Ms. Crochet-y

Last Saturday night I gathered with a few friends from Debevoise to remember Bran Jerome Marah, who died two years ago in early August. We spent much of the time talking about Debevoise, and other things like hippies juggling fire, but did raise our glasses to his memory. Here’s a few things I think about when I think about Jerome:

• How he would drape himself against the doorframe of my office every afternoon about half an hour after he started work, and chat with whoever was there for awhile.  The conversations were always strikingly different.  Topics varied not only according to whom he was speaking, and were always interesting.
• When I had foot surgery and had to walk with a cane for awhile, I felt his presence very strongly.
• How he turned a photo of Peter and his new minivan into Peter and the Oscar Mayer Weiner-mobile.
• The instructions for using the new Flavia coffee machine that he authored with Matt.
• The excellent gifts he gave my daughter: a subscription to Ladybug magazine, a specially-illustrated Little Red Riding Hood book,  the Philadelphia Chickens book and music CD.
• When he met Julia very briefly he knelt down to hug her, and his beard and hair flowed out around him like a cloud.  She remembered him as my friend “who looked like Santa Claus”.

Jerome, I miss you.

This happened awhile ago, but I was waiting and waiting for Dad to post the toothless pictures.  It came out during lunch at camp, and she either swallowed it or it got lost.  Together we wrote the tooth fairy a note that had about 5 “sorrys” in it, for not having the tooth.  The tooth fairy understood, saying “it’s ok, I have lots of other teeth.”

“Crocs are one of the signs of the Apocalypse.”

Clinton Kelly from What Not to Wear

My daughter’s life is an opera. On many days she sings 25-50 percent of her words, rather than speaking them. A few nights ago I was waiting to play with her using Chris’ RC cars, and she was in the bathroom. She was singing away, and probably reading, using up her precious before-bed play time … “Dinah won’t you blow, Dinah won’t you blow, Dinah won’t you blow your hoooorn?”

I said “Julia, not much time left to play.” She said “Ok mom!” then started singing, “I gotta leave, I gotta leave, I gotta leave right nooooow!”

Today at breakfast I tried to explain to Julia what the stock market was (because of Chris’ job). It was tough, but I think she got it. She then followed up with a very intelligent question about if NY traders could buy stocks in London or Tokyo if everyone was asleep there? Yep, she definitely got it.

It is now officially summer, because today Julia, her friend Xara, and I went to Coney Island to celebrate school being out.  It was incredibly humid and around 90 degrees when we got there.  The girls and I rode the dragon roller coaster twice in a row to start, followed by the “teacups” - actually a Tilt-a-Whirl. Readers of past Pepper blogs may remember that this is NOT my favorite ride, as it makes me quite nauseous.

So  I got a Coke which I hoped would settle my stomach, and the girls had a snack, and then we went on the Wonder Wheel.  

The Wonder Wheel is a landmark Ferris Wheel.  Some cars are stationery and some swing back and forth…of course, we rode on a swinging car, to make the ride more fun.  Very soon after we got on, our car swung through its path rather violently … and I felt much much worse.  The wheel turned in its course, then stopped so our car could swing violently all over the place again, and I warned the girls: “I really think I’m going to throw up now.”  The wheel turned, and I pointed out the Verrazano bridge.  I wondered briefly if over the side was better than on the empty row of seats in front of us, and opted for the latter.

The girls were extremely good sports, saying This is the worst ride ever! over and over again, and not complaining at all about the smell.  Luckily the ride was almost done, and the operators - like all folks who work at Coney Island - were extremely sweet, and didn’t mind cleaning up after me.  One guy said - Miss, that’s why you shouldn’t give the kids junk food and let them go on the rides afterwards.  I laughed and said - It was me, not them!  Then we all laughed, and I said - it was the Teacups that did it.

The day got much better after that. Julia and Xara went on almost every ride in Deno’s WonderWheel Park, and some guy gave us 80 points worth of arcade tickets for no reason! We used them to get butterfly stickers for Xara and a red bracelet for Julia.

After ice cream and a lollipop for the girls, we went under the sprinkler on the beach, and Julia decided to try  making a sand-angel.  Then we all had a great time splashing in the ocean.  The weather improved and we cooled off.  I had to drag them away from the beach.

No more Teacups in my future!

I spoke to a Time Warner cable representative today who was not only intelligent, courteous, and friendly, she actually fixed my problem and made a smart suggestion as to the best next step if the problem occurs again. This truly happens once in a lifetime.   

Those of you living outside of NYC who get to deal with other cable TV conglomerates, you are very lucky.

On Saturday night Chris and I were walking home in the rain from Red Horse Cafe. A car slowed down and opened its window, I thought to ask me for directions. A young man somewhere between 17 and 25 years of age said to me, “Wanna hang out?” I walked several feet before his question registered. Then I laughed and woohoo’d! At the age of 44, it seems all I have to do is wear a tank top to get this kind of attention. As the young man was quite polite, his inquiry was not unwelcome.

I was waiting to cross the West Side Highway today and a traffic cop had stopped the on-coming traffic, so that cars didn’t block the intersection. A taxi driver was unhappy about this and sat on his horn. A guy in a black sports car pulled up alongside the taxi and said, “Asshole? Excuse me, moron? There’s a cop over there!”

I love my hometown!

rent is too damnhigh.org, home of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party.  Seen on NY1 today.