plan to enjoy it. Enjoy it your way and do things you like. The things that make you happy. I already have my plans for tomorrow night, you know that alone adds to my weekend. Enjoy a beautiful windy day and we will talk soon. Til Tomorrow!