"Sit down and feed, and welcome to our table." (AYLI)

I was asked recently by the President of the Library Club to give a presentation at one of their meetings in January. I had done something before for that group when I discussed the difference between Hallmark and Poetry. This time she asked for a title that she could put in the Huntington Lakes Newsletter and I came up with "Power and Passion in Poetry Plus a Pot Pourri of Me". So there you have more than two pp in a pod. My plan for this program is to show how one can "reinvent" oneself through the magic of poetry. We'll read and discuss some of the classic poems and now and then I'll throw in one of mine from the book I published. Perhaps I'll even be able to sell a couple.

Tonite we went out to Duffy's Restaurant with Mike and Helen Herbstman. The place was jammed but we didn't have to wait long. Rhoda has a card of theirs that allows you to call ahead to put your name on the wait list. I had a cup of good to the last slurp of lobster bisque, an entree of four mini cheeseburgers and fries, and a Bloody Mary for a beverage. For dessert we split a chocolate cake four ways. Down here in Florida for retirees one of the things on the senior agenda is to discuss the various restaurants you've been too and make sure that people know that your restaurant could beat up their restaurant. My two sons, Joel and Bobby are coming in next Sunday and we plan to take them to Red Lobster on Sunday and on Monday night, they can have a choice of Chinese or Japanese food; and if they don't care for that we'll take them anywhere they choose to go. I'm just ecstatic that I'll finally get to see them again. Now we all sport beards...but Bobby's is the winner.

Still on the food binge, we have already made reservations at Maggiano's for our Thanksgiving dinner. We'll be sharing the food and the evening with the Zions--very long term friends; we seem to have established a tradition of going out with them on Thanksgiving. Then, of course, there will be plenty of food to nourish our appetites on the cruise we'll be taking to the Caribbean on December 6. And soon after---Happy New Year!

"...and so to bed" (Pepys)

One of the things I hate about computers is that you have to expect the unexpected...or is it unexpect the expected? Anyway I tried to get Rhoda's email contacts exported from hotmail.com to Yahoo.com and after I went through a whole garbagepailful of entries, the instructions were to go to Rho's Yahoo email and "...click on the import/export button in the upper rightfield corner." So when I got there...no such button in any corner...top or bottom. So now what was I supposed to do? I sighed heavily, said a few pater nosters, mater nosters, and mater notatallers. Yes, and I also said the "Sh'ma". And then I came right to this blog post to vent my frustration.

Today is Rho's bowling day (she seems to have a "day" for anything and everything these days!). But that's OK with me. It's nice and quiet and peaceful in the apartment and I am free to do whatever urges me; and lately I've been having an interesting international conversation with a young lady in the UK who claims to be my cousin...perhaps an ex cousin-in-law while I was married to Thelma a blood cousin. Speaking of Thelma, I was married to her for 30 years, and next year I will have been married to Rhoda for 25 years. Consequently, I will have had two Silver Anniversaries, and I consider that to be one Gold. So now that gold has hit $800 an ounce once more, I'd prefer a gold coin rather than goldware. Make a note, and check out our registry in June 2008 at the US Mint.

If you want to have a laugh and a surprise, check out this link if you can:

http://www.amazon.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/061516692X/ref=nosim/bookfinder4u-22

"Get thee a good husband and use him as he uses thee." (All's Well That Ends Well)

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN TO ALL MY BLOG FRIENDS

Today I had a date with the dermatologist because I have a squamous cell carcinoma on each arm. These are about a dozen of those I've already had in the past few years. Fortunately, in 1982 when I retired, I bought a Cancer Insurance policy for which I pay $46 a year. With the lab reports and doctor's bills they require when you make a claim, I've gotten paid several thousand dollars already! I expect for these two I had taken out today I should get at least $750. I really don't know anyone else who has such a policy, and I don't have a clue as to why I bought it.

When I got home, I got a call from the Biker Son saying that he and his brother the Spy Son were coming to spend a couple of days with me which came as a shock and a surprise, since they haven't been able to get down here for a long time; the last time they all came was when I was performing in "Pirates of Penzance" here in our clubhouse in February, 2003. So it will be a joy for me to see them when they get here next Sunday. Maybe we'll have a catch or play stickball; what else can 80+ year old fathers do with 50+ year old sons? Maybe they'll like some casino action or some basketball. I know we'll have a lot of fun talking about things past.

As of late, I've been playing house husband...or First Gentleman. Rhoda is out all day, most every day at meetings, luncheons, or the beauty parlor. Since I no longer can play golf, here I am in the apartment making the bed, emptying the dishwasher, taking out the garbage, getting the mail, picking up the comforter at the coin laundry....and sundry other un-husbandlike chores. Now that I've finished my book I spend my spare time writing this blog. However, I have been thinking about writing another book...fiction...either about Spinoza or Aristotle. They led fantastic and fascinating lives. I may have to do a bunch of research to make up a plot. I believe there may be an audience out there for a book about one of those guys. Which guy shall I do? Or not?

...October 30 continued...Shakespeare and the Jews

My adopted cousin, Ruth Grimsley, from the UK, a very, very bright lady with whom I am having a rousing e-mail dialogue has asked me if I thought that Shakespeare knew any Jews in his time. Yes, there were Jews in Elizabethan England and London in particular. They were not allowed to practice their religion openly, but otherwise were permitted to engage in trade, professions, etc. They were *marranos* from Spain and Portugal, usually, but other Jews visited from time to time during the period of Exclusion,including one Joachim Gaunse, who helped found the mining industry inWales. But whether Shakespeare and Marlowe actually knew Jews personally or not is quite irrelevant, or so it seems to me. They were mainly drawing on literary tradition and other sources for their portraits.

Any judgment concerning Shakespeare's anti-semitism must, then, be made on the basis of _"Merchant of Venice"_. The observation of some that "Shakespeare--and the English--didn'thave any Jews to hate" because Jews had been expelled from England in 1290 and were not permitted to return until 1658 is not quite accurate. Witness the celebrated execution of Lopez, the Queen's physician. But whatever the"physical" presence of Jews in England was, they were certainly present in other ways. They were much in evidence in the Bible which literate Englishmen were privy to. They were evident in sermons and in the liturgy. They were evident in the cycle plays, some of which were still alive in Shakespeare's day. In short, they were very much a part of the culture of Shakespeare's time. What anti-Semitism is, is perhaps impossible to determine. Maybe the perennial question "What (or who) is a Jew?" can provide an approach to anti-Semitism as well. A late friend, a psychologist preferred this answer. "A Jew is a person who considers him- or herself to be a Jew or whom others consider to be a Jew." I'm not saying that I agree...but neither do I have any quarrel with that definition.

"...the miserable have no other medicine, but only hope." (Measure for Measure)

It's quite amazing what you can do with a computer. I know that I could never have written a book without it. Banging things out on a typewriter is not my thing. Yesterday Rhoda (who was RH+ all day) needed a letterhead for the City of Hope so that she and the corresponding secretary of the chapter could use it to write official letters. But she said she would need the COH's logo on the letterhead, and I asked her if the logo would be on the organization's official website. Sure enough when I went there, I found the logo and somehow got the image sent to "My Documents" where I will now upload it to this blog! There; now isn't that beautiful? So, Rho and I used it to create a letterhead as a Word document. Remarkable!

The only "fun" I'm having now in my otiose existence is with "quips and quotes" in emails with various intelligentsia. I won't name them here for fear that they would prefer not to be "outed". Many times people will not want to socialize with you if you have more brains than they do. It is an aliquot of the burden of education. At any rate as an example, I've been communicating with a lady in the UK who insists that she is my cousin. She bought my book so she can call me "Cuz" as long as she wishes. She claims that the word originated with Rosalind in "As You Like It" when she uses the word "cos" referring to her cousin Celia. Since 1559 it has changed its spelling and is still useful thanks to W.S

So, this UK "cuz" continues with her historical linguistics (my minor in college) by asking what my thoughts were on the usage of "lip", "cheek", "nerve", "gall", and the Aussie word "hide" to mean "effrontery" or insolence. She seems curious as to why all these words are so "physical". My thoughts as I relayed them to her were that I preferred the word "chutzpah" to all of those. Too bad Webster wasn't Jewish.

"...bring forth men children only." (Macbeth)

To all my blog readers, I'm so sorry I haven't entertained and informed you for the last few days. It's too long a story to explain. So on to today's adventures and it was a good day. This afternoon, I took RH+ (altho, sometimes it's RH-) to her eye doctor. Her cataract surgery restored her vision completely in her right eye; too bad it didn't turn out the same for her left eye in which she has no vision. The doctor gave her a prescription for new glasses, and with that, her two year ordeal is over. She is ecstatic about getting good sight back so that she can read even small print books...like mine. Speaking of books, my MEMOIRS is now for sale on dozens of online sites like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc. It's even on a Japanese website. Now is won't be long before my poetry book, will also be available in those bookstores. Truth is, I really don't expect many sales--perhaps not even one. But who knows?

Another very good thing that happened not too long ago was a phone call I got from number 2 son, Bobby the Biker, who said he missed me and wanted to come here from November 9th to the 11th. Not only was that a surprise, but also a shock! I said of course he could come...but then an even huger, humongous shocking surprise occurred when he said he wanted to bring his brother, Joel the Spy along. Boy, do I miss those two guys...and also their sisters. I told Bobby I'd be delighted to see them for those three days. We'll have some guy fun. I can't believe they are both in their 50s. When people ask me if I have any children I tell them "no"...I only have adults--two men and two women. They don't come here very often; they do have jobs to go to and homes and wives to support. So, I understand.

For our dinner tonite, I asked Rhoda what we were having and she said, chicken...and I said we needed to celebrate her successful eye surgery, so we stopped at the fish market and bought Florida stone crabs for me and crab cakes for her. I really don't know anyone else who eats stone crabs, but as for me, if you read my book, you might remember that my sister and I lived right behind the famous Joe's Stone Crab restaurant in Miami Beach and we learned to love stone crabs when we were kids. You eat them cold...with mustard sauce and a Dr. Brown's black cherry diet soda. And maybe a sweet potato and matzoh